Students should
begin considering potential topics as soon as possible,
and should certainly be moving towards a firm title
and subject during or soon after the Christmas vacation.
During the Spring semester, the programme director allocates
each student a dissertation supervisor: not necessarily
an expert in the field of the Dissertation (depending
on the topic chosen), but an advisor to assist with
planning, ideas and structure as your work progresses.
Regular consultation with this supervisor continues
until late May, by which time a plan of work for the
dissertation should have been designed and discussed,
and some written work should have been submitted.
You should be aware that academic staff may be out of
Edinburgh conducting their own research during June,
July and August. This is why it is very important to
meet with your supervisor before this period. After
the end of May further supervision is scheduled in discussion
with the supervisor; consultation and supervision during
June, July, and August may happen by e-mail. You may
expect around 2 further supervision consultations, either
in person or by email, during this period. The motivation
for the project and its direction throughout the research/writing
period from June to August must come from students themselves.
Marks for coursework
essays count, alongside the mark for the dissertation,
towards the final grading of your degree, and we cannot
award two marks for the same piece of work. You should
keep this in mind when selecting topics for your coursework
essays: do not write on subjects that you wish to include
in your dissertation.
Further details
about style, presentation, submission and assessment
criteria which are relevant to both course essays and
the dissertation are available online.
The
Dissertation must be submitted to the Programme Secretary
(two copies) on or before the prescribed deadline.
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