Official Dissertation Thread - 2011-2012

Thanks this is what I thought, just wanted someone else to say it!

On the topic of referncing. How many surces have you guys used roughly? I'm guessing all your references aren't all different sources too? My topic has a distinct lack of sources to use :/

That sounds really interesting! Which translations are you using? I love my shiny Durling edition. I still need to finish the second half of Purgatorio for my seminar next week though o_O.

As above really, although in-text references are probably fewer. How much is a distinct lack? As long as you have enough to write a coherent argument it shouldn't be a problem at all and I'm sure your supervisor will be aware that there aren't a lot of sources so he/she will take that into consideration when marking it. How many do you have altogether at the moment?

It definitely depends on the subject, and although mine is not in Psychology, we were told to not really have more than 6 per page. But if it is worrying you, you could email your supervisor and ask for advice?

Thanks :-). Yeah I asked her, and she said "it takes as many as it takes".. well I doubt I'd get a great mark if I only used like 4! I have around 50 now, so it's looking better than it did this morning.

I'm using Durling, Robert and Jean Hollander, and Kirkpatrick. They are all so different. Durling is the best for explanatory notes, he comes to uni with me every day, I just wish he wasn't so heavy!

I'm writing on a topic which has had little exploration and whilst one of my sections has a fair amount written on, four of the items I discuss have next to nothing (literally about one or two sources, saying a few lines on each). At the moment I have around 30 sources for the 10,000 words I have written (in total my diss is 12,000 and I have the conclusion and introduction left to write). I have my last meeting next week which am going to check its fine at again, but my supervisor never seems to address it fully...I have itnervews which I am relying on quite heavily for my arguments.

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Never realised you were the OP of this thread. I laughed at the fact somebody neg repped your opening post

Psychology, I'd imagine reference density would have to be similar to a normal assignment, and I've done a 4,000 word assignment with 30 references before now.. and this dissertation has around 7,000 words that are referenceable (the rest is my method section, results, and suggestions for future research) so I'd have taken a guess that 50 references would probably be fine.. but then I see all these other people with hundreds, and I think they must have more references than words!

Hey!
Lol yeah, someone's jealous of all the fun we're having
Any news from Cambridge?

Oh I see so you're effectively forced to rely on primary research. Hmm, yeah I can see that that's a bit of a tricky situation to be in. But seeing as it's (I assume) a completely original topic (especially for undergraduate level) that's all that can be expected of you really? Maybe refuse to leave until your supervisor tells you straight up whether it's ok or not? Sorry I can't be of more help but I'm not entirely sure what else you could do really

Hah, definitely! Pesky dissertation haters!

Yeah. Looks like I'm getting an offer, although I have no idea what the offer is yet. If it's less than 70% I can start celebrating. My KCL offer is still on the table though. And awaiting interview from Imperial. Too much to handle on top of dissertating!

Did you hear from UCL in the end? hah. Surely, they gave you an offer!

Yep! Research (of which I don't have loads of, Buddhist monks are far and few between in Britain and impossible to get to talk to you it seemsin the majoity of cases!) and for want of a better word, the Buddhist 'Bible' (pains me to use that word to describe the PaliCanon, but it best explains it!).

I have now sent mysupervisor a long, rambling and crazy email as I don' want to wait a week and a half till my next and final supervision meeting...

Yay! (And nay at the same time because I'll have no one to take over the world with ) Do you even care about Imperial anymore?

Yeah I got an offer from UCL After the 6 week mark I sent them an email saying 'Oi hurry up ffs ' and I was told that due to a printing error my app didn't get sent to the dept 2 weeks later - offer! Funny how fast they can turn things around when they feel they have to I still can't see my references though and that's all I've been wanting to see on there

I see - it does still sound like an interesting topic though but I can understand your concerns about it.

Fingers crossed your supervisor a) replies and b) is useful!

The course at Imperial is excellent, but Cambridge is Cambridge. And Imperial's fees are £20,000

Haha, that's funny! Similar thing happened to me with Cambridge. I rang them up and 5 minutes they changed my online status You will never get to see those references..haha

I assume you accepted KCL though..? On the bright side ff you take over KCL alone, you could create yourself a nice little dictatorship.

Thanks Me too!

One monk gave m a bracelet and they are meant to protect you and bring you luck!! I'm hoping this proves to be correct!! I need sooo much luck

I feel like joining this thread. So, I haven't started my dissertation/had any meetings/done any research yet...hoping it's not too late. Gah. I'm so silly.