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Dissertation examples

Listed below are some of the best examples of research projects and dissertations from undergraduate and taught postgraduate students at the University of Leeds We have not been able to gather examples from all schools. The module requirements for research projects may have changed since these examples were written. Refer to your module guidelines to make sure that you address all of the current assessment criteria. Some of the examples below are only available to access on campus.

  • Undergraduate examples
  • Taught Masters examples

These dissertations achieved a mark of 80 or higher:

The following two examples have been annotated with academic comments. This is to help you understand why they achieved a good 2:1 mark but also, more importantly, how the marks could have been improved.

Please read to help you make the most of the two examples.

(Mark 68)

(Mark 66)

These final year projects achieved a mark of a high first:

For students undertaking a New Venture Creation (NVC) approach, please see the following Masters level examples:

Projects which attained grades of over 70 or between 60 and 69 are indicated on the lists (accessible only by students and staff registered with School of Computer Science, when on campus).

These are good quality reports but they are not perfect. You may be able to identify areas for improvement (for example, structure, content, clarity, standard of written English, referencing or presentation quality).

The following examples have their marks and feedback included at the end of of each document.

 

 

 

 

The following examples have their feedback provided in a separate document.

 

School of Media and Communication .

The following outstanding dissertation example PDFs have their marks denoted in brackets.

(Mark 78)
(Mark 72)
(Mark 75)

(Mark 91)
(Mark 85)
(Mark 85)
(Mark 85)
(Mark 91)

(Mark 85)
(Mark 75)

This dissertation achieved a mark of 84:

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LUBS5530 Enterprise

MSc Sustainability

 

 

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The following outstanding dissertation example PDFs have their marks denoted in brackets.

(Mark 70)

(Mark 78)

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Students in the School of Economics at the University of Nottingham consistently produce work of a very high standard in the form of coursework essays, dissertations, research work and policy articles.

Below are some examples of the excellent work produced by some of our students. The authors have agreed for their work to be made available as examples of good practice.

Undergraduate dissertations

  • The Causal Impact of Education on Crime Rates: A Recent US Analysis . Emily Taylor, BSc Hons Economics, 2022
  • Does a joint income taxation system for married couples disincentivise the female labour supply? Jodie Gollop, BA Hons Economics with German, 2022
  • Conditional cooperation between the young and old and the influence of work experience, charitable giving, and social identity . Rachel Moffat, BSc Hons Economics, 2021
  • An Extended Literature Review on the Contribution of Economic Institutions to the Great Divergence in the 19th Century . Jessica Richens, BSc Hons Economics, 2021
  • Does difference help make a difference? Examining whether young trustees and female trustees affect charities’ financial performance. Chris Hyland, BSc Hons Economics, 2021

Postgraduate dissertations

  • The impact of Covid-19 on the public and health expenditure gradient in mortality in England . Alexander Waller, MSc Economic Development & Policy Analysis, 2022
  • Impact of the Child Support Grant on Nutritional Outcomes in South Africa: Is there a ‘pregnancy support’ effect? . Claire Lynam, MSc Development Economics, 2022
  • An Empirical Analysis of the Volatility Spillovers between Commodity Markets, Exchange Rates, and the Sovereign CDS Spreads of Commodity Exporters . Alfie Fox-Heaton, MSc Financial Economics, 2022
  • The 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season and Labour Market Transitions . Edward Allenby, MSc Economics, 2022
  • The scope of international agreements . Sophia Vaaßen, MSc International Economics, 2022

Thank you to all those students who have agreed to have their work showcased in this way.

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How to write a masters dissertation or thesis: top tips.

How to write a masters dissertation

It is completely normal to find the idea of writing a masters thesis or dissertation slightly daunting, even for students who have written one before at undergraduate level. Though, don’t feel put off by the idea. You’ll have plenty of time to complete it, and plenty of support from your supervisor and peers.

One of the main challenges that students face is putting their ideas and findings into words. Writing is a skill in itself, but with the right advice, you’ll find it much easier to get into the flow of writing your masters thesis or dissertation.

We’ve put together a step-by-step guide on how to write a dissertation or thesis for your masters degree, with top tips to consider at each stage in the process.

1. Understand your dissertation or thesis topic

There are slight differences between theses and dissertations , although both require a high standard of writing skill and knowledge in your topic. They are also formatted very similarly.

At first, writing a masters thesis can feel like running a 100m race – the course feels very quick and like there is not as much time for thinking! However, you’ll usually have a summer semester dedicated to completing your dissertation – giving plenty of time and space to write a strong academic piece.

By comparison, writing a PhD thesis can feel like running a marathon, working on the same topic for 3-4 years can be laborious. But in many ways, the approach to both of these tasks is quite similar.

Before writing your masters dissertation, get to know your research topic inside out. Not only will understanding your topic help you conduct better research, it will also help you write better dissertation content.

Also consider the main purpose of your dissertation. You are writing to put forward a theory or unique research angle – so make your purpose clear in your writing.

Top writing tip: when researching your topic, look out for specific terms and writing patterns used by other academics. It is likely that there will be a lot of jargon and important themes across research papers in your chosen dissertation topic. 

How to write a thesis

2. Structure your dissertation or thesis

Writing a thesis is a unique experience and there is no general consensus on what the best way to structure it is. 

As a postgraduate student , you’ll probably decide what kind of structure suits your research project best after consultation with your supervisor. You’ll also have a chance to look at previous masters students’ theses in your university library.

To some extent, all postgraduate dissertations are unique. Though they almost always consist of chapters. The number of chapters you cover will vary depending on the research. 

A masters dissertation or thesis organised into chapters would typically look like this: 

Section

Description

Title page

The opening page includes all relevant information about the project.

Abstract

A brief project summary including background, methodology and findings.

Contents

A list of chapters and figures from your project.

Chapter 1 – Background

A description of the rationale behind your project.

Chapter 2 – Literature Review

A summary and evaluation of the literature supporting your project.

Chapter 3 – Methodology

A description of the specific methodology used in your project.

Chapter 4-6 – Data analysis and Findings

An overview of the key findings and data from your research.

Chapter 7 - Discussion and Evaluation

A description of what the data means and what you can draw from the findings.

Chapter 8 - Conclusion

Main summary of your overall project and key findings.

Bibliography

A list of the references cited in your dissertation or thesis.

Appendices

Additional materials used in your research.

Write down your structure and use these as headings that you’ll write for later on.

Top writing tip : ease each chapter together with a paragraph that links the end of a chapter to the start of a new chapter. For example, you could say something along the lines of “in the next section, these findings are evaluated in more detail”. This makes it easier for the reader to understand each chapter and helps your writing flow better.

3. Write up your literature review

One of the best places to start when writing your masters dissertation is with the literature review. This involves researching and evaluating existing academic literature in order to identify any gaps for your own research.

Many students prefer to write the literature review chapter first, as this is where several of the underpinning theories and concepts exist. This section helps set the stage for the rest of your dissertation, and will help inform the writing of your other dissertation chapters.

What to include in your literature review

The literature review chapter is more than just a summary of existing research, it is an evaluation of how this research has informed your own unique research.

Demonstrate how the different pieces of research fit together. Are there overlapping theories? Are there disagreements between researchers?

Highlight the gap in the research. This is key, as a dissertation is mostly about developing your own unique research. Is there an unexplored avenue of research? Has existing research failed to disprove a particular theory?

Back up your methodology. Demonstrate why your methodology is appropriate by discussing where it has been used successfully in other research.

4. Write up your research

Write up your thesis research

For instance, a more theoretical-based research topic might encompass more writing from a philosophical perspective. Qualitative data might require a lot more evaluation and discussion than quantitative research. 

Methodology chapter

The methodology chapter is all about how you carried out your research and which specific techniques you used to gather data. You should write about broader methodological approaches (e.g. qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods), and then go into more detail about your chosen data collection strategy. 

Data collection strategies include things like interviews, questionnaires, surveys, content analyses, discourse analyses and many more.

Data analysis and findings chapters

The data analysis or findings chapter should cover what you actually discovered during your research project. It should be detailed, specific and objective (don’t worry, you’ll have time for evaluation later on in your dissertation)

Write up your findings in a way that is easy to understand. For example, if you have a lot of numerical data, this could be easier to digest in tables.

This will make it easier for you to dive into some deeper analysis in later chapters. Remember, the reader will refer back to your data analysis section to cross-reference your later evaluations against your actual findings – so presenting your data in a simple manner is beneficial.

Think about how you can segment your data into categories. For instance, it can be useful to segment interview transcripts by interviewee. 

Top writing tip : write up notes on how you might phrase a certain part of the research. This will help bring the best out of your writing. There is nothing worse than when you think of the perfect way to phrase something and then you completely forget it.

5. Discuss and evaluate

Once you’ve presented your findings, it’s time to evaluate and discuss them.

It might feel difficult to differentiate between your findings and discussion sections, because you are essentially talking about the same data. The easiest way to remember the difference is that your findings simply present the data, whereas your discussion tells the story of this data.

Your evaluation breaks the story down, explaining the key findings, what went well and what didn’t go so well.

In your discussion chapter, you’ll have chance to expand on the results from your findings section. For example, explain what certain numbers mean and draw relationships between different pieces of data.

Top writing tip: don’t be afraid to point out the shortcomings of your research. You will receive higher marks for writing objectively. For example, if you didn’t receive as many interview responses as expected, evaluate how this has impacted your research and findings. Don’t let your ego get in the way!

6. Write your introduction

Your introduction sets the scene for the rest of your masters dissertation. You might be wondering why writing an introduction isn't at the start of our step-by-step list, and that’s because many students write this chapter last.

Here’s what your introduction chapter should cover:

Problem statement

Research question

Significance of your research

This tells the reader what you’ll be researching as well as its importance. You’ll have a good idea of what to include here from your original dissertation proposal , though it’s fairly common for research to change once it gets started.

Writing or at least revisiting this section last can be really helpful, since you’ll have a more well-rounded view of what your research actually covers once it has been completed and written up.

How to write a masters dissertation

Masters dissertation writing tips

When to start writing your thesis or dissertation.

When you should start writing your masters thesis or dissertation depends on the scope of the research project and the duration of your course. In some cases, your research project may be relatively short and you may not be able to write much of your thesis before completing the project. 

But regardless of the nature of your research project and of the scope of your course, you should start writing your thesis or at least some of its sections as early as possible, and there are a number of good reasons for this:

Academic writing is about practice, not talent. The first steps of writing your dissertation will help you get into the swing of your project. Write early to help you prepare in good time.

Write things as you do them. This is a good way to keep your dissertation full of fresh ideas and ensure that you don’t forget valuable information.

The first draft is never perfect. Give yourself time to edit and improve your dissertation. It’s likely that you’ll need to make at least one or two more drafts before your final submission.

Writing early on will help you stay motivated when writing all subsequent drafts.

Thinking and writing are very connected. As you write, new ideas and concepts will come to mind. So writing early on is a great way to generate new ideas.

How to improve your writing skills

The best way of improving your dissertation or thesis writing skills is to:

 Finish the first draft of your masters thesis as early as possible and send it to your supervisor for revision. Your supervisor will correct your draft and point out any writing errors. This process will be repeated a few times which will help you recognise and correct writing mistakes yourself as time progresses.

If you are not a native English speaker, it may be useful to ask your English friends to read a part of your thesis and warn you about any recurring writing mistakes. Read our section on English language support for more advice. 

Most universities have writing centres that offer writing courses and other kinds of support for postgraduate students. Attending these courses may help you improve your writing and meet other postgraduate students with whom you will be able to discuss what constitutes a well-written thesis.

Read academic articles and search for writing resources on the internet. This will help you adopt an academic writing style, which will eventually become effortless with practice.

