how to concieve a dissertation
TRANSCRIPT
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Economics Dissertation
Lecture 1: Conceiving your
dissertation
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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
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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
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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
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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%
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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
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Lecture Outline
1. Teaching arrangements:
• work schedule
• supervision
2. Conceiving your dissertation
• Examples and types of dissertation
• What makes a good topic?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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]
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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/
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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…
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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?