Dissertation Document Guidelines

MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (specialist

pathway)

2022/2023
Guidelines for the staged MSc Advanced Clinical Practice Dissertation )

Module Code: The Dissertation Two

elements of assessment:
Dissertation – 5,000 words (85%)
Oral presentation – 20 minutes (15%)

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Dissertation document submission requirement

We only require an electronic version of your dissertation, saved as a PDF. This must contain
all the pages of your dissertation in a single document file. Please note that you should
ensure that any photo images or scans are converted to JPEG files to reduce their size as
WISEflow may not be able to cope with a very large document file.

All submissions must be by the published deadline or will be considered a late submission.
You are required to complete the copyright release form and submit this within your
dissertation as an appendix. Your dissertation document will be checked by WISEflow’s
plagiarism detection software, and will be archived by the College.

Oral Presentation

Two weeks after the submission deadline students will give an oral presentation of their
dissertation. This element is not core, and comprises 15% of the marks for the module.

The oral presentation should last fifteen minutes with five minutes for questions from the
assessors. We expect you to present using PowerPoint or equivalent, and we recommend
that you produce no more than ten slides. The presentation should be structured similarly
to your written dissertation, but remember that the role of the presentation is to showcase
your research project in a way that is not possible in a written document. There is an
opportunity

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here to engage your audience and talk about your project in a more personal manner.
Consider appropriate use of images and other media. You may need to present only a
portion of your data, rather than trying to rush through all aspects of your project; this is
perfectly acceptable as long as you make clear that there are other data not included in the
presentation.

While the slide show will not be marked directly, you will be required to provide this for our
records by uploading the PowerPoint file to WISEflow on the day of the presentation.
Marking of the presentation will focus on content, clarity of information, and oral
presentation skills. Students will need to address the relevance of their project to the
degree in Advanced Clinical Practice.

General dissertation formatting

The dissertation document should be written in size 12 black font, double-spaced, with
margins no less than 15mm on all sides. Pages must be consecutively numbered at the
bottom of the page, centre or right justified. You may use colour in figures. Each chapter
should begin on a new page.

You should use in the header option to insert your student ID number (not your name),
degree name (MSc Advanced Clinical Practice), so that this appears on every page.

The word limit for the dissertation is 5,000 words. You are required to indicate the actual
word count on the title page. You must not exceed this word limit. For our programme,
word count does not include the abstract, reference list, figure and tables and their legends,
table of contents, or any of the appendices.

As indicated in the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences student handbook,
dissertations that exceed the maximum word limit will be read up to that word limit and no
further; your grade will be determined only on the basis of content within the word limit.

All figures and table must be embedded within the body of the dissertation and should be at
least half page size for figures. All figure information must be easily readable. All figures and
tables must be numbered consecutively. All figures and tables should include a concise
legend. This should contain the title of the figure and some relevant description of the
figure/table content. Where relevant, statistical information should be included in figures
and tables.

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Use of abbreviations

It is a requirement that you always identify any abbreviation at its first use ( e.g. Advanced
Clinical Practice (ACP)), and only use those that are widely accepted. Do try to minimise use
of jargon in your dissertation. You must also provide a list of all abbreviations at the
beginning of your dissertation, along with lists of all tables and figures.

Suggested section word counts

The following wordage for each of the sections is provided as an indicative guide only – this
will not be checked and will vary according to the nature of your project. Note word count
does not include headings, appendices, figure and table legends, and reference list, but
does include all in-text citations.

Abstract: No more than 300 words

Introduction: 1,000-1,500 words
Methods: 1,500 words
Results: 500 words
Discussion and Conclusion: 1,500-2,000 words

Note: This is a 60-credit module so examiners will be looking for depth of analysis.
Throughout your dissertation you are expected to provide the rationale for the decisions
you have made.

Academic writing practice

A dissertation may fail in part if the work is not written to a good standard of academic
English. This includes good English usage, coherence, organisation, correct use of
punctuation, evidence of proofreading for spelling and other errors, as well as effective data
representation in the body of the dissertation. Additionally, the required format for
citations and references must be fully compliant with the Harvard referencing standard
(British) and never a mix of other formats. Overseas students should also note that use of
decimal and comma in numerical data must comply with UK usage – 75.01kg not 75,01kg
etc.