Keep track of your bibliography 

Keep track of your bibliography

The easiest way to keep the track of all the articles you have read for your research is to create a database where you can summarise each article/chapter into a few most important bullet points to help you remember their content. 

Another useful tool for doing this effectively is to learn how to use specific reference management software (RMS) such as EndNote. RMS is relatively simple to use and saves a lot of time when it comes to organising your bibliography. This may come in very handy, especially if your reference section is suspiciously missing two hours before you need to submit your dissertation! 

Avoid accidental plagiarism

Plagiarism may cost you your postgraduate degree and it is important that you consciously avoid it when writing your thesis or dissertation. 

Occasionally, postgraduate students commit plagiarism unintentionally. This can happen when sections are copy and pasted from journal articles they are citing instead of simply rephrasing them. Whenever you are presenting information from another academic source, make sure you reference the source and avoid writing the statement exactly as it is written in the original paper.

What kind of format should your thesis have?

How to write a masters dissertation

Read your university’s guidelines before you actually start writing your thesis so you don’t have to waste time changing the format further down the line. However in general, most universities will require you to use 1.5-2 line spacing, font size 12 for text, and to print your thesis on A4 paper. These formatting guidelines may not necessarily result in the most aesthetically appealing thesis, however beauty is not always practical, and a nice looking thesis can be a more tiring reading experience for your postgrad examiner .

When should I submit my thesis?

The length of time it takes to complete your MSc or MA thesis will vary from student to student. This is because people work at different speeds, projects vary in difficulty, and some projects encounter more problems than others. 

Obviously, you should submit your MSc thesis or MA thesis when it is finished! Every university will say in its regulations that it is the student who must decide when it is ready to submit. 

However, your supervisor will advise you whether your work is ready and you should take their advice on this. If your supervisor says that your work is not ready, then it is probably unwise to submit it. Usually your supervisor will read your final thesis or dissertation draft and will let you know what’s required before submitting your final draft.

Set yourself a target for completion. This will help you stay on track and avoid falling behind. You may also only have funding for the year, so it is important to ensure you submit your dissertation before the deadline – and also ensure you don’t miss out on your graduation ceremony ! 

To set your target date, work backwards from the final completion and submission date, and aim to have your final draft completed at least three months before that final date.

Don’t leave your submission until the last minute – submit your work in good time before the final deadline. Consider what else you’ll have going on around that time. Are you moving back home? Do you have a holiday? Do you have other plans?

If you need to have finished by the end of June to be able to go to a graduation ceremony in July, then you should leave a suitable amount of time for this. You can build this into your dissertation project planning at the start of your research.

It is important to remember that handing in your thesis or dissertation is not the end of your masters program . There will be a period of time of one to three months between the time you submit and your final day. Some courses may even require a viva to discuss your research project, though this is more common at PhD level . 

If you have passed, you will need to make arrangements for the thesis to be properly bound and resubmitted, which will take a week or two. You may also have minor corrections to make to the work, which could take up to a month or so. This means that you need to allow a period of at least three months between submitting your thesis and the time when your program will be completely finished. Of course, it is also possible you may be asked after the viva to do more work on your thesis and resubmit it before the examiners will agree to award the degree – so there may be an even longer time period before you have finished.

How do I submit the MA or MSc dissertation?

Most universities will have a clear procedure for submitting a masters dissertation. Some universities require your ‘intention to submit’. This notifies them that you are ready to submit and allows the university to appoint an external examiner.

This normally has to be completed at least three months before the date on which you think you will be ready to submit.

When your MA or MSc dissertation is ready, you will have to print several copies and have them bound. The number of copies varies between universities, but the university usually requires three – one for each of the examiners and one for your supervisor.

However, you will need one more copy – for yourself! These copies must be softbound, not hardbound. The theses you see on the library shelves will be bound in an impressive hardback cover, but you can only get your work bound like this once you have passed. 

You should submit your dissertation or thesis for examination in soft paper or card covers, and your university will give you detailed guidance on how it should be bound. They will also recommend places where you can get the work done.

The next stage is to hand in your work, in the way and to the place that is indicated in your university’s regulations. All you can do then is sit and wait for the examination – but submitting your thesis is often a time of great relief and celebration!

Some universities only require a digital submission, where you upload your dissertation as a file through their online submission system.

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example msc dissertation

Dissertation & Thesis Examples 📖

Real-world examples and samples from leading universities

Need some inspiration for your study? You’ve come to the right place. Here we showcase a collection of dissertation and thesis   examples to help you get started. All of these are real-world studies from actual degrees (typically PhD and Master’s-level).

PS – If you’re looking for examples of specific dissertation chapters (e.g., literature review or methodology), you can also check out our collection of free templates .

Discipline-Specific Examples

  • Business & management
  • Political science

Stage-Specific Examples

  • Proposal/pitch
  • Literature review
  • Methodology

Examples: Business & Management

Below you’ll find a sample of business and management-related dissertations and theses covering a range of topics.

Title: Interaction Among Supply Chains: Consumers, Firms and Policymakers Author: Yuanchen Li Year: 2020

This PhD thesis examines the dynamics of supply chain relationships across three levels: the interactions between firms and consumers, suppliers and buyers, and firms and governments. The research aims to provide insights into the complexities of supply chain dynamics and their implications for various stakeholders.

Title: Essays in Firm-Level Patenting Activities and Financial Outcomes Author: Michael J Woeppel Year: 2020

This doctoral dissertation explores financial dynamics in two key areas: investment valuation and the performance of small innovative firms. The first chapter introduces a new metric, PI q, which incorporates the replacement cost of patent capital into the traditional Tobin’s q calculation. The second chapter examines small innovative firms, finding that they achieve higher returns for up to five years compared to non-innovators.

Title: Analysis of Design Artifacts in Platform-Based Markets Author: Vandith Pamuru Subramanya Rama Year: 2020

This dissertation investigates design issues within digital platform-based markets through three essays. The first essay explores the economic impact of augmented-reality games like Pokémon Go on local businesses, specifically restaurants. The second essay delves into the sponsored search ad-market, examining the effects of market frictions on bidding behaviors in auctions. The third essay examines user-generated content platforms, focusing on how the loss of elite status affects user contributions.

Title: Gaming the IRS’s Third-Party Reporting System: Evidence From Pari-Mutuel Wagering Author: Victor Charles Ferguson Year: 2020

This dissertation investigates if taxpayers deliberately avoid IRS third-party reporting mechanisms, focusing on an IRS amendment in 2017 that changed how gambling winnings are reported. Specifically, it looks at the impact on thoroughbred racing wagers in the US, using Canadian tracks as a control.

Title: Essays on Product Innovation and Failures Author: Moonsik Shin Year: 2020

This dissertation delves into how strategic decisions made by firms can lead to innovation failures, a relatively underexplored area compared to studies on successful innovations. The research is structured into three essays. The first explores how inter-organisational relationships, specifically investments from venture capitalists, can influence innovation failures due to pressures such as time constraints imposed on portfolio companies. The second essay examines the role of acquisitions in innovation failures, suggesting that challenges like adverse selection and integration issues post-acquisition can significantly hinder a firm’s innovation outcomes. The third essay looks at how incremental product development can lead to failures if new products are too dependent on existing technologies, which may themselves be flawed.

Need a helping hand?

example msc dissertation

Examples: Psychology Dissertations

Title: Development and Validation of the Instrumental Support Inventory for Spouses Author: Ryan P. Egan Year: 2020

This research develops and validates the Instrumental Support Inventory for Spouses (ISI-s), a new tool to measure the practical support received from a romantic partner. The study involved two phases: initially, 372 married individuals helped refine the 39-item inventory across five categories through exploratory factor analysis, assessing reliability and validity. The second phase tested the inventory with 298 parents and their partners, using a longitudinal design, confirming its reliability and validity further.

Title: Dysfunctional Individuation, Spiritual Struggle and Identity in Emerging Adults: A Developmental Approach Author: Katheryn J. Klukow Kelley Year: 2020

This study investigates why emerging adults are participating less in organised religion, yet showing increased spirituality, attributing this shift to the process of religious identity development. The research involved a longitudinal survey of 788 students at a religious university, using structural equation models to analyse data collected at four points over an academic year.

Title: Depression Dynamics across a Decade: Density in Daily Depressive Affect and Yearly Depressive Symptoms Author: Raquael J. Joiner Year: 2020

This thesis investigates depression through a dynamic systems perspective, which views changes in depressive symptoms as part of an interconnected network of emotions and states, rather than isolated events. The research focuses on how the density of depressive affect—essentially the compactness and intensity of depressive symptoms—varies within individuals over a decade. By examining data at five different timepoints, the study aims to understand how these symptoms cluster daily and how this clustering influences transitions into or out of depressive states year by year.

Title: Maternal and Adolescent ADHD, Aggression, and Dysfunctional Discipline: Mediating Roles of Maternal Emotion Dysregulation and Stress Author: Natalie M. Ehret Year: 2020

This dissertation explores the challenges that parents face when both they and their children exhibit symptoms of ADHD, as well as oppositional defiant and aggressive behaviours. It investigates how these symptoms in mothers and adolescents may influence parenting discipline, focusing specifically on the roles of maternal emotion dysregulation and stress in shaping disciplinary practices. The study employs a process-oriented approach to better understand these complex dynamics.

Title: Linguistic Markers of Maternal Focus within Emotional Conversations: The Role of Depressive Symptoms and Maltreatment Author: Brigid Behrens Year: 2020

This study explores the relationship between maternal well-being and the language used during parent-child conversations about past emotional events. It specifically examines the use of first-person singular (“I”) and first-person plural (“we”) pronouns during a reminiscing task, to determine how maternal language might reflect cognitive biases. The research includes 229 mother-child dyads, both maltreating and non-maltreating, who are part of a larger clinical trial focused on Reminiscing and Emotion Training.

Examples of education-related dissertations and theses

Examples: Education Theses

Title: Functions and Purposes of Outdoor Education in Singaporean Education and Society: An Instrumental Case Study Author: Susanna Ho Year: 2011

This research aims to explore the roles outdoor education can play in Singapore, by conducting a case study of one school’s programme. Employing interviews, participant observations, and document analysis with tools like NVivo software, the study uses a grounded theory framework to interpret findings. It also incorporates Gert Biesta’s educational functions to assess outdoor education within Singapore’s specific context.

Title: The Impact of Internationalisation of Higher Education on Nursing Education in an Australian University: A Case Study Author: Elizabeth Alexandra Lavender Year: 2014

This study examines the impact of the rapid internationalisation of higher education on the School of Nursing and Midwifery at La Trobe University, Australia. It explores how global trends and policies, particularly the shift from ‘Aid to Trade’, have influenced educational practices within the school. The research uses a case study approach, incorporating document analysis and interviews with 15 university staff experienced in international education.

Title: Diabetes Education from the Podiatrist Perspective Author: Julia Yungken Year: 2020

This thesis investigates how diabetes education is delivered by podiatrists to patients, and the retention of this education over time. Through a series of four articles, the research first conducts a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine current educational practices. It then follows a study with three podiatrists and 24 patients over six months to observe educational retention. Additionally, a survey among Australian podiatrists assesses various educational methods and experiences. The study utilises diverse methodologies including observational studies, cognitive assessments, and surveys to understand and enhance the educational practices in diabetes care provided by podiatrists.

