Department of Politics & International Relations

Undergraduate
Dissertation
Handbook
2020-21

For all third year finalist students taking the Module:

PO53014B Dissertation

Department of Politics and International Relations

Goldsmiths, University of London, New Cross, London
020 7919 7740 politics@gold.ac.uk
CONTENTS

1. Dissertation Timetable 2020-21

2. Important Deadlines

3. The Dissertation

4. Studying for your Dissertation

5. Format of the Dissertation

6. Dissertation Proposal

7. Frequently Asked Questions

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1. Dissertation Timetable for 2020-21

Structure of lectures and workshops

Summer Term 2019

May 2019

• Pre-recorded presentation ‘Getting prepared’

This was held as an introduction to UG Dissertation module for all Second Year
students

Autumn Term 2020

Week 1

• Pre-recorded Lecture ‘Introduction to the course’ (via Panopto, VLE module page)
• Q&A online session – Friday 09 October, 4:30-5:30 pm, (via Teams)

What to expect from this module and what are the next steps? What is a dissertation? How
to choose a dissertation topic? Why do some types of research require ethics clearance?

Week 2
• Pre-recorded presentations: ‘Parallel Sessions’ (via Panopto, VLE module
page)

These session will discuss how to write a dissertation in the specific subfields of
Politics, and to illustrate the different theoretical and methodological
approaches that need be taken to write dissertations in these different areas.

Session Topic
Podcast 1 Political Theory (Prof Saul Newman)
Podcast 2 Political Economy (Prof Will Davies)
Podcast 3 The Study of the International; Conflict, Intervention and
Governance (Dr Jeremy Larkins)

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Week 3

• Pre-recorded Lecture ‘Dissertation Proposal: Planning your project’ (via

Panopto, VLE module page)
• Q&A online session – Friday 23 October, 4:30-5:30 pm, (via Teams)

This workshop will cover ‘How to write a proposal’.

Submission of signed-off topic and supervision forms is due by the end of this week on
Friday 23 October 2020, 4pm.

Weeks 4 & 5

Students work on their dissertation proposal.

Submission of Dissertation Proposals is due by the end of week 5, on Friday 6th

November 2020, 4pm.

Weeks 6-10

Students meet with supervisors to discuss feedback on proposals and independent

work on the dissertation.

Spring Term 2020

Week 3 – tbd

• Pre-recorded Lecture ‘Writing a dissertation’ (via Panopto, VLE module page)

• Q&A online session – date tbd (via Teams)

This workshop will cover different aspects of the writing process, potential problems,
and the final process of organizing, editing, and getting the dissertation ready for
submission.

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 Week 4 – tbd

• ‘Careers and Employability’ online session – date tbd (via Teams)

This workshop is run by Sophia Martin (Careers Service - Employer Engagement) and
will be used to draw out the employability related skillset and demonstrate how to
utilise within a job application and CV.

Week 5-10: Rest of the Spring Term

For the rest of the Spring Term, students work independently, with advice from your
allocated supervisor where required, towards completion of the dissertation.

Recommended Reading:

• Booth, W. et al., 2003. The Craft of Research. 2nd.

• Rose, Gillian, 2016. Visual methodologies: An introduction to Researching with
Visual Materials, Sage.
• Silbergh, D M., 2001, Doing Dissertations in Politics, London, Routledge.
• Burnham, P., Lutz, K. G., Grant, W., & Layton-Henry, Z, 2008. Research
Methods in Politics. Macmillan International Higher Education.
• Johnson, J. B., Reynolds, H. T., & Mycoff, J. D, 2015. Political Science
Research Methods. Cq Press.

2. Important Deadlines

Use the summer term of your second year to think about possible dissertation
topics that might be of interest to you and begin to read widely in those areas so
that you are able, at least tentatively, to frame a research question and define your
topic by the start of your Third Year.

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 Dissertation Topic and Supervision Approval Form

In the first three weeks of Autumn Term you will be able to approach possible
supervisors by email and book a virtual appointment during their online office hours
(due to covid-19 restrictions) to discuss your ideas.
If you have agreed a topic with a member of academic staff, you must fill in a
Topic and Supervision Approval Form (available in the vle module page)
specifying topic and supervisor. The form needs to be signed off electronically by
your supervisor.

