International

Education
Institute

ET5697
ET5694
Dissertation Module Handbook
2023-24 & 2024-25
Table of Contents
 1. General Information.......................................................................................................................3
1.1 Module Description......................................................................................................................3
1.2 Module Aims................................................................................................................................3
1.3 Intended Module Learning Outcomes...........................................................................................3
1.4 Module Administration.................................................................................................................3
1.5 Teaching team..............................................................................................................................3
1.6 Credits..........................................................................................................................................4
2. Dissertation timeline......................................................................................................................4
2.1 Dissertation Timeline....................................................................................................................4
2.2 Videos..........................................................................................................................................5
3. Supervision.....................................................................................................................................6
4. Stages of the Dissertation...............................................................................................................6
4.1 Dissertation Timeline....................................................................................................................7
4.2 Proofreading................................................................................................................................7
4.3 Extensions....................................................................................................................................8
5. Ethical Considerations....................................................................................................................8
6. The Layout of the Dissertation........................................................................................................9
6.1 General Information.....................................................................................................................9
6.2 Word count................................................................................................................................11
7. Marking criteria............................................................................................................................12
8. Additional Information.................................................................................................................12
8.1 AES Support................................................................................................................................12
8.2 Moodle.......................................................................................................................................12
8.3 Reading list.................................................................................................................................13
8.4 Copyright issues..........................................................................................................................13

1. General Information
1.1 Module Description
This module provides you with the opportunity to undertake an in-depth independent investigation
into issues within the field of international education or teaching English to speakers of other
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languages, and to conduct individual research related to your topic of choice. Your dissertation will be
supervised by a member of the IE teaching staff, who will advise on the choice of subject and provide
guidance throughout the research process.

Your dissertation is your opportunity to read, conduct research, analyse data and write up a topic of
interest to you and your career. You are responsible for selecting the topic of your dissertation. You are
also responsible for all aspects of your dissertation – the ethics application (if appropriate), the data
collection and analysis, and the writing of the dissertation. Your supervisor’s role is to be a sounding
board and guide, and to advise, but there is an expectation that you will study independently. This
means you are more responsible for time management and the organisation of your studies than was
perhaps the case during the taught phase of your MSc. Some students relish this opportunity and
produce an excellent piece of work, sometimes even better than the standard of their taught modules.
However, for other, the responsibility and perceived pressure of writing a dissertation can be
somewhat daunting and they may perform less well than in the more structured taught modules.

1.2 Module Aims

This module aims to
 develop students’ skills and competence to conduct independent study
 support their professional development through undertaking in-depth study of a specific area of
your area of study.

1.3 Intended Module Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, you will be able to:
 demonstrate a critical understanding of a relevant area of international education or teaching
English to speakers of other languages
 critically evaluate the existing relevant research and use this to inform your own research
 articulate clear research questions and follow ethical procedures when conducting your research
 conduct your own independent research and data collection, using appropriate research
methods and tools
 demonstrate the ability to analyse the data you collect and to present it in a clear and
informative way
 produce an extended piece of written work, in appropriate academic style.

1.4 Module Administration

Module Co-ordinator
Lesley Thirkell
[email protected]

1.5 Teaching team

Dissertations will be supervised by members of IE’s MSc teaching team and by other members of IE
staff. Supervisors will be allocated on the basis of teaching and research strengths and interests.

1.6 Credits
Satisfactory completion of the dissertation yields 60 credits.

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2. Dissertation timeline
2.1 Dissertation Timeline

Please note that all the dates in this timeline are deadlines. You can work with your supervisor to move
the various stages earlier, if appropriate. For example, you are welcome to submit your ethics
application or Literature Review earlier than these deadlines.

Watch the video introducing the dissertation

1.5.24
(available on IE Dissertation Moodle)
Watch the Ethics Application process video
(available on IE Dissertation Moodle)
w/b 6.5.24
Watch Literature Review Workshop
available on the AES Moodle (link provided below, 2.2)
24.5.24 Submit dissertation proposal to the relevant MMS by 1pm.
Students will be provided with short bios of all the possible
supervisors, with their academic
interests.
Students and staff will complete a short survey nominating their first,
31.5.24 second and third choices
of supervisor.
w/b
Students will be informed who their supervisor is.
10.6.24
No later Meeting 1 with supervisor
than Discuss and analyse the viability of the research questions and design,
5.7.24 and refine them.
Students to read and refine research question and research design
5.7.24 - and start drafting ethics
2.8.24
application (if applicable).
No later Meeting 2 with supervisor
than To review research design and research questions, and discuss ethics
9.8.24 application (if applicable)
Finalise the ethics application
1.8.24
Continue reading and start drafting Literature Review
No later Deadline for submitting ethics application form to supervisor (if
than applicable). The form must be
12.8.24 as complete as possible.
Submit final Ethics Application to [email protected] and copy
23.8.24 in the supervisor
(if applicable).
19.8.24 to Continue drafting Literature Review

