School Diss Guide

8/20/2019 School Diss Guide

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DISSERTATION GUIDEA handbook for students undertaking a dissertation as part of theirstudies

School of the Built Environment

Heriot-Watt University


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DISSERTATION GUIDEA handbook for students undertaking a dissertation as part of theirstudies

Important information and guidance for all students in the School of theBuilt Environment who are undertaking a dissertation

Contents

1.0 Introduction2.0 Definition of roles and responsibilities

3.0 Dissertation selection4.0 Time management5.0 Dissertation presentation6.0 Plagiarism and referencing7.0 Backup documentation8.0 Safety9.0 Assessment procedure10.0 Research methods


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1.0 INTRODUCTION

This handbook should be read in conjunction with the supplementary

dissertation information that relates specifically to your programme. This will

provide additional information you will need to know for the preparation of

your dissertation

This handbook offers advice for students undertaking a dissertation as part of theirundergraduate or postgraduate degree studies within the School of the Built Environment.

The guide contains information relating to mandatory presentation specifications includinglayout, format and structure which all dissertations submitted to the School must conform to.

Regulations governing plagiarism and late submission procedures are also outlined. In

addition the guide also provides good practice advice that is relevant to all types ofdissertation, explaining some of the features to be found in good dissertations as well as

highlighting some of the pitfalls and bad practices to be avoided. Following this advice will

greatly increase your chances of obtaining a good grade for your work.

Programme and Course specific informationReference is made throughout the text to programme specific dissertation guidance, which

should be read in conjunction with this handbook. This will be issued separately by yourdissertation director and contains information relating to your particular programme and

course relating to:

• Submission date

• Criteria used in assessing your dissertation

• ‘Extension of Time’ procedures for dissertations submitted late.

2.0 DEFINITION OF ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Supervisor:Every student in the School will have their work overseen by a supervisor who is an academic

member of staff. The student will work with the supervisor for the duration of the dissertation.Procedures for allocating a supervisor differ from programme to programme, and you will be

advised of these procedures for your particular programme before commencement of the

dissertation. The Supervisor is the person with whom the student should work closely.

The onus is on the student to make contact with the Supervisor, and to arrange and

adhere to a programme of regular meetings thereafter. The Supervisor should not have

to chase students in order to check on their work progress. The Supervisor should

advise on the structure and suitability of the dissertation, comment on draft work

submitted, be of support throughout, and warn the student if the work is not thought tobe of a satisfactory standard.

You should maintain contact with your Supervisor throughout the preparation of your

dissertation. A common pitfall is to go long periods of time without making any contact

with the supervisor. If you are dissatisfied with your Supervisor you should raise the

matter with the Dissertation Director or course leader and, if you remain dissatisfied,

with the Head of School. Students should not expect staff to read and comment on draft

chapters at short notice.


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Most members of staff have a personal interest / expertise in the subjects that they

supervise. This makes them ideal people with whom to discuss all aspects of your

dissertation - make sure that you use them. It is essential to maintain dialogue with

your Supervisor to discuss progress, work undertaken since last meeting, obtain

feedback on completed work etc. It is important for you that your effort, application,

achievement, initiative and ideas are properly evaluated and this can only happen ifyou keep in regular contact with your Supervisor.

Some dissertations will require some kind of assistance from outside the University.

All approaches to agencies (industry, laboratory, library or government agency) or

individuals for information, interviews etc must be made with the approval of the

Supervisor, and not independently by a student. This restriction especially applies to the

use of questionnaires.

Always bear in mind however, that the successful completion of the dissertation is

the responsibility of the student, not the Supervisor.

Dissertation Director:Each degree programme area has appointed a dissertation director. This person has the

overall responsibility for the academic leadership of the dissertation and its strategic

management within the relevant degree programme area. Specifically the dissertation

director will be responsible for:

• setting and reviewing of the modules learning aims and objectives

• presenting the module marks to the relevant degree programmeexamination board for consideration;

• providing academic guidance to students on topic selection andrealisation;

• considering claims for extensions of time and personal mitigating

circumstances and the presentation of recommendations on suchmatters to the relevant degree programme examination board;

• liaison with individual dissertation supervisors and / or students toovercome difficulties that may arise due to personal conflicts, poor

performance, unsatisfactory progress etc;

• working with relevant course leaders to select a sample of appropriatedissertations for dispatch to external examiners and if necessary

liaison with course leaders to establish viva voce examinations for

individual students as required;

• providing advice and guidance to students on matters related toresearch methods and on dissertation structure and/ or presentation

when the nature of the work does not comply with established norms;

• organising the efficient and coherent assessment of all dissertationssubmitted within the relevant degree programme area.

