Department of Linguistics
Master of Applied Linguistics - Dissertation
Thinking of doing a Master of Applied Linguistics dissertation?
The dissertation is worth 8 credit points, or the equivalent of two postgraduate coursework units. However, the amount of work involved is more than that in two coursework units.
The dissertation comprises LING934 Dissertation Part A (4 credit points) and LING935 Dissertation Part B (4 credit points). You must do both these units. When your dissertation is examined and a grade awarded, the grade will be recorded against both LING934 and LING935.
In general, we do not recommend you attempt LING934 and LING935 concurrently (i.e. within one semester), and advise you take them in consecutive semesters. However, due to DIMIA regulations, International students studying on campus are required to undertake a full-time study load and will therefore need to enrol in both these units concurrently.1. Prerequisites
If you are enrolled in the 40cp Master of Applied Linguistics (all strands) you must have completed at least 16 credit points (the equivalent 4 units) from LING900-LING969 and have attained a minimum GPA of 3.0.You will also need to obtain prior approval from the co-ordinator of the Master of Applied Linguistics program, Dr Jan Tent (C5A 528) or his nominee.
2. Supervision
You will also need to find a supervisor. This can be any Linguistics academic staff member. Look at http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/research/interests.htm to see the research interests of our academic staff. If you find someone who conducts research in an area that interests you, enquire whether he/she would be interested in supervising you. It is best to have some idea of the area you wish to research and draft a tentative research topic or proposal before you approach a potential supervisor. If you cannot find anyone suitable to supervise your dissertation, you should then draft a research proposal (no more than 2-3 pages) and submit it to Dr Jan Tent, or to the postgraduate officers Lindy Cooper or Pat Lewis (C5A 514). We shall then endeavour to secure a supervisor for you.3. Ethics approval
Most research topics involve human participants in some way or other. Before you can commence collecting data, you are required by the University regulations to obtain an ethics approval. The application form is available from http://www.research.mq.edu.au/researchers/ethics/human_ethics/forms.The application process may take up to two months or more. This process has the following steps:
1. Develop your methodology and instrument(s).
2. Fill in the ethics application form outlining your research methodology and providing full details of your instrument(s).
3. Have your supervisor check the application and have him/her sign it.
4. Ensure Dr Peter Roger (our Department’s Ethics Officer and representative on the University Ethics Committee) receives your application by the ethics representative closing date. If you submit your application late to Dr Roger you run the risk of your application not being submitted to the University Ethics Committee in time.
5. Dr Roger will submit your application, after he has reviewed and signed it, to the University Ethics Committee.
6. You should receive a response from the Ethics Committee about two weeks after it has met.
4. The dissertation
First of all, obtain and read a copy of the Dissertation Writing Guide. It is available for downloading from http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/docs/Guide_dissertation.pdf. This guide will outline everything you need to know about writing your dissertation.4.1 Length
The dissertation’s length should be between 10,000 and 15,000 words (approx. 70 pages of double spaced text, excluding any appendices).
4.2 Aims
Among other things, the main aims of the dissertation are to show that you are capable of:
- critically reviewing the relevant literature
- formulating a do-able, narrow and focussed research topic
- developing a viable and reliable methodology
- collecting the required data; analysing the data
- drawing valid and logical conclusions
4.3 Examination
Your dissertation will generally be examined by two Macquarie University Linguistics academic staff members. On most occasions, one of these examiners will be your own supervisor. On rare occasions, when we cannot find another internal examiner we employ the services of a suitably qualified academic from another institution.