The Dissertation Thread

Yeah i think it is down to University preference, website based referencing is a bit of a trouble spot apparently, from what i've heard from my tutor. :)
 
I've never been faulted either.

I guess web addresses are a grey area but as long as it follows the same style and is easy to follow I doubt there should be a problem.

Whatever you do though, don't reference wikipedia! :p

I actually had a friend here at university who didn't think referencing was 'important' or actually know how to do it. He spent the best part of an hour arguing with me over it but he learnt his lesson when he got his work back though, lol.

Searches I made in google:

IPCC
Global Warming
etc

I don't care what you searched for in google!!
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...you get the idea. Needless to say I creased up when I saw it.
 
arrond said:
We sometimes wish to maintain and distribute a list of all useful research URLs on a particular topic. This project is to develop a tool to regularly scan the search engines for a particular set of keywords, maintain a database of valid URLs, assist in their classification and present them on a research website. Other researchers could then find out the state of the current research on the particular topic.

So far nearly finished the implementation and about 12,000 words in. Still got to write up implementation, evaluation and a conclusion.
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I couldn't write 12,000 words about that! :o What exactly have you included out of curiousity...i'd struggle thinking of things to type?
 
I'm currently on 10,540, which is good but bad, as im on the important bit and close to going 10% over my limit... noooo!

I think i'd be done by 12,000, im not sure if i'd be marked down for this, as its supposed to be 10,000 +/-10%, what do you think?

Just a general question, you guys are not my dissertation tutor obviously, haha :)
 
Ours is supposed to be 4-7k words wise, but many of mates who graduated last year wrote well over (around 9-11k) and they still graduated so I guess it just depends on your tutor!
 
ask your tutor/supervisor but the general rule is 10% +/-. it easier to write loads as oppose to writing less as it hard to determine what to keep in. lol
 
Hugogo said:
So its that time of year and i expect many of you are stuck inside doing your dissertations like me!

Just thought id make a little support group for all of us to bang our heads on the proverbial wall.

It could be worse you could be me with 15,000 words left to write. Oh and a programming project too.

Hows everyones going? Wish you were dead yet?
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Mine is going well, I quite like writing my dissertation :eek: . There are no limits / minimums here. But mines circa 80 pages at the moment. It's a maths post grad dissertation. The trick is starting right from the off, and keep adding to it as you go along. It's surprising how it builds up and the amount of times I've been looking back at it to remember certain methods! :D

I use TexShop on OS X, its excellent, I'd fully recommend it.

Some of my top tips!
1) Don't skip the formatting, do it straight away, as when you see it looking good it'll spare you on to do more.
2) Keep the waffle to a minimum, write it like an academic paper
3) If you stuck, then try a completely different method, even if it's not what you should be doing it always looks good to see that you've considered different approaches. And you never know one of them might be great!

Cheers

DaveM
 
Right, I've just gone and found a handout I got last year. It says to do the online thing like this:

J, Smith. (2007) Title, http://www.webaddress.co.uk (Accessed on: 5th April 2007)

but saying that, looking online at other guides etc, there seems to be an awful lot of leeway considering that it's all 'Harvard'.

I've always referenced books in this manner:

In text: (Smith, 2007: xi) or (Smith, 2007: 177) or (Smith et al, 2007: 177) etc

In references:

Smith, J. (2007) Title of Book, Publisher, Place Published.

where online I've seen guides suggest:

Smith, J. 2007. Title of Book, Place Published, Publisher.

etc.

I guess it's just down to each department/school's preference. As long as you're accurately referencing though, they don't really have much to complain about.
 
Nix said:
Right, I've just gone and found a handout I got last year. It says to do the online thing like this:

J, Smith. (2007) Title, http://www.webaddress.co.uk (Accessed on: 5th April 2007)

but saying that, looking online at other guides etc, there seems to be an awful lot of leeway considering that it's all 'Harvard'.

I've always referenced books in this manner:

In text: (Smith, 2007: xi) or (Smith, 2007: 177) or (Smith et al, 2007: 177) etc

In references:

Smith, J. (2007) Title of Book, Publisher, Place Published.

where online I've seen guides suggest:

Smith, J. 2007. Title of Book, Place Published, Publisher.

etc.

I guess it's just down to each department/school's preference. As long as you're accurately referencing though, they don't really have much to complain about.
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TBH ALWAYS use bibtex or similar to generate your references. It's the postgrad norm! :p
 
I did around 18k words for my MPhys dissertation a few years ago. Came to around 80 pages as it had a fair few full page graphs and diagrams in it.
 
Nix said:
I guess it's just down to each department/school's preference. As long as you're accurately referencing though, they don't really have much to complain about.
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I got something pretty similar from my uni, it seems that as long as the style you use is consistent and easy to understand the actual format doesn't matter quite so much.

Blokey57 said:
I think i'd be done by 12,000, im not sure if i'd be marked down for this, as its supposed to be 10,000 +/-10%, what do you think?
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You might get marked down above the 10% leeway but it shouldn't be too harsh, I think at Abertay it is around a grade for every 10% or so. I find it is normally easier to condense down from too many words than to expand from too few so you can cut out the segments that don't add hugely to the overall piece. :)
 
DAVEM said:
TBH ALWAYS use bibtex or similar to generate your references. It's the postgrad norm! :p
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Did you guys all get given Bibtex etc by your uni for doing your dissertation?
 
my final year project involves writing a content management system and then somehow writing a 60page report on it. A serious amount of work!
 
semi-pro waster said:
I got something pretty similar from my uni, it seems that as long as the style you use is consistent and easy to understand the actual format doesn't matter quite so much.
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That's what I've found. For emerging sources as it were, such as online, even if there's an ISO Harvard Standard it can and will still vary; so consistency is the key. As long as it's clearly acknowledges the reference in an understandable format it's fine :).


semi-pro waster said:
You might get marked down above the 10% leeway but it shouldn't be too harsh, I think at Abertay it is around a grade for every 10% or so. I find it is normally easier to condense down from too many words than to expand from too few so you can cut out the segments that don't add hugely to the overall piece. :)
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It's similar at Dundee. My dissertation had to be a minimum of 10,000 and a maximum of 12,000 words; either side of that tolerance what penalised by a loss of class.
 
SideWinder said:
I couldn't write 12,000 words about that! :o What exactly have you included out of curiousity...i'd struggle thinking of things to type?
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Ive had to write up everything i do so first i did a research report on what software packages, programming languages, how research websites should look, how search engines work etc. Then i designed the system from start to finish also in the form of a report which included website structure, storyboards, design issues, database design, pseudocode, document all prototyping activities etc. Now im near completion of the actual tool and website so next i have to write up waht i did to create the tool and website, then evaluate it using chosen techniques, then finally write a conclusion. Also a section on future enhancements and recommendations :)

So its practical as well as typing everything up. Hope this answers your question ;)
 
Jeez you lot started early!!

I wouldn't worry to be honest

Did mine in 48 hours and got one of the best resluts on my course,

it is all about planning though, once youve done the prep the write ups a doddle!
 
AthlonTom said:
Jeez you lot started early!!

I wouldn't worry to be honest

Did mine in 48 hours and got one of the best resluts on my course,

it is all about planning though, once youve done the prep the write ups a doddle!
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what???! i'm assuming u did all the research, analysis and findings before hand etc?
 
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