Section

Details/ guidance

Title page

The title should be clear and succinct and accurately describe the contents of the Dissertation. Do not write the abstract or summary on the title page or the recommendations or conclusions.

The title page must also include:

• Your name

• The date

• The name of the course

• The name of the department and University

• Any statements of confidentiality (page ii).

Abstract

The abstract should succinctly set out what the Dissertation has accomplished in terms of:

The stated aims and objectives What it looked at (the problems)

How it looked at it (research methods, concepts, models) What was found

The limitations of the research

What conclusions can be drawn and recommendations made.

Keep the abstract brief (around 250 words); it should not be too detailed, but must provide the salient points of the research. Remember, you

cannot write the abstract until the report is finished!

List of Contents

List of Contents including page no

List of Figures and/or Tables (if applicable)

List of Figures and /or Tables including page no

The complete dissertation: an executive Summary including introduction, a discussion and summation of the research findings, a reflection on the dissertation process and a recommendation on how you would do the dissertation differently.

Your executive summary is a concise explanation of your dissertation that includes:

• A definition of topic area of your interest including research aim and objectives (1000 words). The introduction should state the purpose and intention of the project by setting out:

o Background history/information

o The detailed aims and objectives

o Identification of the problem

o Any definition of terms (if no Glossary)

o The general methodology to be used in the investigation

o Keep it brief and stick to the significant points only.

For those counting words, remember that appendices are useful for providing supplementary information and backing up arguments and discussions and can be excluded from the word count.

• A discussion and summation of the research findings (2500 words)

• A reflection on the dissertation process and a recommendation on how you would do it differently (1000 words)

Conclusions (and Recommendations where appropriate)

Conclusions and recommendations can be combined or dealt with separately though the latter is more usual in larger research projects. They should be clear and precise and they are better listed with headings. Conclusions should draw out the implications from the main body of the work. They should always relate to the conceptual/theoretical framework of the report and you should not introduce new material into this section.

Recommendations should be based only on the explicit conclusions and should describe a clear course of action.

References

A list of all sources cited in the text should be provided at the end of the document following the Harvard Reference Systems, e.g. EJIS style (European Journal of Information System). The university library web site has “A guide to Academic referencing” at http://lrweb.beds.ac.uk/help/guide- to-ref.

Appendix

You must Include all three stages of submission in appendix A. Failure to do so will result a fail grade.

Staged submission: literature review, 2,000 words Staged submission: Method of analysis, 1,500 words Staged submission: Analysis and Findings 2000 words

Students are urged to include the final versions of the staged submissions in the appendix. You may have submitted a draft version of stage submissions but you are required to include the final, updated and revised staged submissions based on your learning form the master classes and your supervisory meetings.