Undergraduate Advanced Diploma in International Development

2016-2018 Course code: 1618GCR69

COURSE SPECIFICATION

University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, Madingley Hall, Cambridge, CB23 8AQ Tel 01223 746222 www.ice.cam.ac.uk

Contents Teaching staff .................................................................................................................... 4 Administrative staff ............................................................................................................ 4 Venue ................................................................................................................................ 4 Contact details of ICE ........................................................................................................ 5 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 6 i)

This course specification and how to use it ............................................................. 6

i)

Networks and support ............................................................................................. 6

1. Aims of the course ........................................................................................................ 6 2. The overall structure of the course ................................................................................ 7 Course schedule ............................................................................................................ 7 Induction Day ................................................................................................................. 7 Supervisions .................................................................................................................. 7 Assignments and the dissertation .................................................................................. 7 Summative assignments ................................................................................................ 8 Dissertation .................................................................................................................... 8 Student Ethics Research Form ...................................................................................... 8 3. You and your supervisor ................................................................................................ 8 4. Time management......................................................................................................... 9 5. Subject Sources ............................................................................................................ 9 Reference works: ......................................................................................................... 10 Synthesis and review papers: ...................................................................................... 10 Academic monographs and articles: ............................................................................ 10 Methodology guides: .................................................................................................... 10 6. Course details ............................................................................................................. 11 Word count for Part A summative assignments ............................................................ 13 Guidance on Plagiarism ............................................................................................... 13 7. Check-list before Submission (and order) .................................................................... 17 8. Writing your assignments and dissertation................................................................... 18 Writing ......................................................................................................................... 18 Presentation................................................................................................................. 18 References and bibliography........................................................................................ 19 9. Marking of assignments and examination of the final dissertation ............................... 20 Marking Scheme .......................................................................................................... 20 Learning Outcomes: Summative assignment(s) ........................................................... 20 Learning outcomes: Dissertation .................................................................................. 21 10. If you want advice or encounter difficulties................................................................. 21

11. Complaints and appeals ............................................................................................ 21 12. What Next?................................................................................................................ 21

Welcome to the Undergraduate Advanced Diploma in International Development a University of Cambridge award offered by the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE). The Advanced Diploma is taught and awarded at FHEQ level 6 (i.e. third-year undergraduate level), attracts 120 credits and is completed over two academic years. For further information about academic credit please see our website, http://www.ice.cam.ac.uk/studying-withus/information-for-students/faqs/3-credit-faqs Over the course of two years, the programme will introduce participants to key themes in International Development and the related field of Human Geography. Through direct reading, supervisions and the development of an independent research project, participants will develop their analytical and research skills as well as a range of research approaches and methods appropriate for their chosen topic. The programme will prepare participants for later independent research and communication of findings and allow them to critically view other work and approaches to International Development research and practice more critically.

Teaching staff Course Director Alexandra Winkels is ICE’s Teaching Officer and Academic Director for International Development and Global Change. Alexandra has a BSc in Environmental Sciences (University of Salford) and studied for an MPhil in Environment & Development (Geography, University of Cambridge) before completing her PhD in Migration & Development at the University of East Anglia (Norwich). Alexandra's research focuses on the interactions between population, development and natural resources in developing countries, and particularly in Vietnam. Alexandra has worked as a consultant and advisor for DFID, CDKN and UNDP and teaches MPhil students at the Centre of Development Studies (Cambridge). For more information about Alexandra’s research interests and publications see: http://www.ice.cam.ac.uk/who-we-are/institute-staff/alexandra-winkels Contact Details: Dr Alexandra Winkels, Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge, Madingley Hall, Madingley, Cambridge, CB23 8AQ, [email protected]

Administrative staff Academic Programme Manager: Ms Sarah Blakeney, Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge, Madingley Hall, Madingley, Cambridge, CB23 8AQ, 01223 760865, [email protected] Programme Administrator: Mrs Rachel Revell, Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge, Madingley Hall, Madingley, Cambridge, CB23 8AQ, 01223 746282, [email protected]

Venue Madingley Hall is an historic Tudor mansion on the outskirts of Cambridge with one of the finest gardens in the region. The Hall is situated in the village of Madingley, three miles west of Cambridge with easy access from the M11 and the A14. Full directions are given on our website at www.ice.cam.ac.uk/directions.

