Chapter 26: Dissertation Task 1

Finally, I have time to update my blog again after finishing two exams. My first exam was on 16th May 2011 for the Systems Project Management module. This 3 hours exam was quiet tricky but I believe I had given my best shot for it. Meanwhile, my second exam was on 19th May 2011 for the Data Management and Business Intelligence module. It seemed like this 2 hours exam was easier than my expectation, but I don’t want to be too optimistic about the result. In this post, I would like to write a brief overview of the initial dissertation process for my course.

The initial phase of the dissertation was started in early March with a briefing session. Students were given two weeks time to discuss with lecturers that might become their potential supervisor later. During these two weeks, some supervisors also offered some of their projects that can be applied by students, who were interested in those projects. After these two weeks, students who have not reached confirmation with their supervisor will be randomly assigned to a supervisor and then they can discuss their topic with their supervisor afterwards. The dissertation task 1 (which is the dissertation proposal) have to be submitted on 27th May 2011. During the 2 months period from the end of March until the end of May, students were also offered some industrial dissertation opportunity, in which they could apply by submitting their CV and cover letter if they feel interested with the projects. Nevertheless, only students with a good grade profile from the first term modules are eligible to apply for these industrial dissertation projects.

I had prepared for my dissertation since the end of January. At first, I considered to carry on with the project, in which proposal I submitted for the Professional Research and Development module in the first term. However, I do not have enough confidence with it, and decided to start with a new topic. I met with one of the lecturers to discuss about the possibility of doing this new topic and received good responses at first. But, just before the deadline of supervisor allocation, I still had not received the invitation from my potential supervisor. I felt worry about it and decided to approach another supervisor, who offered some of his projects, in which one of them I interested in. We reached agreement via email and I received the invitation afterwards. Then, I decided to write the proposal in early April, after I finished all my assignments for the second term. I informed my supervisor about this situation via email, but he never replied back, which then made me feel worry again because we still have not met to talk about it and I still have not had a real ‘picture’ of what this project is all about. However, I ignored the situation and decided to write the proposal, so that I would have something prepared already before I meet and discuss with him later. I finished it in middle April and then focused in preparing my exam.

During this period, there were some industrial dissertation projects offered by two companies. The first company offered three projects, in which the deadline for the application was in early April. I did not apply for these projects because I was not really interested with the project and also because the company is located in Northampton, which is quite far from campus. The project itself required students to work on-site for four days per week. The second company offered around 8 to 10 projects, in which the deadline was in middle May. I interested with one of the project and decided to apply for it. I got an invitation for an interview on 24th May. I believe that we had reached agreement about this project and I will submit the proposal to the project coordinator in the company by the end of this week. Although this company is located in Watford (which is also quite far from campus), in which I travelled for two hours by bus when I attended the interview, fortunately they do not require me to work on-site. At the moment, I just want to clarify my supervisor whether it is comfortable or not for him to supervise me because I prefer to do the industrial dissertation project instead of his project.

~ by xhino on 30/05/2011.