• Home
• Study
• Study Information
• Modules
• Module Information

Psychology Dissertation

Module description

This module will involve your producing a literature review with a particular focus on critical evaluation of a current important issue within Psychology. You will be closely supervised throughout the duration of your dissertation by an academic member of staff whose personal research focus aligns with your topic.

You will write the final, 6,000-word report on your own, with a submission deadline at the start of Term 3.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aims of the module are to enable you to develop in the final stage of your programme your knowledge and understanding of an important current issue within Psychology. You will develop to an advanced level your skills in searching and reviewing large bodies of literature on the selected topic showing depth and breadth or reading, grouping this work into a coherent and logical answer, and demonstrating the ability to critically evaluate the research you are reviewing.

In addition, this module provides you with opportunities to work alongside an experienced academic researcher, sometimes in a highly-specialised area. The nature of the supervision will vary over the course of the project, depending on the requirements at any given time; you are likely to be closely-supervised in the initial stages where the question is developed and advice is given on how to conduct a literature review but more independent as the project progresses.

In this module you will work towards developing the following academic and professional skills:

• problem solving (linking theory to practice, developing your own ideas with confidence, responding creatively to resolving problems, looking at a large amount of studies critically, identifying, selecting, and using appropriate sources of information)
• structure (identifying key demands of the task, making decisions about task management, developing strategies to ensure individual progress, developing and implementing plans of action)
• time (managing time effectively as an individual to meet short-term and long-term deadlines, juggling multiple priorities and competing deadlines effectively, setting and maintaining work priorities)
• self-review (taking responsibility for your own learning and progress, learning from and using feedback from multiple sources, responding actively to feedback, dealing with and learning from criticism).

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Identify a key issue within a specific field in psychology, and produce an extended scientific dissertation reviewing that area
• 2. Describe comprehensively theories in the specific domain of your dissertation

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Acquire detailed, systematic and comprehensive knowledge within the discipline, with in-depth specialisation at the forefront of the discipline in certain areas, and demonstrate advanced critical understanding of this knowledge and of the limits and provisional nature of this knowledge
• 4. Review and critically evaluate published work at an advanced level and identify the strengths and weaknesses of this work, and at an advanced level structure this literature to present logical, coherent and sustained arguments to support conclusions at an advanced level
• 5. Address systematically complex problems at an advanced level which may be framed within unpredictable contexts, think critically, creatively and independently, and fully appreciate the complexities of the issues

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Interact effectively and supportively with your dissertation supervisor
• 7. Manage your own learning using the full range of resources of the discipline and with minimum guidance
• 8. Describe your own criteria of self-evaluation and challenge received opinion and reflect on your actions, and seek and make use of feedback
• 9. Select and manage information, and to undertake competently study tasks with minimum guidance
• 10. Manage time effectively to meet deadlines

Syllabus plan

The module follows an apprenticeship model, involving regular meetings with the supervisor throughout the module. Once the research topic is established, you will investigate the literature relevant to the topic and submit a formatively assessed proposal of the research question and a preliminary structure the dissertation will take by the proposal deadline in Term 1. After consideration and discussion of this proposal with the supervisor, you will then finalise precisely how you will undertake the dissertation and you can proceed with the in-depth literature review.

You may submit an early draft of the final report to the supervisor and will receive written feedback. The submission deadline for the early draft should be negotiated with the supervisor, but no further supervisory support will be available after the end of Term 2, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The deadline for submission of the final report will be the start of Term 3.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

One assessment is required for this module. Where you have been referred/deferred in the dissertation you will be required to resubmit the dissertation. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%; deferred marks are not capped.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Sternberg, R.J. (1993) The Psychologists' Companion: A guide to scientific writing for students and researchers (3rd edition). Chapters 1, 3 (especially), 4, 5. Cambridge University Press.
• Additional reading will be specific to the topic selected for the Dissertation.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1602

Key words search

Dissertation, major project, literature review