Contact details of ICE Institute of Continuing Education University of Cambridge Madingley Hall Madingley Cambridge CB23 8AQ Website: Email:

www.ice.cam.ac.uk [email protected]

Please also refer to the ‘information for students’ section on our website http://www.ice.cam.ac.uk/studying-with-us/information-for-students and the 2016/17 Student Handbook for further information and guidance relating to all aspects of the course including study skills, assignments, assessment and moderation. The Course Information and Help and Guidance section of the ICE VLE will also contain valuable information specific to your course.

Introduction i)

This course specification and how to use it

You are encouraged to read this course specification and follow its advice. Please return to it frequently. This guide and the Student Handbook will help you with practical matters you will encounter in the course. It will help you to make the best use of your time and resources, set out the format to be used for references, the bibliography and presentation of the dissertation, emphasise areas you should be aware of, and encourage you to engage with your research. If you have questions or queries not answered in this guide ask your supervisor or the Course Director. They have expert knowledge about the subject, conventions to be used and sources and resources that are available, and will be able to tell you the best person to contact should any problems occur. i)

Networks and support

Research is exciting and rewarding and you are embarking on an exciting voyage of discovery. At times it might seem stressful; for example, the document you thought would provide essential information did not and your writing is not going as smoothly as you hoped. This is the time to contact your supervisor or the Course Director. They are there to help you and to make sure that you achieve your goals. Their experience and the resources of the University of Cambridge are there for you to use. Discussing issues with your fellow students within the VLE will also be helpful and supportive. This research and writing it up should be an enjoyable experience. Students, supervisors and the Course Director should all be looking forward to the coming years with pleasurable anticipation.

1. Aims of the course The Undergraduate Advanced Diploma in International Development aims to: a) Enable you to design and complete an independent primary research project situated within the existing debates in International Development. b) Encourage the development of appropriate critical skills, especially: evaluating the work of other researchers, identifying and evaluating appropriate primary data and secondary material, and identifying appropriate methods of analysis, interpretations and evaluation. c) Build up skills to write substantial pieces of academic work and present findings in an appropriate manner to target audiences, culminating in the presentation of primary research in the form of a 10,000-12,000 word dissertation. d) Provide an opportunity to develop research skills and a route for progression into a Master’s degree for individuals who would like to study at that level. e) To gain a deeper understanding of a particular topic in International Development.

2. The overall structure of the course Course schedule The course is run once each academic year starting in November. Course Starts Induction Day (compulsory) Supervision 1 (with Course Director) Supervision 2 Supervision 3 Submit summative assignment 1 Supervision 4 Complete Student Research Ethics form Submit summative assignment 2 Supervision 5 Supervision 6 Supervision 7 Submit final draft of dissertation Supervision 8 Dissertation deadline

1 November 2016 5 November 2016

31 January 2017

2 May 2017

20 March 2018 1 May 2018

The table above lists all the course dates that you need to know. Supervision dates are arranged individually between supervisors and students. Please write the agreed dates in to the spaces above for your own records. Induction Day The induction day provides an opportunity to meet your fellow students as well as your Course Director and there will be sessions on undertaking research, including how to access the resources of the University Library, and on preparing your dissertation. There will also be subject-specific sessions and you will be asked to share your proposal with fellow students. Supervisions The course is structured so that during the first part of the course you develop your knowledge and understanding and the appropriate skills to undertake the research that will culminate in your dissertation. Your supervisor will give assistance in this by advice on research methodology, asking questions and engaging in debates pertinent to your field of study as well as making sure that you keep to a manageable timetable. During the course you will receive eight individual supervisions, see section 3 below, ‘You and your supervisor’. Assignments and the dissertation During the course you will undertake a number of pieces of written work. The types of work you need to submit are listed below and the submission date for each piece of work is listed above. All assignments must be submitted by the stated deadline and be within the stated word limits (counting any text in the body of the assignment, inclusive of references/footnotes/endnotes in the main body of the text, but exclusive of any bibliography

or list of resources consulted and of any abstract, list of contents or abbreviations that may be included at the beginning or end of the assignment). Summative assignments The summative (marked) assignments together account for 30% of your final course mark. Should you fail a summative assignment, your supervisor will advise you on the reasons and ways to improve. Draft of dissertation You will be required to submit a draft of your dissertation from 6 to 8 weeks before the submission of your final version of your dissertation (see timetable above). Your supervisor will then read the draft and give you feedback. To make the most of your supervisor’s feedback, please aim to submit at the draft stage a near-complete version of the dissertation and leave yourself sufficient time to implement any improvements to your draft dissertation that are recommended by your supervisor. Final dissertation At the end of the course you will submit a 10,000 – 12,000 word dissertation which is worth 70% of your final course mark. Your final mark will be a composite of your summative assignment and dissertation marks weighted 30% and 70% respectively. It is necessary to achieve a pass mark of 40% or above in each piece of marked work. You will be allowed to resubmit, once only, any failed summative assignment during the first part of the course. Resubmission of a dissertation which is given a fail mark is only possible in exceptional circumstances and is not normally permitted. Student Ethics Research Form During the course, your Course Director will ask you to complete a Student Ethics Research form. The date for submission of this form is listed in the table above.

