Undergraduate Dissertations

[goinggetstough]

Now I know my DP and I were at university a long time ago but have things really changed this much.......
Our DC was telling us about their humanities dissertation which is completed in year 2/3. They have been told that every time they see their tutor they have to write a short report in the meeting (fair enough) but the more they see their tutor the less marks they will receive on the final dissertation. Tutors will not read through their dissertations but only answer questions etc. No one is expecting a tutor to write an undgrad dissertation for their students or spoon feed them ( oh how I hate that phrase) but doesn't supervising mean that the old type of assistance is given as few of them will have written a 12000 word document before. Certainly when we did our undergrad and masters the whole document was read by the tutor. Surely you can't get the gist of it unless you see it in its entirety.
I think the bit that worried me most was don't see your tour too much or you will get less marks....
Any comments gratefully received and yes this is an RG university.

[EduStudent]

Writing my dissertation at the moment (Year 3).

We are entitled to a minimum of 6 hours supervision, this includes meetings, responding to emails and reading drafts. More time may be taken if the supervisor and student are both willing to do so.

We are expected to go to the supervision meetings having actually done something, so basically, they want us to have thought about it and have a few questions ready, not just turn up and expect to be told what to do. In other words, they expect us to be proactive about it.

We can have two chapter drafts read and commented on, again I think more if both parties are happy to do so. The amount of supervision has no bearing on the final mark, and I would be seriously questioning that. We are actively encouraged to stay in touch with our tutors and it has been made clear that other tutors will happily help where possible too, although the advice from your own tutor should take precedence.

HTH.

[EduStudent]

Oh, meant to say, this is also a humanities subject at an RG university.

[soupandsnow]

i suppose it depends on the uni. i did mine last year in economics (RG uni) , had an AWFUL supervisor who knew nothing about the subject i was writing on. we only had 5 sessions to discuss and the supervisor was only allowed to read one draft chapter. apparently her role was only to check layout of dissertation. on the other hand, other people had supervisors who were happy to arrange other appointments.

none the less, even though many of us complained about her (through stress, panic etc i'm sure) at the end of the day we all managed to write a 12000 word document off our own back, many of us with high grades which does make the achievement feel much more our own. i think with humanities, it has very much become the norm that departments want to see what students can do, as by the final year they like to think students have been equipped with research/skills to be able to complete it, and the dissertation is like an accumulation of everything you have learnt.