NES3109 : Agri-food Business Management and Marketing Dissertation
- Offered for Year: 2024/25
- Module Leader(s): Professor Jeremy Phillipson
- Lecturer: Dr Thao Nguyen
- Owning School: Natural and Environmental Sciences
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 10 |
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 15.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
This module aims to develop the student’s ability to systematically conduct research and report the outcome of an in-depth investigation of a rural/agri-food business management and marketing topic by:
1) integrating and extending knowledge and skills gained throughout the undergraduate programme; and
2) encouraging students to work on their own initiative whilst being supported by the assessment processes and
their respective supervisors.
Outline Of Syllabus
Students have the opportunity to carry out a research investigation on a topic of their choice relevant to rural/agri-food business management and marketing. They will, with advice from a member of academic staff carry out an in-depth investigation of agri-business management topic.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 30:00 | 30:00 | Research Intro, Aims and Research Questions, Literature review and Methods |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 1 | 2:00 | 2:00 | Learning from previous dissertations - Jeremy Phillipson |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 4 | 1:00 | 4:00 | N/A |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 80:00 | 80:00 | Dissertation |
| Structured Guided Learning | Academic skills activities | 2 | 1:00 | 2:00 | Writing Development Centre - Literature review and Writing your Dissertation |
| Structured Guided Learning | Academic skills activities | 1 | 1:00 | 1:00 | Library - Finding and Managing Information |
| Guided Independent Study | Skills practice | 1 | 8:00 | 8:00 | Microsoft Office, NVivo and SPSS practice, applied to subject topic |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 2 | 1:00 | 2:00 | Writing Developing Centre delivered by Caroline Crow |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 1 | 2:00 | 2:00 | Library - Finding and Managing Information, Delivered by Ryan Woodward (Library) |
| Guided Independent Study | Project work | 1 | 120:00 | 120:00 | Methodological development; Literature Review, Data collection |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 4 | 2:00 | 8:00 | Student presentation sessions. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 1 | 1:00 | 1:00 | Drop in Finding and Managing Information - Ryan Woodward |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 2 | 1:00 | 2:00 | Survey Design Support |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 4 | 1:00 | 4:00 | Module leader optional drop in sessions for queries. |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 26:00 | 26:00 | Literature review/reading around |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Dissertation/project related supervision | 8 | 1:00 | 8:00 | N/A |
| Total | 300:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Lecture and workshop materials provide a framework to help students think about their own research project (In relation to Skills Outcome #1,2,3,4). The semester 1 lecture materials and workshops are intended to help students set out their research aims, literature review and methods, with workshop sessions in semester 2 giving an opportunity for students to present their working ideas to peers and supervisory staff. Lecture materials in semester 2 are designed to give guidance on the writing and submission of the final dissertation (in relation to Intended Skills Outcome #1,2,3,4). Online drop in sessions are geared to providing 1 to 1 support to students on the progression of their dissertations, with specialised sessions focussed on survey design and data analysis.
Students will be appointed a supervisor on the basis of: Matching research/methodological interests of staff and students and/or; Matching students with their personal tutors. Dissertation supervisors are likely to be supervising several students. It is the responsibility of each student to discuss with their supervisors how best to proceed with supervisory meetings.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 1 | M | 25 | Research Design and Literature Review (5000 words) |
| Dissertation | 2 | M | 75 | Dissertation (max 12,000 wds) on an agri-food business/rural issue. |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
There are 2 pieces of continuous assessment : 1) 5000 word research design and literature review [25%] and 2) 12,000 word final dissertation [75%]. Assessment 1 feeds into 2, with 1 forming a draft of early chapters of the final dissertation. These assessments have been formulated in line with the Intended Knowledge Outcomes of the module. Each piece of assessment is designed to prepare students for undertaking scholarly research (in relation to Intended Skills Outcome #1), educate students in developing a critical approach to evaluation of evidence (in relation to Skills Knowledge Outcome #2), demonstrate how to analyse results from collecting primary data (in relation to Intended Skills Outcome #3) and improve students’ overall ability to present and communicate original scholarly knowledge (in relation to Intended Skills Outcome #4).
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- NES3109's Timetable