edinburgh university dissertation archive

School of Social and Political Science

Msc dissertation library.

The online Dissertation Library includes content from all postgraduate degrees in the School, including all taught and research MScs and the Masters of Social Work (MSW).

As an SPS masters student in the School of Social and Political Science, you are given exclusive access to the Library.

Please note that dissertations from any given academic year may not be uploaded before March/April of the following year.

• First Class dissertations
• Placement-based dissertation reports
• analytical reports
• other variants on the academic dissertation
• The Online Dissertation Library is available to all MSc students currently registered to study at the School of Social and Political Science.
• Copyright of a dissertation is retained by the author and The University of Edinburgh. Ideas contained in a dissertation remain the intellectual property of the author and their supervisors, except stated otherwise.
• Students will be aware of the School guidance on plagiarism . All dissertations have been submitted through the Turnitin plagiarism detection software. Students making use of these dissertations in their own work must reference them as with any other source material. Should plagiarism occur - either intentionally or inadvertently - the usual penalties will be applied.
• Users may download dissertations for their own use only. Downloaded dissertations must not be passed on to anyone else.
• The online Dissertation Library is provided as a service to current Masters students to support them by providing examples of good previous dissertations. Any student found misusing the system will lose access to it and further penalties may be applied.
• Dissertations are anonymous and no information pertaining to final marks, etc, will be provided.

Public Availability of Dissertations' form  (Document download, 109KB)

• Schools & departments

Dissertations and research projects

General advice and resources to support you throughout your research-based dissertation or project.

This is a general resource to help you with the basics of organising and writing a research-based dissertation or project.  The Go further section at the end includes advice on work-based dissertations and signposts other resources.

You should consult your course or programme information, including online sources, and project supervisor or programme director for subject-specific guidance.

Dissertations and research projects are an opportunity to focus on particular question, and plan and undertake your own research to explore it further.  Many students really enjoy being an independent researcher and becoming the expert on their work.  The format varies depending on the disciplinary context, subject area, your research questions and the project.  You may be reviewing the literature, analysing a novel, developing and testing a new method or doing a work-based project.  However there are some common factors:

• They are an independent piece of work.  You will be working under supervision to some extent and may be collaborating with others, but ultimately you are submitting a piece of independent thought and writing.
• They tend to have a large word count.  This is to allow you to do sufficient in-depth analysis and discussion of the topic.
• They require a large investment of time, thought and energy throughout the process.  As a significant body of academic work, you need to maintain effort whilst reading, researching, thinking, writing and redrafting it.

Choosing your dissertation or project

Whether you are choosing your dissertation from a selection of topics or you are proposing your own, there are a range of factors to consider.  For example:

• What is the starting point for your work, i.e. previous or related research?
• How feasible is your project / proposal?
• Do you have enough time and resources to complete it?
• Will it be of an appropriate academic level?

A key questions to ask is “How interested am I in this topic?”  You will be working on your dissertation or project for some time, so having a genuine interest in the topic will help to keep you motivated.  If you have any questions specific to your topic or project, you should ask your supervisor, programme director or another member of staff who teaches you.

Planning your dissertation or research project

A research-based dissertation or project is a large piece of work requiring a high level of critical analysis.  To achieve this you will have to allow time, not just for the researching phase, but also for the writing and editing stages.  You will need to give yourself plenty of time to:

• Read around your topic and undertake background research;
• Digest and think about what you are learning and writing;
• Complete experiments, fieldwork, interviews or project placements;
• Analyse data, findings or results, and interpret them;
• Think about and decide on your conclusions.

Taking a project management approach to your dissertation or research project might be a more effective way to successfully complete it.  The Time management page has tips and tools for organising your time.

Time management webpage and tools

The dissertation and project planner can be used to think about the different stages and help give you an overall view of the process.  There are some general points and questions to act as prompts, spaces you can add your own notes in and some useful tips and resources.