Once completed, please, submit your form using the relevant submission link in the
VLE module page by Friday 23 October 2020, 4pm.

Please note that supervisors can only take a limited number of dissertation
students and will be signing off forms on a first-come-first-serve basis.

If you have not agreed your Dissertation Tutor in advance, you can still indicate in
the form a member of staff you wish to be allocated as possible supervisor. We will
endeavour to accommodate your preference based on staff availability. This
means there is no guarantee that the supervisor will have specific expertise in the
area of your chosen research topic.
All supervisors, however, are very well qualified to supervise undergraduate
dissertations, give guidance on formulating research questions and structuring an
argument.

If you do not have a preference for a specific supervisor, you should still submit the
form indicating your topic. We will endeavour to assign you the most appropriate
supervisor based on staff availability.

Dissertation Proposal Submission Deadline – Friday 6th November 2020 by 4pm

Your proposal must be submitted to the VLE under your allocated supervisor’s name.
If you have not submitted a signed off form, you will need to upload your proposal to a
separate link ‘No supervisor’ and a supervisor will be allocated to you based on
availability and, where possible, expertise.

Dissertation Submission Deadline – tbd (May 2020) by 4pm

All work must be submitted on the VLE. Hard copy submission is not necessary.

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 The same Extenuating Circumstances guidelines apply to the Dissertation as to other
modules.

If you are interviewing people for your research, or dealing with sensitive and
potentially dangerous issues, you will need ethics clearance before you proceed with
this work.

3. The Dissertation

The Undergraduate Dissertation module is a CORE 30 credit module running over

autumn and spring and is mandatory to complete your degree.

What is the Dissertation

A dissertation is an extended piece of research and writing on a subject of your own

choosing. It is an opportunity to work independently on a single research topic that is
specifically of interest to you. It should be a pleasurable process that allows you to
explore in greater depth a question or problem which lends itself to research and
rigorous analysis. The dissertation is also useful as tangible evidence of your skills
and knowledge when you go on to seek employment or further study. It is concrete
proof of your ability to undertake a programme of study on your own and to develop
and present an extended argument.

You will be responsible for undertaking the relevant reading, planning and organising
of your research, and you will receive advice and guidance from your supervisor. A
dissertation can take many forms depending on your research question. It may
involve- amongst many possibilities- an analysis of empirical data, an engagement
with debates around political ideologies or economic theories, or an evaluation of key
themes in the politics of contemporary culture. In all cases, you will be expected to
read, analyse, and critically evaluate the primary (where relevant) and secondary
literature on your chosen topic.

Aims and Outcomes

The aims of the Dissertation course are to provide students with the opportunity:

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 1. To explore in-depth a chosen topic in the field of politics, international studies,
political economy, public policy, political theory, and the contemporary politics
of culture
2. To design and undertake a structured research project
3. To develop independent working skills to create and manage a long-term
project

After completing the dissertation, students should be able:

1. To demonstrate the ability to complete a structured research project

2. To demonstrate skills in mobilising evidence in support of a specified argument
3. To demonstrate in-depth knowledge and understanding of a chosen topic
4. To evaluate critically information from a range of literature and evidence
5. To present a coherent and well-organised piece of work

Assessment
The Dissertation is assessed by submission of two pieces of written work:

• 10% of the overall mark is allocated to a Research Proposal of 1000 words to

be submitted in the autumn term. This does not include the bibliography (see
Timetable p.3)

And

• 90% of the overall mark is allocated to the Completed Dissertation of 7,500

words to be submitted in early May. This does not include the bibliography.

Assessment Criteria
For information about how your Dissertation is assessed by markers please view the
Undergraduate marking criteria here:
https://learn.gold.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=560084

4. Studying for your Dissertation

How to Begin

In the Summer term of your second year there is a Dissertation Lecture to prepare you
for what is expected in your compulsory third year module.

