Assessment Information/Brief 2021-22
To be used for all types of assessment and provided to students at the start of the module.
Information provided should be compatible with the detail contained in the approved module specification although may contain more information for clarity.
| Module title | Dissertation |
| CRN | 31418 |
| Level | 7 |
| Assessment title | Dissertation Report and Oral Exam |
| Weighting within module | This assessment is worth 100% |
| Submission deadline date and time | 10 September 2022 For coursework assessments only: students with a Reasonable Adjustment Plan (RAP) should check their RAP to see if an extension to this submission date has been agreed. |
| Module Leader/Assessment set by | Dissertation Supervisor |
| How to submit | You should submit your assessment ……. Electronic submission in the designated Dissertation module area in Blackboard for your dissertation As the University will mark assessments anonymously where this is possible, please use your student roll number and not your name on your submission. |
| Assessment task details and instructions | To allow students to demonstrate scholarship and analytical ability, working under the guidance of an academic supervisor, in a field of relevance to taught course programme and at an advanced level. The task is to report the research in a systematic manner with a thorough discussion of the findings together with a concise conclusion of the most important aspects of the research Please see the MSc Dissertation Guide Lines at the end of this document |
| Knowledge and Understanding Practical, Professional or Subject Specific Skills | AHEP4: M1, M2, M3, M4, M17, M18 1. Establish clearly and concisely the aims and objectives of a project and the structure of a report. 2. Present a critical review in the chosen field of study, (for example, to deal with current practice, recent research, policy development, or state of the art). 3. Apply appropriate scientific, engineering, planning and/or design principles and methodologies. 4. Identify key features in terms of strength, weaknesses and limitations, present an evaluative discussion and appropriate conclusions 5. Communication: Present a substantial piece of work orally and in the form of a dissertation according to a given specification 6. Numeracy: Collect, record and manipulate data and present findings. 7. Information Technology: Apply standard and specialist IT systems for collecting, recording, processing and presenting information. 8. Problem Solving: Specify and analyse problems in a qualitative and/or quantitative way, evaluate findings and draw coherent conclusions on the basis of the work done 9. Managing Learning and Performance: Manage a project effectively with regard to time and other relevant resources. 10. Practical Skills: Design, plan and conduct surveys, experimental work or computational analysis as required |
| Module Aims | To allow students to demonstrate scholarship and analytical ability, working under the guidance of an academic supervisor, in a field of relevance to taught course programme and at an advanced level |
| Word count/ duration (if applicable) | Your assessment should be…… The maximum word count is set at 10,000 words |
MSc Dissertation Guide Lines
MSc Dissertation
Notes to support students proceeding to the dissertation
Contents
- Dissertation Objectives
- Selection of Topic
- Project Management
- Working on the dissertation
- Deadlines and extensions
- Oral Presentation
- Written Submission
- General presentation
- Typographical design
- Referencing
- Layout and binding
- Assessment
- Plagiarism
- Dissertation Objectives
The aim of the dissertation module is to allow students to demonstrate scholarship and analytical ability at an advanced level, working under the guidance of an academic supervisor. The specific objectives are consistent with the Masters level benchmark criteria:
- the acquisition of knowledge and understanding;
- the application of intellectual abilities;
- the demonstration of practical and transferable skills.
These criteria form the basis of the assessment of the module and are elaborated in more detail in Section 6.0 of this document.
2.0 Selection of Topic
Work-based students are encouraged to select a topic that has some connection to their work activities. Such a project is more likely to retain the interest and commitment of the student and the support of the employer. It is also more likely that resources relating to data acquisition, case studies and computer software may be made available. Through discussions with both the programme tutor and their line manager such students must first identify the general topic area and then the specific aims and objectives of the dissertation. It is important that the project allows you to demonstrate that the academic objectives relating to knowledge and understanding, intellectual abilities, and practical/transferable skills have all been met and the project should be planned with this in mind.
For those students (usually on the full-time course) without access to potential projects through their work, a list of topics proposed by academic staff will be circulated early in Semester 2. In this case, students are required to select two for discussion with the staff members involved. Arising from these discussions, students will be required to submit draft aims and objectives for the preferred and reserve choices. The programme tutor will then allocate topics to students.