3.0 DISSERTATION TOPIC SELECTION

The procedures and approach to selecting a suitable topic will be explained to you in good

time before work on the dissertation has to commence. The dissertation topic may either

be self generated by the student or selected from a published list of dissertation titles


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offered by academics related to a particular degree programme:

• Students who wish to generate their own dissertation should be aware that thismust be done with guidance from an academic or the Dissertation Director.

These members of staff have experience of what is required of a dissertation and

will be able to advise a student whether the necessary supervision, resources and

support will be available.

• Students who select their dissertation title from the published list should contactthe academic concerned to discuss the requirements.

4.0 TIME MANAGEMENT

The dissertation you are undertaking is likely to be a demanding piece of project

management. It is vital that you are aware of the resources you have, the deadlines

that need to be met and the relation between different tasks (e.g. are there some

things that have to be completed before other activities can begin? can other tasks bedone in parallel?). In the end you have to manage the process yourself, and each

dissertation has to be organised in its own way, depending e.g. on the topic, what you

already know etc. You are strongly advised to plan out your work, discuss that plan

with your Supervisor and monitor it as you go along, adjusting as necessary.

Each student should arrange a first meeting with his/her supervisor as soon as the

dissertation work begins. Off-campus and distance learning students may find

dialogue by email or telephone a convenient means of “meeting”. This should be

explored between supervisor and student to agree the best means of working.

It is most important to maintain steady progress on the research work throughout the

duration of its preparation. A dissertation cannot be completed satisfactorily in an

intensive campaign because the planning of interviews, fieldwork, procurement of

materials and experimental work takes time.

The final date for submission of the complete dissertation is listed in your

programme specific guidance which supplements this document. You need to plan

back from that date, to ensure that all the key tasks are completed on time. Table 1

(overleaf) gives you a basic model of key stages to work to. The length of each stage

may vary from dissertation to dissertation and also depends on the mode of study.

You should plan in weeks for each stage at the beginning with your Supervisor and

stick to the plan during the process. Do not let that time slip away unnoticed. Keep a

weekly plan of the work you are doing for the dissertation and monitor what youactually do.

Ensure you stay within the maximum of word limit the main text as set for your

dissertation in your programme handbook.

A late submission penalty for UG dissertations will operate in respect of a dissertation

handed in after the deadline. Please refer to your programme specific guidance for the

details of the appropriate late working penalty.


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The School does not guarantee to mark and assess, in time for the relevant exam

board, any dissertation submitted late. The assessment of late submissions may be

deferred until the following exam board with the consequence that those students

will be unable to graduate until six months later than their cohort.

Table 1 Dissertation stages

Stage Requirement

1 Formulate a research proposal (as part of the Research Methods module for some courses); identify

research aims, methodology; background reading and initial literature review; and get feedback from

the appropriate staff .

2 Revise research proposal according to the feedback comments and arrange first meeting with

Supervisor.

3 Finalise research proposal and get advice from Supervisor on skills and techniques required; adjust

specific research aims, methodology, case studies, fieldwork or laboratory work; further background

reading and literature review.

4 Organise any necessary field/laboratory work. Completion of draft literature review.

5 Detailed outline of chapters drafted, most of the field/laboratory completed. Analysis of data/survey

results. Identify any gaps where extra work or reading are necessary.

6 Bring together all outline materials to prepare the first complete draft. This will either be far too long

or too short, the English may be poor, it may be repetitive and some of the maps or diagrams

originally envisaged will have to be discarded and new ones drawn. Always keep a copy of any draft

you let out of your hands, in case it gets lost! Also back up a copy on a disk.

7 Preparation of final draft. This is really a correction stage of the first draft. You should consult your

Supervisor particularly at this stage. At this stage everything must be complete, correct spelling and

punctuation, all figure and table numbers known, page numbering etc.

Typing and photocopying of drawings, maps etc; collation of all sheets; checking and correcting

typing errors; check binding requirements. Binding of dissertation.

8 Submission of dissertation to the School Office.

5.0 DISSERTATION PRESENTATION

5.1 General

One library copy plus one additional copy of the dissertation must be submitted to

the School Administration on or before the appropriate submission date as outlined

in your programme handbook. These copies are not returned to students so it isimportant to keep your own copy for reference.

The length of the main text for your particular course, excluding Tables, Appendices

etc. is detailed in your programme handbook. Students who exceed this limit may be

penalised in the marking of the dissertation. A short report will be harder to write

than a long one, but the additional time in editing and refining the text will be well

spent. Conciseness however should not be an excuse for excessive brevity.