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Over the summer you are encouraged to think about your dissertation topic as part of
your final year of undergraduate study. For example, study a topic that complements
your optional modules, or study a key issue from your second-year modules in greater
depth. Take the time to think about the topics, issues, and events that sparked your
interest and/or something you want to learn more about based on your potential
career interests. The UG Dissertation aims to be your ‘showcase’ piece of work, based
on all that you have learned over your undergraduate studies.

Find a Supervisor

Your dissertation supervisor will be the only academic with whom you need to have
regular contact regarding your dissertation. Before deciding your dissertation topic, it
is wise to talk to a number of Politics staff who might suggest different ways of
formulating and approaching your dissertation.

Staff profiles of academic staff members can be viewed here:

https://www.gold.ac.uk/politics-and-international-relations/staff/

Below are the areas of expertise of academic staff available in the Politics department
this year (2020-21):

Academic Area of Expertise

Andrea Mura Contemporary political theory; Critical theory; Comparative
political thought; Radical politics; Political psychology and
psychoanalysis; Italian Politics;

Bernadette Buckley The (Theoretical and Historical) Relationship between

Art, Culture and Politics; Questions related to Images of
War, Conflict and Violence; the Politics and
Performance of Everyday Life; Relations between Art,
Aesthetics, Resistance and Activism

Carl Levy Anarchism; Europe since 1945; Ideologies, Refugees and Asylum
Seekers; Italy

David Martin The Aesthetic Turn in IR; Visual Politics of Class, Race and
Gender; Postcolonial theory

Eskandar Sadeghi- Political theory, Middle East politics, Muslim politics, the politics
Boroujerdi of race, postcolonial theory

Francisco Carballo Politics of Latin America; Politics and Theory of the Global
South; Cultural Theory

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James Martin Political Theory; Rhetoric; Psychoanalysis

Jeremy Larkins International Relations Theory; Political Philosophy; Cultural

Theory; Music and Politics

Maria Ivanova International economics; Political Economy of the United States

(economic history, housing, consumerism, labour market,
monetary policy and the Federal Reserve); Monetary theory (in
particular, Marx, Keynes, Minsky, Post Keynesian theories of
money and finance); Financial crises.

Martina Tazzioli Migration; politics & technology; global politics, borders; political
theory

Michael Dutton Chinese Studies; Postcolonialism; Cultural Studies; Social Theory

Nick Taylor Political Economy; Environment; work and labour markets;

welfare policy; finance and sustainability.

Paul Gunn The Political Economy of Institutions and Governance; Public

policy; Democratic theory.

Rachel Ibreck African Politics; Human Rights Activism; Legal Activism and Non-
Violent Social Movements; the Politics of Memory; Memorialisation
and Transitional Justice; Genocide and Ethnic violence;
International Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding.

Raj Pandey Gender and Feminism; Politics and Popular culture; Japanese
Studies

Sahil Dutta Political Economy; Finance; British Politics; Global Governance

Sanjay Seth Postcolonial Theory; Social and Political Theory; Modern Indian
History and Politics; Theories from the Global South

Saul Newman Radical politics (esp. anarchism); Political theology; History of

political thought; Poststructuralism; Continental social/political
thought; Critical theory; Psychoanalysis; Democratic theory

Simon Griffiths British Politics; Party Politics; History of Political Thought (UK);
Public services

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 Will Davies Political Economy; Economic Policy/Regulation; Critical Policy
Studies; Political Theory; Critical Theory

Supervision: What to Expect

The dissertation is unlike coursework for other modules, both in that it is a piece of
self-directed research, and in that you have a supervisor. It is therefore important to
clarify the role of both the student and the supervisor.

The role of the supervisor is to help students:

- To formulate an initial research question and offer advice on initial reading

- To develop a coherent plan and a chapter framework
- To advise on the method of inquiry suitable for the specified research topic or
question

Please note there is no guarantee that the supervisor will have specific expertise in
the area of your chosen research topic. All supervisors, however, are very well
qualified to give guidance on formulating research questions and structuring an
argument. Supervisors might be able to give guidance on relevant literature, especially
at the early stage. However, the dissertation is a piece of self-directed research. This
means that the student’s research skills, including identifying relevant good quality
academic and other sources, is a very important part of what is being assessed. The
student should not rely on the supervisor to tell them what to read.

