dissertation extension edinburgh

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Dissertations

This guide highlights the help and resources available from the Library to support your dissertation or research project. It also directs you to other support teams that may be useful.

Always check that you are following the requirements provided by your School. 

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As you embark on your own dissertation, there is guidance from the Institute for Academic Development (IAD).

Institute for Academic Development

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• Dissertation and Thesis Festival

The Library's Dissertation Festival brings together the support that the Library, Digital Skills and IAD provide for students undertaking their dissertations. Dissertation and Thesis Festival Dates for 2023 - 2024 

• Semester 1: Monday 30th October - 10th November 2023 
• Semester 2: Monday 11th - Friday 15th March 2024.

For the programme of events and previous event recordings visit the Dissertation and Thesis Festival webpage.  

For more information please get in touch 

Follow the Library

This main page relates to the course for 2022/23. For information regarding the 2023/24 MSc Dissertation, please see Open Course - DISS .

MSc Project 2022/23

DPMT system for project proposals, choices, allocation, etc. (expected to open 6 Dec. 2022) Deadline for all project proposals: Friday, 20. January 2023 (5pm).

Main Project Guide . This is mainly for students but may be a useful reference for supervisors.

Supervisor Guide .

Guide for External Supervisors .

Guide for research staff volunteers

MSc project selection process guide

Timetable of Events

Computing resources

(Tentative) Project Submission Deadline: 12 noon, Friday 18. August 2023. Detailed instructions on how to submit the project can be found under the heading Submission in the Project Guide . The electronic submission that is part of the submission process (see the instructions for electronic submission and archiving ) requires users to log in with their DICE account details; external users will need to create an 'iFriend' account with Informatics. A Quick guide to iFriend is available here .

Marking forms

Informatics Research Review Home Page

Informatics Research Proposal Home Page

Public Dissertation Archive

Public Dissertation Archive (prior to 2014)

DISS: MSc Dissertation (Informatics)

The project is an essential component of the Masters courses. It is a substantial piece of full-time independent work starting in June. A dissertation describing the work must be submitted by a deadline in mid-August.

Students are expected to stay in Edinburgh for the duration of their degree programme. This includes during the writing of the MSc dissertation until the submission deadline. If you are on a Tier 4 visa and leave the country for an extended period of time, the School is obligated to contact Student Immigration Service who will notify UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI).) See MSc handbook .

• Schools & departments

Information on examination & progression to dissertation.

Coursework and Examinations

The University Taught Assessment Regulations apply to all of the MSc programmes covered in this course guide. The MSc is examined on its taught component comprising coursework and examination and on the dissertation which you start immediately after the May exams. You must pass both the taught part and dissertation to pass on the MSc overall. If, for example, you achieve only Diploma level on the 120 point taught component of the course then you will not be allowed to undertake a project.

Coursework is returned throughout the year. All marks returned during the semesters should be treated as provisional until after the Board of Examiners meets after the main examination period.

In order to pass at MSc level, and continue on to the MSc project you must meet both of the following criteria:

• An average grade of 50% over your initial 120 credit points.  
• Pass at least 80 out of your initial 120 credit points. All courses count towards this total. Passes at 50% are required to count towards this total.

Students are expected to stay in Edinburgh for the duration of their degree programme. This includes during the writing of the MSc dissertation until the submission deadline. If you are on a Tier 4 visa and leave the country for an extended period of time, the School is obligated to contact Student Immigration Service who will notify UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI).

• In Semester 1 and 2 2022/23 please reference  https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/covid-19   for the latest  information, updates and FAQ's for our students. This will be updated with information for Semester 1 and 2 2022/23 in due course

Examination

Examinations for the MSc courses in Informatics may take place at the end of Semester 1, or at the end of Semester 2 ( The exam diet/timing depends on the  course  profile and will be indicated on the course DRPS listing page). Some courses list different examination diets for visiting students and Edinburgh students. In these cases it is not possible to elect to take the exam with the visiting students, please ignore the parts of the DRPS course listings meant just for them. In 2022/23 the Semester 1 and 2 mode of examinations are TBC.

The correspondence between numerical scores, grades and their interpretation in terms of the MSc is given below. 

Written examinations take place in December and then during the first weeks of the summer. The exam diet can spread over up to five weeks, so be careful to check when your exams take place before arranging any absences from Edinburgh. There is one examination paper per course and each paper typically lasts 2 hours. Each paper is normally set by the lecturer responsible for each course and is vetted by an External Examiner and appropriate members of the Board of Examiners. Questions may be set on any aspect of the lectures or coursework.

The Board of Examiners comprises the External Examiner, the Convenor, the Course Organiser and the MSc course lecturers. Your overall taught mark is decided at a Board of Examiners meeting, usually held in at the end of May. The Board has the freedom to aggregate marks in any way but normally each paper is given equal weighting. The Board may take mitigating circumstances (e.g. illness) into account so it is vital that you communicate these to your Student Adviser, along with substantiating evidence (e.g. a medical certificate), if you believe that your performance has been impaired. If you are ill on or around the date of an examination then you must obtain a medical certificate from a doctor as soon as you are fit enough to do so. Your project mark is decided at a second Board of Examiners meeting in October, along with your overall MSc award. The Board of Examiners can award Distinctions to students who have performed exceptionally well on both the taught (passed all courses, averaging at least 70 over those with marks) and project (at least 70) components, and Merits to students who have obtained both an average of 60 on the courses and 60 on the project.

