Between 2009 and 2010, ten final year students volunteered to take part in a
small pilot study to monitor their dissertation experiences. This is a ‘warts and all’
account of that process. It includes the highs and the lows that students in their final
year often face. The aim of the project was to highlight the students’ own expectations
of the dissertation and follows their journey through the process. This project
emphasizes the fact that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution to dissertation
supervision and that the dissertation is still greeted with fear by many undergraduates,
even those who are very academically minded. It also shows that although universities
are attempting to address this anxiety by introducing research modules earlier in the
degree program, the students often do not see the relevance of these at the time. The
study concludes by giving some alternatives to the traditional dissertation thesis as
suggested by the students themselves.
Keywords: Dissertation, research, supervision, time management, alternative
formats, planning, research methods, internships, project, undergraduate, degree,
Higher Education.