Dissertation Vs Taught Modules

I'm about to go into my final year of my Combined Studies degree, where I'm taking my major in History and minor in Archaeology. Due to the credit split, however, if I wanted to complete a dissertation I would have to do it in Archaeology, which I've only taken 80 out of 240 credits in. A lot of people I've spoken to have said I should choose a topic I'm really interested in as it is a lot of work, but theres nothing in Archaeoligy that I'm particularly interested in, and I don't feel I have a great deal of background knowledge on the subject.

I have the option of taking two taught modules in Archaeology instead of a dissertation, and was wondering if this would be a better option or do employers prefer you to have done a dissertation?

Reply 1

Socrates

Do the extra modules. Unless you're passionate about the topic which you're writing about, 10,000 words will look a distant way. Most employers won't check up on your individual modules, so won't know whether you did a disso or not. I didn't do one, and it hasn't affected my chances (I'm starting a masters at the same university this September, where I will have to do a diss).

Reply 2

Elliray

Ditto to Socrates - I've been working on my dissertation for about ten months now, and still have another eight to go, but I'm really interesting in what I'm doing, so fortuantely love it still! However, a couple of my coursemates never really found a research topic they were passionate about and are now really regretting it.

If there's nothing you want to research, don't do a dissertation - your lack of interest in the area will be reflected in your grade, so do module options in something you enjoy instead!