BAC7007 Dissertation Handbook 2026 | Cardiff Metropolitan University

BAC7007 Dissertation Handbook

Aim(s)

The dissertation provides an opportunity for in-depth study of a topic relevant to management.  It requires students to:

• Undertake a research topic within the area of their intended degree award classification.
• Critically evaluate major schools of thought within relevant financial management theory.
• Translate theory into practice through the study of its application in the real world.
• Undertake empirical research in this area.
• Draw conclusions about the implications of the results for managerial decision-making, in particular strategic.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Identify and pursue their own research questions and projects independently, working with minimal supervision.
• Demonstrate critical thinking and analytical skills, evaluate complex problems, synthesize information from various sources, and propose innovative solutions.
• Indicate great understanding of research skills and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in their field through the research. 
• Apply the theoretical knowledge and research methodology in a real-world context at an advanced level.
• Exhibit the ability to critically evaluate existing theories and methodologies and propose improvements or alternative approaches.
• Convey complex ideas and research findings effectively in various ways, presenting the results in a clear coherent written manner. 

The Dissertation builds on the Research Methods Module. Students will be assigned a personal supervisor with whom they will be expected to have a minimum of three one-to-one tutorials, the outcome of which will be fully documented. 

Learning and Teaching Delivery Methods: 

A dissertation handbook will be available for all students that will include details of

• Regulations
• Role of supervisor
• Timing and planning
• Topic selection
• Presentation
• Referencing
• Assessment

This 40 credit module is allocated 400 hours in total. 

• Scheduled asynchronous learning (flipped learning, recorded lectures, online learning activity, contribution to group work), 
• Scheduled synchronous learning (on-campus lectures, on-campus seminars, scheduled lab work with supervision, live demonstrations), 
• Scheduled academic support (assessment workshop, in-person feedback, subject based tutorial session, research supervision), 
• Situational learning (field trip, data gathering, placement, work-based learning)
• Independent guided learning (independent study, reading and research, unsupervised group work)

Learning and Teaching Delivery Methods:

A dissertation handbook will be available for all students that will include details of

• Regulations
• Role of supervisor
• Timing and planning
• Topic selection
• Presentation
• Referencing
• Assessment

This 40 credit module is allocated 400 hours in total.

• Scheduled asynchronous learning (flipped learning, recorded lectures, online learning activity, contribution to group work),
• Scheduled synchronous learning (on-campus lectures, on-campus seminars, scheduled lab work with supervision, live demonstrations),
• Scheduled academic support (assessment workshop, in-person feedback, subject based tutorial session, research supervision),
• Situational learning (field trip, data gathering, placement, work-based learning)
• Independent guided learning (independent study, reading and research, unsupervised group work)

Dissertation Procedures

You are about to embark on a significant piece of individual study and need to be disciplined and realistic in your use of time.

Roles and Responsibilities – the student

At the earliest possible stage, the supervisor and student should meet and agree on an approach to the management of the dissertation. Please remember that it is your responsibility to make the initial contact with your supervisor, to keep to your timetabled plan of activity as closely as possible, to inform your supervisor as early as possible if this is no longer possible, and to re-negotiate an amended plan of activity to which you will be able to keep. 

Please contact your supervisor via your student account only. Your supervisor will attempt to respond to your email within 2 working days. Saturdays and Sundays are not considered as working days.

The supervisor and student are expected to form an agreement based on partnership, with both parties providing inputs and having responsibilities. We are avoiding use of the term “contract” with its connotations of terms and conditions, and remedies for non-performance or compliance. However, some supervisors may wish to formalise the agreement in writing, and this agreement could cover issues such as: 

