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Only available for single hons Geog students. An independent piece of research carried out by undergraduates on a topic chosen by students and approved by the department.

The aim of this course is to allow students to undertake some original research in any aspect of geography, selecting the most appropriate approaches to achieve the goals of their project. Most courses teach you how to analyse a problem, with the emphasis on critical thought. The dissertation offers you an opportunity to learn how to construct a piece of research from scratch, synthesising reading and observations into a coherent exploration of a specific issue. In researching your chosen topic, you must learn to choose between the less-than-ideal alternatives that researchers always meet in practice. The course aims to foster an ability to work independently and see a complex project through from start to finish. Emphasis is put on the independence of your dissertation work, which means that you are expected to develop the project idea independently and that you are chiefly responsible for the gathering of appropriate data and its analysis.

The model for the dissertation is an academic research paper. Your dissertation should include a review of the literature and justification of the topic and approach in intellectual and practical terms. Dissertations should report findings from original fieldwork, laboratory or documentary research or analysis of primary source material.

Students will gain a wide range of transferable skills, namely:

• Critical thinking: ability to assess data and ideas
• Communication: academic writing and conveying written ideas to non-experts, and verbal.
• Practical and logistical skills
• Time management: organisation and planning of work
• Problem-solving
• Adaptability: ability to work under pressure
• Interaction with others
• Qualitative and/or quantitative research skills
• Field work and laboratory skills (in many cases)