The Business School

Assessment (2006/07)

Module Code: Module Title: Level: Element: Title: Weighting:

44241 Dissertation 6 Assignment 2 Interim Report 15%

Module Leader: Ian Perry

44241: Dissertation (2006/07)

Assignment 2: Interim Report

Module: Assignment: Weighting:

44241: Dissertation (2006/07) 2 Interim Report 15% of Module Marks

NB. Text in italics are advisory notes to you, so please read them carefully.

Overall Requirement
Produce a document which states clearly the Aim and Objectives of your Research, includes a Literature Review, and the Method(s) which will be used in your Research.
NB. This Interim Report MUST be presented as a single document (of around 1,000 to 1,500 words), and MUST be structured as in Appendix 1 of this document (see below for more detail of what it is required under each of these headings).

Detailed Requirements
Full Name (& Student Number) Preferably your own! Title of Dissertation The title of you Dissertation may have changed since you submitted your original Dissertation Proposal, so, include your current Dissertation Title (it may change again) here.
NB. The title should give a clear indication of what this Dissertation is about.

Aim & Objectives

NB. Re-visit, and perhaps modify, the Aim & Objectives of your original Dissertation Proposal.

A general introductory paragraph should lead to the statement of the main Research Aim, followed by the statement of 3 to 4 specific Research Objectives that you believe can be achieved during the Dissertation process.
NB. These should be investigative objectives and therefore problem-based rather than solution-based, and bear in mind the need to analyse rather than merely describe.

Module Leader: Ian Perry

Page: 2

44241: Dissertation (2006/07)

Assignment 2: Interim Report

Literature Review The idea here is to place your Research into relevant contexts; i.e. matched to specific Objectives.
NB. Re-visit, and expand upon, the Relationship to Previous Work of your original Dissertation Proposal.

No investigation starts from scratch; someone else MUST have done something relevant to the Aim & Objectives of you Research in the past.
NB. It is NEVER sufficient to say, There has been little work done in this area before

Appropriate contexts might be subject-based; e.g. What has been done in this subject area before?, or problem-based; e.g. How has this kind of problem been approached in previous studies?
NB. Only include citations/extracts from relevant literature here (i.e. relevant to the topic/subject of your Dissertation).

Methodology This section must detail the way in which the Objectives of your Research are to be achieved.
NB. This means not only a description of the methods to be used, but also a discussion of the logic of those methods.

It should answer the question; Why are you using these methods?
NB. The discussion should, therefore, include consideration of alternatives and demonstrate the appropriateness of the approach being proposed.

This section must go beyond merely itemising a data-collection approach.

NB. What you really need to do here is to explain what will be in each Chapter of the final Dissertation Document.

If basing your research upon a previously used methodology, then it should also answer the question; Which methods have been judged to be appropriate in the past in previous work?
NB. You have to move beyond this previous work in some clearly identified way (therein lies your originality).

References A reference list for each of the citations in your Interim Report should appear under this heading.
NB. Only include those references which you have actually cited.

This list MUST be presented using the Harvard System, see the Study Skills Handbook - available at http://www.hull.ac.uk/hubs/05/informationfor/current.htm.
NB. Pay particular attention to Chapter 8 Referencing, Bibliography and Plagiarism & Appendix A Referencing and Bibliographies.

Module Leader: Ian Perry

Page: 3

44241: Dissertation (2006/07)

Assignment 2: Interim Report

Appendix 1 Interim Report (Structure) Full Name (& Student Number) Title of Dissertation Aim & Objectives Literature Review Methodology References
NB. The Aim & Objectives, Literature Review & Methodology sections of this Interim Report should provide a prototype of the first 3 Chapters of the final Dissertation Document (see Assignment 4 Dissertation Document), and it is NEVER too early to start building your References section. It is almost certain that the content of these Chapters will change, but you really need to have done something under each of these headings in order to be able to proceed with your Research.

Module Leader: Ian Perry

Page: 4