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The writing of this dissertation will probably take longer than expected. Begin by

blocking out the material, trying out various ways of organising it and different ways

of saying things. One advantage of an early start is that the process of writing

clarifies thinking and reveals weaknesses in the work while there is still time to take

remedial action.

The dissertation should be written in an impersonal style, i.e. the use of 'I' or 'You'should be avoided. The dissertation should be written in a consistent manner, i.e. in

the same tense and format. Where symbols or abbreviations are used, they should be

used consistently and be of the standard nomenclature for the particular field of

study. There should be a glossary of symbols if they are numerous (see 5.2 h)

below). Convention requires the use of an impersonal style in the narrative past tense.

Other tenses are of course necessary at times as when, for instance, the writer states an

existing or future condition. It is important to adopt a mode of writing that keeps the

reader interested (and aware!), and this can be achieved more easily if the active voice

is used. This is a more lively and direct form of communication which requires fewer

words to say the same thing and as a consequence combines brevity with sharpness.

For example:

PASSIVE "The site was studied and it was seen that ..."

ACTIVE "Examination of the site showed that ..."

There is no objection to the occasional use of the personal pronoun, but its introduction

should be discreet so as not to draw the reader's attention from the matter under

discussion. An appropriate use of the personal pronoun would be to establish the

authorship of opinion. This can be a useful way of showing clearly your own views

and where you are attempting to advance beyond what other writers have already

stated.

For example:

" ... and I believe that this was because ... "

" ... this argument leads me to conclude that ... "

as compared with:

" ... and it is thought (by whom?) that this was because ... "

It is important to use language which is seen to be neutral and this is particularly

important where matters of race or gender are involved.

Graphical communications are more efficient than words for many kinds of

information. Use illustrations freely - pictures, graphs, diagrams, maps, flow-charts -

but choose them wisely, and remember that they have to be carefully designed with

the text to meet the reader's needs. A simple sketch may be better than a detailed

drawing. Don't use an elaborate table of numbers if all the reader needs to know is

the shape of a curve. If an illustration is taken from the work of another then it is

necessary to acknowledge it or quote the source.


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5.2 Dissertation layout / format

Each copy of the dissertation must be spirally bound between clear plastic covers.

The front cover or front sheet for the dissertation should be printed or photo-copied

onto coloured paper using the template made available from the School

Administration. The dissertation should include a sheet of coloured card immediatelyin front of the back plastic cover.

Typing should be of even quality with clear black characters the same size as this

text (12 point). Laser printing of the text is recommended. Drawings should be in

black ink. Photocopies or comparable permanent processes are acceptable. Paper

should be A4 size and of sufficient opacity for normal reading. Only one side of

each sheet should be used. The margin at the binding edge should be 40 mm, other

margins 20 mm. One-and-a-half line spacing shall be used for the main body of

your text, except for indented quotations of three lines length or more which must be

presented indented both sides and single line spaced. Page numbering commences

immediately and continues to the final page. It may help to look at the layout of

dissertations from previous years' held in the School Resource Centre, but rememberthat all dissertations are available, not only the good ones.

5.2.1 Structure

The sections of the dissertation should appear in the following order:

• Title page

• Statement of authorship

• Table of contents

•

List of tables and illustrations• Acknowledgements

• Abstract (approximately 300 words in length)

• Glossary of abbreviations

• Main sections/chapters

• References

5.2.2 Text style and features

THE FOLLOWING FEATURES MUST BE ADOPTED AND USED

CONSISTENTLY THROUGHOUT YOUR DISSERTATION

a) Text style - use full left and right justification. Use bold emphasis sparingly.

Use capital letters as little as possible, usually for the first letter of headings,

sub-headings, captions, names and proper nouns. All headings should be

ranged left.

b) Font - use 12 point Times New Roman generally throughout the script.


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c) Headings, - in bold not underlined in 14 pt Times New Roman. For main

headings leave two blank lines above and one blank line below. Initial

capital letter for first word only. Use 14 pt font size. Number headings in

sequence within a chapter with an indent between the number and the

heading. Do not end headings with a full stop. Range any second line of a

heading left. Do not start headings at the foot of a page or with only one line

of text below. Decide on a hierarchy of font size within the text and adopt itconsistently throughout.