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 Once ethical approval letter received, start data collection (if
19.9.24
applicable)
No later Meeting 3 with supervisor
than w/b Discuss progress with data collection and the writing of the Literature
16.9.24 Review
16.9.24 –
Continue with Literature Review and data collection
30.9.24
from Start data analysis
16.9.24 Start writing Methods section
Submit draft Literature Review via MMS.
w/b The draft Literature Review should be as good as possible without
30.9.24 guidance from the
supervisor. It must be carefully proofread before submission.
from Start writing Results section
30.9.24 Start writing Discussion section
No later Meeting 4 with supervisor
than
Discuss Literature Review and possibly data analysis
7.10.24
start writing Conclusion
from
start writing Abstract
7.10.24
start proofreading
Between Meetings 5 and 6 should be scheduled at a mutually convenient time
Meeting 4 for the student and supervisor.
and
8.11.24
8.11.24 Submit final dissertation to your MMS by 4pm (Word document)

2.2 Videos
Two recordings will be available for you from the start of the dissertation, How to Write a Literature
Review and information about the Ethics process. The Literature Review workshop is available on the
AES Moodle, in the ‘Diss week’ section:

https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/mod/scorm/view.php?id=1094063

This takes you to the Dissertation Writing materials. Please scroll down – the Literature Review section
is Lesson 4 of 13.

The Ethics recording is available on IE Dissertation Moodle (Course: 2023_4_IE Dissertations (st-
andrews.ac.uk)). After watching the Literature Review video, if you would like a follow up AES tutorial
to discuss any questions, please email [email protected]

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Questions about any aspects of ethics in relation to your dissertation should be discussed with Blair
Matthews, IE’s Ethics Convenor. You are strongly encouraged to watch these recordings in full at the
start of the process and you might find it useful to revisit them later as well.

3. Supervision
You are entitled to six meetings of a maximum of one hour with your dissertation supervisor, as
detailed above in the timeline. The exact dates of the meetings will be negotiated between you and
your supervisor. Please note that staff may not be available at certain times due to annual leave or
other commitments and so a certain level of negotiation and compromise may be required. Therefore,
the sooner you arrange your supervision meeting dates and times, the better.

The dates of the fifth and sixth meetings will be negotiated depending on both the supervisor and
student’s needs, and staff annual leave. Please note the meeting dates given in the timeline are the
LATEST dates for the meetings, and you are encouraged to consider arranging meetings earlier if
possible. The meeting will be held via Teams, or similar. The supervisor will set up a Team for the
supervisor, the student, and will include a second member of staff. This member of staff’s role is simply
to have view of the dissertation process in case the supervisor becomes sick, and it becomes necessary
to reassign a new supervisor. Any new supervisor would not necessarily be the second member of staff
who is a member of the Team.

There will be a maximum of one meeting per week. If you cancel a meeting with your supervisor, it will
not normally be rescheduled. If you experience any difficulties setting up the supervision meetings,
please contact Lesley Thirkell immediately.

If a supervisor is concerned about a student’s progress, the supervisor may require the student to
attend a meeting earlier than the dates in the timeline. The earlier meeting will still be one of the six
supervision meetings.

After each meeting with your supervisor, you must write a summary of the meeting and the action
points agreed in Teams Notebook. You should inform your supervisor once you have uploaded your
summary and ask them to check your summary matches theirs.

Your supervisor will read and comment on the draft of your Literature Review chapter only.
Supervisors are not responsible for editorial or typographic corrections. For questions on the format or
presentation of your dissertation, you should first consult this handbook.

4. Stages of the Dissertation

4.1 Dissertation Timeline

On 24.5.24, by 1pm, you will submit your dissertation proposal by uploading it to your module’s MMS
page. Save your dissertation proposal with your ID number as the title. You will complete the
Dissertation Proposal Form, which is available on the IE Dissertation Moodle (Course: 2023_4_IE
Dissertations (st-andrews.ac.uk)). The completed form will be around one page long. It will cover the
following topics:

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  Provisional title of your dissertation
 Rationale
 Research Question(s)
 Methodological Approach
 Main stages of data collection
 Definition of key terms
 Ethical considerations
 References

The proposals will be read by the IE staff who are able to supervise dissertations in 2023-24/2024-25.
You will be provided with a list of potential supervisors, with information about their areas of interest
and expertise.