Dissertation and project planner (pdf)                     Dissertation and project planner (rtf)

Writing your dissertation

You should not underestimate the time that should be allocated to writing your dissertation.  Writing will involve planning, background research, drafting, redrafting, and proof-reading and editing.

First draft : Your first draft is about getting words on the page.  For example, it may sketch out your first thoughts, arguments and potential structure.  You can review these and use them to check: are you focussed on the right topics and questions?  Is your structure and line of thought sensible?  This is also a good time to set up your format requirements (e.g. page layouts, references).

Redrafts : Redrafting is where you expand and refine your ideas and argument.  You may also find that as you are writing the direction of your argument changes; for example this could be due to your literature research producing new avenues of thought or your experiments turning up unexpected results.  This is a good time to review the focus of your initial question, and whether your arguments or conclusions are still sensible.

Final draft(s) : Your final draft(s) is where you cast a critical eye over your work and assess how effective it is in communicating your argument and conclusions - does it answer the question?  You should also check that your presentation, spelling and grammar are appropriate and polished, all your references are included, and your are following the appropriate format guidance.

It is a good idea to take a break between writing and reviewing your work.  Try to leave at least a day between writing before you pick it up again, the longer the better.  This allows you to look at your work with an analytical eye, looking for ways to improve.  Imagine you are reading your work as someone who is not so familiar with the topic: would a reader be able to follow and understand your argument?  Do your ideas link?  Have you signposted on from one section to the next?  Remember also to look back at your question/title, does your dissertation address it?  Does it follow a logical structure?

To check the flow of your argument or line of reasoning you can test pieces of your text using set criteria.  To help revise and restructure your text you can make a reverse outline.  Both of these techniques are available on our Editing and proofreading page.

Editing and proofreading

Producing a professional document

Information Services provide information and guidance about how to produce a thesis or dissertation using Microsoft Word.

Producing a thesis or dissertation using Microsoft Word (EASE log in required)

Thesis Hub: Producing your thesis or dissertation in Word

Choosing a reference manager

A referencing management tool can help you to collect and organise and your source material to produce a bibliography or reference list.

Referencing and reference management

Data Mindfulness

As part of your research you will produce and use research data in a variety of forms from quantitative and/or qualitative research.  This may be data you generate yourself or obtained from other researchers, data repositories or public records.  You need to make choices about what you use, handle your data correctly and document all of this process.

The University’s Research Data Service helps staff and students be effective with their research data before, during and after their project.   They have created an introductory handbook on Data Mindfulness for taught students writing a dissertation.  This handbook is accompanied by a set of short videos.  Together these cover topics including what data is, how to store it, file organisation and dealing with your data after your hand-in.  There is advice in the handbook on working with sensitive data and issues such as privacy, confidentiality and disclosure.

Data Mindfulness handbook

Data Mindfulness videos

Work-based dissertations

Many courses and programmes, particularly at Postgraduate level, offer the opportunity to carry out a work-based dissertation.  These opportunities vary between Schools and Programmes but will typically involve students tackling a research question identified by an organisation such as a business, a public sector organisation or a charity.  A work based dissertation project can be invaluable for your employability and for career development.

If you are interested in carrying out a work-based dissertation you may need to start planning earlier than you would for a more traditional academic dissertation.  If your Programme offers this opportunity, you will be given this information at the start of Semester 1.  If you would like to source and set up a dissertation project with an external organisation yourself, you will need to speak with your Programme Director or Course Organiser first.

You can draw on resources developed by the Making the Most of Masters project.

Making the Most of Masters

Work-based projects – advice for students

There are a variety of study guides available on dissertation and project writing.  Books aimed at postgraduate students can also be useful for undergraduates.  Our IAD Resource List has a selection available in University libraries.

Study Skills Guides

This article was published on 2024-02-26

Informatics PhD Theses and MSc Dissertations

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​​​Finding theses

  This page is in two sections: 

Find an Edinburgh Napier University thesis

Find a thesis from another institution.