FOR SUB-HEADINGS - IN BOLD NOT UNDERLINED, 12 PT TIMES

NEW ROMAN. LEAVE ONE BLANK LINE ABOVE AND NO BLANK

LINES BELOW. DO NOT USE MORE THAN ONE LEVEL OF SUB

SUB-HEADING.d) Lists - use Arabic numerals (1,2,3) or bullet points for emphasis, and indent

each item. Keep the numbers or bullet points ranged on the left margin.

Leave one blank line above and below lists, but no blank lines between items

on the list.

e) Punctuation - Leave two character spaces after full stops and one space after

all other punctuation.

f) Paragraphs - do not indent and do not leave a blank line between paragraphs.Do not number paragraphs

g) Pages - shall be numbered throughout the dissertation in Arabic style (1,2,3)

including all appendices. Pagination shall be set at the centre of the bottom

of the page and shall commence at the start of the text and be positioned

approximately 10 mm above the edge. All other material that precedes the

start of the general text, such as table of contents, lists of tables and diagrams,

acknowledgements and abstract shall be numbered as ... i, ii, iii, iv etc and

such numbers shall be positioned at the centre of the bottom of the page.

h) Mathematical Symbols and Equations - These should be word processed

where possible. Any freehand symbols must be neat and blend in with the

typewritten text. Each mathematical symbol must be defined when it first

occurs. Express all quantities in SI (System International) units.i) Photographic prints shall be on single weight paper or mounted on cartridge

paper and bound into the

dissertation. Numbers and captions shall be at the bottom of illustrations.

j) Maps and diagrams should normally be A4 size but it is permissible to have

them folded and bound in a pocket at the end. A separate folder of size other

than A4 should be included only in very exceptional circumstances.

5.2.3 Tables, diagrams and other illustrative material

These should be listed after the contents page with their number, title and page

number. Position tables and diagrams in the text, soon after where they are first

mentioned, not at the end of the chapter or section. Tables and diagrams generally

look best at the top or the bottom of a page. Keep tables simple. Range tables left on

the page and range headings left with the data in the columns. Put only two or three

spaces between columns and do not space out a table to fill a page width.

A smaller font size maybe used for tables and captions than in the text, but make sure


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it is still readable. Put the table or diagram number and heading on the line above the

table or the diagram, ranged left with a capital letter for the first word only. Leave

one blank line between the text above and the heading for the table or diagram and

one blank line below the table or diagram before the text continues.

If a very large table will not fit upright on the page, print it landscape on a separate

page with the heading in a landscape orientation.

Footnotes and endnotes

Generally footnotes and endnotes should be avoided, but if necessary position them

under a single line rule within the text area.

5.3 Presentation of the preliminary sections

The opening pages of your dissertation establish the style and feel of the work and

they should be set out in the sequence that follows below:-

N B not all the following preliminary material may be applicable in all

circumstances. You should check the material to be included with your dissertationsupervisor.

(i) Title Page This should be the page immediately inside the covers that bind the dissertation and

it should include :

(i) the title of the work - in capitals, at least 18 pt, 12-15 words

maximum, centred, Times New Roman font

(ii) the full name of the author, in capitals,16pt, Times New Roman font

(iii) the qualification - eg BSc (Hons) Construction Project Management -

for which the work is submitted, in upper and lower case, 14pt, Times

new Roman font

(iv) the title of the school and university - i.e. School of the BuiltEnvironment, Heriot-Watt University, upper and lower case, 14 pt,

Times New Roman font

(v) the year of submission, 14 pt, Times New Roman font

(ii) Statement of authorship A statement should be included on its own on the page following the title page which

must read as follows and which must be signed and dated by the student:-

DECLARATION

I ………………………. , confirm that this work submitted for assessment is

my own and is expressed in my own words. Any uses made within it of the

works of other authors in any form (e.g. ideas, equations, figures, text, tables,

programmes) are properly acknowledged at the point of their use. A full list

of the references employed has been included.

Signed: …………………………….

Date: ……………………………..


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(iii) Table of contents The next page(s) must contain a table of contents. This should list all the chapters

and main sub-headings, references, bibliography (if any) and appendices. Ensure

that each page reference is correct and that the titles of chapters and sections of

chapters are those that have been used in the final form of the text.

(iv) List of tables and diagrams Following the table of contents page(s) you should list any tables and/or diagrams

that you have included in the text. These should be listed and show :- a) their

reference number i.e.Table 1.1 or Fig. 1.1 - which would be the reference number for

the first table or diagram included in chapter one of your dissertation, b) their title -

abbreviated as required, and c) the page number on which they have been positioned.