By 31.5.24, you will be asked to nominate your first, second and third choices of supervisor. At the
same time, potential supervisors will be asked to nominate the first, second and third choice of
dissertations they would like to supervise. It is important to note that there is no guarantee you will be
allocated any of the supervisors you have nominated.

In the week beginning 30.9.24, you will submit your completed Literature Review draft by submitting it
to MMS. Please note that your dissertation spans two academic years and your version of MMS is the
2023-24 version. Your supervisor will read this chapter and will provide feedback on it. The feedback
will not include full language corrections. This is the only chapter your supervisor will read. You should
incorporate your supervisor’s suggestions and comments into the final version of the Literature
Review. Your supervisor will not read the second version of this chapter. If your Literature Review is
submitted to your supervisor after 4.10.24, it is unlikely your supervisor will be able to read and
comment on the document. You are responsible for submitting it by this date.

During the summer and autumn, you will continue to conduct your research, read widely on the topic,
analyse your data, draw conclusions from your research and write the dissertation.

You will upload one copy of your dissertation through MMS by 4pm on Friday 8 TH November 2024. You
must upload your dissertation as a Word document.

At the University of St Andrews there is no mechanism to resubmit a dissertation at a later stage in an

attempt to gain a higher grade. There is no reassessment for a failed dissertation.

4.2 Proofreading
You may use a proofreader if you wish but you must adhere to the University’s policy on language
correction:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/academic-policies-learning-and-teaching-language-correction/
language-correction.pdf

If you use a proofreader, you must include a declaration sheet near the start of your dissertation,
following 4.1 of the Language Correction policy.

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4.3 Use of AI
During your dissertation, you might interview participants in a language other than English. We would
like you to include the transcripts as appendices in your dissertation. It is acceptable to use an AI tool
such as DeepL to translate the transcript if you wish. However, if you do this you MUST declare that
you have used the tool (see 4.2 and 6.1 in the Module Handbook) at the start of the dissertation.
Please also tell us which version of the software you have used. For example, the free and paid for
version of DeepL are quite different.

You may also use a software package which converts spoken language to written text. Again, if you use
this type of tool, you MUST declare it at the start of your dissertation.

Please also declare the use of any AI or software tool at the top of the relevant document, and add the
document as an appendix.

4.4 Extensions
Under exceptional circumstances which could not have been predicted, an extension to the
dissertation submission date might be granted. It is important to note that students do not have the
automatic right to an extension. If you would like to request an extension, please email Lesley Thirkell
([email protected]) and explain why you believe it might be necessary. Extensions are rarely longer
than 48 hours and would not, for example, be granted simply because a student has not completed
their dissertation within the given time frame; because they worked during the dissertation process
and consequently did not have enough time to complete the dissertation; because of technical
failures; generally because of short term illness during the dissertation process; because the ethics
application or Literature Review were submitted after the deadline, and so on.

5. Ethical Considerations
Any dissertation which involves research with people MUST have ethical approval from the IE Ethics
Committee before you begin your research. The level of scrutiny required for an application varies
depending on factors such as the age of the participants and their location. If you need to complete an
ethics application form, YOU are responsible for completing it correctly. Your supervisor will advise you
but will not complete the form for you. Your supervisor must sign it as complete and correct before
you submit it to IE’s Ethics Committee for approval. They will not sign off a form that is incorrect or
incomplete. This will delay consideration of the application and the start of your research.

When your ethics form is completed, email it to [email protected] and cc your supervisor.

The ethics approval process generally takes quite a lot longer than students expect. It is therefore
extremely important to engage with the process as soon as possible within the dissertation module
timeline.

A video explaining the whole ethics process will be posted in the IE Dissertations Moodle. It is vital that
you watch it. We would expect you to discuss your ethics application with your supervisor in your first
meeting and to submit a completed ethics application, signed by your supervisor, to the IE Ethics
Committee by the submission deadline of 28.8.24. Applications submitted after this date may be
processed more slowly by the Ethics Committee.

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Submitting a late ethics application and your research subsequently being delayed are not grounds to
request an extension.

Please note than when IE issues an ethics approval letter, this is not a comment on how good or
otherwise, your proposed research is perceived to be. It is simply an acknowledgement that the
proposed research is ethical.