Supervision Sessions

How much of my work can I expect my supervisor to read before final submission?

Your supervisor will read a full draft of the Introduction, plus bullet point
outlines for all the chapters. You can reach an agreement with your supervisor for
the deadline for submitting the draft Introduction and bullet points, but this should be
no later than mid-March.

Each student can expect up to 120 minutes (usually 4x30 minute) tutorials for their
dissertation across the Autumn and Spring terms. However, it is important to stay in
touch with your supervisor, informing her/him of your progress, and seeking advice
regarding any difficulties you might encounter.

Please note: At all times throughout the process, the responsibility lies with the student
to contact and arrange meetings with their supervisor.

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Also, be aware that, given the current context, supervision tutorials are likely to be
one on one virtual meetings. Please, talk to your supervisor for further information and
details.

Choosing a Topic

The field of politics as defined within the department is one that accommodates a wide
range of approaches, and allows for an exploration of diverse themes, ranging from
questions to do with institutions and governments, conflict and resolution, and debates
within political theory to the politics of race, gender, class and their manifestations in
contemporary popular culture. Likewise, the field of economics can range- to give but
two examples- from an investigation into the causes of the decline in long-term
interest rates since the 1980s, to an analysis of the role of the European Monetary
Union in the Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis of late 2009.

It is important that you choose a topic that is of interest to you. You will spend over two
terms working on your dissertation and it is vital to choose a topic that can sustain
your interest for this time.

Choose something that is doable within the word limit, and that is neither too broad
nor too narrow. “Can poverty be abolished” is obviously too broad, while “What is
Public/Private partnership?” is too narrow and descriptive. Choose a topic that has a
wide range of secondary sources on the subject. If it is too obscure there may not be
enough academic literature with which you can engage.

Remember that any topic can lend itself to a variety of approaches. Let us take
poverty as an example. You might ask “How successful was the Microcredit Initiative
in Bangladesh in alleviating poverty?” Here you will need to produce evidence-based
analysis of the particular programme and its policies to evaluate whether or not it was
successful.

However, a very different approach is possible. You might ask “When and why did
poverty become part of public policy and public debate in Britain?” This might lead you
to engage with Foucauldian concepts of governmentality and the management of
populations, in order to understand how poverty came to be thematised in political
discourse.

Examples of questions addressed in past dissertations:

1. Do political parties still have significance in politics today?

2. What is the role of the media in influencing the way people vote in the U.K or
the U.S?
3. What does the musical Hamilton tell us about the intersections of the politics of
race, immigration, and gender in the U.S?

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 4. How might we account for the rise of neo-fascism in contemporary Italy?
5. How does black women’s hair function as the site for articulating issues and
anxieties around race, gender and identity?
6. Has the Arab Spring radically altered the geopolitics of the Middle East?
7. How have art and popular culture mediated the war on terror?

What do we expect of a dissertation?

In an undergraduate dissertation, you are not expected to produce a work of great

originality. What you need to demonstrate is that you have formulated a good research
question, identified some of the major issues that are at stake for the topic you have
chosen, consulted a wide range of secondary (and where relevant, primary) sources
to argue or debate these key issues, and have presented your own arguments clearly
to create a well-structured and coherent dissertation.

Dissertations are not mere opinion pieces. Rather, they provide developed and well-
supported arguments to answer a research question you have set yourself.

What you need to do is marshal evidence and draw on the available literature to
substantiate your claims. In some cases, it may be necessary to clearly stake out a
position. In other instances, this may not apply and hence is not a requirement.
Sometimes there are no right or wrong answers. For example, you may focus on how
and why at certain junctures particular practices or phenomena become politically
charged within societies, and critically engage with the ways in which diverse positions
around them come to be articulated. An inquiry of this nature is more open-ended.