3. You and your supervisor Supervisors are drawn from relevant faculties of the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Continuing Education’s tutor panel and will have expertise in the field you are studying. You will be notified by the Course Director or the Academic Programme Manager about your supervisor, and they will get in touch with you to arrange your supervisions. You can expect supervisors to be well-qualified and experienced in the study of, and research into, International Development but not necessarily have in-depth knowledge of a student’s particular topic. The relationship between the student, supervisor and Course Director is a very important. It is useful to give details of the “contract” between you in order to avoid misunderstandings: a) The Course Director will arrange a supervision with you at the beginning of Part A. b) Your supervisor is contracted to give seven supervisions (totalling seven hours) with you to discuss your progress. The timings and details of these meetings are to be mutually agreed; c) Summative assignments will be marked by your supervisor who will provide constructive feedback;

d) The supervisor should read through the final draft of your dissertation and make constructive comments on it. The submission of the final draft of your dissertation should be 6 weeks before your final submission date unless agreed otherwise with your supervisor. Your supervisor will make constructive comments within two weeks of receipt. e) The supervisor should be prepared to deal with a limited number of queries by communication through the VLE, or by telephone or letter.

As the student you will be expected to conform to a number of criteria: a) To keep to the agreed timetable for meetings and handing in assignments. Please give your supervisor plenty of time to read and comment upon your assignments before your supervision. If you are unable to keep an appointment, please ensure you give your supervisor at least a days notice. Should a supervision be missed without sufficient notice, it is up to the supervisors discretion to re-schedule the meeting. b) To make the best use of supervision time: firstly by preparing for the meeting in advance and secondly by listening to the advice given to you by your supervisor.

c) You are required to submit any material you want to discuss during supervisions at least five days before the scheduled meeting. d) It is the student’s responsibility to carry out the research, and to both find and source material. The supervisor may be asked to source material in exceptional circumstances.

Your supervisor will be asked to write a number of reports on your progress to the Course Director. These reports will be uploaded in your course VLE space as a record of your progress though the course.

4. Time management It is very useful to make a preliminary plan for your work. Research often takes longer than anticipated but it is a useful discipline to set deadlines for yourself. A useful tool is a research log. This can be constructed to suit your requirements but the following headings have proved useful in the past:      

Date Weekly objective Hours worked and where Summary of main work covered, books read, primary research material collected Problems with research or general comments Plan for following week

One page per week should be sufficient to help you keep track of your work.

5. Subject Sources The purpose of the Advanced Diploma is to undertake a sustained piece of original research largely by independent study, with the support and guidance of your supervisor. The course requires a high degree of self-motivation. The course is at FHEQ level 6, which is the

equivalent of third year undergraduate level. You are expected to examine a particular topic based either on primary data assessed within the broader knowledge context of International Development and related fields. Alternatively, you may choose to use secondary data in a novel way that contributes to building theoretical understanding of this particular subject. The dissertation should not simply be a review of the secondary literature. Depending on your chosen research topic, your research may involve primary and/or secondary sources of information and a combination of both is often used in social sciences. A primary source is any empirical data you collect yourself as part of this project, or data that is available from other sources such as government statistics and international organisations which often make survey data available on request. With the help of your supervisor, you are expected to identify the relevant information required and how to analyse them to answer your research questions. A secondary source is a text that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere. Such sources give you information about how something has been interpreted by others and any theories that have evolved in your chosen topic. Secondary sources are important for locating your research in the existing body of literature and to triangulate and verify any findings that emerge from your empirical research. You may decide to base your dissertation research only on a review and discussion of secondary sources (e.g. a discourse analysis, or developing a meta theory). There are a number of different categories of secondary sources relevant for International Development:

Reference works: these are texts that summarise current understandings of a subject, and key data ‘facts’. They no not generally engage in detailed analysis, or analysis that is controversial within the field. e.g. ‘The Development Reader’ (Chari & Corbridge eds, 2008, Routledge) ‘Poverty and Development: Into the 21st Century’ (Allen & Thomas, eds, 2000, OUP) or Human Development Reports published the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Synthesis and review papers: These are works that present a synthesis of the argument put forward by other scholars, but do not contain original research. These make an excellent starting point for research and point you towards the debates found in other works. ‘Evolving Themes in Rural Development 1950s-2000’ (Ellis & Biggs, 2001, Development Policy Review 19(4): 437-448)

