• Offered for Year: 2025/26

• Module Leader(s): Dr Stephen Seely

• Owning School: Geography, Politics & Sociology
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

This module aims to support students in undertaking an independent research project, enabling the development of relevent general and subject-specific research methods and skills.

Students will be encouraged to research a topic of their choice, subject to approval of their supervisor, that has a focus on Gender at its core and is rooted in the traditions of the adjoining programme they are enrolled in.

The module also prepares students to present work-in-progress in a conference poster format at an annual MA conference, providing students with the opportunity to get feedback beyond the supervision context from Sociology staff and peers.

Outline Of Syllabus

The module involves individual meetings between student and supervisor (minimum of 8) plus independent research by the student according to topic, ending in production of a research dissertation of up to 15,000 words.
It also involves attendance at a MA conference preparation workshop and the conference itself.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Through regular contact with the dissertation supervisor, students are enabled to acquire and practice all the designated skills, and to increase their knowledge of the subject area to at least MA level.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Formative Assessments

Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The dissertation allows students to demonstrate their research skills both in the collection of the material (literature review and data) and in the production of an extended piece of academic writing. The dissertation provides an extensive test of students’ understanding of the theoretical aspects of their prorgramme, and their ability to devise, plan and implement a research proposal thus demonstrating relevant information gathering skills, to place acquired empirical and other data into a theoretical framework, to construct and represent complex arguments, and to critically analyse their own and others' research. It also tests students’ practical writing and presentational skills.

Formative assessment is enveloped in the continuous supervision arrangements and through the MA dissertation conference. Students also prepare a research proposal on a related module HSS 8001. Students will be paired with a supervisor according to their research topic very early in the first semester. They will have independent meetings with their supervisor (usually monthly, but to be arranged by the student) as they undertake the development of their dissertation. The supervisor gives formative feedback on the topic, research question(s), ethics, theories, methods, data analysis, and writing up. Before students begin their data collection, students get official approval from the supervisor on their proposal, ethics statement, and risk assessment. Students also receive feedback from peers and staff at the MA conference, and from the module leader of HSS8001 where they learn how to prepare a research proposal.

Reading Lists

• SOC8097's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• SOC8097's Timetable