Data set relevant to topic either on UK or USA.

Dissertations are expected to use econometric or statistical techniques. State research results clearly and concisely, so that you communicate your findings in a reasonably short space, leaving out irrelevant material.

As a general guide, dissertations very often contain 6 main sections.

Abstract

This is the whole paper condensed to a paragraph. (It could be longer, but one paragraph is usually most appropriate.) It is important to include three things; the main problem addressed, an outline of the solution offered, and any conclusions reached. Do not hold back on any of these – you are writing an academic paper, not a thriller, so giving the game away before the conclusion does not matter!

1. Introduction & motivation (10%)

‘The context’. Why do this study? Why now? The aims of the study. The introduction is very important and is possibly best compiled by answering a series of questions as follows.

• What is the central question? Why is it important?

• Is there a problem? What is it? Why does it need to be solved?

• What is your hypothesis?

• Who will benefit from your investigation? In what sense will they benefit?

• Are there policy implications?

• In what sense will my contribution add to what is already known?

• How in general terms are you going to solve the problem, e.g., what data and what econometric estimation?

• What are the constraints, challenges or limitations of the study?

• A good way to end the introduction is to state the dissertation objectives.

2. Literature review (20%)

This is a review of what is already known and of the main themes or issues. It covers past research from relevant journals articles and books. It is a summary of what other people have written and published around the theme of your research. It is very important that you acknowledge the authorship of other people’s work.

The literature section can, and should be drafted very early. As you find the literature, read it, and write about it. Think of the literature review as a patchwork quilt– made up of paragraphs you have written about individual texts. Highlight the findings that are relevant to your theses. Be selective and focused in your literature review – don’t let it get too long or stray off your main question. Be critical of the literature – don’t just report it.

3. Economic theory and econometric model (20%)

What does economic theory tell us about your central question – what is the model framework? What is the corresponding econometric model and what are the central empirical modelling problems?

4. Data (10%) Where did you get your data from? What are its features and limitations? You should provide summary descriptive statistics. This is a presentation of the data – not a discussion in this section. It may involve the creation of tables, charts, histograms, etc., each of which should have an appropriate title or heading.

5. Analysis, presentation, interpretation of results (30%)

This is the main body of the dissertation. It is where you explore the question that you have posed and give a chain of reasoning that will justify the conclusions that you present. It should not be written as one block of text, but should be broken up into relevant sections. You may wish to draw attention to these sub-sections by giving them individual headings, but more often, this becomes cumbersome and they are better left simply as paragraphs. Footnotes should be used sparingly, if at all. Generally, all points should be made in the text of the discussion – and if they cannot, then you must ask if they need to be made at all.

This section should cover:

• Interpretation of findings. What patterns have emerged?

• The difference between your findings and those of other people. The difference between the views of various other authors.

• How do the main points you are making change the way you think about the topic?

6. Conclusion/ Summary / Policy implications (10%)

(a) Summary of main findings as a series of statements. (b) Conclusions and directions for further research. (c) Recommendations.

References/Bibliography

It is vital that you give full references to the literature that you have consulted. This is appropriate in an academic paper and you risk accusations of plagiarism if you do not! Use the Harvard System or other form of referencing. To indicate a reference in the body of the text, the name of the author, page and date should be given, say (Smith, W; 1984 pp. 321). Explicit reference should be given for both quoted text, which must be distinguished by quotation marks, and any paraphrased text. You may choose to further distinguish quotations by indentation, change of type face, etc. Where you have abbreviated quoted text, the cuts should be indicated by three dots (…), called ellipsis. Any source referred to must appear in the bibliography section, giving; the name/s of the author/s, the title, the date of publication, in the case of a journal paper – the name of the journal, in the case of a book – the publisher.

Appendices Acknowledgements

If you received help from anyone in the preparation of the dissertation, then it should be acknowledged here. If you have not received any help, then you have not approached the task effectively! Almost certainly library staff will have helped you search indexes, teaching staff may have discussed points with you, contacts in industry may have sent you documents or given you interviews. The easiest way to build a dissertation is inside-out. Begin by writing the sections that describe your research (2, 3, and 4 in the above outline). Collect terms as they arise and keep a definition for each. Define each technical term precisely and formally. Work on your econometric analysis and organise your results into section 5. After reading the middle sections and possibly rerunning your econometric model, write the conclusions. Write the introduction next. Finally, complete an abstract.

Definitions and Terminology:

Each technical term used in a dissertation must be defined either by a reference to a previously published definition (for standard terms with their usual meaning) or by a precise, unambiguous definition that appears before the term is used (for a new term or a standard term used in an unusual way). Each term should be used in one and only one way throughout the dissertation. The easiest way to avoid a long series of definitions is to include a statement: “the terminology used throughout this document follows that given in [CITATION]”. Then, only define exceptions. The introductory section can give the intuition (i.e., informal definitions) of terms provided they are defined more precisely later.

Marking of Your Final Dissertation.

Here is what we reward:

• A well motivated economic question

• A brief and critical review:

• for a narrow question the existing literature will be small

• critically evaluate what others have done.

• A succinct statement of what you are offering that others have not.

• Some analysis.

• Clarity:

• work that is candid and easy to follow.

• It is really important that you show that you understand your data.

• You must explain what might be wrong with the estimation method used

• You do not have to use sophisticated techniques.

Here is what we penalize:

• Vague rambling descriptions of the previous literature.

• Work that is not explained

• Data that is not defined or adequately described (we REALLY hate this one)

• Econometric tests that are not applicable

• Econometric work that is clearly crazy (another pet hate).

• Dropping important variables that are not significant.

• Causal inferences based simply on correlations

• Unwarranted conclusions

• Incomplete bibliography

• No page numbers.

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