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Get off to a good start

Get the basics right: what's required.

There are different ways to approach social science research, different ways to do a dissertation, and specific requirements differ across departments. Be sure you have all the basic information about what is required and when it is required in your department.

You can find this information from your dissertation supervisor, course convenor for dissertations, academic mentor, or other staff in your department. You can also check Moodle or your departmental handbook.

• What is the word limit? Is there a penalty for exceeding the limit? Are footnotes included in this count? Are appendices allowed?
• When is the last day you can submit your dissertation?
• Are formal research proposal(s) required? If so, when?
• Is there a preferred style of referencing (eg, APA, Harvard, MLA)? Are there specific formatting requirements?
• How many hard copies are required? Is an electronic version required?
• Is collecting your own data required? Optional? Or is primary research discouraged?
• When are departmental workshops or information sessions taking place?
• When is the latest you can meet with your dissertation supervisor?

Inspiration from those who've been there.

An excellent source of ideas and guidance on ways to approach your dissertation is past dissertations from your department. Explore past dissertations and ask yourself

• What kind of research topics and questions do past students explore? 
• How is theory used to shape and inform research questions? 
• What kinds of methods are used to collect and analyse data? 
• What are the various ways to structure the dissertations you have reviewed?
• What are the main similarities you notice across past dissertations?  Differences?
• Which dissertation(s) do you prefer?  Why?

Events and resources

Write your research proposal

Diversify your thinking to get research ideas

How to get started on your dissertation

SAGE Research Online Project Planner (log in using your LSE account) 

What kind of research story do you want to tell?

Are you considering using primary or secondary data?  How will you get and use your data?

How can you make sure your drafts, files, and data remain safe and useable throughout your entire research project? Are there ethical considerations?

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Sofia Gerace

February 15th, 2022, writing a dissertation at lse: advice from a master’s student.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

As part of your degree at LSE, you’re probably going to write a dissertation. Each department has different requirements and topics vary between the different disciplines taught at LSE. Anyway, after talking with some academics and some of my classmates, I thought that sharing some advice would help different students across different departments!

How to Find a Research Question

If you have no idea where to start doing your research, do not worry. You are not alone. I was feeling the same when started preparing my dissertation and I was afraid to be the only one struggling with coming up with a research question. But I can assure you that many other students do feel the same. Even my academic mentor told me so: “it is difficult for everyone at the beginning, but then, once you start, things will become easier”. The first thing to do is thinking of a topic that might be interesting to you. What do you enjoy reading about? What are the papers you find fascinating? What is an area that you would not get tired of reading about it? This is the key to start. The dissertation is a long project and you’d better work on a topic that you actually enjoy!

Reaching out to Academic Mentor and Other Professors 

If you have some ideas but you are not sure about it, do reach out to your academic mentor and other academics. Professors at LSE are used to deal with research questions and will be able to tell you whether your research idea works or if you need to improve it. Also, at LSE you will probably find professors who are experts in the field that you find interesting! Last week, I was reading about research conducted in a field I am interested in and discovered that the professor teaches at LSE. Long story short: I booked an office hour with him and he was happy to share his advice with me and help me with my research question.

Finally, do not forget to have a look at the events and teaching sessions organised by LSE LIFE ! They have many different services to help you with your academic studies and they are there to help you with the dissertation as well. They organise specific events about coming up with research questions and writing a dissertation’s proposal which you could find helpful!

About the author

I'm Sofia, an italian student at the LSE. Apart from being passionate about my MSc in Political Economy of Europe, I enjoy learning foreign languages, visiting new countries, and writing stories about my life as international student.

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