Caveat Emptor

Every Supervisor does things

differently!
Varies from subject to subject
(These are not canonical laws)

The Project
What

is a Project?
What is the Structure and Purpose of a
Project?
How to Fail your Project
A very short guide on How to get a
Distinction

What is a Project
10,000 words IN TOTAL
There is no minimum
This INCLUDES any appendices
This EXCLUDES
(bibliography/reference list and other
sundry items)
Of which 1,000 word reflective
element

Topic Restriction
Something

to do with Management /

Business
If you are undertaking a pathway you
must have a project in that pathway
If you are on the general route then you
have a free choice of topic BUT may not
necessarily get a supervisor in the
section of your choice. (particularly in
LOM)

Section Specific Topic

Restrictions
Accounting

and Finance

Issues relating to live projects (so talk to

someone in the section early on)
Prefer you to do a specific template
project

Some Technical Bits

You

Must Declare That:

It is your own work

It has not previously been submitted for
something else
It is available for photocopying / public
access (although it wont be made available)
Ethics

Committee Approval

Need to obtain if any primary data gathered

involving humans!

Going Abroad
Tempting

BUT it is at your own risk!

Need to be back here to finish off and
submit!
Read guidelines document on what
must be in place BEFORE you leave
Keep in touch with your supervisor
(who may be on vacation/holiday or at
conferences!!!!)

Structure and Purpose?

Purpose

MBA versus MSc (half the length and half the time?)
Demonstrate M level cognitive skills or M-ness
(see Descriptors)
Analysis
Synthesis
Creativity
Research
Communication

Check the Learning Outcomes (see Learning

Outcomes)

No Universal Structure!
More

variation in structure towards the

back end
Difference between A,B and C
primary and secondary data and
subject variations
How to structure findings and
discussion is particular challenging

Front End v Back End

Front

end (introduction / literature

review and methodology) is the
enabling framework
Back end is the important stuff from
a view of demonstrating M-ness

The Front End

Introduction
Very

brief overview concluding with the

objectives of the project
Objectives should be the OUTPUTS
(not

the processes)

OUTPUTS are in the CONCLUSION and

RECOMMENDATION SECTION(s)

{some people use the words research questions

or research hypothesis instead of objectives}

Literature Review
Badly

named really

It IS the Theoretical basis NOT secondary

data!
Conceptual framework/ modelling
used

to deconstruct the objectives into

information questions!
Deconstruct the problem!
Framework to hang your findings on!

Methodology
Variation

in Importance

Primary versus secondary sources

Between assessors
Between subject disciplines

This

is Not a mini literature review

on research methods

As a minimum it should address

the following
What data collection method(s) were used
Why was it/ were they chosen
Possible limitations

Methodology
Projects

with no primary data are

inherently more difficult
Tendency to drift into something very
descriptive
So.what new light or significance am
I bringing to this data?

The Back End

Findings and Discussion

Not

a lot of space..{for boring

repetition of findings}!
Think charts / graphs / tables not text!

What

the findings MEAN not what the

findings ARE?
Discussion links theory (from the
literature review) with data to link to
Conclusions and Recommendations
Higher Level Deductive Reasoning

Conclusions and Recommendations

Leave

the final distillation to the

conclusions

Not just a recap

Not a series of bullet points
Not a set of worthy statements
Hardest bit to write
Most difficult bit to fill

Matches

the Objectives

10000 Words
It is not a bucket to be filled.
The difficulty is getting the
necessary Quality into such a
restrictive word count!!!

Dont target 10,000 words!

Preliminaries / Abstract
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Findings and
Discussion

(My) Guideline (first number

makes you ask questions!)

Conclusions /
Recommendations
Reflective Report

750-850
2500-2750
750-900
2500-2750
1500-1750
750-1000

Things to Note
The

guideline make the midpoint of the

project report (excluding the reflective
element) at the end of the methodology.
If any of the sections get too long you need
to ask the question what value is this really
adding
Conclusion section often is FAR too small. If
you cant fill the conclusion/recommendation
section then what value has your project?

What happens next

Read

the following documents in

Blackboard/ Learning Central
Learning outcomes of the business project
M level cognitive descriptors
Guideline to completing projects abroad

Got

a Question?Then WAIT! Read the

documents and presentations again. More
information will be published
DO NOT email people with queries or
approach staff directly