Title: Empowering Saudi Arabian Primary Teachers Through Participatory Action Research to Improve Their Professional Knowledge and Practices Regarding Gifted Learners Author: Faisal Yahya Alamiri Year: 2013
Title: Developing a National Assessment Model to Inform Educational Policy in Bhutan Author: Gembo Tshering Year: 2012

Examples of healthcare-related dissertations and theses

Examples: Healthcare-Related Dissertations

Title: Impact of the Increased Use of Telehealth on Health Care Management and Administration: The Case of New Care Management Practices Author: Immacula Pierre Year: 2024

This qualitative study explored the perceptions of healthcare managers on telehealth’s role and its influence on healthcare practices during the pandemic, focusing on aspects like provision and quality control. Through video-conferenced semi-structured interviews with 10 healthcare managers across various U.S. settings, the research aimed to understand the benefits, challenges, and the future role of telehealth.

Title: Healthcare Facilities Management Leadership Style Compared to Traditional Healthcare Business and Clinical Leaders Author: Joshua Ashlock Year: 2020

This dissertation explores leadership style differences between two groups within healthcare: traditional business and clinical leaders (represented by members of the American College of Healthcare Executives, ACHE) and healthcare facilities management leaders (represented by members of the American Society of Healthcare Engineers, ASHE). The research focuses on comparing transformational, transactional, and passive-avoidant leadership traits between these groups.

Title: Leadership Support as an Influence on Frontline Healthcare Employee Retention in the Washington Metropolitan Area (DMV) Author: Tamika Fair Year: 2023

This qualitative case study addresses the significant issue of high turnover rates among frontline healthcare employees in the DMV area, examining how the lack of support from healthcare leadership contributes to this problem. Through semi-structured interviews with 11 primary healthcare administrators in the DMV region, the research investigates how leaders engage with frontline workers and assesses their preparedness to tackle high staff turnover.

Title: Electronic Patient Portals: Promotion of Access by Healthcare Workers Increases Patient Engagement Author: Dena Todd Year: 2022

This integrative literature review examines strategies for promoting electronic patient portal (EPP) access in healthcare settings, a requirement highlighted by the Health Information for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2010. The review underscores the importance of EPP systems in providing patients with access to their personal health information, including medications, lab results, diagnostics, and appointments. It discusses the potential risks for healthcare organisations that fail to offer such access, notably the loss of federal funding.

Title: Understanding Workplace Conditions Contributing to Physician Burnout Prevalence in Maryland State Author: Fatima Adefunke Queen Year: 2023

This dissertation utilises a qualitative multiple-case study to examine the workplace conditions that contribute to physician burnout in Maryland, particularly among primary care providers who show burnout rates of up to 50%. The study involved interviews with 21 physicians, including Medical Doctors (M.D.s), Doctors of Nursing Practice (DNPs), and Nurse Practitioners (NPs). Using Shanafelt’s well-being framework, the research aimed to understand the factors leading to burnout and its subsequent impact on physician attrition.

Examples of political science-related dissertations and theses

Examples: Political Science Theses

Title: The Influence of Peer Relationships on Political Socialisation Among College Students Author: Zachary Thomas Isaacs Year: 2021

This thesis investigates the role of peer relationships in the political socialisation of college students. This is an area not extensively covered by existing research, which primarily focuses on parental influence and often excludes the post-18 age group. A survey was conducted among college students aged 18 to 24, to explore how they communicate with their peers regarding politics and the effects of these interactions on their political socialisation.

Title: The Impact of Political Culture on Political Reactions: A Case Study of EU Sanctions on Russia Author: Kenzie Robin De Keyser Year: 2020

This dissertation examines the complex political impacts of European Union (EU) sanctions on Russia, taking into account the nuanced interplay between Russia’s political culture and the economic interdependencies between the EU and Russia. The research utilises the Cross-Cultural Competency (3Cs) Theorem to analyse key elements of Russian political culture—Russian Orthodox Christianity, geography, autocracy, and economic development— which are crucial in shaping the country’s political responses and governmental structure.

Title: Biased Representation: How Compulsory Voting and Campaign Finance Interact to Influence Government Responsiveness Author: Sarah Steinberg Year: 2016

This thesis investigates the interaction between compulsory voting and campaign finance, focusing on how they influence government responsiveness. It argues that the significant financial influence in political campaigns can lead to an elite bias, where government policies favour wealthier interests. The study uses statistical analysis and case studies from two countries to explore whether compulsory voting, which typically results in nearly universal voter turnout, can mitigate this bias.

Example: Dissertation Proposal

Example: literature review chapter, example: methodology chapter.

example msc dissertation

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

Mohadese Safdari

Hi Grad Coach team, Thank you for your very awesome information. I am an Urban Planning student and I am doing my MSc Spatial Planning at the University of Dundee. My methodology is “Research by Design”. It means I will use design outcomes for a project for my dissertation in urban design.

I am writing to see if you can add a template in Architecture and Urban Planning field in your lists of dissertation.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

geeske jansonius

Thanks for the info! I too was looking for a template related to the architecture and construction industry, just like Mohadese.

But apart from that, it’s all very helpful so thank you!

Grish

Thank you for providing such useful templates and examples for dissertations and theses. I would like to ask if you could also include Cybersecurity thesis templates and examples for both Ph.D. and Master’s programs.

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Dissertations

The dv410 dissertation is a major component of the msc programme and an important part of the learning and development process involved in postgraduate education., research design and dissertation in international development.

The DV410 dissertation is a major component of the MSc programme and an important part of the learning and development process involved in postgraduate education. The objective of DV410  is to provide students with an overview of the resources available to them to research and write a 10,000 dissertation that is topical, original, scholarly, and substantial. DV410 will provide curated dissertation pathways through LSE LIFE and Methods courses, information sessions, ID-specific disciplinary teaching, topical seminars and dissertation worksops in ST. With this in mind, students will be able to design their own training pathway and set their own learning objectives in relation to their specific needs for their dissertation. From the Autumn Term (AT) through to Summer Term (ST), students will discuss and develop their ideas in consultation with their mentor or other members of the ID department staff and have access to a range of learning resources (via DV410 Moodle page) to support and develop their individual projects from within the department and across the LSE. 

Prizewinning dissertations

The archive of prizewinning dissertations showcases the best MSc dissertations from previous years. These offer a useful guide to current students on how to prepare and write a high calibre dissertation.

2023-GA (PDF) The Impact of "Beca 18" on Secondary Educational Attainment: Experimental Evidence from a Peruvian Scholarship Program Alexandra Gutiérrez Traverso Joint winner of Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance Joint Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc Development Management   

2023-WB (PDF) Democracy Aid Effectiveness and Authoritarian Survival: Democracy Protests as Windows of Opportunity Ben Wolfrum Joint winner of Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Development Management 

2023-ML (PDF) The Gendered Impact of Educational Devolution: Evidence from India’s Panchayat System Luke Martens Joint Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc Development Management 

2023-MC (PDF) From Chains to Change: Gendered Problems and Blockchain Solutions in Jordan’s Refugee Camps Carys Milbourn Winner of Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies

2023-ZF (PDF) Transit Migration and Biopolitics of Movement: How Italy Uses Mobility as a Biopolitical Technology of Control to Reproduce Its Position of Transit Country Francesco Zinni Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies

2023-BR (PDF) A scoping review of the implementation of infectious disease early warning systems (IDEWS) for building health system climate change resilience Rachael Barrett Winner of Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Health and International Development

2023-RC (PDF) Caring for Asylum Seekers with Chronic Conditions: A Case Study in New Mexico’s Borderlands Caylyn Rich Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc Health and International Development

Flushing Out Barriers: Identigying the Relationship Between School Sanitation and School Enrolment Jorin Wolff Winner of Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Development Studies

2023-BL (PDF) Competing for Land: A Spatial Investigation of Large-Scale Land Acquisitions, Their Target Context, and the Dynamics of Deforestation in Africa Luc Bitterli Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc Development Studies

2022-OW (PDF) The Politics of Political Conditionality: How theEU Is Failing the Western Balkans Pim W.R.Oudejans Joint winner of Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Development Management 

2022-GN (PDF) An Empirical Study of the Impact of Kenya’sFree Secondary Education Policy on Women’sEducation Nora Geiszl Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc Development Management 

2022-JC  (PDF) Giving with one hand, taking with the other:the contradictory political economy of socialgrants in South Africa Jack Calland Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Development Studies

2022-GL (PDF) State Versus Market: The Case of Tobacco Consumption in Eastern European and Former Soviet Transition Economies Letizia Gazzaniga Joint winner of Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Health and International Development

2022-ER (PDF) Reproductive injustice across forced migration trajectories: Evidence from female asylum-seekers fleeing Central America’s Northern Triangle Emily Rice Joint winner of Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Health and International Development

2022-LICB  (PDF) The effects of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) on child nutrition following an adverseweather shock: the case of Indonesia Liliana Itamar Carillo Barba Winner Prize for Best Dissertation MSc Health and International Development 2022-SC (PDF) Fiscal Responses to Conditional Debt Relief:the impact of multilateral debt cancellation on taxation patterns Sara Cucaro  Joint winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies

2022-RM  (PDF) Navigating humanitarian space(s) to provideprotection and assistance to internally displacedpersons: applying the concept of ahumanitarian ‘micro-space’ to the caseof Rukban in Syria Miranda Russell  Joint winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies

2021-CC  (PDF) International Remittances and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating Resilient Remittance Flows from Italy during 2020 Carla Curreli Joint winner of Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance and Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc Development Management 

2021-NB  (PDF) Reluctant respondents: Early settlement by developing countries during WTO disputes Nicholas Baxtar Joint winner of Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Development Management (Specialism: Applied Development)

2021-CD  (PDF) One Belt, Many Roads? A Comparison of Power Dynamics in Chinese Infrastructure Financing of Kenya and Angola Conor Dunwoody  Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc Development Studies

2021-NN  (PDF) Tool for peace or tool for power? Interrogating Turkish ‘water diplomacy’ in the case of Northern Cyprus Nina Newhouse Winner of Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Development Studies

2021-CW  (PDF) Exploring Legal Aid Provision for LGBTIQ+Asylum Seekers in the American Southwest from 2012-2021 Claire Wever Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies

2021-BP  (PDF) Instrumentalising Threat; An Expansion of Biopolitical Control Over Exiles in Calais During the COVID-19 Pandemic Bethany Plant Joint winner of Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies

2021-HS  (PDF) A New “Green Grab”? A Multi-Scalar Analysis of Exclusion in the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) Project, Kenya Helen Sticklet Joint winner of Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies

2021-GM  (PDF) Fuelling policy: The Role of Public Health Policy-Support Tools in Reducing Household Air Pollution as a Risk-Factor for Non-Communicable Diseases in LMICs Georgina Morris Winner of Prize for Best Dissertation MSc Health and International Development 

2021-LC  (PDF) How do women garment workers employ practices of everyday resistance to challenge the patriarchal gender order of Sri Lankan society? Lois Cooper Joint winner of Prize for Best Overall Performance MSc Health and International Development 

2020-LK  (PDF) Can international remittances mitigate negative effects of economic shocks on education? – The case of Nigeria Lara Kasperkovitz Best Overall Performance Best Dissertation Prize International Development and Humanitarian Emergengies 

“Fallen through the Cracks” The Network for Childhood Pneumonia and Challenges in Global Health Governance  Eva Sigel Best Overall Performance Health and International Development 

2020-AB  (PDF) Fighting the ‘Forgotten’ Disease: LiST-Based Analysis of Pneumonia Prevention Interventions to Reduce Under-Five Mortality in High-Burden Countries Alexandra Bland Best Dissertation Prize  Health and International Development   

2020-TP  (PDF) Techno-optimism and misalignment: Investigating national policy discourses on the impact of ICT in educational settings in Sub-Saharan Africa Tao Platt Best Overall Performance Development Studies 

2020-HS  (PDF)  “We want land, all the rest is humbug”: land inheritance reform and intrahousehold dynamics in India Holly Scott Best Dissertation Prize Development Studies   