(v) Acknowledgments - single page, printed single space

It is important that this should include not only those that the student wishes to thank

for their assistance, such as individuals or organisations who have contributed

information and data, and publishers for permission to reproduce copyright materials,

but also HWU staff, for providing guidance and assistance, parents, family, friends

and others who have provided support and assistance to your studies in general. Onsome occasions sources may wish to remain anonymous and in such cases their

wishes should be respected and they should be cited accordingly. The

acknowledgments page should be written in single line spaced text.

(vi) Abstract - single page, printed single space

Make sure the abstract summarises the main points of the dissertation, including its

conclusions and findings. The abstract should be in single line spaced text, written

impersonally, concisely and be intelligible to non-experts who maybe reading it out

of context. The abstract should not be a transcript of the table of contents but must

be informative and tell the reader what the research was about, how it was

undertaken and what was discovered but not how the dissertation has been organised.

Do not begin with ‘this dissertation ....’ or ‘this research ....’ Instead use a sentencewhich introduces the importance of the topic. Use between 200-300 words. Ensure

the following information is contained on the abstract page, namely, dissertation title,

students name, programme, and year of submission.

The essential elements of the abstract are:

• Background: A simple opening sentence or two placing the work in context.

• Aims: One or two sentences giving the purpose of the work.

• Method(s): One or two sentences explaining what was done.

• Results: One or two sentences indicating the main findings.

• Conclusions: One sentence giving the most important consequence of the work.

Leave two blank lines after the text setting out your abstract and insert a sub-heading

Keywords (bold) followed by a maximum of six words that can be used by others

seeking to decide whether your work would be of relevance to them in their work.

(vii) Glossary of terms Phrases, names of institutions, abbreviations etc that have been used in the text and

which require full description in order for the reader to gain complete appreciation

should be listed separately under the heading indicated above.


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5.4 Presentation of the main text

General Following the completion of the preliminaries section of your dissertation you should

then arrange the main text of your work in a recognised manner that follows a

conventional structure.

The dissertation should be divided into suitable sections that follow the argument

through from its introduction, critical assessment of existing work, through its

analysis of data and onto its discussions and its conclusions. This should mean that

the text is logically broken down into chapters that are each relatively self contained

and which are each numbered consecutively.

Should you feel that your work will not be capable of conforming to the norms

shown then you MUST liase with your dissertation supervisor and/or programme

dissertation director so as to agree a more appropriate format for the presentation of

your work.

CheckingProof reading is a vital aspect of dissertation writing. Check all text thoroughly at

two levels, firstly for overall sense and grammatical correctness, then for spelling

and typographical errors. The word processing must be to an acceptable standard.

Make use of the word processing functions that can help you, such as spell check,

grammar check, autotext, autocorrect, headings, table format choice, etc Equations,

references and figure numbers should be double-checked. It is advisable to check the

final draft with your Supervisor before submitting the final dissertation.

5.5 Common mistakes

Over the years staff involved in assessing undergraduate dissertations have noted anumber of failings that are consistently made in students' submissions despite the

guidance they receive. The following is a list of the most common deficiencies in

many submissions:

• poor or inadequate referencing

• vague or non-existent hypothesis

• non-existent or paltry literature review

• unsubstantiated assertions

• excessive amount of words

• little or no critical analysis

• lack of rigour and clarity• inadequate evidence and lack of argument

• untidy or poorly presented graphics and text

• bad spelling and poor grammar, even with spell-checking software

• lack of focus

• conclusions which are not supported by the results


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6.0 PLAGIARISM AND REFERENCING

6.1 Plagiarism

This dissertation must be your own unaided work and as such you must maintain the

highest standards of personal integrity. The university has an established policy onacademic impropriety and takes a serious view of copying, plagiarism and cheating.

Any student suspected of submitting a dissertation which is not their own unaided

work will be subjected to the full investigative procedures set down by the

university. If you have been found to have acted in an inappropriate manner you

could risk having penalties imposed on your work that would prevent you from

receiving your degree.

All dissertations require you to search existing literature. It is a mark of strength not

weakness, that all sources of statements and information are acknowledged. If

especially helpful or relevant statements or phrases are quoted directly then the full

reference, including page numbers, must be given in accordance with the Harvard

system. Quotations which are ‘lifted’ without being attributed will be considered asexamples of plagiarism and treated accordingly.

Plagiarism may be deliberate or inadvertent in that it occurs as a result of poor

referencing when writing up notes of what you have read. Both forms of plagiarism

are considered to be serious and will result in the appropriate penalties being applied.