You can find recent PhD, DBA and research-based (not taught) Masters theses online in the Edinburgh Napier Research Repository​ .   The wider and historical range of Edinburgh Napier PhD theses are stored in hardcopy in secure storage at Merchiston Library. 

Find a hardcopy thesis

Hardcopy theses are listed on LibrarySearch . To find a thesis:

1. Enter 'napier university' in the search box 2. On the right hand side, under Tweak my results > Library/Collection >choose Edinburgh Napier Theses.

This will give you a list of hundreds of theses (and some other Edinburgh Napier-related items).

If you want to find a thesis on a particular subject, simply search as above but with subject keywords instead of 'napier university'. Be aware that thesis subjects are very specific , so you may have to keep trying different keywords.

Borrow a hardcopy thesis

Ask at the Merchiston Library Help Desk. Library staff will ask you to fill out a short form, and then bring you the thesis from secure storage.

NOTE: You may only borrow a thesis for three hours at a time (some theses are embargoed and cannot be borrowed). You cannot take it out of the Library or photocopy it.

To search for a UK thesis from another institution (not Edinburgh Napier University):

Try searching EThOS - the British Library Electronic Theses Online Service (see  step-by-step help on myNapier​ )​.    

 ​​ 

If the thesis is not available full-text online from Ethos, there may be a link to the institutional repository. You may be able to request digitisation from EThOS for free.

The British Library was subject to a cyber incident last year and most of their systems have been offline since then. This outage includes British Library document delivery and inter-library loans services. As a result, there may be problems supplying Edinburgh Napier University inter-library loan requests and there will be delays to delivery. Currently we have no further information about the likely duration of these issues.​

Can't find/access the thesis for free?

Contact your Subject Librarian for further help. Send full details of the thesis, including a link to the full details on EThOS, if available.

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Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR) Tracks the location and growth of open-access repositories.

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This guide to Library and information resources for TESOL has been compiled by the Academic Support Librarian for Moray House School of Education & Sport.

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Some Key Databases for TESOL

• Linguistic & Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) Abstracts 2000 journals worldwide with coverage of books, papers. technical reports, dissertations, book reviews from 1973 onwards.
• MLA International Bibliography Citations to critical documents on literature, language, linguistics and folklore from over 4,400 journals and series and over 1000 book publishers. Also covers monographs, reference works and collections, including working papers, conference papers and proceedings.
• TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching Over 750 entries written by leading practitioners and scholars from around the world. The Encyclopedia is arranged thematically and entries are ordered A-Z within each of these themes.
• Education Source This database is a merger of databases from EBSCO and H.W. Wilson. It covers all levels of education - from early childhood to higher education - as well as all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education and testing.
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Moray House Library

Moray House Library holds an extensive collection of books and journals mainly on the subject of Education , with specialities including Language Education and Teaching English as a Second Language .

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Using Google Scholar to find scholarly literature

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Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Like DiscoverEd, Google Scholar can be a good place to start your search but it does not allow for advanced or complex searching as in the databases.

Google Scholar may not provide access to full-text, however, by linking to the Library you can access full-text where there is a University subscription.

• Select  Settings from the top of the Google Scholar Home Page
• Select  Library Links
• Search for University of Edinburgh . Select it from the list and Save your settings

You will now see FindIt@Edinburgh links next to items in your Google Scholar results that you can use to access the full-text.

This short video below demonstrates how to do this.

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Resource Lists & Subject Guides

Resource Lists are online reading lists that can signpost you to key reading materials. Some of your courses may have a Resource List embedded in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) but you can also access them directly. Full details are available on the Resource Lists: Information for Students webpage.

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A full list of subject guides is available on the university website. 