• Your proposed timetable of activity and what to do if you are unable to keep to your plan. During the first contact with your supervisor you should also consider whether or not there are significant chunks of time when either party is unavailable, for example away at conferences or on leave.
• How you should contact your supervisor and what form of contact is considered appropriate by both parties (e.g. face-to-face meeting; e-mail; telephone contact). Where will meetings take place? Will meetings take place at all or will you communicate solely by e-mail and/or telephone? Supervisors will vary in their approach but in general email is the preferred method of communication for remote contact. This has the advantage of providing a record, which is clearly in the interest of both parties.
• How often should contact occur? When will meetings take place? Should a time of the week be arranged when supervisor and student will be available for “ad hoc” meetings?
• What input your supervisor is offering in terms of reading your work? Will your supervisor want to see a draft or a of a few pages of each chapter before you complete it, or would prefer you to complete each chapter before submitting it for comment? How often is your supervisor prepared to see each section of your work.
• This piece of work is the capstone of the MSc programme and different from all other elements. YOU are the driver here and YOU are responsible for initiating reading and investigating YOUR topic demonstrating a genuine curiosity. The Research Methods teaching should have helped in the preparation of the dissertation and you should be able to work unaided in the main. This is an activity that is yours and for you alone to progress and be responsible for with advice and guidance from a supervisor.
• Each individual staff member has different ways of working and you must fit in with their arrangements making sure you know when they will be available to see you. Do not expect to find your tutor waiting for you when you make an appearance but book/think ahead and have a schedule.
• You are required to have a minimum of 4 formally recorded meetings although you may see your supervisor more frequently if you or they feel it appropriate. Some staff will only see their students a few times, others more often.
• If the supervisor is going to be absent for a time, then try and set up a work schedule around this absence and reach an agreement as to how the absence will be managed. Similarly, students who need time away for collection of data will need to arrange their work schedules and timescales.
• It is very important that staff are allowed sufficient time for the reading of drafts and students MUST NOT EXPECT staff to read work instantly when a deadline is imminent. Ideally, a full draft between 2 weeks and a month before the deadline allows time for changes and amendments- subject of course, to the supervisor’s schedule.  Some supervisors may ask for drafts chapter by chapter.

Roles and Responsibilities: The Supervisor

The role of dissertation tutors is supervisory (they are not tutors). They are not there to complete the project for you, but to give advice and encouragement. In particular they may be able to steer you away from unprofitable areas or research, or to give suggestions for directing a project into more fruitful areas.   Supervisors can be useful for discussing methodological issues, and for making the conceptual leaps into other academic areas. If you have a supervisor with specialist subject knowledge, use this for supplementing your own background reading. You should also be prepared to be directed in your work.

Remember that the dissertation should be regarded as a self-managed study programme. It needs to be clear that it is original, that you have taken some initial ideas and developed them yourself. Your supervisor's input should therefore be minimal. Although the dissertation is a self-managed project you can look for supervisor input in terms of specialist subject knowledge and methodology. Talk through the details contained in your research proposal with your supervisor in the initial stages and refine your proposal as necessary. In fact you should expect to see far more input from your supervisor in the earlier stages than later - a well-structured piece of research (one that has been clearly thought through) should progress smoothly with minimal supervision.

You are looking for feedback on your work –supervisors make suggestions on how they feel it could be improved.  So when you revise the work it is a good idea to implement these suggestions – all of them.  Otherwise the supervisors feel that they are wasting their time with you.  If you feel you can’t make the changes or disagree with them, then explain why.

This is a self-managed project. Don’t just send off a draft of a chapter and then wait around until you have some feedback on it; move onto the next chapter and then revise the earlier one when the comments come back.  Waiting for feedback is usually an excuse for not progressing.

What a supervisor won't do

• Check grammar and spelling, other than to tell you that your work contains errors.
• Correct mistakes on page numbering, section numbers, tables, etc.
• Deal with problems concerning specific references, other than in general terms
• Tell you what you should be reading (except in general terms)
• Tell you how to do the research

Learn to prioritise, make a list and take each point at a time. If you are struggling with the structure of your work, use the guidelines contained in this handbook. The marking scheme gives clear guidance on how the marks are allocated, use it. 

The easiest way to approach your dissertation is to break it up into easily managed steps, here are some suggestions. 

• Step 1. Creating the dissertation proposal: key decisions about your dissertation--research question, categories of your literature review, data, methods of collecting and analysing your data, significance of your study, and what your chapters will be.
• Step 2: Discuss with your supervisor: Here's where you talk through your proposal with your advisor, modifying it as necessary. You want to end this conversation with agreement on the elements of your proposal. 
• Step 3. Collecting the literature: You collect the literature relevant to your project.
• Step 4. Coding the literature: Review and code your literature. 
• Step 5. Design and carry out questionnaires if you are using them. Remember to consult your supervisor before sending out your questionnaire.
• Step 6. Writing the literature review: Create a conceptual schema for the literature review and write the review. 
• Step 7. Discuss your literature review with your supervisor.
• Step 8. Write up your methodology and discuss with supervisor.
• Step 9. Design and carry out interviews if you are using them, discuss interview structure, questions with your supervisor first
• Step 10. Collecting the data: Collect your data. 
• Step 11. Transforming the data to codable form: Transcribe your interviews or run your statistics to get your data in a form you can work with and analyse. 
• Step 12. Coding the data: Code your data based on your research question. 
• Step 13. Developing a schema to explain the data: Develop an explanatory schema that explains and captures in an insightful and coherent way the major pieces of your data.
• Step 14. Writing the findings chapter or chapters: Write your findings or analysis chapter(s) featuring your explanatory schema. Discuss with supervisor.
• Step 15. Writing the discussion chapter, discuss with supervisor. 
• Step 16. Write your final chapter, conclusion, reflection on your research and you introduction chapter.
• Step 17. Also prepare your abstract, table of contents, acknowledgements, and lists of figures and tables.
• Step 18. Discuss with supervisor. 
• Step 19.Edit all of your chapters for substance and form. 
• Step 20. Pull together reference lists, appendices etc.
• Step 21. Get an electronic version and upload to Turnitin. 