Academic monographs and articles: These are based on original research and will contain ideas and theories. Key journals include World Development, Development & Change, Journal of International Development, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Economic Geography etc.). Your literature search should include journals as often the most up to date research is found here. Most journals are accessible through the University Library using your Raven Password. Google Scholar is also a useful search engine helping you find relevant scholarly work in your broader topic. Methodology guides: There are a range of useful publications that provide insight and guidance into different ways to study and write about social phenomena. ‘Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches’ (Punch, 2005 London, Sage) or ‘Introduction to Qualitative Research Methodology’ (Kielmann, Cataldo & Seeley, 2011, DFID available online). Although you might be the first to research your specific topic, you will not be the first to write on the broader topic area. There will be debates within the secondary literature with which

you will need to be familiar. You will need to review this secondary literature as part of your dissertation, identifying particular viewpoints and issues of dispute between scholars. For example you can be critical of the use and analysis of primary sources and whether the scholar’s interpretation is plausible. You need to place both your study and your final conclusions within this broader context. Your work will be marked on the extent and manner in which you use your sources and evaluate academic debates.

6. Course details There are two parts to the course: Part A: Two summative assignments Part B: Dissertation The Advanced Diploma comprises eight supervisions, two summative assignments and one dissertation over two academic years of study. The two summative assignments are written in part A of your course and together count towards 30% of the final mark. In part B of your course you will undertake a 10,000-12,000 word dissertation, which makes up 70% of your final mark. It is advisable to discuss your research plan and assignments with your supervisor as soon as possible after commencing the course. Application Outline Research Proposal The Outline Research Proposal, submitted as part of your application, should not be more than 1 side of A4. This should outline the dates, place and themes you would like to research. There should be some indication of the primary and secondary sources you intend to use, the research questions you will be asking, and some awareness of other work relating to this topic. Part A Your proposal is likely to be refined after discussion with your supervisor and it may be modified further as a result of your initial studies. Do not worry about this; being able to make adjustments because of lack of sources or time is part of the process of undertaking a sustained piece of research. The content for each supervision described below are a guide for you and your supervisor, in some cases it may be necessary to discuss your research in a different order.  Leads to first supervision Your first supervision will be with the Course Director who has reviewed your proposal and where you will discuss the viability of the project further. Your Course Director will provide some research skills training and guidance about the course.  Leads to second supervision If different from the Course Director, you will now meet your supervisor who will help you refine your proposal and research questions further. Together you will come up with a list of relevant secondary sources on your topic and, whenever possible, your supervisor will suggest useful primary sources and their possible locations.  Leads to third supervision

After your initial search of the literature you are now required to decide on the specific topic in order to write your first summative assignment. In consultation, you and your supervisor should also decide the assignment title (see below). This should be on a subject closely related to your dissertation. Summative Assignment 1: Critical assessment of literature Write a critical review of an article or book related to your dissertation topic. The material and title are to be selected in consultation with your supervisor. The assignment should be no fewer than 3,000 words and not more than 4,000 words in length and is worth 15% of your final mark. This assignment is intended to get you to start thinking critically about the secondary literature and to develop the skills required for the literature review section of your dissertation. This assignment is similar to a book review, where you are required to summarise the main message, and then critically evaluate its merit vis a vis the findings and methods used in other related studies. Closing date for the submission of Summative assignment 1 is 31 January 2017 by 12.00 (noon) UTC/GMT * *Co-ordinated Universal Time/Greenwich Mean Time  Leads to fourth supervision This supervision should focus upon feedback from the supervisor for summative assignment 1. You and your supervisor need to discuss the title for the second summative assignment (see below) and continue to discuss secondary reading for the dissertation topic and progress made on the identification and location of the primary sources (if used). Summative Assignment 2: Understanding different methodologies Provide a review of relevant methods that may be useful for the topic you are investigating by critically evaluating two or more relevant studies. The assignment should be no fewer than 3,000 words and not more than 4,000 words in length and is worth 15% of your final mark. In this assignment you are required to critically review the relevant sources of data, methodologies and analytical tools used by other scholars that may be useful to investigate your broader topic. The purpose of this assignment is to make you aware of the range of methods available and help you be critical with the merit of different approaches while honing your writing skills. For this it is necessary to look at a wide range of tools and to discuss why some are more appropriate than others by drawing on existing studies who use these methods and discuss the benefits and limitations in each case. Whether your research may be desk based study or include fieldwork, your supervisor will provide you with guidance on how and where to plan your research. You need to think through how you are going to undertake any primary research (if applicable) and how you are going to record your evidence as you go along. For example you need to decide on the sample, on the location, the period you are examining etc. (ie. your sampling method). You might want to collect your data in different formats and use different software packages (MS Word, Excel or Access, or other analytical software such as Atlas Ti or NVivo).