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Edinburgh Research Archive

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Edinburgh College of Art thesis and dissertation collection

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Towards a poetics of revolution: a transnational approach to roberto matta's works from the 1960s and 1970s , 'mr syme's useful little work': the making of werner's nomenclature of colours (1814/1821) in early nineteenth-century edinburgh , cow, caste and contemporary art in india: aesthetic ecologies and social hierarchies in the twenty-first century , sounding the climate crisis: time and the more-than-human in contemporary folk music in scotland and england , indigenous landscapes in caspana: exploring a ch'ixi epistemology , new pulsar generator (nupg): compositional practice, digital sound synthesis model and their temporalities , 'we are such stuff': shakespeare and material culture in eighteenth-century england , wellbeing as a decision making criterion in urban park design: assessing urban parks on their effect on user wellbeing , forgotten images still resisting time: writing the london bomb damage photograph archive 1940 - 1945 , medicine and modernity: fifty years of nhs hospital building in scotland, 1948-1998 , farc musicians' musical identities and political identities through their music: analysis of their narratives, musical practices and songs in the colombian peace post-agreement , drawing-with eye-tracking technology: an exploratory art-based research investigating the adaptation of eye-tracking methodology as a contemporary artistic drawing practice , staging the carnivalesque: seditious strategies in print and performance from simplicissimus to berlin dada, 1896-1920 , differential space in underused town centres: community appropriation of space through creative practices of arts-led urban regeneration , spatial narratives of happiness in everyday environments , humour in fifteenth-century france: a study of visual evidence , diversity on display: a study on gentry-class women and their painting practice in the jiangnan region of high qing china , untangling collaboration: a critical study on the relationship between natural fibres artisans and designers in chile , incorporation of polyphony into russian sacred music , transmuting values in artificial intelligence: investigating the motivations and contextual constraints shaping the ethics of artificial intelligence practitioners .

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In Memoriam: William Noel, the John T. Maltsberger III '55 Associate University Librarian for Special Collections

William (Will) Noel, the John T. Maltsberger III '55 Associate University Librarian for Special Collections at Princeton University Library (PUL), passed away on April 29, following a tragic accident in Edinburgh, Scotland earlier in the month. Will helped shape the field of early book history and brought the subject of medieval manuscripts to hundreds of thousands of people. His immense impact on the world of special collections grew with each day’s energetic work. A visionary leader and scholar, and champion for open access, Will's influence on his colleagues and on Princeton's special and distinctive collections will continue to shape the way scholars and the public interact with Princeton's treasures for generations. 

Will Noel. Photo credit: Brandon Johnson

Born in the UK, Will received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in art history from Cambridge University. His dissertation, “The Making of BL. Harley Mss. 2506 and 603,” examined scriptorium practice and illustrated textual transmission in the Middle Ages. He then spent three years as a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow before he moved to the United States to take up the post of Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum. He held a number of posts at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, including Associate Vice Provost for Strategic Partnerships, Director of their Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts, and Founding Director of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies. 

Will designed and led a major project to retrieve overwritten texts in the Archimedes Palimpsest that led to groundbreaking scientific research across numerous fields in both the humanities and sciences. This project culminated in Will delivering a TED talk in 2012 “Revealing the lost codex of Archimedes,” which has been viewed by over a million people.  Many of the protocols and methods developed during this project continue to advance research in the retrieval of overwritten texts. Will was also recognized as a White House Open Science Champion of Change by the Obama Administration in 2013. He was chair of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) from 2018-2022. His expertise was also recognized when he was invited to give the Sandars Lectures in Bibliography at Cambridge University Library in 2019, which he gave on the topic of “The Medieval Manuscript and Its Digital Image.”

Photo credit: Brandon Johnson

Will joined Princeton in March 2020 and his commitment to the reshaping of Special Collections was transformational. Ever present at library gatherings, public programs, and online events, Will led from within. As the infectiously welcoming host of the biweekly MARBAS (Manuscript, Rare Book and Archive Studies) talks, dazzling co-instructor of the Rare Book School’s course on ‘Fifteenth-Century Books in Print & Manuscript,’ or developing a close relationship with the Friends of PUL and acting as shepherd of the Student Friends of PUL, he offered himself entirely and selflessly, providing others with the necessary tools and voice to make their own impact. With Will, despite all of his administrative responsibilities, no time was a bad time to teach someone more about medieval manuscripts, contemporary archives, or new ways to make digital resources accessible. While his energy, warmth, and generosity will be profoundly missed, we take some comfort in the fact that he instilled the same spirit in many of his colleagues.