It is sometimes possible for students to pursue their own topic rather than one from the given list. However, in this case, it will be necessary to gain the support of an academic supervisor and to have a clear vision of how the academic objectives of the dissertation will be met. In particular, the supervisor will want to discuss the resource requirements. Students interested in developing their own topic ideas should also select preferred and reserve choices from the approved list in case their own suggestion is thought to be unsuitable.
In all cases (that is work-based or university-based), the timetable is such that:
- the general theme and outline objectives should be agreed soon after the Easter vacation
- the detailed aims and objectives should be confirmed before the end of the Semester 2 teaching session.
Topics, once agreed, will only be changed in exceptional circumstances.
- Project Management
3.1 Working on the dissertation
Students are formally permitted to proceed to work leading to the submission of the dissertation once they have achieved the necessary 120 credits from the taught course. However, they are encouraged to embark on the planning and background preparation as soon the topic area has been agreed. This will allow them to get straight into the substance of the project once formal permission to proceed has been given. Such initial preparatory work may include:
- clarification of objectives
- identification of key references
- background reading
- planning for data acquisition (surveys, external sources).
For the work itself, students will have normal access to the University library and computing resources and to software and specialist equipment available as part of the MSc course provision. Funds are not normally available to help with the cost of surveys, equipment or other resources. There may occasionally be national prizes/bursaries which students can apply for. The programme tutor will provide details as they become available.
Full-time students are expected to maintain a close contact with their supervisors. In the early stages of the work, there are likely to be weekly meetings. Once satisfactory progress is being made, contact may become less frequent with some meetings being replaced by e-mail or other contacts. For work-based students, the supervisor will visit the student in the workplace if possible. It is desirable that a workplace mentor is also involved in these meetings so that there is an ongoing commitment to the work from the employer. Such students will also be invited back to the University for a dissertation ‘day back’ event.
The supervisor will advise on the content and structure of the work, on the technical aspects and on the general progress and work schedule. The supervisor will also comment on draft submissions. For one chapter, you can expect more detailed feedback relating to all aspects of style, structure and content. However, for subsequent chapters, the feedback will be less detailed. It is not the job of the supervisor to proof-read or rewrite your work.
For the dissertation to succeed, it needs to be managed effectively. You will need to develop and maintain a clear work programme. This should include appropriate milestones relating to, for example, acquisition of key references; completion of review; planning of surveys or case studies; development of analysis and evaluation; preparation of final draft; final submission for binding.
- Deadlines and extensions
For full-time students, it is expected that that the work will be completed before the end of the 12-month programme (that is by the end of September). For part-time students, the MSc programme is of three years duration. In this case, the deadline for submission of the dissertation is taken as the end of Semester two in the third year of the programme.
Where mitigating circumstances arise which affect your ability to submit work on time then the Personal Mitigating Circumstances (PMC) procedure applies. This is outlined in detail in the programme handbook.
In addition, dissertation students are permitted two extensions beyond the formal end of the period. These are for completing writing up and should not involve any substantive work on
3.3 Storage.
Students are advised to maintain regular and detailed backups of their work as they progress through their dissertations. Given that the dissertations is a 60 credit module which is equivalent to 600 hours of work, losing your work during the 599th hour can be a catastrophic experience and computer failure or loss of data is not covered by the PMC process. There are a variety of methods that can be used to safely store your work; one method that may
be appropriate for the archiving and safeguarding of your work is the use of dropbox, which is a cloud based archiving service. A 2Gb account is free and you can register at dropbox.com and through following various promotional activities such as promoting your account via Facebook and Twitter, it is possible to increase this to 2.5Gb very quickly. This should be more than adequate for the purposes of your dissertation, but should you require additional space, there are two methods that you can use to increase your storage. You can pay for additional space, oryou can refer your friends who can earn you additional storage space when they activate theiraccount. If your account is linked to your University email address, for every extra friend you’ve referred, you will both earn 500Mb. To increase your storage you may wish to do this as a group and share referral links with each other so as to maximise your space. Another positive benefit of using dropbox is that you can share folders via dropbox so you are able to include
4.0 Oral Presentation
Once the project is substantially complete, but usually before the final formal submission, students will be required to give an oral presentation of the work. This will allow the student to demonstrate effective communication skills, in line with the criteria for assessment. It will also provide a further opportunity for feedback before the final submission. The presentation should last between 15 and 20 minutes with up to a further 10 minutes for questions. Presentations may be supported by visual aids, but you should liaise with the programme tutor if special facilities need to be provided.