Examples of assignment titles: “A review of the benefits and limitations of participatory approaches in researching gender targeted development interventions”. “A comparison of qualitative and quantitative methodologies to study household welfare” “Limitations of comparing data from different sources: the case of climate data and household surveys” Closing date for the submission of Summative assignment 2 is 2 May 2017 by 12.00 (noon) BST* (11.00 UTC). *British Summer Time Word count for Part A summative assignments The word length specified for the assignment(s) is inclusive of references in the main body of the text, of footnotes and endnotes but exclusive of any bibliography or list of resources consulted and any abstract, list of contents or list of abbreviations that may be included at the beginning or end of the assignment. The use of appendices is generally discouraged except where additional data, not available in published form, must be presented, and must be previously agreed with your supervisor. Guidance on Plagiarism You are expected to make sure that your summative assignments and dissertation are supported by appropriate referencing and that there is no danger your work could be suspected of plagiarism. You should familiarise yourself with the guidance and plagiarism policy of the Institute available at www.ice.cam.ac.uk/studying-with-us/information-forstudents/plagiarism-policy Students will be required to complete an Originality Declaration Form, confirming that : • I confirm that I have read and understood the information contained in this document, including the Institute’s plagiarism policy and the University-wide Statement on Plagiarism and Discipline Regulation 6. • I undertake not to commit plagiarism, or collude with others in the committing of plagiarism, in any work submitted for assessment at the Institute of Continuing Education and understand that the penalties may be severe if I am found to have done so. • I confirm that I understand that (a) if I am required to submit work only in electronic format, I have been advised to keep an electronic copy of the work until the final course results are released and (b) if I am required to submit work in both electronic and hard copy, both copies must be identical in content and that any differences will be treated as an attempt to defraud the examination of the course. • I give permission for all assessed work to be submitted to Turnitin UK and understand that it will be added to the Turnitin UK database. For guidance on referencing your sources and setting out a bibliography please see section 8, ‘References and bibliography’.

Part B Dissertation Based on the two summative assignments completed in the first part of your Advanced Diploma programme, you are now in a position to carry out the research using the methods you identified to collate and analyse information from the appropriate range of primary and secondary sources. In order to do this most effectively you need to write an outline of the dissertation based on a review of the literature that identifies any gaps in knowledge and then come up with suitable research questions to be investigated using primary and/ or secondary sources. There are four more supervisions scheduled to help you with your dissertation project.  Leads to fifth supervision You and supervisor will discuss any feedback from Summative assignment 2. You will receive guidance on how to write a comprehensive literature review on your topic, develop more specific research questions and compose preliminary outline of your dissertation Literature review, research questions, outline of chapters This is an important and necessary component of your research project. In order to contribute a ‘new’ piece of research you have to connect it with what has already been written. All scholarly writing includes such a review in the form of a literature review, so this stage helps you develop an essential skill. The literature review has a number of purposes. By doing such a survey the researcher can acquire relevant knowledge about the subject. It is essential to be able to place your research in context. You may for example have chosen to research on the topic of the impact of educational programmes on gender equality in a particular location. There are unlikely to be existing studies and books on this particular location, but you will find a lot of material exists about the educational programmes and their role in development as well as their direct and indirect impact on gender equality as documented for other contexts. Reading these will help you to have a fuller understanding of your own project and help you to indicate where you should place your findings within wider debates in international development. You do not have to read every book on your wider subject and you do not have to include everything you read in your final dissertation. Writing your literature review is an iterative process through which you identify the current issues in your field and identify the gaps in your own knowledge. Finally, it offers the opportunity for the research student to appraise the work of others. You need to approach the literature with a critical eye. Below are some suggested ways to achieve this. a) Record full bibliographical information, including page references as you work. Record your works alphabetically by author. b) Be selective - scan the abstract, introduction and conclusion to decide if they are relevant for your topic. c) If they seem relevant, make notes. You must mark clearly those parts of your notes that are direct quotes or figures or statistics. At first your notes may be quite detailed but they should become shorter as you progress and need to record less background material. d) Ask critical questions as you work: i. What are the author’s main arguments or conclusions? ii. Do these align with particular positions? iii. How logical is the argument being made? iv. How well does the writer support his/her argument with evidence (primary sources)?

