DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

INTRODUCTION
The purpose of these guidelines is to bring uniformity in research practices and documentation.
The dissertation is compulsory for the award of the Two-Year Full Time MBA-Telecom Degree.

ABOUT THE DISSERTATION

The aim of a dissertation is to provide the student with an opportunity to further his/her intellectual and personal development in
the chosen field by undertaking a significant practical unit of activity, having an academic value at a level commensurate with the
award of MBA.
Dissertation often requires you to integrate a variety of knowledge and skills when tackling a problem, and to carry it through a
sequence of stages. In general, how you work on the dissertation and what you learn in the process are as important as the results
you achieve. You can sometimes learn more about an approach when things go wrong than when everything goes according to
plan, and provided you can point to the lessons you have learnt, you will still get appreciated.
Neither you nor the faculty guide may know all the relevant inputs and problems and the outcomes (which are never
predetermined). It is your task to marshal all evidence to produce an outcome for your research.

OBJECTIVE
• To provide the student with an opportunity to demonstrate the ability to devise, select and use a range of methodologies
appropriate to the chosen topic of research.
• To allow the student to show the application of skills of data collection, critical analysis and concept synthesis necessary for
formation of defensible conclusions and/or recommendations.
• To allow the student the opportunity to demonstrate ability to draw appropriate conclusions argued from the evidence
presented. (Should the research produce negative or inconclusive result, the conclusions should be critically examined to
ascertain the reasons).
• To provide a forum to demonstrate the skills of structuring and present a balanced, informed, complete, clear and concise
written argument.

PLANNING YOU DISSERTATION

This will entail the following:
• Selecting a topic for investigation.

As a student you have the discretion in the choice of research topic for the dissertation. You will need to ensure that your
dissertation is related to your field of specialization.

Choice requires you to act with independence and initiative, making decisions and carrying out the research work under
the guidance of a faculty guide.

Please see more detailing on Topic selection in the next section

• Establishing the precise focus of your study by deciding the aims and objectives of the dissertation or formulating
questions/hypothesis to be investigated. Consider very carefully what is worth investigating and its feasibility.
• Drawing up initial dissertation outline (synopsis) considering the aims and objectives of the dissertation.
• Devising a TimeTable/Gantt chart to ensure that all stages of dissertation are completed in time. The TimeTable/Gantt chart
should include writing of the dissertation and regular meetings with your dissertation guide.

THE DISSERTATION TOPIC

Deciding this is often the most difficult part of the dissertation process, and perhaps, you have been thinking of a topic for some
time.
It is important to distinguish here between ‘dissertation topic’ and ‘dissertation title’. The topic is the specific area that you wish
to investigate. The title may not be decided until the dissertation has been written so as to reflect its contents properly.
Few restrictions are placed on the choice of the topic. Normally we would expect it to be:
• Relevant to business, especially to Telecom business, defined broadly;
• Related to one or more of the subjects or areas of study within the core program and specialization stream; (What topics,
subject etc. have particularly captured your interest from the core and elective streams?)
• Clearly focused, so as to facilitate an in-depth approach, subject to availability of information;
• Of value and interest to you and for your personal and professional development..

Thus, you should ask yourselves these questions before deciding the topic-
• The first question is the imaginative and creative task of generating ideas for the research investigation. “What Can I Look
At?” Some suggestions for doing this are given in next section.
• The second question is about determining the feasibility of the dissertation. Will the necessary information be available? Can
you get the support and facilities you need? Has the topic been exhaustively researched before? What sort of work is
needed? How long will it take? (What are the problems, significant issues, etc. that are currently evident from your study and
knowledge of business, whether in India or abroad.)
• The third, and perhaps most important, is the question whether the topic is sufficiently interesting and worthwhile. A
dissertation requires a lot of hard work over a long time. This is lot easier to carry out if you are dealing with a topic of
 importance and relevance to yourself. With personal interest, a dissertation changes from a burden to an experience. Clearly
this is something that only you can decide.
(What sort of job profile you are targeting? Can the dissertation help you prepare for that? What developments would be
worth examining in depth? The dissertation may give you an advantage over other MBA’s applying for these types of jobs.)

HOW TO START
Start by determining the broad objectives of the dissertation. A practical way of writing them down is to make notes about the
various points that would be needed to be discussed in your dissertation synopsis.
Broadly speaking the dissertation synopsis are required to clarify -
• What the dissertation will achieve (objectives)
• Why you are doing it (motives)
• How you intend to do it (methods)
• What you intend to do in each chapter (project plan)
• Sources of your information and data that will be required.