As in formal academic writing for publication of research, you are advised to use the past
tense throughout your work: the dissertation is a report of what was accomplished.
Additionally, it is conventional to use the passive voice rather than the first person (“it was
done” rather than “I did”). Remember this is your own written work and therefore it is

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assumed that it reflects your own opinion and interpretation. Use of the first-person
construction can however be used sparingly, if required for emphasis. As you are likely to be
the only person conducting the research then you should use first person singular (“I”)
rather than the plural (“we”) that is more commonly seen in published research.

No piece of research is without limitations, and therefore these must be considered in the
appropriate sections of your discussion chapter. However, decrying the limitations of not
enough time etc. should not be overdone. If you remember to place your dissertation in the
context of a good pilot study then this sets the scene for the more obvious of these
limitations.

Ethics approval
If your project requires ethics approval via the university and/or through an outside
organisation, copies of your approval letters must be provided in your dissertation
appendix. Simply insert the electronic versions or scanned paper documents into your
dissertation.

Licencing of specialist clinical assessment tools

Use of specialist assessments under copyright/licence require both acknowledgement as
well as possibly an additional licencing or usage fee. If you do not have permission or a
licence to use through your work or institution then you should obtain written permission to
do so. You should provide evidence of permission or licencing for personal use in the
appendix of your dissertation. It is not acceptable to use a clinical assessment under
copyright without such permissions.

Data storage
Your dissertation is a large document on which you will spend a large amount of time and as
such you do not want to lose it! It is recommended that you store your written document(s)
and references on your personal OneDrive, as this is secure, backed up and accessible from
anywhere. If you choose to store your document(s) in a physical location then you must
ensure you have backed up to other places (cloud storage, USB etc). Loss of data due to IT
problems is not viewed as a legitimate reason to be granted an extension.

Research data must be stored securely. OneDrive is the recommended location, and meets
ethics requirements. If you are conducting physical data collection (e.g. paper
questionnaires) and/or have paper consent forms, you should consider appropriate secure
storage for these. Documents including participant names such as consent forms must be
kept separate from any research data to reduce the likelihood of anyone outside of the
research team identifying your participants.

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Data retention
As part of your ethical approval (if relevant) you will be asked to give details of data storage
and retention. If you have any intention to publish your data then your data must be
retained for ten years. As you will not remain beyond the end of your course, the data must
be transferred to your supervisor prior to the award of your degree. Any data that were
obtained as part of a staff research project (funded or unfunded) remains the property of
the staff member. To avoid delays and errors, we ask that all electronic research data be
stored in a OneDrive folder that is shared with your supervisor and the module lead. If there
is no intention to publish then your data should be deleted/destroyed upon the award of
your degree.

Formatting assistance
You are strongly encouraged to use the tools within Word to assist you in formatting your
dissertation. This includes generating subheadings, the Table of Contents, and lists of figures
and tables. The use of automated referencing software (RefWorks or Mendeley) with the
Word plugin is also strongly recommended to allow you to insert in-text citations and
generate a reference list. These tools may take a little time to learn but they are guaranteed
to save you considerable time and hassle in the long run, as well as substantially reducing
the likelihood of errors (for which you will be penalised).

On your dissertation title page please include the name of your specialist pathway.

The following pages provide a guide of content and format for each relevant section of the
dissertation, including the sample title page.

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 University of London
College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences
Department of Health Sciences

[Title of Project]

A Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment for the

Master of Science in Advanced Clinical Practice [pelvic floor]

By

[Name]
[Student ID number]

Project supervised by
[Name of Supervisor]

Word count:

Date of submission:

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Abstract

Not more than 300 words. This is a concise summary of the project. The abstract must state
the problem, the methods used (including the sample size), the main results including a
summary of statistics as appropriate, recommendations for future research and the
conclusion. Avoid use of citations in your abstract. You may use a structured format if
appropriate.

Key words: generate a list of 3-6 key words not found in the title.

