{"id":2646,"date":"2021-01-27T09:46:15","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T09:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/?p=2646"},"modified":"2021-12-10T16:52:37","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T16:52:37","slug":"hcri-alumni-10-things-i-learnt-from-writing-my-dissertation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/2021\/01\/27\/hcri-alumni-10-things-i-learnt-from-writing-my-dissertation\/","title":{"rendered":"HCRI Alumni: 10 things I learnt from writing my dissertation"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Thinking about your dissertation may seem a little daunting at first, but students at HCRI always rise to the challenge to produce an original piece of research on a topic they care about.<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To guide you through this process, our alumni\u00a0Anna Llewellyn, Charlotte Bennemann, Jacob Graham, Moyo Bamgboye, and Anna Fraine\u00a0share their best tips from doing their postgraduate dissertations, which will also be of use to your BSc dissertations.\u00a0Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find out more about their dissertations.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Jot down your ideas
<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Moyo-<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take an idea from a place- write down what it means to you, or your understanding of it then directly underneath it write where it fits into your plan. So, you can say, this quote or this idea, feeds into this<\/em> part of your essay.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

2. Pace your writing\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Jacob-<\/p>\n

\u201cA useful piece of advice given to me was to not rush into the writing. I spent most of May and June just reading so by the time that you sit down, and you have to write you know what you\u2019re going to say, and you can really structure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Make use of all your resources<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Anna Llewellyn\u2013<\/p>\n

\u201cI found a professor from the University of Amsterdam who had written a book on humanitarian video games. I received a reply with lots of useful resources. So use all the resources you can and don\u2019t feel constrained by searching within the University as there\u2019s a whole global field of researchers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Anna Fraine-<\/p>\n

\u201cI used the local church hall as a public space to invite people to focus groups. But go beyond that community. I used the snowballing technique to tell other people, who would pass me onto people they knew and be invited to the study if they were of faith or no faith. In my methodology, I talked about how there were benefits to me being from a faith-based position and the limitations of it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

4. Adapt to your online environment<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Anna Fraine-<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was conducting primary research now, in the pandemic, I would still approach people via email, especially the local council and members of environmental organisations and conduct the focus groups over Zoom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Moyo-<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, I was going to do the research, get the ideas and the themes derived from the study and make questionnaires based on that and invite people to do a focus group. Due to COVID-19, however, I was advised by my dissertation supervisor to answer my research question without focus groups.<\/p>\n

If you end up adapting but still think your research could be more robust with a different methodology, it\u2019s worth putting that in as a distinct research area too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

5. Original dissertations don\u2019t have to involve interviews<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Charlotte-<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do interviews at the beginning, so my research was more practice-orientated. Due to the pandemic, however, I changed to the desk-based approach. To be original you do not have to do primary research. In my opinion, primary research is needed to get information like personal stories or information from the people that you wouldn\u2019t get any other way. If the information is already out there, using it for secondary research would be more appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Moyo-<\/p>\n

\u201cOriginality is partly to do with your topic and partly to do with your methodology. Some of the literature is quite dated, so the fact I was producing a piece of research now meant I was contributing something new.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

6. Make use of the multidisciplinary nature of your programme<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Jacob-<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything can be crucial to this course. It\u2019s hard to think of anything that would be entirely irrelevant because of the multidisciplinary nature of what you\u2019re studying.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

7. Go to someone who you think might be a suitable supervisor<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Charlotte-
\u201cEven if it\u2019s the end of December to tell them your ideas. For me, I had 10-15 ideas then had three left because it\u2019s easier for your potential supervisor to say whether the idea had been done before or didn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

8. Don\u2019t worry about research jargon<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Jacob-<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning, words like epistemologies and ontologies made me feel completely lost and as though I couldn\u2019t write a dissertation. But I would say not to stress about it- it will all fall into place. Talk to your supervisor, and it will be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

9. Download a referencing software\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Charlotte-<\/p>\n

\u201cUse Mendeley or anything of that sort. I used it in my first and second semester as anything you read now helps your dissertation. Or, any material that\u2019s inspired you that is of relevance you can add to Mendeley, including your notes on the reading.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

10. Reflect on your core modules for ideas\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Moyo-<\/p>\n

\u201cMy perception of humanitarianism came from my core modules, such as Disaster Governance and Disaster Management. When I was writing my HCRI module essay, I explored whether humanitarianism is inherently paternalistic. I did a section where I talked about the privilege and how it links to the produced images. So that gave me two separate streams of ideas to incorporate into my dissertation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

HCRI Alumni<\/h2>\n

Anna Llewellyn <\/strong>studied our MA in Humanitarianism & Conflict Response and graduated in 2020.
Dissertation title: “\u2018Bury me, my Love\u2019 \u2013 Exploring Voice and Learning Through Humanitarian Video Games.”<\/p>\n

\"Anna<\/a><\/p>\n

Charlotte Bennemann<\/strong> studied our MSc in\u00a0International Disaster Management and graduated in 2020.
Dissertation title: \u201cThe focal-systemic approach: How can a focus on vulnerability align climate\u00a0change and disaster management efforts within the context of development?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Charlotte<\/a><\/p>\n

Jacob Graham <\/strong>studied our MSc in International Disaster Management and graduated in 2020.
Dissertation title: “The Governmentality of Vulnerability, Resilience, and Disasters: A Case Study of Wildfire Management and the Iditarod in Fairbanks, Alaska.”<\/p>\n

\"Jacob<\/a><\/p>\n

Moyo Bamgboye <\/strong>studied our\u00a0MSc in International Disaster Management and graduated in 2020.
Dissertation title:\u00a0“Social media-based humanitarian communication: The case of\u00a0M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res on Twitter.”<\/p>\n

\"Moyo<\/a><\/p>\n

Anna Fraine <\/strong>studied our MA in\u00a0Humanitarianism & Conflict Response and graduated in 2019.
Dissertation title: “What are the enablers and barriers to engaging in, and implementing, climate action in a UK coastal borough?”<\/p>\n

\"Anna<\/a><\/p>\n

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Related<\/h1>\n

Related posts:<\/h3>
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Celebrating the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020: Meet Gloria<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
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