For an undergraduate student, a dissertation is a very large piece of work
requiring careful planning, time management, critical thinking, conceptual work, and
adherence to practices for completion. For the supervisor, it offers the opportunity to
work with a beginning researcher to help them to develop sound research practices,
stretch them and find their own voice. All of this needs to be managed carefully and
pragmatically in a very short span of time – often less than a year, sometimes only a
semester. This chapter engages with and offers research and experience based ideas for
good practice in supervising undergraduate dissertations and projects, although many of
the ideas and practices are also transferable to postgraduate supervision.
Keywords: Critical thinking, ground rules, learning contract, learning, managing
expectations, research question, time management, trajectory, undergraduate
dissertation, working relationships.
