DISSERTATION GUIDELINES (ECOM107 and ECOM093)

1. Aim and Objectives
• Enable students to advance their knowledge of the field covered by their degree
program.
• Independent dissertation project.
• Ability to evaluate, challenge, modify and develop theory and practice.
• Offer synthetic and coherent solutions.
2. Requirements
• Well-defined research question.
• Logically developed argument supported by evidence.
• Element of your own independent research.
• Relate existing literature in the field to your work.
3. Timetable
• 4
th February 2022: deadline to choose between the dissertation module (ECOM107 –
ECOM093) and ECOM200 (and one/two more modules).
• Friday 11th February 2022: Deadline for selecting your topic on QMPlus. please note that
after this date you cannot change your topic selection from empirical to valuation or vice
versa
• Thursday 14
th April 2022 at 23.55: Deadline for abstract submission
• Monday 22nd August 2022 at 23.55: Deadline for dissertation submission
• Dissertations that are submitted late will be penalized at the rate of 5 marks deduction
for each 24 hour period after the set submission time, down to the pass mark. Work
submitted 14 calendar days or more after the deadline will be awarded zero (check
your handbook). Thisrule applies for all days including weekends. Students are advised
to submit at least a day before the deadline in case of unforeseen technical problems
etc.
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4. Plagiarism
• Your dissertation should be the output of your own work. University of London and
the Queen Mary University take plagiarism very seriously.
• Incorrect referencing and citations may be considered plagiarism.
• For detecting plagiarism, the School uses Turnitin. Turnitin checks your dissertation
against 24+ billion web pages, 300+ million student papers and 110,000+ publications
and provides a similarity index. Once you will have completed your dissertation, you
can test it on Turnitin to verify that the similarity index is acceptable (green light)
before your official submission.
• Important: An acceptable similarity index could be anything below 20%. What does
this mean in practice? An originality report from Turnitin may have a similarity index
of 24% with the similarity coming from hundreds of different sources, each making up
less than 1% of the student’s work, other originality reports with an index of 15% may
have the similarity coming from just one or two web pages or published sources,
potentially a much more serious matter.
• After the examsin June, there will be a session on how to avoid plagiarism andmaintain
academic integrity. The attendance is compulsory for all students taking ECOM093 and
ECOM107. More details about the date and the venue will follow at a later stage.
5. Style and Format
• Front page: You must indicate the following:
▪ your programme of study
▪ your full name
▪ your student ID number
▪ the title of your dissertation
▪ the full name of your supervisor
• Use 1.5 spacing
• Number your pages
• Use 2.5 or 3cm on all margins
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6. Dissertation Length
• Maximum 7,000 words(4,000 words for those taking ECOM093) excluding references,
tables and appendices. Lower or higher than this may lead to a penalty in your overall
mark and this is under the discretion of your supervisor.
7. Citing and References
• Follow the link and use Harvard Style criteria
https://qmplus.qmul.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/206752/mod_book/chapter/4135/Referencing%20
guide.pdf
8. The role of the supervisor
• Number of meetings with the supervisor: 1 meeting before the abstract submission
and up to 3 meetings during the period ofsupervision in summer (see above for dates).
• The dissertation is intended to provide an opportunity for students to pursue a
research project independently, so students are entirely responsible for the work for
their dissertation.
• The role of the supervisor is to offer advice and guidance, not to direct the research.
• Your supervisor will help you to identify a topic, to draw up a suitable preliminary
bibliography and to plan the primary and secondary research you will need to do for
the dissertation. He/she will be available to advise you on approach, coverage,
questions to be asked and the outline structure and research design.
More specifically, the supervisor is expected to:
▪ assist you in the definition and organisation of your project in the early stages
of preparation;
▪ offer you advice about sources;
▪ advise you on the feasibility of what you plan to do; and
▪ approve your dissertation proposal.
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9. The role of the Teaching Assistant (TA)
▪ 4 meetings in total during the supervision period.
▪ You must not expect the TAs to do the work for you, the role of the TA is to help at
various stages of your dissertation.
▪ For empirical projects, the TA will assist you on how to download data and use library
resources. If you also need help with the statistical package (Eviews) you use, TA will
give you guidance.
▪ The TA will not give you suggestions about your research approach and will not
recommend research methods and literature. The TA has a supportive role only.
▪ Skype meetings with the supervisor and/or TA are not allowed. except under verified
Extenuating Circumstances (please consult your handbook) which must be approved
in advance. Separate EC must be submitted for extensions after the deadline.
10. Structure for an empirical study.
The introduction: It should state the topic and the general aim of the dissertation. It should also
describe the structure of the dissertation (i.e., how you organize your dissertation in the various
sections)
Literature Review: should review the literature on the topic and clarify how your dissertation fits
within this literature. You can give any title to thissection aslong as, at the beginning of the section,
you state clearly that the objective of this section is to review the literature on the topic under
investigation.
Empirical Framework and Data Description: it is important that you summarize the method you
use and that you describe the data use in your dissertation. You can give any title to this section as
long as, at the beginning of the section, you state clearly that the objective of the section is give a
description of your method and of the data you use.
Empirical Analysis: this section is dedicated to the illustration of your analysis and of your findings.
You can give any relevant title to this section as long as, at the beginning of the section, you state
clearly the objective of the section.
Conclusion: thissection presents a summary of the findings of the dissertation, relates these to the
argument outlined in the introductory chapter and states precisely what has been demonstrated.
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Structure for a literature review – based study.
Introduction: You must define your research topic and give the reasons why you chose this one
(interesting topic, very high in the research agenda etc.). In that part you can also include apart from
the main research question any other sub-questions that may help structuring your dissertation.
Give also a brief overview of the structure that will follow at following parts.
Methodology and research methods: At this section you give details about the material you have
used (peer reviewed papers, books, press reports etc.). Depending on the subject you choose, you
may also usematerialthatis not peerreviewed, and, in that case, you must be aware ofthe limitations
of that type of research and mention it in that part.
Analysis of literature: This part can be divided into several sections and/or chapters depending on
how you wish to address your research question. In your analysis you can critically evaluate earlier
studies and theories that contributed to the research topic you investigate. Any controversies,
criticisms and limitations of the existing theories should also be mentioned. Since there is no
empirical part in this type of dissertation the examiners will assess your ability to demonstrate your
arguments in a critical and thorough way as well as your in-depth analysis.
Conclusion: this section presents a summary of the findings of the dissertation, relates these to the
argument outlined in the introductory chapter and states precisely what has been demonstrated.
Structure for valuation-based study.
Introduction: Itshould state the topic and the general aim of the dissertation. Itshould also describe
the structure of the dissertation (i.e., how you organize your dissertation in the various sections)
Methodology and Data Description: it is important that you explain the method(s) you are using to
value the company and that you describe the data used in your valuation exercise. You can give any
title to this section as long as, at the beginning of the section, you state clearly that the objective of
the section is give a description of your method(s) and of the data you use.
Empirical Analysis: this section is dedicated to the illustration of your analysis and of your
investment recommendation. You can give any relevant title to this section as long as, at the
beginning of the section, you state clearly the objective of the section.
Conclusion: this section presents a summary of the findings of the dissertation, i.e., reviews your
investment case about the company you are analyzing. The reader of this section is expected to be
given a summarized perspective of your view on the company’sfundamentals and investment story
backing your investment recommendation.