durham university dissertation fail

Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2022-2023 (archived)

Module VISU3032: Dissertation

Department: modern languages and cultures (visual), visu3032: dissertation, prerequisites, corequisites, excluded combination of modules.

• Any other dissertation module in any other academic department.
• To provide students with the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of one aspect of their studies by researching and writing an extensive piece of work in English in an area in which the department can offer research supervision.
• To cultivate independent, research-led learning.
• To provide project-management experience of planning, documenting, and writing an extended piece of work in English (12,000 words).
• To increase students’ facility in expressing themselves in English fluently, accurately, and at a suitable academic level, and in presenting and referencing their work according to the conventions of academic writing.
• To provide invaluable practice for those students wishing to progress to postgraduate study.
• The Dissertation in Visual Arts and Film seeks to enhance the employability of students by allowing them to demonstrate their ability as independent learners and researchers in the context of an extended research project that dovetails with the University’s principles for the development of the taught curriculum. Skills will be developed specifically through an extended enquiry-led activity that will provide students with the competences to succeed in the world of work and the ability to manage their own intellectual and professional development. By focusing specifically on questions of relevant research interest, students will develop as international citizens so that they can make a positive contribution to an increasingly globalized society.
• The dissertation involves researching and writing an extended piece of work on a topic for which the department can offer research supervision. Students will thus be working closely with an expert in the field.
• In order to be assigned one of their proposed dissertation topics, students will have to register for the relevant corequisite module at Level 3. The precise topic of the Dissertation is to be determined by negotiation with the supervisor, and is subject to the approval of the Dissertation Coordinator and the availability of an appropriate supervisor.
• The process of dissertation allocation begins in the third week of June when students submit two 100-word proposals outlining topics on which they would like to work, having consulted the list of supervisors available for the next academic year. Since module choices are also likely to be affected by the allocated dissertation topic, the student will also be asked to rank optional module choices corresponding to each proposal.
• When students return to Durham in their final year, their subject will be defined and the dissertation title approved by the supervisor and the Dissertation Coordinator. Students will submit their dissertation in the first week of the third term.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module, the student will have greatly enhanced knowledge of a specialised subject. S/he will be familiar with both primary and secondary sources, and with the wider debates surrounding the images, films, or other visual artefacts that form the main subject of the dissertation.
• The student will have further developed their ability to express complex ideas in a suitable register.
• The student will also develop a number of skills specific to the topic of their dissertation, which may include, by way of illustration:
• the ability to offer sustained close reading and analysis of particular images, films, or other cultural artefacts, including the ability to recognise and appreciate the significance of particular formal/stylistic devices and structures;
• the ability to situate images and/or other artefacts in relation to the context and circumstances of their production, plus the ability to appreciate their enduring ability to inform cultural studies;
• the ability to draw on critical theoretical discourse to situate their research within the broader debates and methodologies of the critical humanities.
• The student will have acquired skill and practice in researching a subject using primary and secondary sources, planning a coherent argument with the evidence to support it, presenting these arguments clearly and cogently in a sustained piece of writing, conforming to the norms of academic referencing.
• The student will have developed long-term project-management skills, including the ability to oversee the execution of a project from conception to completion.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Preparation for the Dissertation begins level 1, with modules covering research skills and critical methodology. There are four further lectures on Dissertation skills in the final year.
• Students are entitled to a total of 4.5 hours of supervision time. This may include one or more group seminars, but will include a total of at least 3 hours of one-to-one supervision meetings. The length of each meeting may vary between 20 and 40 minutes, according to the needs of each student at different phases of the project. Students will see their supervisor at least twice in each of the first two terms.
• After each supervision, it is the responsibility of the student to use the Dissertation Supervision Monitoring form to write a brief summary of the key points discussed and submit it electronically to the supervisor for possible further comment.
• In the second half of Michaelmas term (week 6 or 7, deadline to be agreed between student and supervisor), students must submit to their supervisor a plan comprising: 1) the proposed title of the dissertation; 2) a draft abstract; 3) an outline of the proposed structure of the dissertation; 4) an annotated preliminary bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The total length should not exceed 3 A4 pages. Students whose projects may require vetting by the MLAC Ethics Committee (for example, if they plan to use surveys, interviews or potentially confidential data) are required to flag this up in the same submission, referring to the guidelines set out in the Dissertation Handbook.
• Students are required to submit to their supervisor up to three extracts from their dissertation, totalling approximately 2500 words. The precise arrangements (number of submissions, length of each, time of submission) are to be agreed between the supervisor and the student, but the last instalment must be submitted in time for feedback to be given before the end of Epiphany term.
• The supervisor will comment in writing on both the plan and the extracts within two weeks of submission. Submissions will also be discussed in supervision meetings.
• Assessment of the dissertation will evaluate students’ ability to assimilate, understand, and analyse critically the primary and secondary material associated with their dissertation topic, also their ability to present a sustained argument with suitable evidence, and to express themselves fluently and accurately in English, paying due attention to the relevant conventions of academic writing. Students will also be expected to produce a full and proper bibliography.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative assessment, formative assessment:.

