Postgraduate Course: Dissertation MSc by Research Political Theory (PLIT11009)

Course Outline
School	School of Social and Political Science	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course type	Dissertation	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	60	ECTS Credits	30
Summary	The dissertation is an extended piece of independent scholarship in the field. It is the main work in which students demonstrate achievement of crucial learning outcomes for the MSc by Research, drawing on relevant material covered in the taught element of the degree and through supervision. The dissertation can be up to 15,000 words in length. The nature of a dissertation for the MSc by Research may vary. For students proceeding to a PhD or MPhil, it will normally take the form of a full research proposal. In this case, it will contain an extended review of the literature, establishing the research questions, plus an extended discussion of the likely research design and any methodological issues. Alternatively, the dissertation may comprise a discrete piece of (usually empirical) research, possibly a pilot study for the eventual doctoral research. This will usually incorporate literature review, research questions, research design and methodology, data collection and analysis elements, and conclusions.
Course description	Not entered

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

Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered

Learning Outcomes
Students should: - demonstrate the ability to carry out a sustained piece of independent scholarship, involving project and time management - demonstrate the ability to frame a coherent and answerable set of research questions, to justify these in relation to existing knowledge and theories, and to demonstrate that answering them would constitute an advance on existing knowledge - achieve a command of existing knowledge in their field of research, through a critical review of relevant literature engaging with salient debates - demonstrate the ability to produce a research design capable of answering the chosen research questions - demonstrate an understanding of research methods, appropriate to the research topic and questions, taking due account of any practical, political and ethical issues affecting the conduct of their research - where relevant, demonstrate the ability to implement the chosen research design and methods of data collection and analysis - where relevant, come up with credible conclusions (eg, on the implications of a pilot study for a fuller study) - where relevant, demonstrate the ability to integrate theoretical and empirical elements - produce written scholarship in line with research and bibliographic conventions