Guidelines for the Honours Dissertations in History

 

February 2012 Dissertation Briefing - Powerpoint presentation

 

Finding a topic

At the beginning of the second semester of their Junior Honours Year students should start thinking about finding a suitable general area within which their dissertation topic should fall. They are encouraged to seek advice from members of staff who will not, however, provide them with a specific dissertation topic.

Being allocated to a supervisor

Along with their pre-advising forms and by the same deadline – usually in mid-April – students must submit a form to the chair of their degree committee (History, Mediaeval History, Modern History, Scottish History) in which they request to be admitted to the Senior Honours Dissertation.

On this form students must indicate the general area (not a specific topic) within which their dissertation topic will fall. They can also, if they wish, indicate the member of staff with whom they have had preliminary discussions about the dissertation.

2012-13 Honours Dissertation Application Form

If the area specified is deemed suitable for the Honours degree undertaken, the degree committee chair will then allocate students to suitable supervisors. No individual supervisor will normally take on more than five dissertation students in any one semester.

Students will be informed as soon as possible who their allocated supervisor is.

Meetings with Supervisors

Once a student has been allocated to a supervisor, s/he should see the supervisor at the earliest opportunity to agree a precise topic, receive advice on reading and source work and map out a work plan for the summer vacation.

After this initial meeting, supervisors will meet their dissertation students on no more than five further occasions:

  1. to discuss the overall outline of the dissertation and the bibliography (which must be submitted by Friday of week 5 of semester 1 of the dissertation student's Senior Honours year);
  2. to give detailed feedback on draft material (which must be submitted by Friday of week 8 of semester 1 of the dissertation student's Senior Honours year);
  3. and for three other brief meetings arranged at the student's request.

Students are free to contact their supervisors by email for further advice.

No supervision of any kind will be offered after Friday of week 12 of semester 1 of the dissertation student's Senior Honours year.

Written Material submitted during supervision

Supervisors will comment in detail on three written items as long as they are submitted by the published deadlines:

  1. an outline of the overall structure of the planned dissertation. – This text must not exceed two sides of A4 and must be submitted by Friday of week 5 (in semester 1).
  2. a full bibliography – This must be submitted by Friday of week 5.
  3. a draft chapter/introduction/conclusion – This text must not exceed 3,000 words and must be submitted by Friday of week 8.

Presentation, Length and Layout

Two copies of the dissertation (in a secure binding such as a folder, bound copy, stapled etc) must be submitted to the relevant School Office by Wednesday 9 January 2013, 4.30 pm. An electronic version of the dissertation must also be uploaded to MMS by the same deadline.

Dissertations handed in late and without having been granted an extended deadline will be penalised according to normal School of History regulations published on the School website.

The dissertation must comply with the School Style sheet published on the School website. Marks will be deducted for failure to present the dissertation in an acceptable format.

The dissertation must consist of between 10,000 and 12,000 words of English prose. The word limit includes footnotes and appendices, but excludes the bibliography. A signed declaration indicating the precise length of the dissertation must be given on p. 2 of the dissertation. 1.5 points (on the 20-point marking scale) will be deducted for exceeding the maximum word limit by up to 1,000 words. A further 1.5 points will be deducted for exceeding the word limit by between 1,000  and 2,000 words and so on.

Students preparing a dissertation are reminded of the crucial importance of familiarising themselves with the University regulations governing Academic Misconduct available on the School website.

The dissertation must contain the following components:

  1. a Title Page including
    1. The full title of the dissertation
    2. The name of the candidate on one copy – only the matriculation number on the second copy
    3. The name of the supervisor (in the form: “Supervisor: Dr. A.N. Other”)
    4. The statement: “This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of M.A. Honours in the School of History, University of ST Andrews.”
    5. The year
  2. On the named copy only: Statement of Own Work and Word Count – On the next page, the candidate must include the following signed and dated statement with the exact number of words given: “I, (the name of the candidate), attest that this dissertation, for submission to the School of History, University of St Andrews, is entirely my own work. It contains exactly (word count) words.”
  3. Table of Contents – including page references of all sections of the dissertation (chapters, appendices, bibliography etc.)
  4. List of abbreviations used (if any)
  5. Main text (introduction, chapters, conclusion)
  6. Appendices (if any)
  7. Bibliography
  8. Acknowledgements (if any)

 Feedback on completed dissertations

Official marks for this module will be released as part of the May diet and no formal outcome can be communicated before the examination boards have met in June of each year. Students will, however, normally be invited to receive their provisional mark and feedback on their performance at an earlier stage – usually just after the spring vacation. Students are asked not to approach their supervisors before this invitation has been communicated by the chair of the degree programme.