v. Does this work contribute anything relevant to your project? Do not simply list the books you have read in your literature review. You need to summarise the main findings and principal arguments in your field of research, but do not merely recount these summaries. Try to synthesise by theme or approach. There will be several (or more) scholars who have particular arguments and approaches identified with them. Their approaches are based on their primary sources or a specific methodology they have adopted. There will be other scholars who disagree with them. You need to get to grips with the various approaches, arguments and empirical findings and be able to summarise these in your literature review. It will be necessary to re-write your literature review in the final draft of your complete dissertation, incorporating any new secondary reading you have undertaken. You will also need to ensure that all of the literature review is still relevant in light of any changes that you may have made in your primary research. Your review of secondary sources should be reevaluated in the light of any new findings. Research Questions It is important to formulate your research aims in terms of research questions. In your initial research proposal you will have already outlined the fundamental questions you are going to investigate. The gaps identified in your literature review will help you to formulate more precise research questions. Research questions are usually in the form of one overarching question (this is reflected in the title of your dissertation) with a number of sub-questions that will guide your enquiry in the field (primary sources) or structure your analysis of secondary sources. 1. Your questions need to be formulated as precisely as possible in order to avoid ambiguity; 2. It is important to identify relevant sources that will help you to answer these questions; 3. It is important to keep one's thinking flexible. You may need to revisit some of your original ideas if you discover they cannot be researched with a reasonable chance of success. Do not worry if during the course of your research other questions arise or you find that the methodology you have chosen is inappropriate and you have to change it. This is all part of the learning process. Outline of chapters This should be an outline structure of your dissertation. You will also need to formulate a title. Outline briefly what the individual chapters are likely to contain. This might require revision as your research progresses. This stage is intended to get you to start writing up what you have researched so far. These chapters are not intended to be final versions, and you will no doubt continue to undertake some further research before you produce the final dissertation. It is normal that in light of your supervisor’s comments, you will need to rewrite these sections. The intent of this assignment is for you to set down what you have found so far and to get you to state how you are planning to interpret your findings. You need to get your supervisor’s feedback at this point, before you produce the final draft of your entire dissertation.

 Leads to sixth supervision Your supervisor will critically discuss the merit of your literature review and outline and may make suggestions in regards to the structure of your draft. The research questions will be discussed with your supervisor in light of your plan and direction for data collection. Data collection By this point you have reviewed the secondary information about your chosen topic and have gained many skills to start to focus on the collection of key data for your dissertation including primary sources (e.g. interviews, statistical analysis, discourse analysis etc.) and/ or secondary sources (review if existing project reports, theoretical meta-analysis of evidence, etc.). As the topics studied by students in this programme vary in scope and area, the advice given here can only be quite general. While collecting your data, you will need to think carefully about the sources of information and how many interviews or data points are suitable for your research. It is also important to consider how you will analyse the information you are going to collect (e.g. whether you want a statistically relevant sample, whether you are going to do a discourse analysis etc.). The research questions you have discussed with your supervisor will guide your research and writing up of the findings. It is important that you work closely with your supervisor during this stage of your programme. If you are planning to do fieldwork whether in the UK, or abroad, you may need to fill in a Risk Assessment form. This is aimed to protect both yourself, and the subjects of your enquiry (for example if you are dealing with vulnerable subpopulations, especially children). Advice on this will be provided by your supervisor or the Course Director. By the next supervision you should have collected your data and have a first draft of your findings including background, methodology and analytical chapters.  Leads to seventh supervision This supervision will focus on the discussion of the analysis of any data you have collected. Your supervisor will help you bring it all together by developing a consistent narrative that incorporates your findings with the existing literature you reviewed in your literature review. Complete draft of dissertation Between 10,000 and 12,000 words presented in the correct manner; see below for guidance on the format. The final draft of your dissertation needs to be submitted in the VLE by 20 March 2018. To make the most of your supervisor’s feedback on your draft dissertation, please aim to submit at the draft stage a near-complete version of the dissertation and leave yourself sufficient time to implement any improvements to your draft dissertation that are recommended by your supervisor. Before starting on the final draft you should send your supervisor a final plan showing how many chapters there will be, and what will be included in these. See the instructions below regarding the presentation of the dissertation. The length and headings of each sections will depend on your topic and how you choose to deal with it. They will not always be of a uniform length.

