Dissertation easier than I thought?

willhub · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:20

Hi.

I think quite a while a go I posted a thread about ******** bricks about doing my dissertation, I decided to do it on "the use of technology within cycling fitness training", and so far, sometimes it can be time consuming, I felt the most time consuming bit was doing lit review and research methods, which when finished accounted for 8,000 words.

I'm onto writing the questionnaire at the moment, almost finished it, done research into questionnaire planning and all that, and I actually am finding the work load not that high and the actual stuff on the dissertation not that challenging.

Is this bad that I'm finding it rather "easy", and perhaps I'm on track for a crap mark??

On top of the dissertation I've got a couple of exams, a advanced web development module where we have to create a "viral campaign" for the business school at uni, and a group assignment on corporate strategy of 3,000 words on a company of our choice.

Cheers.

Xiler · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:26

Nah I was the same never really found education as a whole hard. I spent very little time studying compared to others and although my dissertation was time consuming at times, it was easy.

I would advise you to push yourself a little more though as I was 3% off a first class honours, which made me wish I had put more effort in.

Disco Boy · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:26

I'd say that it is a fairly easy topic so that is probably helping...

VeNT · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:32

tbh some of the people who are able to get "good" degrees I've met make me wonder how hard they really are.

tom_e · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:32

48hours from start to finish and came out with a 2:1, just because you're finding it easy doesn't mean your mark will be crap.

Ahleckz · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:33

I've just emailed my personal development adviser about my concerns over how little I've done and the relaisation that I probably won't be able to get it in on time.

I await to see what she says, I have no idea if extensions are possible on dissertations but if so I feel I need one and feel that it ough to be granted. Otherwise, I'm up **** creek.

BluSky · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:34

A dissertation doesn't neccessarily have to be difficult. As you rightly say, the time consuming part should be the research and planning. As long as you start in plenty of time it shouldn't be a big worry.

By the time you come to write your dissertation, you should have been taught everything relevant already, and you pick your own subject so you should have a fairly strong insight into what you are writing about. For this reason it shouldn't be difficult per say, but should be 'very' time consuming as you examine every possible detail and present every reasonable argument and counter argument for your given discussion.

A dissertation therefore should be your 'stand out' piece of work. Based on a subject you choose, and researched and completed to the best of your ability.

BluSky · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:43

Ahleckz said:
I've just emailed my personal development adviser about my concerns over how little I've done and the relaisation that I probably won't be able to get it in on time.

I await to see what she says, I have no idea if extensions are possible on dissertations but if so I feel I need one and feel that it ough to be granted. Otherwise, I'm up **** creek.

When I did my dissertation (Computer Games Development), it was in two parts:

Part 1: Development project where I had to make a game / working prototype. (the type of game we produced and algorithms / techniques to use were left up to us)

Part 2: 20,000 word written dissertation talking about the project, why I chose to make the type of game I did, explaining the algorithms / techniques I had used and presenting all possible alternatives etc. Discussing what went well, what didn't, how it could / should be improved, basically examining every little detail.

Obviously part 2 couldnt be started until part 1 was at least usable. Both parts needed to be deemed complete to even get a passing grade. I finished part 1, exactly 6 days before the whole lot was due in. I managed to to write an 18000 word part 2 in those 6 days and passed with 67% ish.

My point is, the situation is never hopeless, no matter how little time you have left

Djwayne · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:44

Our dissertation was split into 3 milestones to keep us on track and tbh that helped.

I did a lot of research for mine and probably only spent a week writing my final report however the reports from the previous milestones specification and research were a big part of the final report as were notes i had made as i went along. Think i ended up with just over 100 page report plus code and had a good mark for it.

Jay794 · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:47

How easy your dissertation is completely depends on the title.

"The Impact Terrorism has had on Tourism: Is Dark Tourism Real"

Looking back I should have narrowed it down a bit

10-12,000 words is way to much to write anyway, I finished at 8000, oh and the conclusion?

Yes, Terrorism has impacted on tourism, but not much. The week after 9/11 international flights only dipped by 10%, the second week after they were back up normal

Ahleckz · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:49

Jay794 said:
How easy your dissertation is completely depends on the title.

"The Impact Terrorism has had on Tourism: Is Dark Tourism Real"

Looking back I should have narrowed it down a bit

10-12,000 words is way to much to write anway, I finished at 8000

Interesting topic, what were your findings?