The presentation itself will be assessed by a panel, usually including the supervisor and moderator. They will be basing their assessment on:
- familiarity with the topic;
- literature and reasoning for the work;
- critical thinking, applied to the new data in your dissertation;
- ability to respond to questions.
5.0 Written Submission
5.1 General presentation
The form of presentation of the dissertation will depend on the subject matter of the research work and the approach and methodology adopted [e.g. experimentation, field studies, desk research … etc.]. There are, however, certain conventions to be followed in all cases. The dissertation should include the following elements:
- Preliminaries including title page; abstract; acknowledgement; table of contents; lists of illustrations, charts, diagrams; list of tables as appropriate. The abstract should be typed in single spacing and should not exceed one page.
- The main text should comprise well-defined chapters and sub-sections. The introductory chapter of the dissertation should contain: a clear description of the problem or topic to be dealt with; a statement of the aim and objectives of the work; the relevance of the problem in the field of study; any necessary context and background to prepare the reader for the more detailed content; and a summary of the difficulties encountered and the limitations of the work. It should also outline the research design and the data sources and methodologies used. The main chapters should contain a review of related literature, such as the key references, standards and recent research. The original work carried out by the student including any critical or analytical content and evaluation should then be presented.
- Conclusions should be provided at the end of the dissertation, together with a note of recommendations for future work.
- A list of reference sources (with or without a bibliography) should be provided.
- Appendices may be used to gather together supplementary materials such as copies of questionnaires, supporting documents, raw data … etc. Appendices, if included, should appear at the end of the dissertation.
It is expected that the dissertation will be written concisely, with good technical style and appropriate use of English. A typical length will be around 20,000 words or 80 – 100 pages. Excessively long dissertations will not be accepted and students should consult their supervisor in cases where the main content (excluding appendices) exceeds 120 pages.
5.2 Creating your draft
When preparing the outline of your dissertation and chapter structure, the library has a wide
variety of course specific texts to help with the writing process.
When writing your aims and objectives, detailed guidance including examples is contained within the following text:
.
The structure with regards your dissertation and how chapters should be written, including how to properly introduce and close chapters, which chapters should be included in your dissertation and guidance on writing styles are included within the following text:
Evans, D. and P. Gruba (2002). How to write a better thesis. Victoria, Melbourne
University Press.
Based on this text a suggested starting point for your dissertation with regards the overall
chapter is suggested as:
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Design of experiment
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion
When conducting your literature review, the ability to critically assess the information you
Are reading is a key skill. This assessment process is known as critical thinking. Without applying critical thinking to your dissertation there is a risk that you will simply regurgitate someone else’s work and be penalised accordingly during the marking process.
You must remember that not all research published is necessarily correct, there may be
limitations on the data or in some extreme cases the information may be fundamentally flawed.
If research was 100% correct, all of the time, then essentially there would be nothing left for us to discover. Treat everything you read with a healthy natural suspicion. Assume that perhaps the author is wrong and made a mistake, even if they haven’t at least you will have been able to interrogate the information and be able to defend your ideas during your oral presentation. A critical reading checklist is included within this document and is also available via blackboard.
There are various texts available to improve your critical reading and thinking process,
including:
Wallace, M. and A. Wray (2011). Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates.
London, Sage Publishing Ltd.
This text is aimed at the social sciences, rather than technical and engineering disciplines, butthe critical thinking process is universal with regards dissertations writing. If you are unable to critically demonstrate the following (as a minimum) you will be penalised during the marking process.