Calculators not provided at Informatics exams

If the use of a calculator is permitted in a take home exam, it is your responsibility to use your own calculator to do the exam. 

Only a calculator from the approved list specified in Policy 4.1.3 of the College of Science and Engineering Policy and Procedure of the Use of Calculators in Examinations 2020-21 may be used in Informatics exams.

Please note: You are entirely responsible for the working order of your calculators and batteries.   You are warned that although electronic calculators have a high degree of reliability, you should check the correct entry of data and the credibility of results. The commonest form of malfunction is due to the run down of batteries. 

Other schools within the University may have different policies on providing calculators; please make sure you check this before any exams.  If in doubt, take an approved calculator with you to the exam, just in case.

The Diploma

Students who wish to leave early (immediately after the exams), or who do not achieve sufficient grades in their exams and coursework to proceed to an MSc project will be considered for a Diploma or Certificate according to the Taught Assessment Regulations. The Diploma course ends with the exams and there is no project or summer semester work.

Borderline Cases

The Board of Examiners considers borderline cases as described in the Taught Assessment Regulations . Borderline decisions may take into account the following factors:

• cases in which a student has performed better in courses at a higher level
• cases where the amount of credited assessed work to be used for classification or award decisions is less than the norm (e.g., where credits have been awarded for progression purposes only in recognition of special circumstances)
• individual student profiles of performance

Access to exam scripts

If you wish to review the marks breakdown for an Online Exam,  please contact the ITO once the last Board of Examiners meeting is concluded and the course result has been published, and ITO will provide a breakdown of the marks rubric via email.

All other information regarding viewing of exam scripts is included in the policy on the link below.

Related links

Student access to exam script

Academic Misconduct (including plagiarism )

Late coursework and extension requests

Special circumstances

Assessment regulations

Academic appeals

Examination diet

Common marking scheme

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Extension to dissertation submission deadline - for postgraduate taught students

If you are unable to complete your dissertation by your current submission deadline, you can apply for an extension.

How do I apply?

Please complete Sections One, Two and Three of the below form, providing as much detail as possible, and submit to your School/Department office.

Following a consideration of the information (and documentary evidence provided - for more guidance on this, see below) a School/Department representative will either decide to approve or reject your application. In some circumstances, you may be asked to provice further information/documentary evidence before a final decision.

What are acceptable reasons for requesting an extension?

You should give as much detail as possible about your reasons for requesting an extension to your dissertation submission deadline.

Each School/Department have clear procedures for granting extensions, including guidance on circumstances that will and will not be considered acceptable. However examples of generally acceptable/unacceptable reasons are as follows:

Acceptable reasons

• Major computer problems (eg failure of University networks)
• Significant medical problems
• Personal problems
• Compassionate (eg family bereavement)

Unacceptable reasons

• Minor computer problems (eg lost or damaged disks, printer breakdown)
• Lost assignments
• Desired books not in library
• Unverifiable travel difficulties
• Not realising deadline imminent

What supporting evidence do I need to provide?

You must include appropriate documentary evidence to support your reasons for requesting an extension. Some examples of appropriate supporting evidence are:

• Medical certificate – if you were ill or had to take care of someone who was ill
• Death certificate – if you have suffered a bereavement
• Supporting letter from your employer – if you had work-related difficulties
• Bank statements, payslips – if you had financial difficulties
• Supporting letter from your School

What do I need to do if my dissertation extension deadline would take me over the maximum period of registration?

What if my application is rejected.

If your request for an extension is not approved, your original submission date will apply.

If you have not made sufficient progress with your dissertation to submit by this deadline, your School will need to make a recommendation for you at the next Board of Examiners meeting. If it is your first attempt at the dissertation, you will have the right to re-submit to a deadline agreed by the School, and your dissertation mark will then be capped at 50% for the purposes of classifying your final degree classification. If it is your second attempt at the dissertation, the Board of Examiners will make a recommendation based on the marks for modules that you have already completed. This will normally mean the award of an alternative qualification.

• Extension to dissertation submission deadline application (DOCX-52kB)

Can't find what you're looking for?

If you are unable to find the information that you're searching for on our site, you can submit an Online Enquiry  to Student Help.

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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

Useful resources for accessing Theses.

China Doctoral and Masters Dissertations Full-text Database (Simplified Chinese Version )

China Doctoral and Masters Dissertations Full-text Database (Traditional Chinese Version)

China Doctoral and Masters Dissertations Full-text Database (English version)

DART Europe E-Theses

Edinburgh research archive (era), ethos - electronic theses online service, history theses 1901-2014: historical research for higher degrees in the universities of the united kingdom and the republic of ireland.

Available via British History Online in two parts: 

https://eux.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/theses-1901-70

https://eux.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/theses-1970-2014

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations

Open access theses and dissertations.

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is a key resource

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global

Proquest dissertations & theses global via web of science, uk research councils, related links.

More information about theses