It is not possible to begin your research before your ethics application has been approved by IE’s
School Ethics Committee. To do so would constitute Academic Misconduct.

6. The Layout of the Dissertation

6.1 General Information

Your dissertation should be 15,000 words long.

Your dissertation should adhere to the following guidelines:

 use size 12 font
 use Calibri or Times New Roman
 double space
 number the pages, at the bottom of each page
 put your ID number as a header on each page of the dissertation

You must adhere to the University Good Academic Practice policy. ALL sources must be cited
appropriately.
The dissertation is normally expected to include the following – any changes to this structure must be
discussed with and approved by your supervisor:

 Title Page (proforma available on Moodle)

 Proforma front page (available on Moodle)
 Acknowledgement of having used a proof reader, if appropriate (see 4.1, above)
 Ethics Approval letter (if you completed an ethics application)

 Acknowledgements: This page provides the opportunity to thank a short list of people who have
helped you conduct your research and have supported you with your dissertation. This might
include, for example, people’s names or the names of a school or organisation.

 Abstract: This is a one-page summary of your dissertation. It tells a reader the main points of
your work, including your rationale, your research methods, results, main discussion points and
the overall conclusion.

 Contents: Each chapter of the dissertation, and also References and Appendices, are listed with
the relevant page number. You will also provide a list, with page numbers, of all tables, charts,
figures and illustrations.

 Chapter One - Introduction: In this section

o you tell the reader what your dissertation is about and set the scene for what comes next.
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 o you should provide the overall rationale for the research, explaining why the topic is
relevant and important. You need to provide the context of the dissertation in terms of
where the research was conducted and why.
o you will explain what issues or problems you are investigating and then discuss your
research aims. You need to explain both what you are investigating and also state what
related areas you are not investigating, and why. You will need to define the relevant
terminology. This part of Chapter One is likely to take a couple of pages.

 Chapter Two - Literature Review: This section is your analysis of all the relevant and related
literature on your topic. It demonstrates your understanding and awareness of literature in the
field. It is vital that you read widely and in depth. You should show the links between existing
research and the various areas of your dissertation. You must critically evaluate the existing
literature and show that different views exist. You should make it clear how your opinion on the
matter relates to the existing literature.

Typically, you will address several questions:

o What is already known about the area you are researching?
o What are the most important debates relating to the field?
o What ideas are you using from other people’s research and findings to support what you
are doing?
o Are there aspects of previous research which you disagree with?
o Are there aspects of previous research which you will further develop?
o Is there a lack of research in a particular area you are investigating?

 Chapter Three - Methodology: This section describes and analyses the methodology you used in
your research. You must be able to justify why you used the methods you did. This might
involve referencing other pieces of work which have used similar or different methods, and
explaining your rationale for your decisions. You must explain clearly the different stages of
your data collection methodology. You will need to explain, for example, how many people
were interviewed and why you chose a certain cohort to interview; how you collected and
stored the data; how you analysed the data you collected, and so on. You can also discuss any
difficulties you faced and explain why they arose.

 Chapter Four - Results: In this chapter of your dissertation, you will present your findings. You
will present your data and there are different ways to display your data. You can use tables or
diagrams if that is appropriate You might include referenced quotes from people you
interviewed. You might include diagrams to illustrate your point. You can provide full copies of
data in appendices at the end, so it is not necessary to include every single aspect of the data
here. You will almost certainly have a considerable amount of information to present so you
might have to divide this section with sub-headings.

 Chapter Five - Discussion: This chapter discusses the findings of your research and answers the
research question(s). This is a crucial section of your dissertation as you will critically analyse
and discuss the data you collected. You will summarise your findings and draw important
conclusions. You will discuss any new or contradictory findings in relation to previous work.
You will discuss the implications of your findings for the field, the school system you analysed,
the pedagogic methods you investigated, and so on. You can also discuss difficulties you
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 encountered, or how you might have done the research differently with the benefit of
hindsight. You can indicate the limitations of your work.

 Chapter Six - Conclusion: This is an overall summary of your findings. You can reflect on the
significance of your research project and suggest further developments which could follow on
from your piece of work. You can reflect on how the process has benefitted you, both
personally and professionally.

 Reference list: This includes all work you have directly referenced in any way in your dissertation
and also works you have read but not referenced within the dissertation. You should use the
APA system to write your reference list.

