The module will enable students to:
• complete a substantial piece of written work (about 10,000 words, ± 10%), professionally structured, argued and verified on the basis of relevant theories and evidence.
• study independently and take responsibility for going through the successive steps of the research process, with a view to meet a deadline.
• apply theoretical perspectives to a real-world economic, business or policy question.
• gain in-depth knowledge of the economics and/or business literature in the area chosen, with awareness of the state of the art.
• identify and use appropriate data and evidence.
• follow a logical flow of thoughts to draw conclusions (and possibly, recommendations) from evidence.

On successful completion of this module a student will be able to:
1. perform a literature review.
2. apply appropriate economic and international business/management principles to the
selected topic.
3. know how to identify, locate and use appropriate data and evidence.
4. present conclusions and analysis that are based on evidence.
5. complete a substantial piece of written work of about 10,000 words.

Developing critical approaches to the literature review process.
Refining the literature review.
Understand the relationship between method, data and research design.
Sampling Problems and Variable Identification.
Working with Data Part : Quantitative vs Qualitative.
Designing Case Studies.
Organizing and analysing what you have read and researched.
Approaching your analysis: qualitative and quantitative data.

The module continues with weekly one-hour teaching sessions during the second term and then individual supervision sessions till submission date. Students’ supervisor normally leads all sessions.

The time of the weekly session will be shown on students’ timetable. All the module materials (notes, tests, exercises, hand-outs, etc.) will be put on module’s Moodle site.

Method of Summative Assessment: Dissertation.
Learning Outcomes: 1,2,3,4&5.
Grading Mode: Numeric.
Weighting: 100%.
Pass Mark: 50.
Word Length: 10,000 words.

Nature of FORMATIVE assessment supporting student learning
Thesis Structure (P/F) – The first task that students will need to complete is the 1,000-word extended outline for their thesis. This is an important road map for the entire project and needs a great deal of care and consideration.