how to concieve a dissertation

8/10/2019 How to concieve a dissertation

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Economics Dissertation

Lecture 1: Conceiving your

dissertation



Individual exam feedback

• Following a trial of new arrangements for Year 3,

the School is changing its practice for all students

• Previously, could request individual exam

feedback if:

– Failed module, or

– Mark out of line

• For 2014/15, all students can request meetingswith module convenors for individual feedback



Procedure for requesting feedback

• In January, will be one week “cooling off” period afterget marks

– Should read group feedback and look at marks by question

– If still not satisfied, have one week “window ofopportunity” to fill in form requesting individual feedback

– Must give detailed explanation of what it is you wantfeedback on (can’t argue for higher marks!)

• Module convenor will either meet with you, or

– provide feedback by e-mail (e.g. for Semester 2)

– for modules with several lecturers, indicate questions wantfeedback on, so you meet the right lecturer



Why write a dissertation?

• It gives you insight into how knowledge is generated in economics

• It gives you a chance to apply economic theories and/oreconometric techniques to real world problems

• It gives you a chance to study a topic of interest in depth

• The transferable skills it assesses may be more useful for yourcareers than those required to pass exams

• It gives more scope for creativity and provides a chance for thebest students to excel

• In recognition of the above, external examiners (and Mastersrecruiters) tend to give it a high weight in their decisions

• You will produce a serious piece of work that may be a useful partof your portfolio

• Your knowledge may be a useful talking point in job interviews orMasters applications



Distribution of marks 2013/14

Dissertation Module Advanced Development

Economics

First 29% 9%

2(i) 52% 51%

2(ii) 16% 33%Third 1% 7%

Fail 2% 0

Mean 65% 60%

S.D. 8% 7%

Min 30% 40%

Max 85% 75%



Introductory dissertation lectures -

topics

1. Conceiving your dissertation? (today)

2. Planning your dissertation (next week)

3. Conducting your literature review

4. Conducting your data analysis

5. Writing up your dissertation



Lecture Outline

1. Teaching arrangements:

• work schedule

• supervision

2. Conceiving your dissertation

• Examples and types of dissertation

• What makes a good topic?



1. Teaching arrangements

Lectures Appleton, 1pm Friday B63 LASS

(3rd to 31st October);

And Prof. Girma, Semester 2

Select dissertation field(notified of supervisor)

10th October

(17th October)

First supervision toapprove topic

At your request

(Before 14th November)

Submission of Proposaland Literature Review

12th December, noon

Second supervision toreview progress

At your request

(Before 27th March)

Final Submission ofThesis Tuesday 28

th

April, noon



Dissertation assessment

• 30% of marks will be for:

– Dissertation proposal (10%); 1000 word limit

• Lecture 2 will discuss this in detail

–

Literature review (20%); 2000 word limit• Lecture 3 will discuss this in detail

• 70% of marks will be dissertation

– 7500 word limit• this includes a 2000 word lit. review (the proposal is history)

• Lecture 5 will discuss format in detail



Allocation of supervisors

• You should submit your Dissertation fieldsform by 10th October

– Choose one or two fields; indicating preference for

theory or econometrics – You will be matched with a supervisor according

to your choices

• You will be e-mailed the name of your

supervisor by 17th October

– You should contact them to request your firstsupervision



What to expect from your supervisor

• The dissertation is primarily an exercise in independentstudy: – You are expected to identify a topic yourself

– And to carry out the research alone

•

The supervisor will: – Meet with you twice, normally expected to last 30-40 minutes

– Give you feedback and guidance on:• Your proposed topic & literature review

• A piece of work in progress that you submit

•

The supervisor will not: – Supply you with a dissertation topic

– Read entire drafts of your dissertation



1st Supervision meeting

• You should e-mail your supervisor to set up the

meeting, to be held by 14th Nov.