2020-PE  (PDF)  Decent Work for All? Waste Pickers’ Collective Action Frames after Formalisation in Bogotá, Colombia  Philip Edge Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Management

2020-LC  (PDF)  Variation in Bilateral Investment Treaties: What Leads to More ‘Flexibility for Development’? Lindsey Cox Best Dissertation Prize Development Management

2019-GR (PDF) Political Economy of Industrial Policy: Analysinglongitudinal and crossnationalvariations in industrial policy in Brazil andArgentina Grace Reeve Best Overall Performance Development Studies 

2019-MM (PDF) The Securitisation of Development Projects: The Indian State’s Response to the Maoist Insurgency Monica Moses Best Dissertation Prize Development Studies 

2019-KM (PDF) At the End of Emergency: An Exploration of Factors Influencing Decision-making Surrounding Medical Humanitarian Exit Kaitlyn Macneil Best Overall Performance Prize Health and International Development

2019-KA (PDF) The Haitian Nutritional Paradox: Driving factors of the Double Burden of Malnutrition Khandys Agnant Best Dissertation Prize Health and International Development   

2019-NL (PDF) Women in the Rwandan Parliament: Exploring Descriptive and Substantive Representation Nicole London Best Dissertation Prize Development Management 

2019-CB (PDF) Post-conflict reintegration: the long-termeffects of abduction and displacement on theAcholi population of northern Uganda Charlotte Brown Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Management 

2019-NLeo (PDF) Making Fashion Sense: Can InternationalLabour Standards Improve Accountabilityin Globalised Fast Fashion? Nicole Leo Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Management 

2019-AS (PDF) Who Controls Whom? Evaluating theinvolvement of Development FinanceInstitutions (DFIs) in Build Own-Operate (BOO)Energy Projects in relation to Market Structures& Accountability Chains: The case of theBujagali Hydropower Project (BHPP) in Uganda Aya Salah Mostafa Ali Best Dissertation Prize African Development 

2019-NG (PDF) Addressing barriers to treatment-seekingbehaviour during the Ebola outbreak in SierraLeone: An International Response Perspective Natasha Glendening India Best Overall Performance Prize African Development 

2019-SYJ (PDF) The Traditional Global Care Chain and the Global Refugee Care Chain: A Comparative Analysis Sana Yasmine Johnson Best Dissertation Prize Best Overall Performance Prize International Development and Humanitarian Emergengies 

2018-JR (PDF) Nudging, Teaching, or Coercing?: A Review of Conditionality Compliance Mechanisms on School Attendance Under Conditional Cash Transfer Programs Jonathan Rothwell Best Dissertation Prize African Development 

2018-LD (PDF) A Feminist Perspective On Burundi's Land Reform Ladd Serwat Best Overall Performance African Development 

2018-KL (PDF) Decentralisation: Road to Development or Bridge to Nowhere? Estimating the Effect of Devolution on Infrastructure Spending in Kenya Kurtis Lockhart  Best Dissertation Prize and Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Management 

2018-OS (PDF) From Accountability to Quality: Evaluating the Role of the State in Monitoring Low-Cost Private Schools in Uganda and Kenya Oceane Suquet Mayling Birney Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Management 

2018-LN (PDF) Water to War: An Analysis of Drought, Water Scarcity and Social Mobilization in Syria Lian Najjar Best Dissertation Prize International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies

2018-IS  (PDF) “As devastating as any war”?: Discursive trends and policy-making in aid to Central America’s Northern Triangle Isabella Shraiman  Best Overall Performance  International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies

2017-AR (PDF) Humanitarian Reform and the Localisation Agenda:Insights from Social Movement and Organisational Theory Alice Robinson Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies (IDHE)

2017-ACY (PDF) The Hidden Costs of a SuccessfulDevelopmental State:Prosperity and Paucity in Singapore Agnes Chew Yunquian Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Managament 

2017-HK  (PDF) Premature Deindustrialization and Stalled Development, the Fate of Countries Failing Structural Transformation? Helen Kirsch Winner of the Best Dissertation in Programme Development Studies

2017-HZ  (PDF) ‘Bare Sexuality’ and its Effects onUnderstanding and Responding to IntimatePartner Sexual Violence in Goma, DemocraticRepublic of the Congo (DRC) Heather Zimmerman Winner of the Best Dissertation in Programme International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies (IDHE)

2017-KT  (PDF) Is Good Governance a Magic Bullet?Examining Good Governance Programmes in Myanmar Khine Thu Winner of the Best Dissertation in Programme Development Managament 

2017-NL  (PDF) Persistent Patronage? The DownstreamElectoral Effects of Administrative Unit Creationin Uganda Nicholas Lyon  Winner of the Best Dissertation in Programme African Development 

2016-MV  (PDF) Contract farming under competition: exploring the drivers of side selling among sugarcane farmers in Mumias             Milou Vanmulken  Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation                                                      Dev elopment Management                

2016-JS  (PDF) Resource Wealth and Democracy: Challenging the  Assumptions of the Redistributive Model              Janosz Schäfer  Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Studies                

2016-LK   (PDF) Shiny Happy People: A study of the effects income relative to a reference group exerts on life satisfaction             Lajos Kossuth Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance                                     Development Studies  

2015-MP (PDF) "Corruption by design" and the management of infrastructure in Brazil: Reflections on the Programa de Aceleração ao Crescimento - PAC.             Maria da Graça Ferraz de Almeida Prado                                                          Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation                                          Development Managment                                                                                  

2015-IE (PDF) Breaking Out Of the Middle-Income Trap: Assessing the Role of Structural Transformation.                                                                               Ipek Ergin                                                                                                   Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation Development Studies

2015-AML (PDF) Labour Migration, Social Movements and Regional Integration: A Comparative Study of the Role of Labour Movements in the Social Transformation of the Economic Community of West African States and the Southern African Development Community.             Anne Marie Engtoft Larsen                                                                                Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation                                   Development Management

2015-MM (PDF) Who Bears the Burden of Bribery? Evidence from Public Service Delivery in Kenya                     Michael Mbate                                                                                                   Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation and Best Overall Performance Development Management

2015-KK (PDF) Export Processing Zones as Productive Policy: Enclave Promotion or Developmental Asset? The Case of Ghana. Kilian Koffi Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation African Development

2015-GM (PDF) Forgive and Forget? Reconciliation and Memory in Post-Biafra Nigeria. Gemma Mehmed Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies (IDHE)

2015-AS (PDF) From Sinners to Saviours: How Non-State Armed Groups use service delivery to achieve domestic legitimacy. Anthony Sequeira Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation and Best Overall Performance International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies (IDHE)

2014-NS (PDF) Anti-Corruption Agencies: Why Do Some Succeed and Most Fail? A Quantitative Political Settlement Analysis. Nicolai Schulz Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

2014-MP (PDF) International Capital Flows and Sudden Stops: a global or a domestic issue? Momchil Petkov Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

2014-TC (PDF) Democracy to Decline: do democratic changes jeopardize economic growth? Thomas Coleman Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

2014-AK (PDF) Intercultural Bilingual Education: the role of participation in improving the quality of education among indigenous communities in Chiapas, Mexico. Anni Kasari Excellent Dissertation and Best Overall Performance Development Management

2014-EL (PDF) Treaty Shopping in International Investment Arbitration: how often has it occurred and how has it been perceived by tribunals? Eunjung Lee Joint Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation Development Management

2013-SB (PDF) Refining Oil - A Way Out of the Resource Curse? Simon Baur Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

2013-NI (PDF) The Rise of ‘Murky Protectionism’: Changing Patterns of Trade-Related Industrial Policies in Developing Countries: A case study of Indonesia. Nicholas Intscher Joint Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation and Best Overall Performance Development Studies

2013-JF (PDF) Why Settle for Less? An Analysis of Settlement in WTO Disputes. Jillian Feirson Joint Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation Development Studies

2013-LH (PDF) Corporate Social Responsibility in Mining: The effects of external pressures and corporate leadership. Leah Henderson Joint Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation Development Studies

2013-BM (PDF) Estimating incumbency advantages in African politics: Regression discontinuity evidence from Zambian parliamentary and local government elections. Bobbie Macdonald Excellent Dissertation and Best Overall Performance Development Studies

WP145 (PDF) Is History Repeating Itself? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Representation of Women in Climate Change Campaigns. Catherine Flanagan Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP144 (PDF) Disentangling the fall of a 'Dominant-Hegemonic Party Rule'. The case of Paraguay and its transition to a competitive electoral democracy. Dominica Zavala Zubizarreta Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

WP143 (PDF) Enabling Productive Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries: Critical issues in policy design. Noor Iqbal Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP142 (PDF) Beyond 'fear of death': Strategies of coping with violence and insecurity - A case study of villages in Afghanistan. Angela Jorns Joint Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation Development Studies

WP141 (PDF) What accounts for opposition party strength? Exploring party-society linkages in Zambia and Ghana. Anna Katharina Wolkenhauer Joint Winner, Best Overall Performance Development Studies

WP140 (PDF) Between Fear and Compassion: How Refugee Concerns Shape Responses to Humanitarian Emergencies - The case of Germany and Kosovo. Sebastian Sahla Joint Winner, Best Overall Performance Development Management

WP139 (PDF) Worlds Apart? Health-seeking behaviour and strategic healthcare planning in Sierra Leone. Thea Tomison Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP138 (PDF) War by Other Means? An Analysis of the Contested Terrain of Transitional Justice Under the 'Victor's Peace' in Sri Lanka. Richard Gowing Best Overall Performance and Best Dissertation International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies (IDHE)

WP137 (PDF) Social Welfare Policy - a Panacea for Peace? A Political Economy Analysis of the Role of Social Welfare Policy in Nepal's Conflict and Peace-building Process. Annie Julia Raavad Joint Winner, Best Overall Performance and Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP136 (PDF) Women and the Soft Sell: The Importance of Gender in Health Product Purchasing Decisions. Adam Alagiah Joint Winner, Best Overall Performance Development Management

WP135 (PDF) Human vs. State Security: How can Security Sector Reforms contribute to State-Building? The case of the Afghan Police Reform. Florian Weigand Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

WP134 (PDF) Evaluating the Impact of Decentralisation on Educational Outcomes: The Peruvian Case. Siegrid Holler-Neyra Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation Development Management

WP133 (PDF) Democracy and Public Good Provision: A Study of Spending Patterns in Health and Rural Development in Selected Indian States. Sreelakshmi Ramachandran Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

WP132 (PDF) Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Transfer to Developing Countries: a Reassessment of the Current Debate Marco Valenza Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP131 (PDF) Traditional or Transformational Development? A critical assessment of the potential contribution of resilience to water services in post-conflict Sub-Saharan Africa. Christopher Martin Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies (IDHE)

WP128  (PDF) The demographic dividend in India: Gift or curse? A State level analysis on differeing age structure and its implications for India's economic growth prospects. Vasundhra Thakurd Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

WP127  (PDF) When Passion Dries Out, Reason Takes Control: A Temporal Study of Rebels' Motivation in Fighting Civil Wars. Thomas Tranekaer Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

WP126  (PDF) Micro-credit - More Lifebuoy than Ladder? Understanding the role of micro-credit in coping with risk in the context of the Andhra Pradesh crisis. Anita Kumar Best Overall Performance and Best Dissertation Development Management

WP124 (PDF) Welfare Policies in Latin America: the transformation of workers into poor people. Anna Popova Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP123  (PDF) How Wide a Net? Targeting Volume and Composition in Capital Inflow Controls. Lucas Issacharoff Best Overall Performance and Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP117 (PDF) Shadow Education: Quantitative and Qualitative analysis of the impact of the educational reform (implementation of centralized standardised testing). Nataliya Borodchuk Best Overall Performance and Excellent Dissertation Development Management

