Programme Tutor of the relevant MSc programme and other Sociology and Cities staff.

For students taking MSc Sociology, MSc Sociology (Research), MSc Sociology (Economic Sociology), MSc Sociology (Contemporary Social Thought), MSc Political Sociology, MSc Culture and Society, MSc Human Rights, MSc Biomedicine, Bioscience and Society and MSc Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies.

The dissertation may be on any topic within the field of the MSc programme studied. Approval for the topic must be obtained from the relevant Programme Tutor.

The candidate must submit a working title and a brief Abstract of his/her intended dissertation (up to an A4 page, double-spaced, including your name not your candidate number) no later than Monday, week 8 of LT. This should be sent electronically to the MSc Sociology Administrator. Please note you must also submit the Research Ethics Review Checklist along with the Abstract. These Abstracts are the basis for an MSc dissertation Workshop that is organised for each programme. Attendance at this is optional but students are, of course, encouraged to attend.

The dissertation should reflect the candidate's own views. The dissertation may take the form of a pilot study and include limited original fieldwork. Even where the topic is substantively a literature or policy-review exercise, candidates are expected to offer original reasoned argument and interpretation and to show evidence of a competence in research methods. Guidance on topic selection and methods will normally be provided by the candidate's tutor. The dissertation is primarily a reflection of the candidate's own work and so feedback will not be given on drafts of the dissertation.

The course is assessed by the Dissertation (100%). Two hard copies of the dissertation must be submitted no later than 4pm, to the Sociology Administration Office, S219a, on the last Thursday of August if you are a full-time student or in the subsequent year if you are a part-time student. A third copy is to be posted on Moodle. Dissertations may be up to and no more than 10,000 words, must be word-processed and be fully referenced using a recognised citation system.