For undergraduate and masters students, choosing a dissertation/thesis topic can be a daunting task. I’ve previously written a couple of times on what sorts of things to avoid, such as how FOTM topics can lead to a focus on novelty over rigor, or how the emphasis on a particular relatively broad topic can hinder the…
Category: Academia
Dissertations and the Perils of FOTM Topics
When choosing a dissertation or thesis topic, it can be tempting to choose a topic that everyone’s talking about precisely because of its popularity. This approach to a research project that will last several months (or years in the case of a PhD) can lead to a great deal of difficulty, some of which may…
Classes
I’ve started fielding a few questions relating to module selection and content for the coming year, as the UCL module catalogue entries appear to answer as many questions as they raise. I’ll try to provide some additional description here; refer to the module catalogue for definitive information.(1) All questions relating to the enrolment process should…
Journals for international political economy, 2020 edition
IPE Journals, 2020 (.csv) This is a bit late this year, with both extended thesis supervision duties and the switch to preparing for online teaching delivery this coming year the main culprits. As with previous versions, the core data here are pulled from Scimago. What’s changed? I’ve dropped Clarivate/Thomson-Reuters/JCR/whatever-they’re-called-now impact factors, as their closed nature…
Quoting versus paraphrasing
When dealing with sources in the body text of a paper, writers frequently face the choice between paraphrasing or quoting the source. In student writing, mistakes in either can lead to reduced marks or plagiarism procedures. Having seen far too many problems with this recently, I provide a brief overview of both here. This is…
Writing for university
This is targeted to university students, primarily at students in the BA/BSc and MA/MSc/MPA classes that I most frequently instruct, although the points are relevant beyond those levels and my specific classes. Most of the poor written-assessment outcomes I see appear to stem more from carelessness than a lack of intellect. The prompt and assessment…