Deciding on my Dissertation Topic
October 07, 2017
Hey guys,
So I'm not gonna lie but up until a few months ago I didn't have a clue on what a dissertation was and up until @KimberelyJessica messaged me in April about what topic I was going to do, I hadn't heard of our course doing a dissertation. How stupid, I know. Since then, it has been non-stop on my mind as want to ensure I make the right decision on my topic as I will be spending at least 6 months on it so I have to make sure I don't get bored. These last 2 months I've had to take into serious consideration when researching what I'm going to do and how I'm going to keep it interesting. My end goal is to graduate with a high 2.1 or even a 1st. Which would be insane!
So to help me begin I decided I was gonna brainstorm each topic I had previously studied in my first and second years and what I found interesting and boring in each one. I then narrowed it down to Outdoor Play and how pioneers establish outdoor play and a child's development. In first year I found this quite boring and therefore didn't choose to develop this further into second year. However, during placement I found it quite easy to pick up and was pinpointing pioneers that I had learnt from the first year. It's incredible what you pick up and don't realise, ahaha. Last year I did a month's placement situated in the Reception stage in a Primary School and thoroughly enjoyed it so I am debating to continue this on but in another school to develop my CV further. However, for third year, placement has got to be every Tuesday from October to March.
I have also got to find enough secondary research on Outdoor play to back up my evidence. I have got to find a significant amount to make my dissertation reach the word count and make sure I don't repeat and make it boring. Heavy!! I have gone onto the University's eLibrary which contains thousands of Journals, Articles, Books and eBooks and found quite a lot of useful research relating to the same age, which is so helpful. In addition, the pioneers come under Psychology which can broaden my research in more depth ad understanding. This is due to psychology being a daily reoccurrence in everyday lives, especially in schools.
Some tips that helped me decide on my topic was:
1. Don't follow the crowd but follow what your most interested in - In first year I was not interested in pioneers and used to just sit in the lectures on my phone not interested at all. But in second year I started placement and when the children were playing outside the pionners and theories just jumped out at me and I realised how important it actually was on promoting the children's development.
2. Make sure your topic is narrow - Can your topic be dividied into shorter and different topics? You've got to make sure the research relates back to your chosen topic title and that you will not end up going off track and onto another subject. Yoou've got to ensure you can go into full detail and depth when evaluating the topic to ensure you get the highest maks.
3. Research, research, research - I have learnt from the past 2 years that research and doing wider reading is a key essential in finding out key information and it will help me develop my grades further. When I started to take my dissertation into consideration I had to take into consideration background research as some topics have more research compared to other topics. These past 2 weeks in uni I have thought a topic surrounding prisoner's children is quite interesting. However, looking into research there is hardly any information and my lecturer pinpointed that it would be difficult to conduct my own research. Therefore, I am just going to leave prisoner's childrent o another asssignment.
Have you got any more tips that can help me with writing my dissertation?
Nadine Alex x
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6 comments
I’m so glad I didn’t go to university because I have no idea how I’d manage to narrow down my ideas to a single dissertation topic! I hope you enjoy researching yours, and fingers crossed for a first! 🙊
ReplyDeleteI was always unsure about whether or not to go to uni, I changed my mind within the last few weeks. I actually have a blog post on why I changed my mind - https://nadinealex.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/what-made-me-change-my-mind.html
DeleteThankyouu so much xo
Good luck with your dissertation just do something that you are passionate about in small topic area and plan plan plan plan and stick to the schedule 😊
ReplyDeleteThankyouu :) x
DeleteI am so glad I did a practical module instead of a dissertation. I always struggled writing the longer essays. Well done on deciding and good luck with writing it!
ReplyDeleteAbi xo | www.wanderlustdaydreaming.co.uk
Thankyouu, and what was the practical module like? Good luck to that x
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