Jay794 · 7 Mar 2012 at 11:50

Ahleckz said:
Interesting topic, what were your findings?

Dark Tourism is really interesting, but try finding a postcard of Auschwitz that says "Wish you were here"

BlackCoat2k10 · 7 Mar 2012 at 12:50

My Final dissertation project was around 65k words. I had to provide the writeup, research, designs, testing, manuals.. the whole shibang. It was time consuming yes but difficult, no. If you find a dissertation difficult then you simply just dont comprehend the subject matter.

bhavv · 7 Mar 2012 at 12:54

VeNT said:
tbh some of the people who are able to get "good" degrees I've met make me wonder how hard they really are.

Most other than straight Physics / Chemistry / Maths / Engineering are easy peasy lemon squeezy, even easier than A levels and even those are dumbed down to moron levels now.

There was actually one guy on my course in my first year who had a chat with me after the exams, and he was complaining about how hard they were and that he really struggled to answer anything. I pretty much put on my poker face and replied:

'What the heck? It was simplistic and easy, all you had to do was revise any two of five topics and scribble on a few pages of A4'.

The look on his face was priceless, even funnier was that he was one of only two people on the course that didnt make it into year 2

Oh I wasnt trying to mean, but seriously if you cant pass a first year biology exam, your brain is a pile of fail. Even if you do manage to pass them, you only need to be above average and capable of just reading, writing and remembering (like me

).

touch · 7 Mar 2012 at 12:54

willhub said:
I decided to do it on "the use of technology within cycling fitness training"

Thats very similar to mine (in title, not in method)

I made an android GPS app for cycling and compared the results to a dedicated GPS tracker

sigma · 7 Mar 2012 at 13:05

I don't know how people do it all in one go.

We have to meet our tutor on more than one occasion, give them updates (lit review was ages ago then another chapter last month) and get forms signed off etc.

bhavv · 7 Mar 2012 at 13:08

Most dissertations at uni (Well, anything that is a BA) is just a single written piece or portfolio that can be done a few days before its deadline and passed with an A+.

sigma · 7 Mar 2012 at 13:09

bhavv said:
Most other than straight Physics / Chemistry / Maths / Engineering are easy peasy lemon squeezy, even easier than A levels and even those are dumbed down to moron levels now.

You must be a genius then, or you went to a crap uni.

bhavv said:
Most dissertations at uni (Well, anything that is a BA) is just a single written piece or portfolio that can be done a few days before its deadline and passed with an A+.

So yeah, a crap uni/course?

We have to show that we've added something of value to a topic, it's pretty hard to make something up in 2 days. Besides you have to hand in a proposal very early, in fact our subject submission was at the end of year 2, then lit review was in Nov if I remember correctly.

willhub · 7 Mar 2012 at 13:11

touch said:
Thats very similar to mine (in title, not in method)

I made an android GPS app for cycling and compared the results to a dedicated GPS tracker

What were you findings? Did you find the android GPS app was inaccurate compared to a dedicated GPS tracker?

I find Android apps awfull, I just rode to the hospital for a blood test, 2.5 miles 250ft of climbing and it rekoned I averaged 19.7mph, in reality it was about 14-15

sigma said:
I don't know how people do it all in one go.

We have to meet our tutor on more than one occasion, give them updates (lit review was ages ago then another chapter last month) and get forms signed off etc.

We had to do a proposal and an interim report, both had deadlines and marked individually and counted as 5% for proposal and 10% for interim report.

Skillmister · 7 Mar 2012 at 13:13

BluSky said:
When I did my dissertation (Computer Games Development), it was in two parts:

Part 1: Development project where I had to make a game / working prototype. (the type of game we produced and algorithms / techniques to use were left up to us)

Part 2: 20,000 word written dissertation talking about the project, why I chose to make the type of game I did, explaining the algorithms / techniques I had used and presenting all possible alternatives etc. Discussing what went well, what didn't, how it could / should be improved, basically examining every little detail.

Obviously part 2 couldnt be started until part 1 was at least usable. Both parts needed to be deemed complete to even get a passing grade. I finished part 1, exactly 6 days before the whole lot was due in. I managed to to write an 18000 word part 2 in those 6 days and passed with 67% ish.

Mine is the opposite, research part first then using that research to produce a practical project. In my case i'm doing 'efficiently creating a realistic game envionment' and while i've done loads of research most of it isn't in proper written format yet. Practical project is maybe 15% complete but cracking on fast