Brand Turnaround

All students wishing to proceed to their final project should meet ALL the following conditions:

• All first year modules are complete and recorded as a pass or irredeemable fail.
• The student should be following regular progression and have no more than two

modules outstanding.

• Both internships should be complete.

• The Final Project Development Workshop should be complete.

Final Projects

All students are required to complete a Final Project appropriate to their specialisation.

Students will be asked to develop their subject area, research question, literature review and

methodology within the Final Project Development Workshop. A Methodology document will

be used to assess the workshop and will be then used to develop the final report.

Students will be appointed a tutor who will guide them through the final stages of the report.

It is envisaged a maximum of 2 hours of contact time with the student.

The length of the Final Project is 10 000 words ± 10%, excluding appendices and supporting

material. Final Projects which are over length will be penalised by 10 marks for up to 20%

over the word limit. Final Projects over 20% will not be accepted.

Copies of the Final Project must be submitted as follows:

• bound copy of the final project
• unbound copies of the abstract

• An electronic copy submitted on Turnitin.com as instructed

Deadline

2016 Submissions should be submitted by …………………….

Extensions to the deadline for submitting final project will only be granted  in exceptional

circumstances. Extensions must be requested in writing to the Head of Governance, along

with supporting evidence (for example: medical certificates). Extensions are limited in

duration and students will normally be expected to submit by the next available deadline.

Further extensions will not be granted except in very exceptional circumstances.

In the case of late submission, students who submit their final project up to 2 weeks after the

given deadline will have 10% of the given mark deducted. Students who do not submit within

this timescale will be deemed to have failed and be given a mark of zero (0). The Board of

Examiners may give such students one further opportunity to submit their dissertation for a

maximum of a capped mark of 40. The deadline for resubmission will be set by the

examination board.

Students who fail their Final Project will be given only one further opportunity to submit. The

deadline for resubmission will be set by the examination board.

Evaluation

Final Projects are double marked by two members of academic staff and an agreed mark

which is not necessarily the arithmetic mean of the two marks, given. Where the two markers

cannot agree on a mark, a third independent marker will also mark the work to resolve any

difference of opinion.

A copy of the grading sheet is attached to this document.

Students may, at the discretion of the examiners, be required to attend a viva voce

examination or such other tests as may be considered appropriate. Wherever possible the

viva should be held before the end of term, but this cannot be guaranteed.

Sources and Referencing

All ethical issues pertaining to this research project must be discussed with your tutor and

you should seek formal approval for such matters. Please see your academic coordinator for

pertinent forms and more detailed information.

Students must follow the Harvard referencing system for the Final Project. Plagiarism of any

kind will not be tolerated and you will be awarded zero if there is any evidence of plagiarism.

Please read the regulations on Academic Misconduct available on the Portal.

Students are reminded to use valid and peer-reviewed references to support their work.

Websites should only be used if they represent an established source and only for facts and

figures.  Students should make the most of academic and practitioner books and articles.

Project Structure

The project should consist of the following chapters:

1) Introduction

How well does the student set the context for the research (why did you choose this topic,

how did you come about this research), how clear are the objectives related to the context

set, how well does the student set out the scope of the research?

2) Literature review

How extensive and exhaustive is the literature review? Does it have both breadth and depth?

Has the referencing been properly done? How well does the student demonstrate learning

from reading others’ work? Does the student’s work stand on the shoulders of giants whose

work he/she has familiarised himself/herself with?

Has the student been able to critically evaluate the literature rather than simply summarising

it? Has the student been able to show how the literature reads and fits with his/her proposed

question and show how his/her work will progress knowledge further?

3) Methodology

How were the data collected? (present a timeline of collection, issues/challenges : how

were challenges dealt with, outline development of data collection tools)

How rigorous was the methodology in collecting the data (sampling, rationale for methods

used; academic underpinning of methods used – why and similarly why were other

methods not considered suitable)? How well did the student adapt to changes and new

factors that arise during research?

How are ethical considerations pertaining to the research addressed? How does the

student understand the limitations of his/her research?

4) Findings & Analysis

Does the student explain the findings in an understandable manner? Does the student

make intelligent sense of the data gathered in relation to the research questions set? Does

the student critically evaluate the findings (quality of findings and analysis – not simply

summarising the text)

5) Conclusion, recommendation and discussion

How well is the student able to connect draw conclusions from the findings and relate them to

the research objectives? How does the student link the findings & analysis and conclusion to

the recommendation for future research?

How well does the student interpret the findings in the light of the literature that s/he has

read?

6) Flow of the dissertation, referencing

How does the student structure and present his/her report (ease of reading for the examiner,

formatting, fonts used, spaces provided, tables, graphs, figures, etc., properly labelled,

presented and placed)? Has the referencing been properly done?

How easy is it to read and understand the dissertation?