Prof Fran Tonkiss STC S205 and Dr Suki Ali STC S307

This course is compulsory on the BSc in Sociology. This course is not available as an outside option nor to General Course students.

Students undertaking this course need to have completed the first two years of the BSc in Sociology.

The dissertation takes the form of an independent research project of 10,000 words on a sociological topic of the students’ choosing, developed in consultation with their Academic Mentor. The dissertation process includes reviewing relevant literature on the topic of study, formulating a viable and sociologically-relevant research problem, collecting and analysing primary and/or secondary data (such as a case study, data set, fieldwork observations, corpus of texts, survey results or interviews), and writing up an independent analysis based on this research.

Students’ work on the dissertation is supervised in small-group and individual tutorials with their Academic Mentor over MT and LT.

The Dissertation process is supported by a series of compulsory group workshops in the MT and LT which focus on research project design. The workshops cover topics such as identifying a sociological problem for investigation, constructing a bibliography, research ethics, research access, data collection, data analysis and writing up.

7 hours and 30 minutes of seminars in the MT. 6 hours of seminars in the LT.

Seminars will be structured as follows: 5 x 1.5 hour seminars in the MT. 4 x 1.5-hour seminars in the LT.

5 x 1.5-hour small-group tutorials with Academic Mentors in MT. 2 x individual supervisions with Academic Mentors plus drop-in sessions in LT.

Reading Weeks: Students on this course will have a reading week in MT Week 6 and LT Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

One piece of formative coursework in the MT.

Dissertation (90%, 10000 words) in the ST.
Research proposal (10%) in the MT.

Assessment Particulars:

Research proposal (10%, 2,000 words): An electronic copy of the research proposal to be uploaded to Moodle no later than 4.00pm on the last Thursday of Michaelmas Term.

Dissertation (90%, 10,000 words): Two hard copies of the dissertation, with submission sheets attached to each, to be handed in to the Sociology Hub, STC.S116, no later than 4.00pm on the second Thursday of Summer Term. An additional electronic copy to be uploaded to Moodle no later than 4.00pm on the same day. Both hard copies and electronic copies must be submitted on time to avoid any late submission penalties.

Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework is required.