All material in the dissertation must be your own except where properly

acknowledged. In your research you will be drawing on a wide range of published

material and possibly ideas and information from other unpublished sources such as

material found on the internet. This is all right and to be expected however you must

analyse and synthesise such information alongside any original research you

undertake. All source material must be acknowledged and referenced in the body ofthe text as appropriate and not left to be listed in a general list of material within a

bibliography - this is not appropriate and is not academically acceptable.

The invention of statistics or interview results will be regarded as cheating and will

be treated accordingly. Equally so the detailed assistance of any source which is not

named and acknowledged. It must be clear from the presentation of the dissertation

how you have carried out your research and you should give some thought to

providing evidence that confirms that the statistics and/or interview results included

in your dissertation are genuine and original to yourself. You should always keep

your dissertation supervisor fully informed about your activities and progress.

Concern for and the avoidance of plagiarism is not just a matter of ethics or courtesy.

It is also a matter of scientific accuracy and good professional practice.

PLAGIARISM IS HEAVILY PENALISED. The University's policy is that any

case of plagiarism will be treated as "cheating" and put before the University'sStudent Disciplinary Committee.


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6.2 References and citations

Always indicate the exact source of material which is not your own. This includes

direct quotations, indirect quotations, closely paraphrased material, facts which may

otherwise be disputed opinions or authorities that you use in your arguments etc.

This is a matter of academic integrity and remember a meticulously referenced pieceof writing is a sign of academic strength not weakness and it serves to give your

work authority.

It is important that you keep accurate notes of all material that you may use as

sources of information and ideas in your dissertation as you find them. Do not leave

the referencing of your work until the later stages of the dissertation writing process.

You may like to consider keeping a card index system or maintaining separate word

processing files - whatever method you adopt if you use it consistently it will avoid

you having to retrace your steps in terms of re-reading material which will seem like

a waste of your time.

The form of referencing to be used is the Harvard system. This system requires youto include the appropriate reference to the authors surname and year of publication in

rounded brackets, at the appropriate point in your text. This ensures that the reader

has full access to the details. A full list of your references should be presented in

alphabetical order as a separate section towards the end of your dissertation. Full

details of how to set out your references using the Harvard system including those

found on the internet can be found below.

Some types of dissertation can involve the discussion of legal subjects. Often such

studies will deal with numerous legal cases and statutes. It may well be valuable to

append, after the references section a separate list of cases and statutes that you have

referred to in the main body of your text. See below for an example of how to deal

with the citing of legal cases.

Different information will be needed to provide an adequate reference to the various

sorts of publication. Listed below are the elements that should be included in a

reference to each of the most common types of publication. Within the text of the

document, work and ideas can be cited using the author’s surname and year of

publication. This enables it to be looked up in the list of references at the end of the

paper, sorted alphabetically, by authors’ surnames, and presented without bullets or

numbers. If the author’s name is not part of the phrasing of the sentence, then it will be

in brackets with the year (Kaka 2002) whereas if you are using the author’s name as

part of the text of the sentence, then only the year is in brackets. When citing author

and year together, there is no need to separate them with a comma. The precise location

within the source material can be given as page number(s) after a colon (Aspinall 2002:

34-36).


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Referencing a book

1. Name(s) of author(s)/editor(s) Surname first, followed by initials, but withoutfull-stops after initials. (If editors, add Ed. or Eds, as appropriate, in brackets)

2. Year of publication, in brackets, with no punctuation after it.3. Title of the book in italics, followed by full-stop.4. Edition, if not the first5. Place of publication followed by colon6. Name of publisher7. Number of volumes, if more than one

Examples:

Burns, T and Stalker, G M (1966) The management of innovation. London:

Tavistock.

Walker, A (2002) Project management in construction. 4th

ed. Oxford: Blackwell

Science.

Referencing a paper/chapter in a book

1. Name(s) of author(s) of the paper/chapter, surname first, followed by initials,but without full-stops after initials.

2. Year of publication, in brackets (no full-stop or comma after it)3. Title of the paper or chapter (not in italics)4. Editor(s) of the book, prefaced with the word In: and followed by Ed. or Eds. in

brackets.

5. Title of the book in italics6. Volume number, part number, where applicable7. Place of publication8. Name of publisher

Example:

Flint, F.O. (1984) Advances in light microscopy of foods. In: G.G. Birch and K.J.

Parker, (eds.) Control of food quality and food analysis. London: Elsevier

Applied Science Publishers.

Referencing an article in a periodical

1. Name(s) of author(s) of the article2. Year of publication, in brackets (no full-stop or comma after it)3. Title of article4. Full title of the periodical (or an accepted abbreviation, as given in the World

List of Scientific Periodicals, but the full title is preferred).