WP115 (PDF) Can School Decentralization Improve Learning? Autonomy, participation and student achievement in rural Pakistan. Anila Channa Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

WP114 (PDF) Good Estimation or Good Luck? Growth Accelerations revisited. Guo Xu Best Overall Performance and Best Dissertation Development Studies

WP113 (PDF) Furthering Financial Literacy: Experimental evidence from a financial literacy program for Microfinance Clients in Bhopal, India. Anna Custers Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP112 (PDF) Consumption, Development and the Private Sector: A critical analysis of base of the pyramid (BoP) ventures. David Jackman Winner of the Prize for Best Disseration Development Management

WP106 (PDF) Reading Tea Leaves: The Impacy of Mainstreaming Fair Trade. Lindsey Bornhofft Moore Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP104 (PDF) Institutions Collide: A Study of "Caste-Based" Collective Criminality and Female Infanticide in India, 1789-1871. Maria Brun Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Studies

WP102 (PDF) Democratic Pragmatism or Green Radicalism? A critical review of the relationship between Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Policymaking for Mining. Abbi Buxton Joint Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

WP100 (PDF) Market-Led Agrarian Reform: A Beneficiary perspective of Cédula da Terra. Veronika Penciakova Joint Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Studies

WP98 (PDF) No Business like Slum Business? The Political Economy of the Continued Existence of Slums: A case study of Nairobi. Florence Dafe Joint Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation Development Studies

WP97 (PDF) Power and Choice in International Trade: How power imbalances constrain the South's choices on free trade agreements, with a case study of Uruguay. Lily Ryan-Collins Joint Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Dissertation Development Management

WP96 (PDF) Health Worker Motivation and the Role of Performance Based Finance Systems Africa: A Qualitative Study on Health Worker Motivation and the Rwandan Performance Based finance initiative in District Hospitals. Friederike Paul Joint Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Dissertation Development Management

WP95 (PDF) Crisis in the Countryside: Farmer Suicides and the Political Economy of Agrarian Distress in India. Bala Posani Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Management

WP94 (PDF) From Rebels to Politicians. Explaining Rebel-to Party Transformations after Civil War: The case of Nepal. Dominik Klapdor Winner of the Prize for Excellent Dissertation Development Management

WP92 (PDF) Guarding the State or Protecting the Economy? The Economic factors of Pakistan's Military coups. Amina Ibrahim Winner of the Prize for Best Dissertation Development Studies

WP91 (PDF) Man is the remedy of man: Constructions of Masculinity and Health-Related Behaviours among Young men in Dakar, Senegal. Sarah Helen Mathewson Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Development Studies

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Graduate programmes

  • FindAMasters
  • Researching and Writing a Masters Dissertation

Written by Mark Bennett

All Masters programmes include some form of extended individual project. Research-focussed programmes, such as an MRes , may include multiple independent research components. Taught courses usually culminate with a substantial research task, referred to as the Masters dissertation or thesis.

This article talks about how long a Masters dissertation is and the structure it follows.Before you get started on your dissertation, you'll usually need to write a proposal. Read our full guide to Masters dissertation proposals for more information on what this should include!

Masters dissertation - key facts
Length 15,000 - 20,000 words
Structure

Abstract (300 words)

Introduction (1,000 words)

Literature review (1,000 words)

Research methodology (1,500 words)

Results

Discussion (12,000 words)

Conclusion (1,500 words)

References/Bibliography

Appendices

Supervision Yes, you’ll be paired with an academic from your own university
Assessment External examiner along with additional members of faculty. There is not usually a viva at Masters level.

On this page

What’s the difference between a masters dissertation and an undergraduate dissertation.

The Masters thesis is a bridge between undergraduate study and higher level postgraduate degrees such as the PhD .

A postgraduate dissertation may not look that different to its undergraduate equivalent. You’ll likely have to produce a longer piece of work but the foundations remain the same.

After all, one of the purposes of an undergraduate dissertation or final year project is to prepare you for more in-depth research work as a postgraduate. That said, there are some important differences between the two levels.

So, how long is a Masters dissertation? A Masters dissertation will be longer than the undergraduate equivalent – usually it’ll be somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 words, but this can vary widely between courses, institutions and countries.

To answer your overall research question comprehensively, you’ll be expected to identify and examine specific areas of your topic. This can be like producing a series of shorter pieces of work, similar to those required by individual modules. However, there’s the additional requirement that they collectively support a broader set of conclusions.

This more involved Masters dissertation structure will:

  • Give you the scope to investigate your subject in greater detail than is possible at undergraduate level
  • Challenge you to be effective at organising your work so that its individual components function as stages in a coherent and persuasive overall argument
  • Allow you to develop and hone a suitable research methodology (for example, choosing between qualitative and quantitative methods)

If the individual topics within your overall project require you to access separate sources or datasets, this may also have an impact on your research process.

As a postgraduate, you’ll be expected to establish and assert your own critical voice as a member of the academic community associated with your field .

During your Masters thesis you’ll need to show that you are not just capable of analysing and critiquing original data or primary source material. You should also demonstrate awareness of the existing body of scholarship relating to your topic .

So, if you’ll excuse the pun, a ‘Masters’ degree really is about achieving ‘mastery’ of your particular specialism and the dissertation is where you’ll demonstrate this: showing off the scholarly expertise and research skills that you’ve developed across your programme.

What’s the difference between a dissertation and a thesis?

A dissertation is a long piece of (usually) written work on the same topic. A thesis is a little more specific: it usually means something that presents an original argument based on the interpretation of data, statistics or content.

So, a thesis is almost always presented as a dissertation, but not all dissertations present a thesis.

Masters dissertation structure

As you can probably imagine, no two dissertations follow the exact same structure, especially given the differences found between Masters programmes from university to university and country to country .

That said, there are several key components that make up the structure of a typical Masters dissertation

How long is a Masters dissertation?

Most dissertations will typically be between 15,000 and 20,000 words long, although this can vary significantly depending on the nature of the programme.

You should also check with your university exactly which sections of the dissertation count towards the final word count (the abstract, bibliography and appendices won’t usually be included in the total).

Usually around 300 words long, the abstract is meant to be a concise summary of your dissertation. It should briefly cover the question(s) you aim to answer, your primary argument and your conclusion.

Introduction

The purpose of the introduction is to provide context for the rest of the dissertation, setting out your aims and the scope of what you want to achieve with your research. The introduction should give a clear overview of the dissertation’s chapters and will usually be around 1,000 words long.

Literature review

This part of the dissertation should examine the scholarship that has already been published in your field, presenting various arguments and counter-arguments while situating your own research within this wider body of work.

You should analyse and evaluate other publications and explain how your dissertation will contribute to the existing literature in your subject area. The literature review sometimes forms part of the introduction or follows immediately on from it. Most literature reviews are up to 1,000 words long.

Research methodology

Not all dissertations will require a section covering research methodology (Arts and Humanities dissertations won’t normally undertake the kind of research that involves a set methodology). However, if you are using a particular method to collect information for your dissertation, you should make sure to explain the rationale behind your choice of methodology. The word count for this part of the dissertation is usually around the 1,500 mark.

Those in the Arts and Humanities will usually outline their theoretical perspectives and approaches as part of the introduction, rather than requiring a detailed explanation of the methodology for their data collection and analysis.

Results / findings

If your research involves some form of survey or experiment, this is where you’ll present the results of your work. Depending on the nature of the study, this might be in the form of graphs, tables or charts – or even just a written description of what the research entailed and what the findings were.

This section forms the bulk of your dissertation and should be carefully structured using a series of related chapters (and sub-chapters). There should be a logical progression from one chapter to the next, with each part building on the arguments of its predecessor.

It can be helpful to think of your Masters dissertation as a series of closely interlinked essays, rather than one overwhelming paper. The size of this section will depend on the overall word count for your dissertation. However, to give you a rough idea for a 15,000-word dissertation, the discussion part will generally be about 12,000 words long.

Here you should draw together the threads of the previous discussion chapters and make your final concluding statements, drawing on evidence and arguments that you’ve already explored over the course of the dissertation. Explain the significance of your findings and point towards directions that future research could follow. This section of the Masters thesis will be around 1,500 words long.

References / bibliography

While planning and writing your dissertation, you should keep an extensive, organised record of any papers, sources or books you’ve quoted (or referred to). This will be a lot easier than leaving all of it until the end and struggling to work out where a particular quotation is from!

Appendices won’t be necessary in many dissertations, but you may need to include supplementary material to support your argument. This could be interview transcripts or questionnaires. If including such content within the body of the dissertation won’t be feasible – i.e. there wouldn’t be enough space or it would break the flow of your writing – you should consult with your supervisor and consider attaching it in an appendix.

It’s worth bearing in mind that these sections won’t always be discretely labelled in every dissertation. For example, everything up to ‘discussion’ might be covered in introductory chapter (rather than as distinct sections). If you’re unsure about the structure of your Masters dissertation, your supervisor will be able to help you map it out.

How does supervision work for a Masters dissertation?

As a Masters student at the dissertation stage you’ll usually be matched with an academic within your institution who will be tasked with guiding your work. This might be someone who has already taught you, or it may be another scholar whose research interests and expertise align well with what you want to do. You may be able to request a particular supervisor, but taught postgraduates are more likely to be assigned them by their department.

Specific arrangements with your supervisor will vary depending on your institution and subject area. They will usually meet with you at the beginning of the dissertation period to discuss your project and agree a suitable schedule for its undertaking. This timetable will probably set dates for:

  • Subsequent discussions and progress checks
  • The submission of draft chapters or sections
  • Feedback appointments

Though your supervisor is there to help and advise you, it is important to remember that your dissertation is a personal research project with associated expectations of you as an independent scholar.

As a rule of thumb, you can expect your supervisor to read each part of your dissertation once at the draft stage and to offer feedback. Most will not have time to look at lots of subsequent revisions, but may respond favourably to polite requests for exceptions (provided their own workload permits it).

Inundating your supervisor with emails or multiple iterations of draft material is best avoided; they will have their own research to manage (as well as other supervision assignments) and will be able to offer better quality feedback if you stick to an agreed schedule.

How is a Masters dissertation assessed and examined?

On most courses your dissertation will be assessed by an external examiner (as well as additional members of faculty within your university who haven’t been responsible for supervising you), but these will read and critique the work you submit without personally questioning and testing you on it.

Though this examination process is not as challenging as the oral defence or ‘ viva voce ’ required for a PhD thesis, the grading of your Masters dissertation is still a fundamental component of your degree.

On some programmes the result awarded to a student’s dissertation may determine the upper grade-band that can be awarded to their degree.

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Ready to start looking for your ideal postgraduate opportunity? Browse and compare Masters degrees on FindAMasters.com.

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Mark joined FindAMasters to develop our first ever advice articles in 2013 and now serves as our Director of Audience & Editorial, making sure our websites and information are as useful as possible for people thinking about Masters and PhD study. He has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Sheffield, as well as Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Kent and the University of South Wales.

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The MSc Dissertation

From June – early September students undertake a research project, lightly supervised by a member of faculty , and submit a 10,000 word dissertation on or before the deadline in early September. A good dissertation will be a piece of original research, the best dissertations are published . The three-months dissertation project gives you the opportunity to acquire and enhance a number of skills including research skills, project management, organisation, software and writing.

The research methods course supports you in this project, providing training in:

  • Research and academic writing skills
  • Software (Matlab, Python, R, and Stata)
  • Empirical econometric skills.

