Postgraduate Studies

Dissertations

Choosing your MA/Licence dissertation topic

When you have finished or are about to finish the taught part of your course, you need to think carefully about your dissertation topic.  Staff interests can be found here to give you an idea of the possible range of areas you could work on.  Ideas need to be discussed in the first instance with the Director of Postgraduate Studies, Dr. James Richardson.  Depending on your choice of topic you will be allocated a member of staff from within the Department as your supervisor.  He/She will help you to formulate a topic which will fulfil the requirements for the degree and which is realistic and manageable within the required period.

Please note that although your dissertation topic is often related to one of the modules you have taken for the taught part of the course there can be no, or at the most minimal, overlap between what you have done for any assessed course work and the dissertation.

Supervision Areas

Please note that the member of staff you initially talk to, even if he/she approves your topic, will not automatically become your dissertation supervisor.

The dissertation proposal

Once you have decided on a topic, you will need to write a formal dissertation proposal.  In this proposal, you should provide the following information:

• A title, which may be in the form of a question if you wish (e.g. ‘Did the social composition of the Roman army change during the Later Roman Empire?’), or simply a heading (e.g. ‘The Social Composition of the Roman Army in the Later Roman Empire’).
• A brief outline (of about 300 words) of your topic.  This should make clear the chronological, geographical and/or thematic scope of your topic, and should begin to explain what you hope to achieve in your dissertation.
• A preliminary list of the ancient sources you will be using.
• A select bibliography of the important secondary literature for your topic.  For this you may wish to consult a member of staff.  Please make sure that you take library provision into account for your choice of topic.

Please be aware that the topic you choose to begin with is not written in stone.  Nearly everyone will find that they change their initial topic in some small way, e.g. by focusing on a shorter time period.  It is even possible to change your topic completely if you find for some reason you cannot cope with the one you initially chose.  Having said all this, it is obviously preferable for you to be clear about what you are doing from the very outset.  That is why it is important to consult with a member of staff before deciding on a topic.

What you can expect from your dissertation supervisor

Residential students

Residential students will have a number of meetings with their dissertation supervisor.  These meetings should be used to discuss ideas you may have had, to address general and specific problems you have come up against in researching your dissertation, and to discuss your draft sections.

Distance students

Distance students discuss their dissertations with their supervisor by e-mail or phone.

All students can expect the following of your supervisor:

• To read and comment on your proposal and detailed outline.
• To read and comment on two draft chapters or two versions of one chapter.  This might amount to approximately 10,000 words of your dissertation if you write an MA dissertation and 5,000 words if you write a Licence dissertation.  You cannot expect your supervisor to read and comment on your whole dissertation before submission. 
• To check your bibliographical and referencing system.

Submission procedures for dissertations and theses

Please follow carefully the guide-lines for the submission and presentation of dissertations and theses as given by the Academic Registry in the ‘guide to the submission of theses and dissertations’.  A copy of this guide can be found here.  Failure to comply with the academic regulations for the submission and presentation of dissertation will have serious consequences:  marks will be deducted if your work is not presented correctly and you may miss your deadline if submission is delayed because you have not completed all the necessary paperwork.  Please note also that it is extremely unwise to submit your dissertation when your supervisor has not seen any of your work.

Marking and return of dissertations and theses

Dissertations may be submitted to the Academic Registry at any time during the year, but the Department will start to process dissertations only at the next formal submission dates.  These dates are 30 Sept, 6 January, 1 March and 1 July.  For example, if you hand your dissertation in on 15 March, this will not begin to be processed by the Department until 1 July.  Please note that the whole process will in normal circumstances take 12 weeks from your formal submission date.  If you would like to graduate in July, your dissertation or thesis will need to be submitted to the Academic Registry by 1 March at the latest.

If there is something you think should be added to or changed in these pages, please contact Errietta Bissa.

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