 Appendices: Different dissertations have different numbers of appendices. In an appendix, you

should put all the data you have produced - for example full transcripts of conversations, all
analysed data whether you commented on it or not, a copy of a chapter of a textbook which
you have analysed, observation instruments, interview schedules and questions, blank
questionnaires and so on. Your supervisor will be happy to advise about what should be
included in the appendices of your dissertation.

6.2 Word count

Your dissertation should be 15,000 (+/-10%) words long. The maximum acceptable length is 16,500
and the minimum acceptable length is 13,500. Dissertations which are longer than this will be
penalised by one grade point per extra 10%. Work which is shorter is highly unlikely to receive a good
grade because it will not have covered all the required areas of a dissertation in sufficient depth. The
word count begins at the first word of Chapter One Introduction and finishes at the last word of
Chapter 6 Conclusion. Words in tables, figures and diagrams are included in the word count.

Every dissertation will subdivide the word count differently but some broad guidelines can be
provided.

 Introduction: 1,500 words

 Literature review: 3,000 words
 Methodology: The length of this section depends on the complexity of your research design but
will probably range from 1,500 to 3,000 words.
 Results: 3,000 words
 Discussion: 3,000 to 4,500 words
 Conclusion: 1,000 to 1,500 words

7. Marking criteria
Each dissertation is marked by two members of IE staff. The supervisor is the first marker and another
member of staff who has not been involved in your dissertation writing process will be the second
marker. The first marker will read your dissertation and make in-text comments throughout, and
complete a draft feedback sheet. These two documents will then be shared with the second marker,
who will also read the dissertation and may add additional comments within the dissertation.
However, the second marker usually makes far fewer comments than the first marker. If they simply
agree with the comments made by the first marker, they are unlikely to repeat the same comments.
The second marker will add brief comments on the feedback sheet, in the second marker’s section,
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and may, if necessary, add additional comments to those written by the first marker. However, this is
not always necessary.

Your dissertation will be marked in relation to the following points:

 Aims/research questions: Are they clear and focused? Are they relevant to research/practice?
Have they been achieved?
 Research design: Is there a rationale? Are the issues of validity and reliability addressed?
 Literature Review: Is it relevant? Does the student engage with the literature? Is there evidence
of critical thinking and analysis?
 Data collection and analysis: Is there appropriate use of primary/secondary data? Are the data
relevant to the research questions? Are data presented and analysed clearly and accurately?
 Conclusions and Recommendations: Are the conclusions and recommendations supported by
data? Is there a strong concluding section?
 Structure: Does it communicate ideas well? Is there a clear structure of argument? Is it cohesive
and coherent? Is there a beginning/middle/end?
 Organisation and Presentation: Is it generally well-structured with a clear and orderly
presentation? Is the balance between the different chapters effective? Is it written in
appropriate academic style, with appropriate use of language, tables, figures etc? Is it of an
appropriate length? Does it contain an appropriate handling of references and sources?
 Integration of Academic Knowledge: Does it demonstrate a good command of the subject
matter? Is there evidence of wide and appropriate reading? Is there an understanding of the
relevant theories and concepts? Does it link theory to practice? Is there evidence of the
dissertation being a ‘learning process’?

8. Additional Information
8.1 AES Support
Users of English as an additional language are welcome to make appointments with the AES service for
one-to-one tutorials while they are writing their dissertation. Please note that is for language support
only. The AES team will not provide support on the content of your dissertation and the AES support
cannot be considered as extra supervision. Students must not make an AES appointment with their
dissertation supervisor. All students are welcome to make use of the other aspects of AES provision.

8.2 Moodle
The various standard forms referred to in this handbook will be provided in the IE Dissertations
Moodle for you to download and use (Course: 2023_4_IE Dissertations (st-andrews.ac.uk))

8.3 Reading list

Please refer to the Reading List provided for ET5504/ET5604 and for the relevant taught modules.

8.4 Copyright issues

All dissertations must adhere to the University’s rules relating to copyright laws. This affects, for
example, how much of a book you might want to include in your dissertation text or an appendix.

Further information about this can be found here: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/s/redirect?

collection=uosa-meta-global&url=https%3A%2F%2Fround-lake.dustinice.workers.dev%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fwww.st-andrews.ac.uk%2Fpolicy%2Flibrary-and-museum-
services%2Fcopyright-and-
theses.pdf&auth=1jxGcoRCV9W9%2BtvanCRsaA&profile=_default&rank=1&query=copyright+for+theses
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If you have questions relating to copyright, please contact Sharon Nangle (sn45@) in the University
Library.

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