In total, over 30 hours of lecture support skill acquisition directly relevant to the dissertation project. Helpdesks are also provided during the dissertation writing period. Dissertations fall into four categories:

Empirical Empirical dissertations typically take an econometric model from an existing paper and applying it to a new data set and / or extending it. Such a project involves:

  •     A brief critical literature review of your chosen area
  •     Finding and understanding your dataset
  •     Learning the appropriate software
  •     Implementing your model
  •     Understanding, criticising and checking the robustness of your results.

Examples of recent empirical dissertations are:

  •     Corruption and Education in the Developing World
  •     Analysis of Chinese Stock Market Efficiency
  •     UK Wage Flexibility in the Aftermath of the Great Recession
  •     Hedonistic wage estimation and the market for head teachers: Evidence for England
  •     Does Microcredit Crowd Out Traditional Moneylending? An Example From Hyderabad.
  •     Estimating the Competitive Structure of the UK Petrol Retail Industry
  •     The impact of paid work on women’s empowerment.

Theoretical Theoretical dissertations typically take model from an existing paper and extending it in some interesting way. Such a project involves:

  •     Acquiring a deep understanding of your model, in the context of the core material you’ve covered

Examples of recent theoretical dissertations are:

  •     An Investigation of a Network Targeting Model with Bounded Rational Consumers
  •     The finite sample performance of single equation models of ordered choice
  •     Rotating Savings and Credit Associations: A Theoretical Analysis
  •     News aggregators and search engines: Thumping entrants in the newspapers industry
  •     Disaster risk in a New Keynesian model

Policy Policy dissertations undertake a critical analysis of some previously unexplored policy or policy issue. Such a project involves:

  •     A description of the economic principles involved in the policy decision
  •     A critical appraisal of existing or proposed policies.

Note policy dissertations may often involve an empirical component Examples of recent dissertations are:

  •     An assessment of the second round of quantitative easing policy in the UK: A BVAR approach
  •     Capital controls on outflows during financial crises: Are they effective?
  •     The technological factors in the economies of developing countries: Comparison of the effectiveness of public policies on innovation in Chile for local research and inward technology transfer
  •     Welfare participation by immigrants in the UK
  •     A study upon market structure characterised by regulation: Information and oligopoly conditions.

Analytical Survey An analytical survey dissertation provides a clear outline of the intellectual development of the a particular area. Such a project involves:

  •     A thorough understanding of the literature in your chosen area
  •     Explaining the extent to which different contributors were addressing similar of different questions and in what sense and how far one contribution marks a significant improvement over earlier ones.
  •     Critically assessing the different contributions and of the field as a whole.

Examples of recent dissertations are:

  •     Heterogeneous Adaptive Learning in Real Business Cycle Models
  •     The Great Moderation: A critical survey since the crisis
  •     What are the social costs and benefits of reversing innovations in mortgage markets?
  •     What explains the top income surge?
  •     A survey on observational learning and informational cascades: Are observational conditions simple enough to warrant simple predictions?

example msc dissertation

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An example of how to write a winning masters dissertation.

Dr John Biggam, author of " Succeeding with your Master's Dissertation ", gives expert advice on how to write a winning masters dissertation.

'Think up your own exam question and answer it.' That would be the ideal exam question, most students would agree.

Yet, when that scenario becomes a reality in the context of a master's dissertation it can cause confusion and no little angst on the part of students seeking guidance on structure and content.

This short article offers some pointers on how to get started and succeed.

In the first instance, here's a quick win to give you confidence: Create a dissertation template. This is where you type up your cover page and chapter/section headings on separate pages (as they will appear in the final submission).

For example: Title/Name/Course/Year, Abstract, Acknowledgements, Contents, Abbreviations, Figures/Tables, Chapter 1 Introduction, Chapter 2 Literature Review, Chapter 3 Research Methods, Chapter 4 Findings, Chapter 5 Conclusion, Chapter 6 References, Appendices, Appendix 1, Appendix B.

Already you have created a dissertation folder with at least 15 pages! Take a copy with you to supervision meetings. At a glance, both you and your supervisor can incrementally see what you have done and what you have still to do.

Pivotal to your research are your overall research aim and individual research objectives. These in effect form your 'exam question' (in fact, you can turn them into questions if you want). Your overall aim is a general statement on your chosen study area; your research objectives are the individual sub-tasks that you believe will collectively achieve your overall research aim. Number your research objectives for easy reference.

The following summary advice is intended for those attempting a traditional dissertation i.e. a literature review followed by the collection and analysis of empirical data (see the above example masters Dissertation example).

  • Write it last!
  • Keep to one paragraph (otherwise you run the risk of writing a mini essay)
  • Identify the problem/issue that you investigated
  • Outline how you did your research (i.e. your research methods)
  • State your main findings/conclusion(s)
  • Indicate your recommendations

INTRODUCTION

Provide a clear dissertation structure, to include, for example, some of which can be combined:

  • Research focus
  • Overall Aim and research objectives
  • Outline research methods (and timescales)
  • Value of your research
  • Outline structure of dissertation

Make your individual research objectives SMART:

Emphasise the value of/need for your research

Include pertinent references, but avoid starting your literature review early!

LITERATURE REVIEW

  • Remind the reader of your research objectives (that is, those related to your literature review)
  • Avoid student drift (i.e. going off-track) by having headings that relate to your research objectives
  • Develop meaningful discussions (pretend the reader knows nothing about your subject area - carefully lead them by the hand, incrementally building up your discussions)
  • Provide evidence of critical evaluation (i.e. offer views, support views)
  • Use a wide variety of sources (journals, books, reports, etc.)
  • Take care to reference properly. Lazy referencing undermines the scholarly worth of your dissertation.
  • Summarise main findings and highlight emerging issues (to justify empirical research)

MASTERS DISSERTATION RESEARCH METHODS

Be very focused in this section - your readers (i.e. markers) are not interested in reading about every research method under the sun. So:

  • Identify and describe your chosen research strategy (case study, experimental research, etc.) and justify why your chosen research strategy meets your research needs.
  • Identify, describe and justify your data collection techniques (interviews, questionnaires, observation, etc.)
  • Provide implementation details (where, when, with whom, sample size, etc.) to the extent that someone could replicate your work
  • Explain how you will analyse your data
  • Outline limitations/potential problems (but explain why your work is valid and reliable)

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

  • Keep this section/chapter simple: describe your data, compare/contrast data collected with literature review findings (following analysis framework set out in research methods chapter)
  • When analysing results, keep focused on individual research objectives - this helps avoid student drif
  • Highlight main empirical findings

This is where you seek cyclical closure i.e. refer back to your initial research objectives and offer concluding commentary on your completed work:

  • Remind the reader what you set out to do, i.e. refer back to your overall aim and specific research objectives
  • Summarise lit. rev. and empirical findings (related to individual research objectives) - For each set research objective, elicit main conclusions from your work
  • Offer recommendations (if appropriate), including helpful ideas on implementation
  • Hopefully the pointers above give you an idea of best-practice in terms of structure and what examiners look for in a completed dissertation. In short, you set the 'exam question', broken into parts (research objectives), so make sure you answer each part!

Further advice and guidance on how to write a winning masters dissertation can be found in Dr John Biggam's book 'Succeeding with your Master's Dissertation: A Step by Step Handbook.'

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Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples

Published on 9 September 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on 6 April 2023.

It can be difficult to know where to start when writing your thesis or dissertation . One way to come up with some ideas or maybe even combat writer’s block is to check out previous work done by other students.

This article collects a list of undergraduate, master’s, and PhD theses and dissertations that have won prizes for their high-quality research.

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Table of contents

Award-winning undergraduate theses, award-winning master’s theses, award-winning ph.d. dissertations.

University : University of Pennsylvania Faculty : History Author : Suchait Kahlon Award : 2021 Hilary Conroy Prize for Best Honors Thesis in World History Title : “Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the “Noble Savage” on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807”

University : Columbia University Faculty : History Author : Julien Saint Reiman Award : 2018 Charles A. Beard Senior Thesis Prize Title : “A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man”: UNRRA, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947

University: University College London Faculty: Geography Author: Anna Knowles-Smith Award:  2017 Royal Geographical Society Undergraduate Dissertation Prize Title:  Refugees and theatre: an exploration of the basis of self-representation

University: University of Washington Faculty:  Computer Science & Engineering Author: Nick J. Martindell Award: 2014 Best Senior Thesis Award Title:  DCDN: Distributed content delivery for the modern web

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University:  University of Edinburgh Faculty:  Informatics Author:  Christopher Sipola Award:  2018 Social Responsibility & Sustainability Dissertation Prize Title:  Summarizing electricity usage with a neural network

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Education Author:  Matthew Brillinger Award:  2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Humanities Prize Title:  Educational Park Planning in Berkeley, California, 1965-1968

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty: Social Sciences Author:  Heather Martin Award:  2015 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  An Analysis of Sexual Assault Support Services for Women who have a Developmental Disability

University : University of Ottawa Faculty : Physics Author : Guillaume Thekkadath Award : 2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Sciences Prize Title : Joint measurements of complementary properties of quantum systems

University:  London School of Economics Faculty: International Development Author: Lajos Kossuth Award:  2016 Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Title:  Shiny Happy People: A study of the effects income relative to a reference group exerts on life satisfaction

University : Stanford University Faculty : English Author : Nathan Wainstein Award : 2021 Alden Prize Title : “Unformed Art: Bad Writing in the Modernist Novel”

University : University of Massachusetts at Amherst Faculty : Molecular and Cellular Biology Author : Nils Pilotte Award : 2021 Byron Prize for Best Ph.D. Dissertation Title : “Improved Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Helminths”

University:  Utrecht University Faculty:  Linguistics Author:  Hans Rutger Bosker Award: 2014 AVT/Anéla Dissertation Prize Title:  The processing and evaluation of fluency in native and non-native speech

University: California Institute of Technology Faculty: Physics Author: Michael P. Mendenhall Award: 2015 Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics Title: Measurement of the neutron beta decay asymmetry using ultracold neutrons

University:  Stanford University Faculty: Management Science and Engineering Author:  Shayan O. Gharan Award:  Doctoral Dissertation Award 2013 Title:   New Rounding Techniques for the Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms

University: University of Minnesota Faculty: Chemical Engineering Author: Eric A. Vandre Award:  2014 Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics Title: Onset of Dynamics Wetting Failure: The Mechanics of High-speed Fluid Displacement

University: Erasmus University Rotterdam Faculty: Marketing Author: Ezgi Akpinar Award: McKinsey Marketing Dissertation Award 2014 Title: Consumer Information Sharing: Understanding Psychological Drivers of Social Transmission

University: University of Washington Faculty: Computer Science & Engineering Author: Keith N. Snavely Award:  2009 Doctoral Dissertation Award Title: Scene Reconstruction and Visualization from Internet Photo Collections

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Social Work Author:  Susannah Taylor Award: 2018 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  Effacing and Obscuring Autonomy: the Effects of Structural Violence on the Transition to Adulthood of Street Involved Youth

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Dissertation by Research Examples (MA and MSc)

Examples of previous dissertations on topics of hazard, risk and resilience. Many other options are possible to suit your interests.