Examples of Good Dissertations

Examples of good Dissertations from previous years are available on the Dissertation
VLE page:
https://learn.gold.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=10172

Organisation and planning

Without organisation and planning, you are likely to miss conceptual problems in the
argument driving your dissertation or run out of time to complete important parts of it.
To avoid these problems, you must think ahead. Organisation and planning are best
done with the assistance of your dissertation supervisor, but you will need to organise
your time carefully so that you are able to work on the dissertation at a steady pace
throughout the year, and to make the most of the supervision support that is available.

It is very important to allow sufficient time to edit your work after you have completed
your first draft. Ideally you need to have a break from your work, of at least a few days,

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 before re-reading and editing. Having a break enables you to read the work with fresh
eyes, and to see what you have actually written rather than what you think you have
written. You need to edit your work to ensure that the work is within the specified word
limit, and to improve the clarity of expression and argument. You then need to proof-
read the work carefully to check for grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors, and
to check that the referencing and bibliography is complete, correct and properly
formatted. All of this takes time – please allow enough time for editing and proof-
reading.

5. Format of the Dissertation

7,500 words (this does not include the bibliography)

The first page of your dissertation should include only your student number, course
code, the dissertation question, department name and date. You must not enter your
name.

The next page should be a contents page listing the titles of each chapter and the
page number at which it begins. Do ensure that all your pages are numbered
consecutively.

The main body of the dissertation should include the following:

1. Research Question
2. A one-line description of the theme of your research
3. Introduction
4. Chapters (generally around 3) numbered and with a title for each chapter
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography (this is not included in the word count)

Writing Style
Researching your dissertation will take up a considerable amount of time, but you
should not underestimate the effort you need to put into writing it. Your examiners will
assess you only on the basis of the written dissertation you submit and so you should
ensure that you consider the following issues.

Your ‘writing style’ is not extrinsic to the dissertation. Clear and concise writing will
help guide the reader through your argument and the material you are presenting.
Lack of clarity or a tendency to stray from the specific theme you are addressing will
obscure your argument. Write clearly and make sure that there is a logical structure,
such that one paragraph connects to the next through a logical progression, leading to
the development of a coherent and sustained argument. Do not ramble, and make
sure that each paragraph has something substantive to say.

Check your spelling: most word processing packages have ‘spell-check’ software and
it is highly recommended that you use it. Remember to read your text afterwards to

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 ensure that you have not accidentally switched one unrecognised word for a quite
inappropriate alternative.

Check your grammar: grammatically correct work is a minimum expectation for a

dissertation. Always ensure that you have used punctuation properly and that you
have used ‘written’ rather than ‘spoken’ English (the rules of which are always more
flexible). Almost all sentences should have a subject, an object and a verb in them. If
you have any concerns over grammar and punctuation, you can seek support at the
Academic Skills Centre in the college (see https://www.gold.ac.uk/asc/). Workshops
and tutorials begin in October and continue into the Summer Term.

Data
If you intend to conduct surveys or collect data, it might be necessary to present this
data in the form of graphs. These will be placed either in the text of your dissertation
or at the end in an ‘Appendix’. Data could be presented in the form of tabular results
(boxed) or a bar chart. Students can also carry out in-depth interviews and should use
quotes to illustrate their theoretical/policy arguments.

Please consult your dissertation supervisor for advice on the analysis and
presentation of data.

Checklist

The following checklist is provided to assist you in submitting your dissertation. It

might be worth re-reading this a couple of weeks before you submit.

Have you:

• Read through the whole document to ensure it says what you think it does?

• Checked that you have properly acknowledged other people’s work?

• Checked whether all the sources you cite have full entries in the bibliography?

• Put the title, your student number and the course code on the cover page (but
not your name)?

• Included a contents page indicating page numbers of each chapter?

6 Dissertation Proposal

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Ten percent of your final mark is allocated to a 1000 word Research Proposal. Failure
to submit will incur a mark of zero and you will not pass the module until all
components are submitted.

The Formal Proposal is an assessed piece of work and is submitted electronically on

the VLE, in the same way as assessed essays. It is not acceptable to hand the
proposal in to your dissertation tutor, by email or under his/her door. If you have not
submitted your work properly it will be not be marked.