Dissertation Structure and contents

There is no best way of writing a dissertation or one model for an appropriate format. However, certain aspects are conventionally found in a dissertation and should only be varied after discussion with the supervisor.

These are:

1) An opening section which should contain the following separate pages: Title page, declaration and statement, supervisors statement, acknowledgements, abstract (a summary of 300 words, which should summarise all sections of the dissertation: THIS MUST BE INCLUDED),  and table of contents. 

(2) The first chapter should be an introduction to the dissertation which should state very clearly the purpose of the project on which the dissertation reports, the results. A brief outline of the subsequent chapters of the dissertation. (Note: it is usual, somewhat paradoxically, to write the introduction after most of the dissertation is complete in order that a student has a clear idea of what is being introduced). The student should include an aims and objectives section.

3) Chapter two should be a critical review of the relevant academic literature on which the dissertation builds, identifying the relevant theoretical ideas, concepts, debates and issues.

4) A  chapter on Research Methods should state what methodologies are considered, what was selected and why. Justification for the final methodology selected and the sampling techniques, sampling framework, the size and type of any appropriate survey, should be included. (If a case study methodology is used then the justification for the organisation used to be included).

5) One, or possibly two chapters that report on the research findings,  both secondary and primary, clearly described, using as themes, what you have discovered and proposing reasons why this may be. This section should use any appropriate graphical representation that adds to the clarity of your findings.

6) Clear discussion chapter setting out the main findings of the dissertation linking your literature reviews with the research findings so that a clear theme can be identified through the whole work. On this information you can make your argument and assess. Remember to include what your findings contribute to both the general literature on the subject and the specialist field, and/or practical problems which you have covered empirically. Include those results which surprised you and which may appear, at first sight, counter-intuitive to others. Make sure that you address all the objectives of the study. Do not forget to identify further avenues of development.
    
7) The conclusion should refer back to aims and objectives. Clear recommendations or procedures should be identified.

8) References: There should be a complete reference list of all works used. This should be done in a standard Harvard format listing works alphabetically by author. It should be noted that one of the routine sources of presentational problems comes in mistakes in the referencing bibliography and therefore students should take considerable care in the compilation of the reference list and ensure that every work referred to in the texts is in fact listed in the references – see separate section. 

9) Appendices to the dissertation are legitimate but should be kept to an absolute minimum, e.g. Questionnaires used.

10) Footnotes should be avoided. 

It is important that the dissertation should be your own independent work as a formal examination script. A dissertation should not merely consist of a patchwork of other people's thoughts and interpretations stitched together with a few threads of the student's own devising.

The overall length of the dissertation must not exceed 16,000 words. The word limit of main content excluding references & appendices is 8,000 - 10,000 words (+/- 10% does NOT apply). State the number of words at the end of your work.

Presentation:

• All copies shall be presented in permanent and legible form in typescript or print and the characters shall be not less than 12 pt. 
• Typing shall be of even quality with clear black characters, and capable of photographic reproduction. 
• 1.5 spacing shall be used in typescript but for the Summary and indented quotations single spacing shall be used. 
• Drawings and Sketches shall be in black ink; unnecessary detail should be omitted and there should be at least 1 mm between lines. 
• Page margins for both left and right side should be set at 3cm. Copies produced by xerographic or comparable permanent processes are acceptable.

The Cover:

• The volume shall bear the surname and initials of the candidate, 
• The full or abbreviated title of the dissertation, 
• The name of the degree for which the dissertation is being submitted
• The date of submission. 

Note as a Guide only:

The word count for each chapter should normally be:-

Introduction  500 – 8,00  words
Literature Review  2,500 – 3,000  words
Methods    1,200 – 1,500 words
Findings, Analysis & Discussion   3,000 – 3,500 words
Conclusions and recommendations    800 – 1,000 words                        

Marking scheme

1.Abstract and Introduction  5%
2.Literature Review 30%
3.Methodology and Method  15%
4.Findings with discussion  35%
5.Conclusion and recommendations  10%
6.Presentation  5%

Marking scheme in more detail

1.Topic selection/ research aim and objectives (Weighting approx. 5 %)
Did the dissertation demonstrate clarity in the research aim and explanation of topic under investigation? Was the dissertation clear and consistent in the aim and objectives being addressed throughout? Was the aim innovative/ important/ relevant? 