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Acknowledgements

You should acknowledge here any particular contributions to your research project. It is
essential to recognise any input from other students, colleagues or academic staff that
allowed you to undertake the project, such as training in techniques or equipment, access
to data sets, or assistance with data collection. You may also choose to mention personal
support from friends/family/partners/pets/purveyors of caffeinated products.

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Table of Contents

Contents
Guidelines for the staged MSc Advanced Clinical Practice Dissertation (September 2021
update).................................................................................................................................... 2

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List of Tables

This should be numbered consecutively for the entire dissertation with page numbers.

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List of Figures

This should be numbered consecutively for the entire dissertation with page numbers.

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List of Abbreviations

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The Department of Health Sciences, on behalf of University of London, would like to retain
an electronic copy of your dissertation for archiving, and as a student resource that will be
made available through the Taught Programmes Office and/or virtual learning platforms.
The thesis will be electronically locked to prevent any copying or alteration of any kind.

MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice [specialist pathway]

Your Dissertation Title:

DATE:

NAME:

STUDENT ID NUMBER:

Your Electronic Signature:

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Introduction

This section provides an overview of the background to the study and places the study in
context, giving a rationale for the research. It leads up to the statement of the problem.

The introduction serves to orientate the reader to the research undertaken for the
dissertation. It may be helpful to give some history of the issue. You should introduce
relevant concepts and theories, define key terms, and give some idea of the scale and/or
importance of the topic. You may also wish to explain the reason for your personal interest
in the issue. Within this section you also need to provide a critical review of key literature to
demonstrate your knowledge of the field and to highlight the gap you seek to fill with your
research. This section should be clearly structured and organised, using appropriate
subheadings.

Remember that your dissertation may be marked by a non-specialist; it is therefore

essential to provide sufficient introductory information for them to understand key terms
and concepts. Similarly, relevant background information must be provided when critiquing
existing literature. Simple narrative reporting of studies does not fulfil the requirement of a
critical review for the MSc dissertation. Remember a critical evaluation indicates
shortcomings and strengths and possibly looks at methodological aspects adopted in
previous relevant studies. Do draw and acknowledge (by citation) any critical insights
provided by the authors in addition to your own.

Avoid the use of footnotes. The more recent the literature the better, but the timeframe of
studies you include will vary according to the field in which you are conducting your
research. For example, a study examining respiratory function following premature birth
should not include individuals born before postnatal artificial surfactant instillation became
routine clinical practice, as this was a milestone in neonatology and significantly influenced
outcomes. Equally, a stroke project may only wish to include studies conducted after
thrombolysis was introduced. In contrast, an anatomy- or physiology-based project may
draw on quite old research as the fundamental papers will have been written some time ago
(and the principles may not have changed). Where necessary use indirect citations to
acknowledge historical contexts, but the primary research should be read and cited where
possible.

There should be a concise summary of the literature which leads to the justification for your
own dissertation project.

This section culminates with your research question/hypotheses and the aims of your study.
A clear statement of the refined question and, if required, clear statements of your
hypotheses must be provided here if using inferential statistics or similar. When necessary
identify the hierarchy of your research questions and major and minor hypotheses if they
are inter-related. A substantial penalty may be incurred if your aims, research question and
hypotheses are omitted.

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While it may be tedious to state alternative (Ha) and null (H0) hypotheses, it is good practice
to make sure these are written in full. Key expressions as “significant difference (H a)”, “no
significant difference (H0)” when denoting two-tailed comparisons, or “significantly greater
than/less than” for one-tailed comparisons. There must be clear justification for use of one
tailed hypotheses. The same goes for descriptions of correlations (positive, negative, no
relationship etc.), should that be the focus of the research.

Qualitative research methods that do not utilise statistics for hypothesis testing should
follow appropriate convention in line with good practice of stating aims and objectives
appropriate to those methods.

There should be a clear link between these research questions/hypotheses as described

here and explored in your discussion. It is not acceptable to engage in exploratory post hoc
analysis which has not been specified as part of the dissertation focus.