1. Plan to be submitted to the supervisor by a date in week 6 or 7 of Michaelmas term to be agreed with the supervisor. This should be a single document (no more than 3 pages of A4) comprising: i) draft abstract; ii) outline of the proposed structure of the dissertation; iii) annotated preliminary bibliography; iv) a paragraph outlining any potential ethical issues to be encountered in the research process. 2. A total of 1500 words of draft material extracted from the dissertation, presented as one or two submissions at times agreed with the supervisor.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University

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Durham e-Theses contains the full-text of Durham University Higher Degree theses. This includes our extensive collection of PhD, MPHIL and Research Masters dissertations from 1899 onwards, which have been digitised by the library.

If your thesis was awarded prior to 1 October 2009 and you do not wish to have your research made available in this way, please follow the general procedures outlined in the Take-down policy and contact us with the reasons for this as soon as possible.

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Overview - Your Thesis

PGR students and doctoral supervisors may use this guide to find further information on the following topics:

• Finding and accessing existing masters and doctoral theses
• The submission process for Doctoral Theses at Durham
• Guidance on copyright and including copyrighted material in your thesis.
• Guidance and advice on open access and publication of your thesis.

Remember that you can search for, access and download many Doctoral and Masters (Research) theses from our theses repository, Durham eTheses .

Finding Existing Theses

Submitting your thesis

e-theses deposit guide

Restricting access

Things to Consider: Copyright & Publishing Your Thesis

Open access and your thesis.

• Considering Publication?
• Publishers and OA theses
• Embargoing access

Durham University  "is committed to sharing the findings of its world-class research as widely as possible to enhance its use and impact within the academic and research community and more widely within society."  This aims to reduce the barriers, where appropriate, to allowing researchers, including prospective doctoral students, to read and build upon your research.

Durham University Open Access Policy

PhD students are required to deposit a PDF of their thesis in  Durham e-Theses , the University's open access e-theses repository. Durham e-Theses contains:

• the full-text of Durham University Higher Degree theses passed after 1 October 2009
• an extensive collection of PhD, MPhil and Research Masters dissertations from 1899 onwards.

Theses in Durham e-Theses are available alongside other UK theses through the  British Library's eThos service , the open access aggregator service  Core.ac.uk  and other services.

Things to consider

• These will have been theses and dissertations made open access by their authors through various sources such as those listed on our  finding theses pages .
• Your thesis is also expected to meet the requirements of  Durham University's Open Access Policy
• You may also be required to meet the expectations and requirements of any organisation which has funded your doctoral research (e.g. the UK Research Councils ) which expect your thesis to be freely accessible.
• your own career intentions (e.g. publishing your thesis)
• any legal or ethical implications for the content included in your thesis (e.g. copyright, data protection, patent applications).
• This might include temporarily  restricting access to your thesis , or providing access to a redacted version of your thesis through our repository where commercial IP or ethical considerations may warrant this.

Copyright and your thesis

Durham University's Open Access Policy  requires that all Durham theses (with a few exceptions in extreme cases) will be required to be made open access; freely available to all with an internet connection.

Whilst authors of doctoral and masters theses may benefit from some exemptions to copyright for the purpose of examination, it is important that the copy of the thesis made available via Durham e-Theses complies with all copyright requirements - in particular where you have included third party copyright material within your thesis (photographs, maps, site-plans).

When depositing, you can choose from a range of licences (including Creative Commons licences, which offer options clearly indicating what uses can be made of your thesis, and which support researchers who may be commercially funded) and copyright statements to deposit the work under.

Further information can be found at:

• Durham University Copyright Officer Support pages
• Creative Commons Licences for the Humanities and Social Sciences
• IOP Guide to Copyright

Publishing your thesis

Aiming to develop the research presented in your thesis for publication, either in one or more journal articles or as a monograph, is something you may wish to consider as a means to raise the profile of your work, or may be a common "next step" on the academic career path in your discipline.

You should aim to discuss your aspirations and plans with your  supervisor  or  department  in the first instance, but we have provided some additional questions you should think about on this page.

