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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

lse dissertation structure

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 

lse dissertation structure

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.

lse dissertation structure

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

lse dissertation structure

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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    Research Design and Dissertation in International Development. The DV410 dissertation is a major component of the MSc programme and an important part of the learning and development process involved in postgraduate education. The objective of DV410 is to provide students with an overview of the resources available to them to research and write a 10,000 dissertation that is topical, original ...

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  3. PDF MC499.1 DISSERTATION Guidelines 2021/22

    generally assumes this. However, dissertations with a theoretical focus are also possible; here general guidelines are less useful, and students are strongly advised to discuss the structure of their dissertation and their time schedule with their supervisor. 3.1 Length Dissertations can be anywhere between 10,000 and 12,000 words long. The ...

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    Look for all our resources under the Create a great dissertation heading. Some highlights include: Planning your dissertation research. An introduction to some key project management techniques, including anticipating problems, to help you plan your dissertation research, work out your schedule and keep your research on track.

  5. PDF Guide to Writing MSc Dissertations

    The dissertation project is an important part of postgraduate education. Most students are surprised how much they learn in the process, both in understanding and organising the material and in writing the dissertation. This is a guide on how to write an MSc dissertation. It is written for Master's students

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    For most courses at LSE, a dissertation is an essential component of the degree programme both in undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dissertation writing gives students the opportunity to research their areas of interest and come up with innovative contributions and fresh perspectives to issues. However, specific requirements might differ ...

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    LSE's classes even align well with professors' expectations for style and structure, which can make a big difference. Deep-dive period (late May to August) LSE Life resources - It's good to be familiar with LSE Life resources in the preparation period as it offers various self-learning resources on dissertation writing. But its 1:1 ...

  8. Get off to a good start

    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? ... LSE is a private company limited by guarantee, registration number 70527. +44 (0)20 7405 7686. Campus map. Contact us. Cookies. Modern Slavery ...

  9. PDF Your UG dissertation with LSE LIFE

    Structure your dissertation There is no one correct way to put together the written presentation of your research. There are, however, conventions and principles that can help you present your work clearly to your reader. Here are some basics about the various sections you might have in your dissertation and what goes in them. Let's get personal!

  10. Writing a Dissertation at LSE: Advice From a Master's Student

    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 ...