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Methodology

Design
Explain the rationale for your chosen design, whether qualitative or quantitative. Use
references from generic research methods books sparingly. The methods section should be
focused on specifics of your project, not simply general considerations.

Ethics
Ethical issues you have considered should also be included. It must be clearly stated that
ethics permission was given for the study to proceed (and refer to ethics approval letter(s)
in your appendices).

Participants
Be sure to include accurate details about the sample of participants, though descriptive
statistics describing the sample should form part of your results. Here you should include
information about inclusion/exclusion criteria, detailing demographics (for example, age,
gender, state of health, handedness (if appropriate)), and any other relevant information.
Bear in mind data protection principles and ensure there is no potentially identifiable data
anywhere in your dissertation, and provide details about anonymisation/pseudonymisation
protocols. Details about group allocation, randomisation and other relevant factors involved
in ensuring integrity of study design should be highlighted as appropriate.

Methods
Generally, a justification of methodology appears here, but be judicious. Details of
procedures, timelines of data collection or any relevant information relating to attrition
where appropriate should be provided. Use correct, formal terminology. Use subheadings
and provide details about your sample, data collection (procedure(s)), methods of data
analysis etc. Try to make the process of qualitative data analysis transparent to the reader.
Show how you have adapted the method to your study. Explain the development of any
tools such as questionnaire/interview schedules, including the rationale for the questions.
Include an account of any pilot study, the outcome and any modifications made in light of
this study. Provide a flow chart or timeline of experimental methods, data collection and
procedures where appropriate.

Equipment details
Please provide all relevant details (device name, model number, manufacturer and address
as appropriate). Consult a typical journal article relevant to your work to see how this is
done. The specifics should only appear once, and not be duplicated throughout. The details
should also include use of specialist software and details. For qualitative studies, be sure to
explicitly state whether you used digital recordings, annotation and analysis software.

Method of Analysis
The methods section is incomplete if you do not identify how your data were processed,
summarised and analysed.

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What are the dependent and independent variables of your studies? Normalisation
procedures, and methods of data reduction, transformation and statistical analysis must all
be included. If necessary formulae can be presented to show complex transformations of
raw data. You should also state whether or not you used any form of exclusion or outlier
analysis prior to statistical evaluation. The reader should never have to guess as to your
study design: single blind, double blind, RCT etc. The statistics packages used (e.g. JAMOVI,
SPSS for Windows, version number, manufacturer etc.), the tests undertaken (ANOVA,
regression etc.), and the conventional statement of your significance level (p<0.05) must be
included. Detail any post hoc adjustments for multiple comparisons.

For qualitative research, please adopt good reporting conventions. Details about recording,
transcription etc. should be included. This may involve details of methods of extracting,
condensing or organising information for thematic analysis, or other appropriate strategies
used in qualitative research. Additionally, transcription accuracy and/or error checking
processes should be detailed. Clearly identify the contribution of others in various activities
where appropriate. This may include paid-for transcription services, review of analysis by
supervisor etc.

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Results

Demographic descriptive data and baseline comparisons where appropriate should be

summarised and presented here. The main results should then be clearly shown in some
similar organisation to the aims/hypotheses of the study. There should be a clear narrative
running throughout the results section, with the reader directed to relevant figures, tables
and quotations as appropriate using information in parentheses (e.g. see Figure 2.1).
Position the figures and tables as close as possible to the point at which they are first
mentioned in the narrative, and use appropriate spacing around narrative text and
illustrations. Never refer to an image or graph as anything other than “figure”. All figures
and tables should be numbered consecutively with a number (Figure 2, Table 4 etc.). Each
figure/table needs a concise legend – a title and brief description of what is shown.

Each result should be described only, without any critique or interpretation.

Quantitative Based Results

Key figures and tables must be embedded in your results chapter; size should be half page
at a minimum to ensure readability. Do not provide key illustrations (figures and tables) in
the appendices.