Questions to consider

These are a few questions you should consider if you are thinking of publishing part or all of your thesis.

• be aware of disciplinary differences and speak with your supervisor and examiners for advice
• a monograph can take several years to be published, but may be the expected norm for a career in your academic discipline.
• it may be preferable to have a number of strong peer-reviewed journal articles on your CV however, when applying for jobs.
• some publishers may support publication of a chapter as an article as a precursor for rewriting for publication as a monograph, where this might raise the profile of the author or the research - but this should be discussed with the publisher as consideration of prior publication may vary.  
• if not (for example, third party copyright images, maps, diagrams) you may not be able to include these in a published format with out seeking permission or a licence to publish from the rights holders.  
• this may impact upon your choice of publication format
• it is very rare that a publisher well accept a thesis for publication as a monograph without substantial adaptation
• your thesis was written for examination, essentially to persuade three examiners (who are likely to be experts int he relevant field) of its unique contribution to research and its scholarly credentials
• a monograph being published by a commercial publisher will need to demonstrate an appeal to a wider audience with different levels of expertise, and offer commercial potential for the publisher in most cases.  
• For further guidance on good practice in research data management, see the  University's Research Data Management pages .  
• Durham University's Open Access policy expects your thesis to meet the requirements of the  University's Open Access Policy .
• If your doctoral research was funded, the research funder may require you to make your thesis accessible.
• If your thesis will be accessible prior to any publication date of content from your thesis, you should make sure your publisher is aware of this and check their policies around theses and pre-publication. See the 'Publishers and Open Access Theses' tab for further information.  
• Check any agreement or contract a publisher offers you.
• Check the credentials and reputation of the publisher (see our  guidance on where to publish your research for further information ).
• Make sure that publication is in your best interests.
• Be careful about restricting your own future use of the content.

Publishers and open access theses

Committee on publication ethics (cope).

Many publishers are members of CoPE, including Sage, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, Elsevier and Royal Society Publishing. CoPE's policies on Intellectual Property for members to adhere to states that:

CoPE are currently consulting members as to best practice approaches to take, with the General Advice included in their March 2017 discussion paper indicating:

Examples of Publisher approaches to open access theses

"Elsevier welcomes submissions from authors and will consider these for publication where work has not previously been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Elsevier does not view the following prior uses of a work as prior publication:

• Publication in the form of an abstract
• Publication as an academic thesis
• Publication as an electronic preprint"

Elsevier policy on pre-publication (Jan 2016)

PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

"Palgrave Macmillan will consider submissions containing material that has previously formed part of a PhD or other academic thesis including those that have been made publicly available according to the requirements of the institution awarding the qualification . Prospective authors should bear in mind that every PhD thesis will need to undergo rigorous revision in order to be published as a monograph with our press."

Palgrave Macmillan guidance (Sep 2020)

SAGE PUBLISHING

"Most dissertations and theses posted in institutional repositories will be considered for publication, except where they are "the same or substantially the same as any previously published work"."

Sage policy on prior publication (July 2018)

WILEY PUBLISHING (INCLUDING BLACKWELL)

"The following types of “prior publication” do not present cause for concerns about duplicate or redundant publication:

• Abstracts and posters presented during sessions at conferences.
• Results presented at meetings (for example, to inform investigators or participants about findings).
• Results in databases and clinical trials registries (data without interpretation, discussion, context or conclusions in the form of tables and text to describe data/ information).
• Dissertations and theses in university archives.

Wiley Best Practice Guidelines on Publishing Ethics (July 2018)

Durham e-Theses

Theses in Durham e-Theses are available alongside other UK theses through the British Library's eThos service , the open access aggregator service  Core.ac.uk and other services.

Embargoes and restricting access to your thesis

Should you have reason to place an embargo on your thesis in Durham e-Theses, please download, complete and email the  Restricting Access to your Thesis form  to the Graduate School at  [email protected] . Your request must be authorised by both your primary Supervisor and Departmental Director of Postgraduate Research.

Full guidance can be found on here  or can be downloaded as a pdf as below.

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Dissertation Support

If you are doing your dissertation this year, this short video  offers help and advice in relation to library resources.

These seven tutorials designed are specifically for taught students who are about to undertake their first large, independent research project. They will guide you logically through the things you need to think about the skills you need to develop find and manage resources.

Introduction to dissertation research

Basic literature searching

Bibliographic databases

Accessing full text online

Referencing

Library Resources: Dissertation Advice

If you want specific help for your subject, you can also use the subject guides   or contact your Faculty Librarian .