Dr David Pinzur and Dr Rebecca Elliott

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Economy and Society. This course is not available as an outside option.

Students must have completed Economic Sociology (SO4D1).

The dissertation is an extended piece of written work that is your own independent research investigation of a social issue or problem, undertaken with the guidance of your dissertation supervisor. These workshops are meant to prepare you to produce an original piece of research. We will cover the expectations for the dissertation, as well as provide general guidance for deriving a research question that is appropriately situated in the themes of the programme; for developing an empirical strategy to study topics relevant to the programme; and for writing up conclusions that can speak to enduring questions in our area. In addition to consultation with faculty, in these sessions students will work in smaller groups to peer review their work-in-progress.

2 hours of seminars in the AT. 2 hours of seminars in the WT. 2 hours of seminars in the ST.

There will be two sessions during AT for ALL MSc students based in the Sociology department. These will be offered in conjunction with LSE Life and LSE Library and provide basic guidance about planning your dissertation, such as selecting a suitable topic, designing the research and reviewing the existing literature.

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

Students are required to submit a project outline in WT.

• Alan Bryman, Social Research Methods (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)

• Clive Seale, The Quality of Qualitative Research (London: Sage, 1999)

• Clive Seale (ed), Researching Society and Culture (London: Sage, 2012)

• Howard Becker, Writing for Social Scientists (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1986)

Dissertation (100%, 10000 words) in August.

An electronic copy of the dissertation, to be uploaded to Moodle, no later than 4.00pm on Thursday 14th of August 2025.

Dissertations may be up to and no more than 10,000 words, must be word-processed and be fully referenced using a recognised citation system.

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