I need to choose a dissertation topic next week. There is a huge selection to choose from. On the whole they can be split into two groups – ones which would be easy to get a high mark in with not a lot of effort, or those which would need a lot of work, but would help get higher marks in other parts of the course.

Which would you recommend I go for and why?

go for the one that affords you the most time riding your bike, with the minimum of possible embarassment when describing your degree (and mark) in future years.

What do you want? higher marks in the rest of the course? an easy time? Chance of getting a job after?

I will add that the missus finished the same course 10 years ago, and her dissertation is still used as the “this is what a great dissertation looks like” example.

I am a proud and competitive man, anything other than a 1st will not be good at all.

I’d go for whichever one it was possible to be a bit contentious on. Adds a bit more interest to the study if you’re not following the well worn path, and liable to me more interesting from your supervisor’s point of view.
That’s assuming that whoever marks isn’t just looking for default responses though.

I will add that the missus finished the same course 10 years ago, and her dissertation is still used as the “this is what a great dissertation looks like” example.

There is no win here go home now

Can I suggest a third group – one that you are genuinely interested in, will enjoy working on and which may be relevant to future career?

When I used to do a lot of grad recruiting – the dissertation subject was always something I focused on. It’s a very good pointer to candidates’ interests, motivation and real skills. I tended to avoided those who took the easy route of essentially writing up their tutor’s research – often after getting out of their (the tutor’s) bed (oops!) 😉

Agree with the above. I rejected all on the list and came up with my own. Got it cleared with a supervisor and off I went.

Internet Trolling And Keyboard Warriors

It’s all here, ready for use

Internet Trolling And Keyboard Warriors

Tricky to squeeze into a Medieval History degree framework but worth a try, I suppose.

Tricky to squeeze into a Medieval History degree framework but worth a try, I suppose.

Trolls – From Under the Bridge to On The Internet
Warriors – How The Keyboard replaced The Sword

There is no try, Grasshopper there is only Do or Do Not

glupton,

Not sure why you think it will be easy to get a high mark with not a lot of effort. Markers are usually reasonably on top of how hard a piece of work is and so if the body of work is relatively simple might expect a tougher analysis whereas if the work was challenging in itself might be less concerned about delivering an outstanding dissertation report.

My advice would be (assuming it is something like a science subject):

(1) If there is any prospect of a scientific paper including your name then that would be great credibility either for jobs or future research.
(2) Its all about skills. What new skills will you learn. Will you actually learn them or just follow some standard operating procedures. If you want to work in a particular area are there skills you need?
(3) I will take your skills relatively at face value (backed up by references etc); but I need you to show me you understood what you were doing, how your were doing it and why you were doing it.
(4) Will it deliver an outcome? it is much easier to right a coherent dissertation if it delivers a measured discovery (good or bad) than simply being a pile of data with no real conclusion.
(5) Make sure at the end you can explain your work both to someone who cares, and to “your granny”. Have a good answer for, “What did you learn?” and “What would you do differently?”

Poly, there are 76 topics to choose from ranging from, covering each sub-discipline within my subject. I am way better at mental health related stuff than I am at cardiopulmonary stuff. Choosing a MH topic would give me an easier time, but chosing a CP topic would make me get good at CP.

Well that couldnt really have gone any better. Got the topic I wanted and the supervisor I wanted.

Decided to go for a project that looks at the influence of depression on the rehabilitation of people with osteoarthritic knees.

I will add that the missus finished the same course 10 years ago, and her dissertation is still used as the “this is what a great dissertation looks like” example

Thats a shame, No recycling content then…

Mine was “Is T5 a model for the Olympic Delivery Authority?”

The answer was no.

Choose the one which engages you – this is more likely to produce a higher mark.

Decided to go for a project that looks at the influence of depression on the rehabilitation of people with osteoarthritic knees.

That sounds a bit meh, to be totally honest.

Depressed folk might take longer to rehab than others? Or depression might have no influence on rehab?

Sounds to be more about depression and its causes and effects than about physio to me.

Go for a subject where there is a lot of research material easily available and get as high a mark as possible. I chose a subject that interested me, but had a nightmare finding good resources to back myself up.

Crikey – the thing that physios struggle with is getting patients to engage in the treatment and do the exercises, turn up for appointments etc.

The answer will be along the lines of depressed folk with mild/moderate OA take the same amount of time to rehab as those without mental health problems but who have severe OA.

The answer will be along the lines of depressed folk with mild/moderate OA take the same amount of time to rehab as those without mental health problems but who have severe OA.

I’m not being critical, I’m trying to be honest in terms of the contribution to knowledge it will hopefully make. It just seems to be taking ‘depression’ as a single entity and OA as another graduated single entity and attempting to draw conclusions.

We seem to have mild/moderate/severe OA… shouldn’t we also look at mild/moderate/severe depression too? Never mind the impact of treatment for depression and the impact of treatment for OA, and the changes in either disease; whether improvement or progression in disease terms.

