Undergraduate Course: Dissertation (MA International Relations) (PLIT10057)

Course Outline
School	School of Social and Political Science	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate)
Course type	Dissertation	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	40	ECTS Credits	20
Summary	Dissertations are worth 40 credits and are compulsory for students taking an International Relations degree. The dissertation may be on an empirical or theoretical topic related to International Relations. Research can be wholly or largely library-based or can involve empirical data collection. Dissertations can relate to any International Relations teaching or research area, altought the topic will have to be approved by the Dissertations Convener. Students should discuss a topic for their dissertation with a relevant member of staff during the summer term of their Junior Honours year.
Course description	a. Academic Description Dissertations are compulsory for students taking single Honours Politics or single Honours International Relations and are open to all those taking Politics as part of a Joint Honours degree. A number of Joint Honours degrees have a compulsory dissertation project, which students may opt to write either in Politics or in their other subject area. The dissertation is 10,000 words long and may be on an empirical or theoretical topic related to IR. Research can be wholly ż or largely ż library-based or can involve empirical data collection. b. Outline Content This course consists in: 1) Full-class meetings Students are expected to attend the full-class meetings convened by the Dissertation Convener. These are intended to convey important information necessary to the smooth development and completion of the dissertation, as well as offering the opportunity for an exchange of ideas between the students as a group, and with the Dissertations Convener. 2) Small group workshops Small group workshops are organized three times through the year. During these workshops students will work on practical skills with other students and tutors. Topics include writing literature reviews, building a timeline, structuring the dissertation, effective writing and writing an abstract. c. Student experience Students submit short dissertation proposals at the beginning of the academic year and are allocated supervisors by the Dissertation Convener. They are expected to attend the full class meetings and small group workshops organized by the Dissertation Convener, as well as work with their supervisor towards the completion of the project. Supervisors give advice on practical issues such as: the subject and title of the dissertation, its organisation and structure, on source material and bibliography. Supervisors will comment upon dissertation outlines, chapter plans and timetables, and provide feedback on the components of the formative assessment. Supervisors are not expected to comment on the final draft: a dissertation is intended to demonstrate a studentżs ability to work independently.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Full Year
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 400 ( Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 392 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Feedback	Students will be offered advice and feed-forward on all the components of the assessment for this course: in the full class meetings and workshops preceding deadlines, via LEARN, and by appointment with supervisors and/or the Dissertation Convener. Feedback will be provided for both components of the formative assessment and students are expected to incorporate it in their text. The markers of the dissertation will offer comments on the final text.
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
We would expect students to: - deepen knowledge in specific topic related to Interational Relations - develop independent research skills - develop further ability to think critically