The project dissertation should demonstrate the ability to critically research, appraise, evaluate and solve a specific problem in your chosen research area. The project dissertation should be concise. It should (excluding ancillary data such as the abstract, captions, appendices and references) not exceed 8,500 words.
Dissertations must be typed on one side of A4 paper with margins of at least 1.5 cm and with 1.5 or double spaced text. Your eVision cover sheet should be included immediately inside the front cover.
Reports are part of the examination of the student and, on submission, become University property.
Your supervisor will guide you on the format of the dissertation, briefly outlined below.
Title should be specific, brief and followed by the author’s name, year, and the words “B.Sc. (Hons.), [title of Honours degree], Anglia Ruskin University”.
Abstract – This is a concisely worded synopsis of the research detailing the background, aim, methodology, results and main conclusions from the body of work. It should be complete without reference to the rest of the report, is usually be written only when the rest of the report is complete, and should not contain afterthoughts or statements that are not evident in the rest of the report. As a guide you should expect to write your abstract in 200-250 (max) words.
Acknowledgements should include details of any assistance or advice given at any stage during the course of the project by the supervisor, other members of academic staff, technical staff, etc.
Table of Contents should give the relevant page numbers and be set out so as to give a good guide to the structure and contents of the report. You may also decide to include a List of Figures and Tables, with titles and page numbers, although there is no strict requirement for this. A List of Abbreviations can also be useful if lost of terms are abbreviated in the dissertation.
Introduction – This represent a significant body of reading and writing. The Introduction provides the background to the study, the current state of research in your chosen field and identify the research gaps that lead to your aims. Provide references to previous research of a general nature (these will be discussed more fully in the discussion where they are of direct relevance to the project)
Aims and Objectives – The overarching aim of your dissertation is included at the end of your Introduction, and identifies the questions your research aims to answer. You will find writing a well worded measurable aim an art form, your supervisor will be able to help develop your aims.
As a guide you should expect to write between 3000-4000 words for the Introduction, including aims.
Material and Methods – The methods section is where you define the methods employed to answer your research question. It should contain any of the following: area of fieldwork, details of apparatus and methods, descriiption of materials, software etc. (see supervisor for precise advice). For laboratory based projects this includes the reagents used, including the manufacturer, if you have used DNA primers this includes the sequences. For Meta-Analysis projects you would ordinarily include details about the search criteria, databases, inclusion/exclusion criteria. It should provide sufficient information for the reader to follow, and if necessary, repeat any procedure, and list the equipment used, detail any modifications to established techniques and describe/ illustrate all specially constructed equipment and novel procedures. You should describe all experimental conditions, procedures and precautions necessary to ensure accuracy and safety, and (if necessary) refer to preliminary experiments and to consequent changes in techniques. Also you need to include statistical methods employed in your research. As a guide you should expect to write between 1000-1500 words.
Results – The results section is where you present your findings. It should relate to the intentions given in the introduction and provide a factual statement of what was observed, supported by any statistics, data and/or graphs derived from the analysis of the data recorded during the investigation. Choosing an appropriate graphical representation of your data is just as important as the words you write in the results section. Whether you use a pie chart or bar chart is very much dependent on what you aim to show. Remember the descriiption of the results in the main text body of this section, it must not be just a series of figures. Remember titles for each figure and table, and explanatory legends. As a guide you should write between 1000-2000 words.
Discussion and Conclusions – The discussion provides the opportunity to talk about your findings, the aims of the project and whether these were met and what they mean with reference to the wider scientific literature. It should include a discussion of the project results, how these relate to the present state of knowledge, conclusions to be drawn, and suggestions for further work.