When you have written this first draft it is best to leave it for a few days before returning to it to check that your argument is logical and is written in an easy to follow manner. Check for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Having someone else proof your draft will be useful. Supervisors should offer guidance on how to prepare the final draft, including the abstract, main chapters, conclusion, references, bibliography and any appendices. You will receive written comments on this and instruction in the final supervision. Do not worry if at this point you have to add or remove sections, or alter the order of the chapters and information. One of the aims of submitting the whole in draft form is so that the supervisor can see that overall it has a logical progression and sustains an argument.  Leads to eighth supervision Your supervisor should provide you with advice on the structure and content of the dissertation, as well as any suggested corrections. In the final supervision the supervisor should indicate areas in the dissertation requiring further work and polishing. The supervisor should also check that the abstract, contents page, references and bibliography are laid out correctly and that any appendices are appropriate. Submission of final dissertation You will be required to submit a final dissertation of 10,000 to 12,000 words. Please ensure that your dissertation is not less than 10,000 words and not more than 12,000 words. Closing date for the submission of the dissertation is 1 May 2018 by 12.00 (noon) BST (11.00 UTC) The dissertation will constitute 70% of your final mark. The word length specified for the dissertation is inclusive of references in the main body of the text, of footnotes and endnotes but exclusive of any bibliography or list of resources consulted and any abstract, list of contents or list of abbreviations that may be included at the beginning or end of the dissertation. The use of appendices is generally discouraged except where additional data, not available in published form, must be presented, and must be previously agreed with your supervisor. *It is advisable to send your final dissertation (after all corrections have been completed) to your supervisor for one final check.

You should upload your dissertation into the course space of this Advanced Diploma in the Institute’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

7. Check-list before Submission (and order)      

Dissertation details (template will be provided) Abstract Any acknowledgements Contents page, including list of tables, graphs, maps, illustrations List of Abbreviations Main body of the dissertation, with footnote references in the text

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Any appendices (use sparingly) Bibliography

8. Writing your assignments and dissertation Writing Your dissertation must tell a coherent story in the form of a well-developed argument.

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It should state the argument as quickly and concisely as possible as early as possible in the introduction. Get to the point in the first paragraph.

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Always give evidence to support your assertions.

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Build up your evidence or argument step by step in a logical manner.

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Try not to distort arguments which you do not agree with, or try to make your data fit the argument you are making, even when it does not.

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Be honest and acknowledge any flaws there might be in your argument.

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Keep to the subject and do not add any details or descriptions that are not relevant to your argument.

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Examples and quotations should be used selectively and only when they add to the argument.

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Use good standard English and watch the spelling, grammar and punctuation.

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Continually refer back to your main theme or argument showing how the discussion relates to this.

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Be self-disciplined and selective.

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Be prepared to cut out material that is no longer relevant, no matter how long you might have worked on it and however painful it might feel! Your dissertation will be better for it.

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Secondary sources should be evaluated and re-evaluated in light of any new findings.

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Do not shy away from a critical discussion or exposing a new point of view.

Presentation There are a number of components that are essential to your dissertation (but which can have different names than proposed here). These are: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i)

Title Abstract Contents page Introduction (literature review and research questions) Study design (background and methods) Main findings (several chapters) Discussion/ Conclusion Bibliography Appendices (if used)

Your title should be as clear as possible and reflect the question you have researched. Each copy should include an abstract of not more than two paragraphs. This is a summary of the approach taken by the dissertation and its principal findings. It also suggests any

wider implications indicated by your original research. If in doubt about how to write this, ask for guidance from your supervisor. Each copy should also include a contents page, which includes a list of figures (such as illustrations, maps and graphs), tables, appendices, a list of abbreviations and any acknowledgements. Illustrations, graphs and tables should be placed as close as possible to the text which refers to them, but large illustrations such as maps may be placed in a folder at the end of the dissertation. The Introduction should contain:   

What is it is about (for example, the topic, place, time and historical context). The questions you are asking and relationship to current debates. The sources you will be using and how you will deal with these.

