Effective Communication in Management and Business: Seminar 13

John Morgan

Language and Learning Centre, University of Wales, Aberystwyth

Topic/theme: Identifying themes for dissertations or extended research reports.

Language/topic focus: Establishing an early strategy and subject focus on issues in writing for dissertations or extended reports.

1.  Dissertation vs. Research reports

Which pathway do you intend to choose for writing your final MBA/MSc research?

·  Dissertations are usually recommended for those following an academic or research based career.

·  Reports are usually recommended for those following a corporate, industry, or independent business career.

A dissertation is perceived to be more difficult than writing two reports and it will be subject to stricter approval within the department. If you can establish a particular focus however, the dissertation means studying one subject instead of two and this allows you to specialise more in a specific area. This can also have significant benefits for you, especially if you have an original idea or want to do an extended study on a specific setting, e.g. in relation to a management or business situation that you already know and would like to develop further.

Can you think of any specialist areas that you would like to research, with the aim of becoming a specialist in that field?

2.  Choosing

In choosing a pathway there are some immediate things to bear in mind:

a)  If you choose the dissertation you will need to write a proposal and that is something we can work on in this programme. Beyond that you have reasonable freedom of choice in the subject you choose, but it would need to be in a subject area in which a given member of staff has expertise.

b)  If you choose the reports you will be registered for the Managerial Reports module:

http://www.aber.ac.uk/modules/current/MBM9260.html

The module will include workshops and a source of advice from a specialist in this area, but it will not give you the direct supervision that you would have in the dissertation.

3.  Reports

Look at the module information in detail and think about the following questions to build a profile of your interests.

·  How many reports do you have to write?

·  How many words?

·  When is the deadline for completion?

·  What are the themes of the reports?

·  What specific issues do you need to work with?

·  Which aspects of your own experience and interests can you include?

·  What difficulties do you anticipate in working with these reports?

·  Gather as many ideas as you can on the themes of the reports for further discussion.

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