ABSTRACT
To gain an MA degree in literature, you will almost certainly have to write a dissertation. This is usually the last piece of work to be completed, and is designed to round off your MA studies. Usually the topic will be one you have devised for yourself, and the length will be set somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 words. The purpose of a dissertation is to enable you to demonstrate (a) that you know how to use libraries effectively to locate relevant materials, (b) that you can prepare and write up a sustained and logically structured academic argument in clear prose, and (c) that you can present your work well, using appropriate scholarly conventions. In short, your dissertation gives you the opportunity to show that you are capable of undertaking independent (perhaps even original) work at postgraduate level.