Outline of a research proposal

The aim of the proposal is to encourage you to research and plan your dissertation in
advance of writing it. Too often work on dissertations is left to the last minute and this
results in poorly organised work with little depth or focus. The best place to start is by
asking yourself why the topic you have chosen matters, why it is worth addressing,
and what light it sheds on certain key issues or debates that the question raises. By
writing and submitting the proposal you will:

• Decide the focus of your dissertation research, including key questions and
areas to be examined
• Discuss the topic in relation to issues and debates raised by the literature on
the topic that you have identified
• Outline a provisional set of chapters and the ideas to be developed in each of
them
• Begin to start writing in the formal style required of independent academic
research

It is important that you consult your supervisor as you design and write the Formal
Proposal. However, the proposal is your responsibility.

Content
It is important to formulate a research question

Your proposal should begin with a research question that you have posed, which will
help you think about the main issues you will be addressing and allow you to
conceptualise the overall architecture of your dissertation. It might help to think of the
proposal in terms of four separate sections, under the following sub-headings.

1. Research question

2. A one-line description of the topic

3. Introduction: The first section or paragraph should state in brief the following:

• the topic of the dissertation and the question you are seeking to address
• the overall argument or direction of analysis
• how you will develop or defend this argument/analysis (with what evidence)
• what conclusions you (think you) will come to

4. Topic: The second section (or set of paragraphs) should:

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 • Outline why the topic of your research is worth addressing, and what its
overall significance might be
• Summarise the content of the relevant literature you have read so far in
order to locate your own work within a broader context, demonstrating an
understanding of the issues and debates that your chosen subject has
generated.

5. Chapter Outline: The final section should set out the intended focus of each
separate chapter. You ought to consider the following

• How will your argument be developed across successive chapters?

• What ideas/evidence will be set out in each chapter?
• What kind of research activity (historical background reading, searching for
items on a certain topic, developing a theoretical or analytical framework,
analysing data, etc) is appropriate to each chapter?

6. Conclusion

7. Bibliography: (the bibliography will not be included in the 1000 word-count)

Your proposal will be graded according to the success with which you present and
discuss the content of your dissertation. We understand that your research may lead
to subsequent changes to the dissertation, which might deviate (sometimes quite
significantly) from your original proposal. The proposal is there to help define the
project at the outset, after initial reading and reflection, but will, in most cases, evolve
and change as further research is undertaken and the ideas take clearer shape.

Remember, the Formal Proposal relates to Aims 1 and 2, and Outcomes 1 and 4 of
the module Aims and Outcomes.

7 Frequently Asked Questions

What are the deadlines for this module?

Proposal submission deadline: Friday 6h November 2020, at 4pm
Dissertation submission deadline: tbd, May 2020, at 4pm

How is my Dissertation and Dissertation Proposal assessed?

For information about how your Dissertation is assessed by markers please view the
Undergraduate marking criteria here:
https://learn.gold.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=560084

Who will mark my Dissertation?

Your Dissertation will be marked by your supervisor and second-marked by another

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academic member of staff with relevant expertise.

How do I submit my Dissertation Proposal and the Dissertation?

Your Dissertation and Dissertation Proposal must be submitted online, under the
name of your supervisor, via the submission link on the module VLE page here:
https://learn.gold.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=10172

How do I apply for Late Submission or Deferred Assessment?

You can find full information about applying for Extenuating Circumstances here:
https://learn.gold.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11276

When and how will I receive my mark and feedback?

The Department endeavours to return marks and feedback within five weeks of the
date of submission (three weeks for Late Submissions with approved Extenuating
Circumstances). Marks and feedback are obtained by logging back in to the
submission link once marks have been released.

What happens if I fail to hand in the Proposal or Dissertation on time?

Unless you have an approved Extenuating Circumstances application you will be
noted as ‘absent’ and will have to resubmit the assessment with the re-sit mark
capped at 40% maximum, as a penalty.

Where can I get help with my academic writing?

The Academic Skills Centre can help with improving your academic writing:
https://www.gold.ac.uk/asc/

Goldsmiths, University of London

New Cross
London SE14 6NW
020 7919 7171
© 2020
Department of Politics and International Relations, September 2020

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