Do not assume that by simply including figures and their legends that you have represented
your data. The narrative helps inform the reader as well as guide the review of the main
findings in your presentation. Tables and figures used in the text should accurately illustrate
all of your results relevant to your research aims. Be selective of the number of tables and
figures you use. Consider only presenting those which illustrate the main findings and which
will be linked to the discussion of your research objectives, aims and hypotheses. Secondary
tables and figures that do not summarise key data should be provided in a linked appendix,
and can be referred to from the results.

Avoid repetition of the exact same data in table and figure format. One representation in
either format that is most effective in illustrating your findings is appropriate. Remove
extraneous information from reports such as statistics programme outputs, and edit to
include and compile relevant information together. It is recommended to construct your
own tables rather than copying and pasting directly from your statistics programme.

First and foremost, use group data representations, then if appropriate use individual
participant data, but be judicious here. A mixture of both can also be used so long as group
trends are not obscured. Non-significant trends can be noted, but do not over-represent
your non-significant findings of the data in a confusing manner. General characteristics of
your groups and comparative differences at baseline should be summarised where
appropriate in a table. Appropriate statistical baseline comparisons may be shown but this
does not apply to all study designs, so adopt best practice as seen in typical research
publications.

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For inferential and descriptive statistics
Remember your evaluation is being conducted on a sample of data representing the
population as a whole. Measures of central tendency and sample variability should be
provided (means and SD/SEM/95% confidence interval estimates for parametric data;
medians and range or interquartile range for non-parametric data). It is good scientific
practice to report these measures of variability in tables or figures.

All computer statistics programmes provide exact p values, and you should report exact p
values (i.e. p=0.065, not p>0.05). Adopt conventional reporting appropriate to the type of
statistic being used (ANOVA, t test, regression etc.). Summarize and report F tests values
(degrees of freedom) and corresponding p values. For t tests, similarly report mean
differences, t statistics and exact p values. You may also report effect sizes as appropriate.
For other analyses such as regression be sure to clearly identify correlation coefficients and
significance levels correctly and appropriately.

If possible provide 95% confidence intervals of test statistics and/or group level differences.
Should it be relevant, provide details of effect size in a conventional manner. Finally, use a
reasonable number of significant digits; this should not exceed the accuracy of the device
used to measure the variable (e.g. do not report participants’ weight to 1g if using a digital
scale that measures to the nearest 10g). Always use appropriate units (height reported in
metres or centimetres but a visual analogue scale in millimetres).

Many statistical tests evaluate and compensate for deviations in normality, variance and
other key components, and you should be aware of these and report adjusted values when
required.

Should evaluation of your data (a priori or otherwise) lead to the use of nonparametric
alternatives, then you should only report these nonparametric statistics. Suitable
statements that signpost relevant choice of statistics should be indicated.

Placement of Figures and Tables

Embed all figures and tables within the results section of the dissertation. Use at least half
page size presentation for each table or graph. Make sure that each graph has clearly
labelled x and y axes and units, and include any legends. Use different symbols and lines as
well as different colours to clearly differentiate groups, treatments etc. Avoid cramming
large amounts of data into one graph. From a presentation point of view avoid comparing
data across graphs; you should include comparisons within the same graphs. Use line, trend
graphs, bar charts etc., but avoid pie charts, 3D graphs or exotic representations if they are
not suitable. Wherever possible, provide measures of central tendency and variability (SD,
SEM, or 95% CI as appropriate).

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Qualitative design reporting
For qualitative results, give only the most significant quotes, a few for each theme found or
other representation in the results. Avoid endless reference to material in the appendices at
the expense of good and clear reporting of your major findings. It is required that further
summary of raw qualitative data must be appropriately displayed in the appendix in
summary format so that the reader can clearly identify your data set. This should not violate
any aspect of data protection! Do summarize data in tables and or figures but avoid
replication of the same data as tables and then figures.

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Discussion and Conclusion

Open with a general statement of the most important findings. Use subheadings to
structure the discussion section.

The first section can be the interpretation of the results.

If you have a number of research hypotheses, then formal statements of accepting/rejecting

of these may be an appropriate starting point. Remember that this should be presented
here in the discussion and not overplayed in the results section.