Meteorological and climate change

  • The Emergent Nature of UK Heatwaves: Identifying the Predictors of Risk Perception and Adaptive Behaviours Using the Health Belief Model
  • An exploration into defining a heat-health season for Tokyo, Japan, using 15 years’ worth of daily climate and health data
  • An Assessment of the Impact of El Niño Southern Oscillation on health in the Pacific Island Countries
  • Hurricane Irma: Controls upon storm surge risk
  • An investigation into the climatic influences on the spatial distribution of precipitation across the Guiana Shield
  • Using satellite data to track tree mortality from drought events through analysis of canopy characteristics of beech forests
  • An Investigation into the Effects of Climate Change on Flooding and Potential Mitigation through Natural Flood Management in Pendle Catchment
  • Can sustainable urban drainage systems reduce flood risk
  • Flood risk modelling: A Sensitivity Analysis of St Blazey, Cornwall.
  • Spatial patterns of water routing and the connectivity of flood sources under projected climate change: implications for the management of future fluvial inundation risk in a north-west England (UK) river catchment
  • Relationships between a rainfall-runoff model parameters and physical catchment characteristics for flood estimation in ungauged sites
  • Urban Flood Risk Assessment: A Case Study of Edinburgh
  • Hydrological Modelling of the Seti Catchment and Vulnerability Analysis of Pokhara City, Nepal
  • Seismic Risk Assessment of Southern California: A Scenario Ensemble Model approach
  • A Seismic Risk Assessment of Nepal
  • Effect of Seismic Hazards on low-cost Mountain Roads
  • Seismic vulnerability research on school buildings in greater Chengdu
  • Ensemble Loss Modelling of Earthquakes in Java, Indonesia
  • Landslide and debris flow impact to mountain roads in Nepal; consequences of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake
  • Localising transient landslide rates
  • Hazard mapping shallow landslides on the Isle of Wight
  • Comparing Fuzzy Logic and the Factor of Safety to assess the Thirlmere-Helvellyn Landslides caused by Storm Desmond
  • Understanding Data Quality within Tsunami Risk Maps of Vancouver, Canada
  • Developing a windstorm map for La Reunion
  • An investigation into the synoptic climatology that leads to tornadoes in the UK
  • Climatic and Ecological Influences on Wildfire in the Great Basin: Understanding Risk and Predicting Future Change

Glacial-hazards

  • Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Scenarios, Tsho Rolpa Lake, Nepal
  • Hazard Assessment of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in the Shughnon District, south-eastern Tajikistan
  • Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Hazard in the Tajik Pamir: An investigation of the Vanj Valley
  • A Regional Scale, GIS-Based Investigation of the Risk Posed by GLOFs in the Central Swiss Alps
  • An Assessment of the 2020 Chernobyl Power Plant Wildfire: Its Impacts and Predictability'
  • A Critical Analysis of the Controversy Surrounding Subsidence Rates and the Implications on Coastal Policy in the Mississippi Delta

Fracking & Fossil Fuels

  • An Environmental Risk Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing
  • Understanding the Risks associated with Oil and Gas exploration on the Environment: a case of the Albertine Graben, Uganda
  • Modelling The Temporal and Spatial Variability of PM2.5 Pollution Risk in Xi’an, China
  • A study of phosphorus flow and climate change using HBV-light
  • Can global physiochemical data of volcanic ash be used to predict the characteristics of ash for future eruptions for respiratory health hazard assessment?
  • Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest Cover Change in Bangladesh from 1974 to 2020: A Remote Sensing Approach
  • Coastal Cliff Retreat Hazard Assessment in Norfolk - Spatial & Temporal Analysis Centred on the Extreme Winter Season of 2013-14
  • Simulating Soil Erosion in Small-scale Watershed of Loess Plateau of China based on WEPP Model
  • Exploring the Extension of Previous Shoreline Analysis Methods to Atoll Islands

Land-cover change

Multi-hazards

  • Plugs and Floods: Assessing the Potential Hazard and Exposure of Coseismic Landslide Dam Outburst Floods in the Sindhupalchok District, Nepal
  • The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant: Sea wall cost benefit analysis based on Earthquake/Tsunami recurrence intervals and sea level projections up to 2100

Vulnerability and Resilience

  • Kashmir Earthquake- 2005: Private Housing Reconstruction in District Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan – A study of Owner Driven Approach
  • Flood Risk and Resilience in the Greater Manchester area - A study of the impact on the elderly population
  • An investigation into the impact of the equal vulnerability assumption
  • The Roles of Indonesian NGOs in Building Community Resilience to Terrorism in Indonesia from 2012 to 2014
  • Practical and innovative research for Community Flood Disaster Resilience Indicator System. A case Study of Walker, Newcastle
  • Has the GPS-Tracking of Reindeer Enhanced the Resilience of Reindeer Husbandry in Northern Sweden?

Early warning systems

  • Optimization of flood early warning system based on 2D Hydraulic Modelling—a case study of Morpeth, Northumberland
  • Instrumenting Indigenous Knowledge: Low Cost Landslide Early Warning Systems in Nepal
  • Increasing Flood Resilience in Pakistan: Strengthening Early Warning Systems in Muzaffargarh Punjab

Disaster Risk Management and Mitigation

  • A Game Theoretic Approach to Disaster Risk Management
  • Functionality of Open Spaces for Post-Earthquake Humanitarian Relief Activities in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
  • Children’s Roles in Disaster Risk Reduction in the UK
  • Colliding fields of risk: future based approaches to the intersection of disaster and disease
  • Build Back Better: A Case-study of Reconstruction in Education Sector in Pakistan Administered Kashmir after the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake
  • Risk and Resilience, and disaster risk management
  • The Roles of District Government in Building Community Preparedness to Natural Disaster
  • A gender perspective of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake disaster relief work and recommendations for future disaster management in China
  • Putting the Sendai Framework to Work: Building Resilience Against Fire Hazards in Sinai Slums - Kenya Through Disaster Risk Reduction

General Risk Management

  • Sea-Level Rise Related Risks in the United States and United Kingdom: An examination of the risk management process
  • Evaluation of current practice to improve catchment and water management: The Case of Stung Pursat Catchment, Pursat Province, Cambodia
  • Evaluating Exogenous Forces in Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study of Bandar Lampung, Indonesia
  • Communications, Resilience and Disasters: A Case Study of Peru
  • What Makes an Earthquake Interesting? An investigation into the controls on public attention towards earthquake events
  • The Role of the Environment Agency’s Flood Hazard Maps in Flood Risk Communication
  • Roles of Risk Communication in Risk Perception: A Case Study of the 2017 A/H7N9 Avian Influenza Outbreak in Human in China
  • See it. Say it. Sorted.': The role of public vigilance campaigns in communicating risk and enacting responsibilisation
  • Analysis of the change in the communication of risk within the media after a high impact natural event

Risk Communication

Risk Perception

  • Secure the future from environment in urban city— study the risk perception in NCL city
  • Humanitarian Workers' Experiences and Perceptions of Risk and Resilience
  • Rethinking Flood Risk Perception and Communication, Lessons from Storm Desmond
  • Perceptions of Risk Behaviour: Evaluating the links between Race and Risky Individuals in the American Education System

Participatory Research Methods

  • A combined approach to assessing flood risk through quantitative, qualitative and participatory research methods: a case study of the Congresbury Yeo
  • The Value of Physical Demonstration on Enhancing Earthquake Knowledge at Community Level in Nepal

Socio-economic

  • Socio-Ecological Risks Associated With Oil and Gas Exploration, Drilling and Extraction in Albertine Region- Uganda
  • Food vs. Fuel The Risks of Competing for Land Use
  • An examination of the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the socioeconomic interactions of the New Orleans Metro Statistical Area
  • Risk, Security and Profit: The case of ENI's Oil Business Operations in Nigeria
  • Analysis of the Socio-Economic Consequences of Storm Surge Inundation on the Wirral Peninsula
  • Assessing the financial feasibility of flood risk reduction strategies for Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria
  • Understanding the Relationship between Water Security and Poverty: The Case of Urban Slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh  
  • From Risk to Opportunity: Climate Change and Flood Policy in Bangladesh
  • An investigation into attitudes towards muslims in Britain

Geo-political

  • Risk Imaginaries of War from the Cold War Nuclear Threat to the War
  • A critical perspective on the use of foreign military assets in international disaster relief
  • An analysis of immigration discourse in British Parliamentary Debate
  • The Political Ecology of Highland Conflict: A Contextual Investigation into the Interrelationships between Scottish Grouse Moors, Peatlands and Climate Change
  • Risk and the War on Terror: Securing Civil Aviation after 9/11
  • Analysing the Risk of State Failure in Tajikistan: A Study of Economic, Political, and Religious Factors
  • China-Kazakhstan Transboundary Water Governance Under the Framework of the Belt and Road Initiative: A case study of Horgos River
  • The visualisation and analysis of maritime boundary delimitation from geographical and social perspectives
  • Risk, Response and Responsibility: Civil Enrolment in World War Two and the 21st Century
  • The future of the minority group in Hong Kong and resilience of the next generation
  • Race and Security in Policing Risk Assessment Policies in England
  • The Liberal Government of Fire on the London Underground through Risk and Uncertainty
  • Uncertainty & Governance: An Analysis of the Global Risk Dashboard
  • Risk & Activism in City Plaz
  • Engineering and Anticipating Risk: Comparing the Impact of Machine Learning Algorithms and Big Data in Political Campaigns and Security Practices
  • Creating the future: the impact of machine learning and data mining on risk and uncertainty
  • Business Consulting and Big Data Analytics: A New Variant of Risk?
  • More Than Face Value: An Exploration into the Emerging Use of Facial Recognition Technology Across the UK
  • Rethinking Risk and Resilience through the Smart Grid - How the introduction of the ‘Smart Grid’ changes the approached to (critical) infrastructural and security
  • Opportunities and risks of a new digital world: Is the smart grid an infrastructure of the Anthropocene?
  • Governing the Cyborg: Social Media Data and the August Riots

Digital risks

Insurance and capital

  • Donations from the economy to natural disasters (2006-2011)
  • Governing people’s behaviours: A case study of garbage clinical insurance in Malang, Indonesia
  • Safety in Numbers: An Evaluation of Regional Risk Pooling in the Caribbean
  • Selling Sustainability: a Critical Evaluation of the Role of Sustainability & Climate Change Consultants in Developing a Business Case to Go Green. A PWC Study
  • The Financialization of Climate Change Security
  • Disasters and their Relationship with the Insurance Cycle
  • Social Vulnerability to Flood Risk in the Fenland Basin: Refining the Approach to Index Construction
  • Insurance and business
  • Explore the impacts of the Flood Insurance Reform on Housing Market across the Vulnerable Communities
  • Insurance – A Technology of Power? A Critical Analysis of Climate Risk Insurance in the Context of the Developing World
  • The Insurance Industry: Governing through Data
  • The relationship between state and insurance industry: a comparison of UK and China's flood insurance systems
  • Bridging the Urban/Rural Divide: Investigating the Role of Social Capital in Trinidad and Tobago - A Case Study of two areas
  • The Social and Political Implications of the Securitisation of Europe in Reaction to the Migrant Crisis: An Investigation
  • Lockdown London? Reviewing the Security, Surveillance Practices, and Legacies of the London 2012 Olympic Games
  • Safe Enough to Shop: The Commercialisation of Airport Border Security
  • A Neo Liberal Approach to Security? Micro and Macro Politics of Kidnap and Ransom Insurance
  • Proportionality in the UK legislative response to terrorism 2001-2005: Rule of Law v ‘Rule of Risk’
  • Counter Terrorism Risk Governance: Forecasting Unkniwns Through Online Social Network Analysis
  • Securitisation Theory and Migration: The response of FRONTEX to the migrant crisis
  • The Construction of Risk in Britain's EU Referendum
  • The No-Fly List: an apparatus of disciminatory punishments masquarading as an 'inconvenience'
  • Factors Influencing Individuals Risk Preparedness: A Case Study of flash flood Management in Sultanate of Oman
  • Building Climate Change Resilience: The engagement of communities in the French Alps with the building of climate change resilience in alpine tourism
  • The London Urban Heat Island: Investigations of the Relationship between Urban Heat and Mortality
  • Flood Risks and Children with Disabilities in the United Kingdom: Insights from York
  • Visual Impairment in England: An Analysis of Socioeconomic Risk Inequalities
  • Analysis on potential influencing factors of sex difference in childhood obesity in Guangdong Province, China
  • Ecological Niche Model for Phlebotomus orientalis (Diptera: Psychodidae) under climate change scenarios: Risk Map for Visceral Leishmaniasis in Sudan
  • Health Inequalities among Residents with Different Household Registration Status in Wuhan,China and the Impacts of Hukou Institution upon it
  • Socio-economic factors affecting the knowledge, awareness and risk of snake bite in India taking the case study of Jasdan Taluka
  • Understanding of Temporal and Spatial Variability of PM2.5 pollution and health risk in Tianjin, China
  • Child Marriage in Nepal: Risks and Consequences on Reproductive Health of Women
  • Lived experiences of the healthcare workers sustaining needle stick injuries in the hospital setting in Palpa, Nepal
  • Socio-economic risk imbalance for the Deaf community in England
  • Maternal and Child Health Services in Nepal: Analysis of Absolute and Relative Inequalities and Impacts of Current Efforts to Address Disparities
  • Risk factors associated with hospitalization due to diarrhoeal disease in children aged 2-59 months at Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, Kabul, Afghanistan

MSc in Environmental Science

  • Environmental Science
  • Programme Structure

Examples of MSc theses

In the list below you can read the descriptions of 11 very different theses, authored by students at the MSc Programme in Environmental Science. You are welcome to contact the author if you have further questions regarding a specific thesis.

