A research dissertation of between 12,000 and 15,000 words, including footnotes and excluding abstract, bibliography and appendices. The work will be on a specific field, subject or issue withing the field of speech, language and sociolinguistics, and will demonstrate a good understanding of the appropriate scholarly literature in the field, and the application of data collection, analysis and interpretation appropriate for the subfield(s) researched. The dissertation will normally be written after the end of semester 2 and will be submitted at the end of the academic year.

5 x 1 hour supervisory meetings.

ENGLANG5084P
ENGLANG5114P

Compulsory courses for the MSc in Speech, Language & Sociolinguistics

Dissertation of between 12,000 and 15,000 words including footnotes and excluding abstract, bibliography and appendices.

This course aims to

■ support the student in developing and sustaining an argument in an area of the student's personal research interest in the field of speech, language, and sociolinguistics

■ promote an engagement with scholarly, critical, and theoretical arguments relevant to that area

■ enable the student to collect, analyse, and interpret data in order to support the research argument

■ encourage the application of acquired research skills to a supervised project

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ scope and plan a research project appropriate for a dissertation of between 12,000 and 15,000 words in length

■ apply the research methods and skills learnt during the taught course to a programme of research

■ evaluate the results of their research and assess these in relation to a suitable body of literature

■ present the results of their research in a critical, reasoned and coherent way

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.