The discussion usually starts with the most important findings. Explore all possibilities and
signal how specific circumstances/uncontrolled variables could affect the results and their
interpretation. Conduct an analysis of why the results are as they are. The results should be
discussed in relation to the literature. Critically compare your results to the relevant
references that formed your literature review. Why are there discrepancies between your
results and the published data? Remember, do not dismiss your results, but rather attempt
an interpretation of strengths and or weaknesses of your own work. This should be
comprehensive but focused.

Then the critique of the methods – what would you do differently? Start with the strengths
of the study. What was good about it? How did the plan differ from the reality? Some
evaluation based on the limitations forms your critique here, so please discuss as
appropriate. What have you learnt? For example, this might include reflexive awareness i.e.
personal involvement in a qualitative study. This should also include a discussion of the
limitations of your own study. Remember if you simply indicate that your research was
flawed then it should not have been undertaken in the first place, and you have failed as a
researcher. There are limitations in all research, so evaluation of these is essential. Do not
dismiss your data or study. Remember non-significance does not mean your study is
worthless or not applicable. Always be conservative and cautious in your interpretation of
findings, even those statistically significant or indicative of trends in your data. An
evaluation may merit discussion of sample size and power. For qualitative research, a
similar critical approach should be adopted in line with good practice as well as discussing
any limitations.

Then lead to the relevance and implications section. You should provide clear discussion
about how the study and its findings are relevant to your professional development,
expertise and most of all to advanced clinical practice. You may consider your findings in the
context of contributing towards evidence-based practice and service improvement. So long
as you address these clearly, this should provide sufficient discussion of relevance. The
demonstration of your scholarly critical evaluation of your own research and its limitations
must also include placement of your work within specialist area or pathway. You may wish
to indicate whether there is scope for application of findings now or in the near future, or
whether further relevant research is required prior to clinical implementation.

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Conclusion

This should not be a separate section but follow clearly from the discussion.

The conclusion contains two key elements: a concise summary of your main findings,
(recapitulating only the key ones), and a brief statement as to how further research may
address the issues raised in your own dissertation and/or how the findings can be
implemented into clinical practice. You should not introduce new literature or citations in
the conclusion section of the discussion.

End on a positive note. Avoid a critical reiteration of faults of your study here. In this section
there should be some ‘take home’ message of your study for researchers and/or clinicians
in your specialist pathway.

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References

Harvard (British) method of citation and referencing is to be used; please be consistent

throughout the list. Penalties will be applied for omissions of cited work, inclusion of
uncited work, and excessive use of non-specialist webpages as main sources. Ensure
consistent use of the same font throughout.

You should include the DOI of the article retrieved electronically, and not the lengthy URL
which is sometimes generated by database searches.

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Appendices

These must be numbered or labelled consecutively (Appendix 1, 2, 3 or A, B, C) and include a

new appendix for each document.

The following may be included depending on the type of study and data collected:

 Participation information sheet

 Sample Consent Form
 Ethics approval letter(s)
 Actual survey used – full version from online
 General data summary – fully anonymised
 Extracts from statistical analysis software of main findings
 Semi-structured interview guides
 Focus group guidance documents
 Sample transcripts – partial, edited or collated that are used to supplement the

results Do not include raw data documents, full transcripts or full analysis printouts.

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Authenticity/Data File

You must compile this, but this is not to be included in your dissertation submission.

All students must maintain an authenticity/data portfolio, which contains all raw data
including original media (e.g. files from data acquisition software, video/audio recordings)
as well all processed data (e.g. spreadsheets, statistical analysis printouts or files), signed
consent forms, completed surveys. In other words, all your original data. Data stored in any
digital format should be password protected and/or encrypted – if you use OneDrive to
store your data this is sufficient. Paper copies of data must be retained in locked filing
cabinets or similar with your supervisor. This compilation of all your data (while adhering to
data protection) is the evidence of your undertaking the dissertation research project.

Although this rarely happens, you should be aware that the College of Health, Medicine and
Life Sciences Research Ethics Committee has the right to request an audit of your research
data. This would be facilitated by inspection of your authenticity/data portfolio. The
portfolio must not contravene ethical and data protection requirements (GPDR legislation
and University of London Ethics).

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