• At least 48 hours before the meeting you should

e-mail him/her a draft research proposal

• The meeting will be to give you feedback on the

draft proposal

• At start of semester 2, written feedback will beprovided on your final proposal and literature

review



2nd Supervision meeting

• In semester 2, e-mail your supervisor to arrangeyour second supervision meeting – Hold meeting by 30th March

• The meeting will review work in progress – opportunity to raise specific problems

– or just get “quality control”

• At least 48 hours before the meeting, you shoulde-mail your supervisor some written work to read – could be a write-up of some empirical tables

– or an extract of a key part of the thesis (max 2000words)



Where to get admin information

• On the Moodle module webpage, there is:

– A Word document giving guidance on writing thedissertation

–Copies of the 5 introductory lecture slides

– Sample dissertations

• Dr Appleton’s office hours are 10amWednesdays and 1pm Fridays

– Feel free to drop in to talk

– Or e-mail [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Carroll Round 2014-15

• Georgetown University conference on UG economicsresearch and policy-making, April 16-19, 2015

– Submit abstract: 30-40 selected highly competitive

• School will cover feed and contribute to travel costs forup to two successful applicants

– Georgetown will contribute to travel and coveraccommodation & meals

• Get supervisor’s approval & submit abstract to DrAppleton by 28th November

• More information available from:

http://carrollround.georgetown.edu/





2. Conceiving your dissertation

• Perhaps the hardest part of doing research is

finding a good research question

– You have a whole term to finalise your proposal

• Reading the literature helps map out a research

area & identify a question

– Hence setting the proposal and literature concurrently

• We will look at what is a dissertation, examples ofpast dissertations and types of dissertation

– Conclude by considering what makes a good topic



You have time…

• Your immediate task (for next Friday) is toidentify the broad field(s) of economics that yourdissertation falls in – You can put two fields if topic spans two or you are

unsure – We aim to allocate you a supervisor in one field

• By first supervision (mid-Nov), you should have adraft proposal – Made function of first supervision is to discuss this

• Topic need not be finalised until early Dec. – But will need to review literature this term



What is a dissertation?

• a report on piece of research you have conducted

• an opportunity to describe and comment oncurrent research

•

a chance for an in-depth study on a topic thatinterests you

• a voyage of discovery

• something you can include in your portfolio of

work for employers or a Masters• only 15 credits (150 hours work)

– approx 4 weeks full time study



More examples

Title – all these and those on previous slide are available

to download from Moodle

Sub-discipline

Are smarter people more procedure invariant? An

investigation into the effects of cognitive ability on

preference reversal

Experimental

Growth and inequality in India Development

Consumption and growth in Asia and Europe Macroeconomics

Hydro plant Nam Theun 2 in Laos Environmental

An investigation of the factors affecting house prices

in China

Monetary & Financial

GP incentives Health

Which consent system should a government

implement? An economic model of behaviour

Public



Types of UG dissertations

Type Description Pros and cons

Empirical Centres around a piece of

original econometric analysis

(see Lecture 4)

Often original

Demonstrates technical skills

Data availability?

Field may be crowded

Theoretical Either modifies a piece of theory

or applies it to a new problemCan have element of originality

Demonstrates technical skills

Technically demanding?

May be hard to carve out a niche

Literature

review

Provides a synthesis and critical

analysis of the state of currentresearch in a given area,

( see Lecture 3)

“Safe choice”

But not the “easy choice” as can behard to add value & demonstrate

technical skills

Policy

analysis

Brings economic theory and

evidence to bear on a current

issue of economic policy

Often well focussed question

Lack of key information?

Can be hard to demonstrate

technical skills



What makes a good topic?

• Important(? ) – Ideally but note Larry Summers versus Karl Marx

• Interesting(?) – Ideally current issue & on the frontier of research, but in

practice research often chips away at edges of knowledge• Well defined

– Not too broad or vague: ideally pose a single question

• Feasible –

In terms of data availability and time needed.• Grounded

– link to an existing module and to scholarly literature, butnote 2013/14 prize winner…



Conclusions

• Start thinking of your dissertation topic now

– Identify preferred field(s) by end of next week

– Think what type of dissertation you want to write

• Next lecture will cover planning dissertation

How to find literature

How to find data

How your dissertation will be marked

• Any questions?

how to concieve a dissertation

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