LITERATURE REVIEW
It will rarely be the case that no previous work exists in areas similar or related to your dissertation. Literature review involves
reading, understanding and providing a written critical summary of what other people have written about your dissertation area,
related topics and methods of analysis. In a dissertation like yours, you will not be expected to produce a definitive account of the
state of research in your selected topic. However, you will need to show evidence that you have read a certain amount of relevant
literature to show evidence that you have some awareness of the current state of knowledge on the subject.

Literature survey is important because:

• It can provide ideas about approaches and methods that had not occurred to you, e.g. how to analyze and present data.
• It may help to devise a conceptual framework for the analysis and interpretation of data.
• It may also reveal other important issues or questions which are worth addressing.

KEEPING RECORDS
This includes the following:
• Making a note of everything you read; including those discarded,
• Ensuring that when recording sources, author’s name and initials, date of publication, title, type of publication and publisher
are included. (you may consider starting a card index or database from the outset). Making an accurate note of all quotations
at the time you read them.
• Make clear what is a direct a direct quotation and what is your paraphrase.

THE FACULTY GUIDE

All students are allocated (after they have discussed the topic and obtained the consent) a faculty guide for the duration of the
dissertation period including the writing up period. Students can and are encouraged to make use of other academic faculty guides
should they require further assistance. If students have difficulty in contacting their faculty guide during the dissertation period,
they are advised to contact the HoD MBA Telecom.
Note, it is the student’s responsibility of successfully completing the dissertation on time.

DISSERTATION FORMAT
All students must follow the following format for their dissertation.
• Typing should be done on A4 Size paper, with 1.5’’(left) & 1” (right, top & bottom) margin; single space within a sentence,
word format, 12 (times new roman) font size (Titles in 14 font size).
• Front page should provide Title, Name of student (& enrollment no.), Name of Degree and the Date of Submission.
• Second page should be the Table of Contents giving page references for each Chapter and Section.
• The next page should be the Table of Appendices, Graphs and Tables giving Titles and page references.
• Next is the ‘acknowledgements’
• Next to follow should be a synopsis of the dissertation.
• Chapter I should be a general introduction, giving the background to the dissertation, the objectives of the dissertation, the
rationale for the dissertation, the plan, methodological issues and problems. The limitations of the dissertation should also be
listed in this chapter.
• Other chapters will constitute the body of the dissertation. The number of chapters and their sequences will usually vary
depending on, among others, on a critical review of the previous relevant work relating to your major findings, a discussion of
their implications, and conclusions, possibly with a suggestion of the direction of future research on the area.
• After the concluding chapter, you should give a list of all the references you have used. These should be cross referenced
with your text.

ASSESSMENT PLAN
1. Assessment by Faculty Guide 70 marks

2. Presentation & Viva Voice 30 marks

GUIDELINES FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF THE DISSERTATION

1. The Faculty Guide will assess the Dissertation on the following issues and suitably award the marks.

Max Marks

i. Has the student made a clear statement of the objective(s) 05

ii. Has the student developed an appropriate 10

analytical framework for addressing the problem at hand?

iii. Is this based on up-to-date developments in the topic area? 05

iv. Has the student collected information / data suitable 10

to the framework?

v. Are the techniques employed by the student to 05

analyze the data / information appropriate and relevant?

vi. Has the Student succeeded in drawing conclusion 10

from the analysis?

vii. Do the conclusions relate well to the objectives of 05

the dissertation?

viii. Has the student been regularly updating the faculty guide 10
on his/her work?

ix. Layout of the dissertation report. 10

2. A panel, consisting of Faculty members (2, including the faculty guide), outside expert (1), will evaluate the presentation of
the dissertation on the basis of the following criteria –

i. The student is clear about the dissertation and is able to 15

present it in a clear & appropriate way

ii. The student is able to defend his/her dissertation with 15

respect to the questions asked by the panel
 AMITY UNIVERSITY, UTTAR PRADESH
AMITY INSTITUTE OF TELECOM TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT, AUUP

REGISTRATION FOR DISSERTATION

NAME OF THE PROGRAMME - MBA-Telecommunication Management

Name of the Student…………………………………………………………………..

AUUP Enrollment No._________________

Title of the Dissertation__________________________________________________________

Name of the Faculty Guide________________________________________________________

Brief about Topic & Methodology to be used_____________________________________________

(Synopsis approved by Faculty Guide to be attached)

Signature of the Student Signature of the Faculty Guide

For Official Use
Dissertation Title & Synopsis is approved by Academic Committee of MBA Telecom, AITTM, AU

HoD MBA –Telecom D.G. – AITTM

Date- Date-