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Dissertation
Welcome to the Service Industries Dissertation module.
For many people a dissertation is a step into the unknown, something they know that has to be done but something they think they have little experience of. This is not really true because the dissertation is an academic device that pulls together many of the things you have studied in previous years. Because of this many staff consider it to be the culmination of your undergraduate studies.
To begin with it may be useful to say what a dissertation is.
What is a dissertation?
There are many definitions of what a dissertation is and these vary according to the level of study (a dissertation at undergraduate level is likely to be defined differently to a dissertation at PhD level). In reviewing these definitions though it becomes apparent that there are some common ideas about what constitutes an undergraduate dissertation. Some of the phrases and ideas that occur regularly, and so can be regarded as ‘key' to what a dissertation is, are:
• Extended or prolonged piece of work.
• Independent study.
• Involves you selecting a subject or topic.
• Defining your own questions.
• Is scholarly.
• Is original - i.e. something that you do for yourself (and not ‘something that has never been done before').
• Involves doing research.
• Involves collecting data and analysing it.
• Involves a supervisor.
Pulling these ideas together my definition of a dissertation is:
‘an extended piece of writing, supported by a supervisor, on a topic chosen by the student that is the result of the student's own independent and in-depth research'.
(T. Webb)
Some people also call a dissertation a thesis or paper - but we shall use the word dissertation. However it is not a report.
A useful clue as to what a dissertation involves can be found in the origin of the word. Dissertation comes from the Latin verb ‘dissertare' which means ‘to debate'. In turn the word ‘debate' implies a discussion involving different points of view of ideas. A dissertation therefore will not only examine a subject in detail but will discuss and review the various points of view about it.
The dissertation is expected to be an original and current piece of work - this means that you cannot submit a piece of work that has already been submitted for another purpose either at TVU or in another institution. So, for example, if you have completed a research type project for an HND or an essay on a chosen topic in another module you cannot submit it for your dissertation.
Module summary
The dissertation is an opportunity for the student to study a topic that is of personal interest, will develop both their knowledge and skills of that topic and their research skill, and may be beneficial to their future career plans. The student identifies their area of research and develops research questions to be answered or hypotheses to be tested in the industry context relevant to their course of study. The dissertation that results from this research will be a professionally presented piece of work that demonstrates the student's abilities in critical thinking and writing and their skills in completing an independent self managed piece of research.