You need to state and discuss your research questions and tell the reader about your sources and methodology (how you have chosen to use and analyse these sources). Set out what the rest of the dissertation will do. Each findings chapter usually tackles a different theme and may discuss the data in light of the literature reviewed in previous chapters. The conclusion draws together your main findings and any wider implications you can draw from your research for the secondary literature. Do your findings confirm what other scholars have found or do they challenge them? The bibliography needs to follow a consistent style throughout the Dissertation (e.g. Harvard Style) See below for further guidance of referencing. If using, try not to over-load the appendices. It is not simply a repository for all the material you cannot fit into the dissertation word count! Appendices must always be relevant. It is not necessary to reproduce primary sources. Remember, you need to make your argument flow consistently throughout the dissertation. Each chapter should follow on in a logical manner. Tell you reader as you go along where you are going. Reiterate your findings and main arguments in the conclusion. References and bibliography There are a number of systems for the citation of references. You are entitled to use any of the major referencing systems, such as Chicago, 'Harvard', MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association) etc. as long as the citation system you use is widely known and you are consistent in its application. If in doubt, ask your supervisor or the Course Director. Here are links to some of these citation systems:  

Chicago www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html 'Harvard' (Author/Date style) http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

It is common for reports and assignments in International Development related publications to list all authors cited in alphabetical order, without separating out the type of sources into

separate sections (i.e. book, journal articles, unpublished reports etc. are all listed together). The reader will know from the content of the reference listed what type of publication it is. It is therefore important to maintain the same system for each type of publication throughout your dissertation’s bibliography. The guides listed above give a comprehensive overview of the different formats for different types of publications. Here are some key examples: (a) Primary sources such as interviews, names and dates of interviewees will be listed separately as an appendix (b) Secondary sources Books, articles in journals, chapters in books. e.g. Sen, A. (1999) Development as Freedom. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Carr, David. (2009) Population and deforestation: why rural migration matters. Progress in Human Geography 33 (3): 355-378. (c) ‘Grey’ literature (peer reviewed papers published by think tanks, international organisations such as the UN, World Bank, etc.) Working Papers, Disucssion Paper Series etc. e.g. Satterthwaite, D. (2009) Big emitters: how growth in consumption drives climate change. IIED Briefing Paper Climate Change (d) Unpublished sources Theses and dissertations should include the author, title, degree, institution and date. If read on micro-film this number should be included. Personal communications should take the form (Personal Communication from/ with name and date). (e) Web sites Give the exact web address and the date you last accessed the information. e.g. www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home.html , last accessed 17th June 2013. There may be other examples not dealt with here or in the online guides. If in doubt, please ask your supervisor how to deal with unusual bibliographic references.

9. Marking of assignments and examination of the final dissertation Marking Scheme Your summative assignments and dissertation are marked in relation to your achievement of the learning outcomes specified for the course. For further information and a description of the marking scheme please refer to the Student Handbook. Learning Outcomes: Summative assignment(s) The student will be able to: a)

demonstrate an understanding of the issues involved in the critical study of International Development

b) c)

evaluate current debates and theories within one sub-field/ topic in International Development identify suitable methods and use a range of data sources to answer a range of relevant questions

Learning outcomes: Dissertation The student will be able to: a) b) c)

demonstrate a critical, in-depth knowledge of their chosen area of research within the study of International Development summarise, represent and interpret a range of both primary and secondary sources including materials from different disciplines have an ability to develop an argument and present different viewpoints in a critical manner

Your summative assignments and dissertation will be marked by your supervisor, after which they will go through a moderation process; for further information relating to moderation please refer to the Student Handbook. Feedback will be returned to you as soon as possible. On passing the course, you will be invited to receive your certificate and transcript in person at the Institute of Continuing Education at Madingley Hall; alternatively the certificate can be sent to you by post.

10. If you want advice or encounter difficulties If you want to discuss future study or career plans, please contact your Course Director. If you encounter difficulties during your studies that affect your performance, you should let your Course Director know as soon as possible so that we can give you advice. Extensions are not available. Instead, you should submit your work as close as possible to the deadline, even if incomplete. You should then use the “mitigating circumstances” process to ask that the circumstances be taken in to account. The mitigating circumstances process takes place at the end of each academic year, and is explained in full in the Student Handbook.

11. Complaints and appeals If you feel that you have not received the tuition you expected, or there were academic circumstances which limited your achievement of the learning outcomes, you should notify the Course Director. The procedures for making a complaint and academic appeals are detailed in the Student Handbook.

12. What Next? Successful participants of this course will have developed the skills and qualifications necessary to take a much more informed approach to current issues in International Development. These skills can be used professionally through careers in International Development related organisations or as a basis for further research. You will be able to pursue your interests further through a higher degree (such as a taught Masters or a Masters by research). As the dissertation will represent a novel piece of research, it may also be possible to present these at conferences, edit these for publication in peer-reviewed research journals or publish as policy relevant briefing papers for organisations that are

pertinent in the topic of your choice. If you would like to discuss the possibilities further, please contact the Course Director.

Whilst every effort is made to avoid changes to this programme, published details may be altered without notice at any time. The Institute reserves the right to withdraw or amend any part of this programme without prior notice.