2.Literature Review (Weighting approx. 30%)
Did the dissertation establish an appropriate framework of literature to provide an academic basis to the empirical investigation?  In particular, was there a comprehensive, masterly and critical investigation of the relevant literature and/or bodies of knowledge? 

3.Methodology and Method (Weighting approx. 15%)
Was there an appropriate acknowledgement of methodological underpinnings/ ontological and epistemological position. If the election and application of research methods appropriate to that a) methodology and b) the aim? 

4.Findings with discussion (weighting approx. 35%)
Did the dissertation critically relate the empirical results and the literature discussed in the literature review? Markers to review the portfolio of evidence. 

5.Conclusions and recommendations (Weighting approx. 10%)
Did the dissertation address/ answer the aim and objectives in a way that contributed new knowledge?  Did the student adequately engage in critical reflection? Addresses research aims and any associated limitations and areas for further studies. 

6.Presentation (Weighting approx. 5%)
Did the dissertation include an appropriate and considered presentation and analysis of empirical results?
Referencing

CITATION & REFERENCING

Introduction

The HARVARD method of referencing is recommended within Cardiff Metropolitan University. 

The HARVARD system has a number of advantages: 

• there are no footnotes 
• it does not interrupt the flow of the text when read 
• it provides references to sources without the reader having to go to the end of the text 
• it simplifies the citations at the end of the text by doing away with the need for a list of references as well as a bibliography. 

The main points about referencing are to be consistent and to use the system correctly. 
Citing within your Text
Brief quotes (less than 5 lines) are usually contained within the text but placed between inverted commas, while longer extracts are given a separate single-spaced indented paragraph with a line left blank above and below and no use of inverted commas. In both cases you must acknowledge the author within your text and give a full reference in the Reference List.
If you refer to the author directly, place the year of publication in brackets: e.g.
Bell (1994) describes a number of different strategies for . . . . .
If the author is not referred to directly in the sentence, both the name and year are placed in brackets: e.g.
One particular source on methodology (Bell, 1994) has indicated that. . . .  
Do not add forenames or initials. The year refers to when the particular edition was published, not the year the text was printed. If a reference relates to a particular page in a book, include the page number prefixed by p. for a single page, or pp. if more than one page.  Quotations from articles do not need the page numbers as they should be indicated in the Reference List included at the end of you work (see later in this unit).

Some examples of how to reference your work: 

• If you want to use a small direct quotation of a piece of text within your work , then you must give the details of the text between inverted commas followed by name, date and page(s) e.g.

"Reading . . . . . may help you to devise a theoretical or analytical framework as a basis for the analysis and interpretation of data." (Bell, 1993, p. 33)

• When referring to the work in the text as part of a sentence then immediately after the name include the date and page number only:

e.g. Bell (1993, p. 33) states that "Reading may help you to devise a theoretical or analytical framework as a basis for the analysis and interpretation of data." 

• For a long quote, it is best to use the following format 
  Blank line
  Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shows this well.
  Bell, 1993, pp. 33-34 Blank line
• If more than one text has been published by the same author in the same year (and is included in the reference list), then label them a, b, etc.: e.g. 
  Jones, 1992a
  Jones, 1992b, p. 51
• Multiple references should be listed according to the date of publication: e.g. 
  Kane, 1984; Walker, 1985; and Bell, 1993.
• Where there are more than two authors, the surname of the first followed by 'et al' and the year is used (full details should be provided in the reference list at the end): e.g. 
  Jones et al., 1991
• Where the author(s) is (are) the editor(s) of the text the name(s) is (are) followed by 'end' and then the year: e.g. 
  House, ed., 1986
  Bell et al. eds., 1984.
• Where an original source has been found in a secondary work, always quote the original in your text, but acknowledge in the Reference List at the end where the original was seen. There is no need to mention the secondary work in the text.  
  N.B. In postgraduate, masters and PhD work particularly, students will be expected to use primary sources as far as possible. 

The Reference List 

You must always fully reference all your sources at the end of your work. Use the heading REFERENCES and place before any appendices 

Building a Reference

The first item in your reference is the author's surname, followed by the author's initials and the date. The title is next followed by the subtitle (if there is one). The final items are the publisher's location and name