..again, sorry, I’m not trying to be an arse, just asking maybe awkward questions..

They are very good points that you raise and they are ones which I hope to find some sort of answer to.

Keep asking awkward questions. They can only help me think of things that I might not otherwise consider.

There’s also the success of rehab after TKR side of it to consider too.

Then there’s the depression leading to elevate reporting of pain, leading to earlier knee replacement, leading to more successful outcome due to getting the op before secondary maladaptations have occurred.

A million ways you could take it.

People get given a list of topics to chose from!?!? 😯

What happened to finding a gap in the literature and trying to fill it?

CaptJon – in line with the dumbing down of all education – the lecturers now find the gaps in their literature and try and get us to fill them.

Titles for UG dissertations pretty common Capt Jon.

My advice is to go with a topic your supervisor is interested in. Remember all academics are egotistical maniacs so stroke thier egos and they purr like a cat on a radiator.
If you’re undergrad then stroke like there’s no tommorrow. If you’re postgrad grow some balls and come up with your own subject.
Sneaky edit for rubbish spelling…..

writing up their tutor’s research – often after getting out of their (the tutor’s) bed (oops!)

[quote]Got the topic I wanted and the supervisor I wanted[/quote]

Let’s see if you can impress yours as much as the Mrs did hers back in the day 😉

My neighbour claims to be an expert in medieval drains after a degree in History gained in Manchester. He’s doing OK so I suggest drains…..

Disclaimer – I may be totally wrong about the beneficial properties of a dissertation on drains to your degree 😯

My supervisor is a bloke and my wife’s supervisor was a woman. Neither or us are bi.

There is also the idea, poorly expressed I’m afraid, that OA of sufficient severity to require intervention that needs rehab, is the cause of depression.

Does the intervention and rehab reduce the severity of the depression, or does the depression caused by the OA continue to exist despite the return of function?

Oooh.

It doesn’t sound meh anymore, it sounds Hmmmmm?

One of the cliches associated with Intensive Care is that every relative we speak to always says ‘Oh, he/she is a fighter…’ To the extent that we have joked about having a box on our admission sheet saying Fighter Positive: Y/N.

I wonder if looking at depression associated with an O/A diagnosis and the extent to which treatment and rehab influences that depression score might be a goer?

I’m thinking that depression is such a complex issue, that looking at it in tandem with O/A, which is complex as well… might not give much in the way of clear cut results.

magowen100 – Member
Titles for UG dissertations pretty common Capt Jon.

Not in my department…

My advice is to go with a topic your supervisor is interested in. Remember all academics are egotistical maniacs so stroke thier egos and they purr like a cat on a radiator.

…where i work as an academic…!

The best dissertations our students produce are based on a gap, focus on an interesting, often unusual topic, and is something the students are genuinely interested in. Ten to twelves months is long time to wok on something you’re not interested in.

…still rambling…

I think you need to attempt to isolate one or other of the problems.

So people with diagnosed but stable O/A and variable or progressive depression, and/or people with diagnosed but stable depression and variable or progressive O/A.

Or the impact of a diagnosis of O/A on depression scoring and the impact of rehab on that score.

Or a retrospective study of the change in subjective depression rating post rehab.

I’ll let you have a read of it when i’m finished the thing.

I’d be interested.

The psychological side of recovery is gradually creeping into focus, and I can see some changes on the far distant horizon..

I was going to take the piss, and then you wrote

Crikey – the thing that physios struggle with is getting patients to engage in the treatment and do the exercises, turn up for appointments etc.

The answer will be along the lines of depressed folk with mild/moderate OA take the same amount of time to rehab as those without mental health problems but who have severe OA.

and realised that if you substitute OA for chronic back pain, that’s me. So you might be on to something. Good luck.

An egotistical maniac on STW…. NEVER!!!!! 😀
You’re obviously lucky Capt Jon from what I can tell a lot of Uni’s are running with giving out the topics for UG dissertations.
I totally agree though the best dissertations are those that find a gap etc etc etc etc but that always runs the risk of having little or no support from surrounding academics as it’s not of interest to them. It’s a simple equation; get support = enjoyable experience = good mark.
No support = struggle = poor mark; there is only so much give in the system for a student who comes up with a great leftfield idea but can’t execute it well.

That sounds like a poor state of affairs. Ours have a module in the second semester of the second year where they pick and develop their proposal. The good ones meet with staff regularly to help mould the focus, and only the idiots pick topics staff can’t properly supervise – but we operate an open door policy, unlike other, ‘better’ universities which provide students with a whole three hours a week they can see staff.

Part of this one is to write a research proposal, the best of which will be offered funded PhD places.

I found that there were projects designed for a 2:1 a 1st and also a very high mark. In my bachelor year I took a 2:1 project and got exactly that with minimal effort. For my masters year I took the very high mark option and got 90%. Took a **** shit load of work and stress, but it paid off as I left uni with a first overall. So it really depends on what you want to get…..