5. Volume number, in bold6. Issue number, in brackets. You don’t always have to give the issue number, if

pages in issues within the volume are numbered consecutively, but for those journals where each issue re-starts at page 1, it is essential.

7. Page numbers

Example:

Wantanakorn, D, Mawdesley, M J and Askew, W H (1999) Management errors in

construction. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management ,

6(2), 112-20.


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Reference to a thesis

1. Name of author2. Year of publication, in brackets3. Title of thesis, in italics4. Type of degree (e.g. PhD or MSc) usually: Unpublished PhD thesis5. Name of the Department6. Name of the University

Example:

El-Askari Khaled Mohamed, S (2000) A methodology for expenditure planning of

irrigation infrastructure using hydraulic modelling techniques, Unpublished

PhD Thesis, Department of Engineering, University of Southampton.

Referencing a paper in a conference

1. Author(s) of the paper2. Year of publication in brackets (no full-stop or comma after it)3. Title of the paper or chapter (not in italics)

4. Editor(s) of the conference proceedings, prefaced with the word In: andfollowed by Ed. or Eds. in brackets.

5. Title of the conference in italics6. Date of conference7. Location of conference8. Publisher of Proceedings9. Volume number, part number, where applicable10. Start and end page numbers of the whole paper

Example

Ashton, P and Gidado, K (2001) Risk associated with inadequate site investigation

procedures under design and build procurement systems. In: Akintoye, A(Ed.), 17th Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2001, University of

Salford. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, Vol. 1,

961-9.

Referencing material on the internet More and more material can be located on the internet. You should be careful to

ascertain the origin of material that you wish to reference from this source. It is

important to try and access as much refereed material as possible and you should be

aware that not all material located on the internet has been subjected to rigorous

academic refereeing. Nonetheless if you wish to cite a reference to material found on

the internet then the following example provides a guideline that you should beadhere to, namely:-

Sloan, B (1998) Crime statistics:how valid? Social Work Review Online, 2 (3)

March http://www.bulb.bath.ac.uk/bulb/home.html (1.5.98)

Referencing a government report

Key material can often be located in government reports which are frequently

published. Should you wish to reference this type of material then the following

example provides a guideline that you should adhere to, namely


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DoE (1990) Housing and Construction Statistics 1979-1989: HMSO

Scottish Office Development Department (SODD) (1998) National Planning

Policy

Guideline (NPPG) 8, Town Centres and Retailing, Edinburgh: Scottish Office

Specialised legal references

Any legal textbook, such the text by Dane and Thomas (1996) would clearly indicatethe method of citing these. For instance, if you were basing your arguments on

information gathered about a particular case that you have read about in a text by

Williams (1987) then you would in your text set out the reference as “.... this can be

seen from the way Williams (1987) cites Calthorpe v McOscar (1924) 1 KB 716.”

This means that the case referred to can be found in the reports of the Kings Bench

Division, page 716. Since this abbreviation is generally accepted, there is no need to

specify the full form in the references section of your dissertation. If several cases

are cited, a separate list, preferably an index, should be compiled separately to the

authors listed in your references section

Of course, if you use bibliographical software, such as EndNote, available fromwww.endnote.com, all of this formatting will be done for you. An appropriate style file

for EndNote is available from the Internet eg www.arcom.ac.uk .

Where you have to repeat references throughout the text you may use the following

devices:

• Ibid (which means as immediately above), then page number/s (p./pp.).

• op. cit. (which means work quoted elsewhere), after the author's surname, anddate of publication in brackets (if you have quoted more than one of the

publication's of the author in question), then page numbers as before.

References are listed at the end of the dissertation (in a section headed ‘References’)

and arranged in alphabetical order by author and date. Every reference in the list

should enable the reader to identify the work cited and to locate the specific passage

referred to in the text.

The dissertation should not normally contain a bibliography.

7.0 BACK-UP DOCUMENTATION

Throughout the dissertation students may generate additional documentation as part

of their study. This may take the form of work programmes, progress reports etc.Although such documentation may not form the content of the main text, it is

recommended that such documentation is collated and submitted in an Appendix of

the Dissertation Report.


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8.0 SAFETY

ALL STUDENTS MUST UNDERTAKE RISK ASSESSMENTS FOR ANY

PRACTICAL (site or laboratory based) WORK THAT THEY ARE TO CARRY

OUT. SUPERVISORS WILL ADVISE ON THE CONTENT OF A RISK

ASSESSMENT. THE SUPERVISOR AND THE SCHOOL SAFETY OFFICER

MUST APPROVE THE RISK ASSESSMENT BEFORE THE WORK ISUNDERTAKEN.