- Why your research question is valid.
- Where the gaps in knowledge are in the area being considered.
- How these gaps relate to your research question.
- Why the experiment (or data creation process) has been designed in a certain way.
- Why you chose to assess certain parameters in your study, but perhaps ignore others.
- What were the limitations of your experiment.
- Why you chose to do a certain number of comparisons.
- What do certain trends in your data mean.
- How your results/data compare to the studies of others.
- Are the conclusions being drawn valid.
- What further work is required.
5.3 Typographical Design
Overall format: A4 single-sided paper.
Margins: Left – no less than 30mm[1.25 inch], others no less than 25mm[1 inch], including page numbers.
Character size: No less than size 12 point type Times New Roman.
Line spacing: Text shall be 1.5 line spaced (excluding abstract).
Paragraphs: Flush left with one additional line space between paragraphs (use justified).
Consistency: The same expression appears in the same form throughout the document.
Headings: No more than 4 levels may be used (as shown below); spacing with preceding and subsequent text should be no less than that between paragraphs.
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Data collection methods
4.2.1 Requirement of the method
4.2.2 Duration of data collection
4.2.2.1 …….
4.2.2.2 ……..etc.
Figures: Illustrations should be professionally drawn. Lettering within illustrations should be large enough that the smallest elements will still be clear and legible. Titles should be provided at the bottom of the Figure (as shown below). If a Figure is extracted from another source, the source should be indicated at the foot of the Figure and included in the Reference List.
Figure 4.3 Typical speed distributions from traffic field surveys
Tables: Should be clear and legible with the title at the top of the Table (as shown below). ). If a Table is extracted from another source, the source should be indicated at the foot of the Table and included in the Reference List.
Table 3.11 Typical tests and properties to be monitored for highway maintenance
| Property | Method |
| Longitudinal Profile / Ride Quality | HRM / RSS |
| Rut Depth | HRM / RSS |
| Transverse Profile | RSS |
| Skid Resistance | SCRIM |
| Macro-Texture | HRM / RSS |
| Structural Strength / Residual Life | Deflectograph |
| Falling Weight Deflectometer | |
| Visuals | Manual (Paper of DCD) |
| Vehicle based (DCD or Video) |
Equations: Should be clear, legible and numbered (as shown below).
`Vt =`Vs + [ss2 /`Vs] ……… equation 3.3
where,
`Vt is the time mean speed
`Vs is the space mean speed
ss2 is the standard deviation of`Vs.
Other notes: All pages should be numbered.
You are encouraged to use original photographs and clearly labelled diagrams where these provide clarification or illustration to support the
text.
5.4 Referencing
A vital aspect in preparing a dissertation is the inclusion of accurate references and sources of illustrations and tables. A general bibliography may also be provided. When written information is obtained from books or articles it must not be simply repeated word-for-word. Such individual quotes should take the following form:
- Indirect quote
For example:
Earlier studies indicated that the general trends of ….(Howard, 1993).
However, a short quotation may be included if referenced. Short quotations, under four lines of prose, should be placed in the body of the text and enclosed in quotation marks.
- Direct quote (short)
For example:
Howard (1993) showed that “the general trends in drivers ……”.
Longer quotations must be proceeded by a colon; they should be set off from the text and indented and typed in single spacing. In this case, quotation marks should not be used.
- Direct quote (long)
For example:
…..the general trends in drivers ……. (Howard, 1993, p.22)
In all cases, sources of arguments and facts gleaned from books and articles should be acknowledged in the text by giving the surnames(s) of the author(s) and the date of publication [e.g. Taylor and Young(1988) or if more than two authors, Prescott et al.(1990)]. In some cases it may be appropriate to indicate page numbers too [e.g. Salter(1988, pp.11-32)].
If two or more books or articles by the same author(s) and from the same year are cited, the labels a, b, c, …etc. should be added to the year of publication [e.g. Wilson(1974a)].
The references should be listed in full at the end of the dissertation (in alphabetical order). Material used in the dissertation is likely to be obtained from a range of sources including books, journals, reports, conferences …etc. Below are some examples of how each reference should be listed. Your reference list should include complete citations for only those references cited in the text.