Chronic toxicity of silver nanoparticles to Daphnia magna under different feeding conditions

example msc dissertation

Author : Aiga Mackevica

Supervisor : Anders Baun, DTU Environment.

Ecotoxicity of nanoparticles has been an emerging issue in recent years, which is why it is necessary to evaluate the effects of nanoparticle exposure to the aquatic environment. In this study, we performed series of 21-day chronic tests with Daphnia magna exposed to silver nanoparticles to obtain information on growth and reproductive effects. The results were used for modelling to find possible modes of action of silver nanoparticle toxicity.

Determination of Steroid Hormones in Polar Bear Hair (Ursus maritimus) - a Methodology Study

example msc dissertation

Author: Johan Weisser

Supervisors: Bjarne Styrishave, Erland Björklund & Martin Hansen; Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.

The aim of this thesis was to develop an analytical methodology to determine steroid hormones in hair, for the purpose of using hair as a biomarker to study endocrine imbalance in polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ). Hair was chosen because steroids are incorporated into the hair shaft while growing and thereby gives a prolonged steroid profile which reflect blood steroid concentration in that given time period. An extraction and clean up method was developed. For analyte determination both gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) was tested followed by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). It was possible to detect progestagens, androgens and estrogens using GC-MS/MS whereas LC-MS/MS is a better analytical technic for detecting corticosteroids. Hair steroid profiling may be used to assess stress in polar bears in response to pollution and climate changes.

Effects of Carbon Nanotubes on the Female Reproductive Axis: Interference with the female reproductive cycle. A Study in Mice.

example msc dissertation

Author: Hanna Lilith Katarina Johansson

Supervisor: Karin Sørig Hougaard; National Research Centre for the Working Environment & University of Copenhagen

Very little is known on the effects of nanoparticles on reproductive function. Inhalation of nanoparticles induces inflammation in the lung – and inflammation interferes with the female reproductive axis. In this study, we investigated the effect of airway exposure to multi walled CNTs (MWCNTs) on the estrous cycle of female mice. The results showed that female reproduction may be susceptible to acute exposure to nanoparticles.

Fluorochemicals and antiandrogenic effects – an in vitro study of per- and polyfluorinated chemicals on steroidogenesis and androgen receptor activation

example msc dissertation                  

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  • Knowledge Base
  • Dissertation

How to Write a Thesis or Dissertation Introduction

Published on September 7, 2022 by Tegan George and Shona McCombes. Revised on November 21, 2023.

The introduction is the first section of your thesis or dissertation , appearing right after the table of contents . Your introduction draws your reader in, setting the stage for your research with a clear focus, purpose, and direction on a relevant topic .

Your introduction should include:

  • Your topic, in context: what does your reader need to know to understand your thesis dissertation?
  • Your focus and scope: what specific aspect of the topic will you address?
  • The relevance of your research: how does your work fit into existing studies on your topic?
  • Your questions and objectives: what does your research aim to find out, and how?
  • An overview of your structure: what does each section contribute to the overall aim?

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Table of contents

How to start your introduction, topic and context, focus and scope, relevance and importance, questions and objectives, overview of the structure, thesis introduction example, introduction checklist, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about introductions.

Although your introduction kicks off your dissertation, it doesn’t have to be the first thing you write — in fact, it’s often one of the very last parts to be completed (just before your abstract ).

It’s a good idea to write a rough draft of your introduction as you begin your research, to help guide you. If you wrote a research proposal , consider using this as a template, as it contains many of the same elements. However, be sure to revise your introduction throughout the writing process, making sure it matches the content of your ensuing sections.

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Begin by introducing your dissertation topic and giving any necessary background information. It’s important to contextualize your research and generate interest. Aim to show why your topic is timely or important. You may want to mention a relevant news item, academic debate, or practical problem.

After a brief introduction to your general area of interest, narrow your focus and define the scope of your research.

You can narrow this down in many ways, such as by:

  • Geographical area
  • Time period
  • Demographics or communities
  • Themes or aspects of the topic

It’s essential to share your motivation for doing this research, as well as how it relates to existing work on your topic. Further, you should also mention what new insights you expect it will contribute.

Start by giving a brief overview of the current state of research. You should definitely cite the most relevant literature, but remember that you will conduct a more in-depth survey of relevant sources in the literature review section, so there’s no need to go too in-depth in the introduction.

Depending on your field, the importance of your research might focus on its practical application (e.g., in policy or management) or on advancing scholarly understanding of the topic (e.g., by developing theories or adding new empirical data). In many cases, it will do both.

Ultimately, your introduction should explain how your thesis or dissertation:

  • Helps solve a practical or theoretical problem
  • Addresses a gap in the literature
  • Builds on existing research
  • Proposes a new understanding of your topic

Perhaps the most important part of your introduction is your questions and objectives, as it sets up the expectations for the rest of your thesis or dissertation. How you formulate your research questions and research objectives will depend on your discipline, topic, and focus, but you should always clearly state the central aim of your research.

If your research aims to test hypotheses , you can formulate them here. Your introduction is also a good place for a conceptual framework that suggests relationships between variables .

  • Conduct surveys to collect data on students’ levels of knowledge, understanding, and positive/negative perceptions of government policy.
  • Determine whether attitudes to climate policy are associated with variables such as age, gender, region, and social class.
  • Conduct interviews to gain qualitative insights into students’ perspectives and actions in relation to climate policy.

To help guide your reader, end your introduction with an outline  of the structure of the thesis or dissertation to follow. Share a brief summary of each chapter, clearly showing how each contributes to your central aims. However, be careful to keep this overview concise: 1-2 sentences should be enough.

I. Introduction

Human language consists of a set of vowels and consonants which are combined to form words. During the speech production process, thoughts are converted into spoken utterances to convey a message. The appropriate words and their meanings are selected in the mental lexicon (Dell & Burger, 1997). This pre-verbal message is then grammatically coded, during which a syntactic representation of the utterance is built.

Speech, language, and voice disorders affect the vocal cords, nerves, muscles, and brain structures, which result in a distorted language reception or speech production (Sataloff & Hawkshaw, 2014). The symptoms vary from adding superfluous words and taking pauses to hoarseness of the voice, depending on the type of disorder (Dodd, 2005). However, distortions of the speech may also occur as a result of a disease that seems unrelated to speech, such as multiple sclerosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

This study aims to determine which acoustic parameters are suitable for the automatic detection of exacerbations in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by investigating which aspects of speech differ between COPD patients and healthy speakers and which aspects differ between COPD patients in exacerbation and stable COPD patients.

Checklist: Introduction

I have introduced my research topic in an engaging way.

I have provided necessary context to help the reader understand my topic.

I have clearly specified the focus of my research.

I have shown the relevance and importance of the dissertation topic .

I have clearly stated the problem or question that my research addresses.

I have outlined the specific objectives of the research .

I have provided an overview of the dissertation’s structure .

You've written a strong introduction for your thesis or dissertation. Use the other checklists to continue improving your dissertation.

If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

Research bias

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  • Self-serving bias
  • Availability heuristic
  • Halo effect
  • Hindsight bias
  • Deep learning
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  • Machine learning
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The introduction of a research paper includes several key elements:

  • A hook to catch the reader’s interest
  • Relevant background on the topic
  • Details of your research problem

and your problem statement

  • A thesis statement or research question
  • Sometimes an overview of the paper

Don’t feel that you have to write the introduction first. The introduction is often one of the last parts of the research paper you’ll write, along with the conclusion.

This is because it can be easier to introduce your paper once you’ve already written the body ; you may not have the clearest idea of your arguments until you’ve written them, and things can change during the writing process .

Research objectives describe what you intend your research project to accomplish.

They summarize the approach and purpose of the project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement .

Scope of research is determined at the beginning of your research process , prior to the data collection stage. Sometimes called “scope of study,” your scope delineates what will and will not be covered in your project. It helps you focus your work and your time, ensuring that you’ll be able to achieve your goals and outcomes.

Defining a scope can be very useful in any research project, from a research proposal to a thesis or dissertation . A scope is needed for all types of research: quantitative , qualitative , and mixed methods .

To define your scope of research, consider the following:

  • Budget constraints or any specifics of grant funding
  • Your proposed timeline and duration
  • Specifics about your population of study, your proposed sample size , and the research methodology you’ll pursue
  • Any inclusion and exclusion criteria
  • Any anticipated control , extraneous , or confounding variables that could bias your research if not accounted for properly.

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  1. Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples

    Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples. Published on September 9, 2022 by Tegan George.Revised on July 18, 2023. It can be difficult to know where to start when writing your thesis or dissertation.One way to come up with some ideas or maybe even combat writer's block is to check out previous work done by other students on a similar thesis or dissertation topic to yours.

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    Dissertation examples. Listed below are some of the best examples of research projects and dissertations from undergraduate and taught postgraduate students at the University of Leeds We have not been able to gather examples from all schools. The module requirements for research projects may have changed since these examples were written.

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  15. Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples

    Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples. Published on 9 September 2022 by Tegan George.Revised on 6 April 2023. It can be difficult to know where to start when writing your thesis or dissertation.One way to come up with some ideas or maybe even combat writer's block is to check out previous work done by other students.

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    Dissertation by Research Examples (MA and MSc) Examples of previous dissertations on topics of hazard, risk and resilience. Many other options are possible to suit your interests. Meteorological and climate change. The Emergent Nature of UK Heatwaves: Identifying the Predictors of Risk Perception and Adaptive Behaviours Using the Health Belief ...

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    information about the framework for MSc dissertations. It should be used in conjunction with your programme handbook and the advice of your supervisor1. Dissertations are expected to further students' knowledge of a relevant body of literature, allow students to seek new research findings which add to the existing body of knowledge on

  18. Examples of MSc theses

    Examples of MSc theses. In the list below you can read the descriptions of 11 very different theses, authored by students at the MSc Programme in Environmental Science. You are welcome to contact the author if you have further questions regarding a specific thesis. ... This thesis tested a new method for industrial emissions control using a new ...

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  23. How to Write a Thesis or Dissertation Introduction

    Overview of the structure. To help guide your reader, end your introduction with an outline of the structure of the thesis or dissertation to follow. Share a brief summary of each chapter, clearly showing how each contributes to your central aims. However, be careful to keep this overview concise: 1-2 sentences should be enough.