Students undertaking work of a practical nature must be aware that University Safety

Regulations exist regarding health and safety and electrical safety. These regulations

are available from the student Resource Centre and your attention is drawn to them.

Consult your Supervisor before undertaking any experimental work.

9.0 ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE

Your dissertation will be assessed against the criteria defined for your course, using

the appropriate marking criteria set out in your programme specific guidance.

The general procedure is as following:

1) You must submit your dissertation by the deadline. Late submissions will bepenalised or failed in accordance with the specific guidance set for your

programme, unless extensions are granted.

2) If your dissertation exceeds the word limit, it may not be accepted forexamination.

3) Each dissertation will be marked independently by two members of staff and one ofthem could be the Supervisor. Some MEng courses will require a third Industrial

marker.

4) Once the markers have completed their marking report they will then have ameeting to seek to reach an agreed mark. In determining the final mark, you may

be asked to attend an interview/viva.

5) Exceptionally, where the markers can not reach an agreement, the School willappoint an additional internal arbiter. This person will have available the marking

sheets of the other markers, plus any information presented by the supervisor and

student. The role of this arbiter is then to arbitrate and decide the mark to be

awarded in the context of the dissertation, taking into account the views of the

markers and student.

6) The Dissertation Director will then implement a checking procedure to ensureconsistency of marking.

7) The Dissertations Director and the course leader will select a sample ofDissertations and dispatch these to the appropriate External Examiners. The

Externals will be asked to verify that the marking procedures are fair and of the

appropriate standard.


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10.0 RESEARCH METHODS

The dissertation allows students to complete a substantial piece of work that

demonstrates understanding of how to tackle a research problem by applying a

rigorous and strategic problem-solving methodology. To complete a dissertation

successfully, you need to be familiar with major research methodologies.

The School runs a research method module in the third year for some undergraduate

courses. This module aims to introduce students to the assumptions and approaches

adopted in research and to familiarise students with practical issues involved in

conducting and completing a research dissertation. It is also intended to assist in

developing students' own research proposals for the final year dissertation. Students

doing these courses must pass successfully the research method module.

Those students who, as part of their degree course, do not take the 3rd

year research

module, will have a series of seminars delivered throughout term 1 of year 4

covering similar material.

The university library has a stock of textbooks on research methods. Each of themmay have a different emphasis on specific areas, some on social research and some

on classic scientific method. You should consult those at the proposal stage and

evaluate the suitability of a specific research methodology toward solving your

research question.

Either during the research method module or at the beginning of your dissertation,

you should prepare a research proposal. The proposal should: a) define a topic which

is both researchable and manageable within the bounds of a final year dissertation; b)

conduct a preliminary literature search and review on the selected topic and provide a

background and justification to your research question; c) establish clear aims or

hypothesis and objectives for the research; e) specify the detailed works to be carried

out and to produce a structure for the research which indicates the sources andmethodologies to be employed and a feasible working programme. A good student

research proposal normally includes the following elements:

a) The main research title (no more than 15 words) and subtitle (if any)

b) Literature review and justification of your research (about two pages): This shouldbe the preliminary review of literature on your selected topic. It should address

issues such as history of policy changes, problems of practice, new initiatives and

proposed changes, research that has been carried out in the recent past, and what

questions have not been answered or problems have to be solved.

c) Aim/hypothesis and objectives of the research (about one page with one overallaim/hypothesis to be followed by 3 to 5 specific objectives stated in a logical order ).

Your research aim/hypothesis should address the problems identified in the

literature review and bring new knowledge or insights to the subject area. Your

objectives should list the specific tasks which will be carried out to achieve your

research aim or test your hypothesis.

d) Research methodologies (about one page and a half on major methods such as


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laboratory work, case studies, interviews, surveys, using secondary materials and

statistics, desktop based review, etc.) Some justification and practical details are

expected on each methodology proposed. The proposed methods should help to

achieve all the research objectives and its aim.

e) Anticipated findings/contributions to knowledge (about half page) In this section

you can refer back to the literature review and justification and indicate yourpotential contribution to the research area.

f) Working programme and time table (about half page). Detailed planning ofresearch stages should be provided. You may use a diagram instead of text

description.

g) Planned chapter structure: (about half page) brief description of main contents ofeach chapter.

h) References: (about one page) This should include the major references you haveused in your literature review and should cover major policy documents, key texts

and journal articles on your topic.

Documents

School Diss Guide