If the source is a Book / Thesis:
Chin, H.C. (1983)A Computer Simulation Model of Traffic Operation at Roundabouts. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Southampton.
Salter, R.J. (1988)Highway Traffic Analysis and Design. Revised Edition, MacMillan Education LTD, London.
If the source is a Journal Article:
Branston, D. (1976) Models of Single Lane Time Headway Distributions.Transportation Science, Vol. 10, No. 2, May, pp. 125-148.
Gazis, D.C., Herman R. and Weiss G.H. (1962) Density Oscillations Between Lanes of Multi-lane Highways.Operations Research, Vol. 10, No. 5, Sept./Oct., pp. 658-667.
Mathews, D.H. and Maclean A.D. (1976) Traffic Operation at Roadworks on Dual-Carriageways.Traffic Engineering + Control, Vol. 17, No. 5, May, pp. 194-197.
If the source is a Research Report:
Lines, C.J. (1981) The Effect of Motorway Signals on Traffic Behaviour.Transport and Road Research Laboratory, Supplementary Report 707, Crowthorne.
Prescott, P., Hall R.D. and Rutley K.S. (1990) An Assessment of the Effect
of 70 MPH Repeater Signs on the M1 Motorway.Transport and Road Research Laboratory, Contractor Report 206, Crowthorne.
Rutley, K.S. and Webb P.J. (1979) Recognition Distances and Understanding of Legends on an Experimental Motorway Signal.Transport and Road Research Laboratory, Supplementary Report 500, Crowthorne.
Taylor, M.A.P., Young W. and Thompson R.G. (1989) Headway and Speed Data Acquisition Using Video.Transportation Research Record, No. 1225, Transportation Research Board, Washington D.C.
If the source is a Conference paper:
Guillen, S., Martinez J.J., Bessaget F. and Martin G. (1992) Knowledge Based System for Traffic Monitoring and Incident and Congestion Detection, Using Image Processing and Computer Vision Data.Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Road Traffic Monitoring and Control, The Institute of Electrical Engineers, 28-30 Apr. 1992, London, pp. 148-152.
Kelleway, R.C., White C.D. and Mathews D.H. (1984) Delays Caused by Vehicle Incidents and the Development of CIDEL.Proceedings of the Planning and Transport Research and Computation 12th Summer Annual Meeting Seminar M, Jul. 1984, University of Sussex, London, pp. 179-191.
Papendrecht, J.H. and Schuurman H. (1991) Bottle-necks on Freeways: Traffic Operational Aspects of Roadworks.Proceedings of the International Symposium on Highway Capacity and Level Of Service, 24-27 Jul. 1991. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 283-288.
If the source is an Unpublished Work:
Immers, L.H. (1980) Simulation of Motorway Traffic Performance. Delft University of Technology,Proceedings of the 12th UTSG Conference, (unpublished), University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.
There are several particulars on the presentation of references which are evident from the examples above:
- The author’s name(s) is clearly shown on the left.
- The year is shown after the author’s name.
- The title of books, research journals and theses are underlined, but not the title of papers or chapters.
- The place of publication proceeds the publisher’s name.
- In case of journals, the volume number is given, followed by page references to the paper or article concerned.
- There is a clear convention for punctuation which must be adhered to.
- When material is unpublished, it should be clearly stated.
For references drawn from the internet, the referencing convention needs to ensure that the following details are provided where possible: Author(s) name (if applicable); title with a brief description; World Wide Web (www) address; Date of publication, if known and Date of access.
This information should be presented on a separate page, after the list of references. Typical examples follow:
Internet World Wide Web URL
Maddock, J.,
Recycled Asphalt, Road Division-King County Recyled Product Procurement Program, Seattle, Washington.
4th April 1998. (Accessed 10th Oct 1998)
Reid. M.,
Transport Research Laboratory: TRL Abstract- Summary of Current Topics in Transport CT 20.1.Road Building and the Environment Update (1993-1997) TRL, Library Services.
3rd December 1998. (Accessed 6th Jan 1999)
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