Ever a champion for innovative ideas and approaches that leveraged technology to transform access to medieval culture for the academy and beyond, Will partnered with colleagues across the library to advance digital access and approaches to special collections, leading to the digitization of approximately 1,700 codices from the Islamic world as well as numerous other digital projects. In particular, he increased the visibility and accessibility of the library’s collections through its digital library platform (DPUL) and championed the development of sustainable approaches to ensuring that the diversity within our collections continues to be celebrated and shared widely and openly. Will also advocated for new ways to engage digitally with collections, leading the Library’s expansion into multispectral and other advanced imaging techniques.

Will successfully defined and championed major acquisitions that also reflected his strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. These included a Hebrew-Arabic dictionary (11th century), one of only four existing manuscripts of this important text by Ali ben Israel; African American History in Newspapers – a uniquely comprehensive collection of 300+ full issues covering essential historical events from the 17th to the 21st century; a complete run of the National Era (1851-52), featuring the entire serialized text of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin; the Theodotu Collection of Byzantine coins; ‘The Four Kings,’ 17th-century engravings portraying four Native American leaders; and an ink drawing by Jacob Lawrence for Westchester Graduation Ball program, 1951.

Photo credit: Shelley Szwast

As Head of Exhibitions at PUL, Will played a central role in shaping the programming and development of exhibitions for the Milberg Gallery. Utilizing his subject expertise, stewardship, and diplomatic approach he shaped and led the production of highly successful exhibitions including “Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory,” “In the Company of Good Books: Shakespeare to Morrison,” and “Records of Resistance: Documenting Global Activism 1933 to 2021.” Furthering his dedication to democratize access to information, these exhibitions were designed to not only display treasures but to serve as opportunities to teach with collections, which he did with great enthusiasm, and promote access to a wider audience.

Will made such an incredible impact on those of us who were fortunate enough to work with him. Even with his many talents and accomplishments, Will carried himself lightly and was quick to laugh and see the humor in situations. He was a joyous and caring person whose boundless curiosity and kindness made all of us better people for having had him in our lives. The impact of his vision, energy, and leadership for Special Collections at Princeton and beyond will be felt for years to come. 

Will was very proud of his family, and we offer our heartfelt condolences to Lynn Ransom and Henry Noel, his wife and son, and to his brother Robert Noel, his sister Emma Kennerley, and other members of his extended family. 

Written by: Anne Jarvis, Dean of Libraries and Robert H. Taylor 1930 University Librarian Jon Stroop, Deputy Dean of Libraries Wind Cowles, Associate Dean for Data, Research, and Teaching Eric White, Scheide Librarian and Assistant University Librarian for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Published May 8, 2024.

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Dissertation

Under the broad expertise of our teaching staff you will have the freedom to define your own dissertation project, allowing you to specialise in your preferred area of study.

The taught courses are worth a total of 120 credit points. Provided you achieve the required standard, you may then proceed to a period of individual research  under the supervision of an academic member of staff in the School , resulting in a final dissertation worth a further 60 credits.

The 12,000-15,000 word, independent primary source-based research project, is supervised by one or more members of the academic staff. One-to-one supervision will be available to you while you are completing your dissertation via email, telephone calls or audio and video calls.

Previous dissertation topics

• In the Shadow of Barra  
• British Nurses of the First World War: the Impact of the Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 and Memory  
• The Irish of Pittsburgh's Strip  
• The Scottish Paradox - Exlporing Potential Explanations for Migration in Late Nineteenth Century to the United States  
• Beyond Abolition: William Lloyd Garrison and the Struggle for Progressive Reform, 1865-1879  
• 'Just Permitted to Live': Race and the Conception of Servitude and Freedom in the Atlantic World, 1600-1700  
• Gender and the Changing Social and Moral Parameters of Punishment for Property Crimes During late 17th and Early 18th Century London