The beginning of the end - Dissertation

Dissertation is rather important in the British system – it counts as two modules, so instead of the usual six, in the final year we choose only 4 plus dissertation. I have decided to write mine on macroeconomics, more specifically on the influence of digital currencies on the paradigm of central banking – how can concepts like Bitcoin change the way classic monetary policy works.

The work on dissertation is well structured, every student needs to find some academician knowledgeable about the topic of his choice and willing to supervise him. That is often tricky, as there is limited amount of people available and some topic are very popular. Luckily that was not the case with monetary economics, so I did not need to rush and fight for my supervisor.

The next stage is summer preparation, as I should use my summer vacation to read more about the topic in general and prepare a list of academic literature I would like to use later on. This will probably be slightly challenging in my case, as digital currencies are very cutting edge topic and there are not many books written about it at this point, but on the other hand it is the focal point of current discussions in macroeconomics and it often appears in media and elsewhere.

At the beginning of the academic year the dissertation advances to more detailed phase, in which I should be reading primary and secondary literature and also prepare detailed structure the text I will write. During the year, every student is granted 8 hours with the supervisor to discuss the progress with the work, but this can be easily exceeded if the student is active and the supervisor interested.

And then comes the final part, which is the writing itself. This would usually start sometime in the Epiphany term and finish during the Easter break (specific date of the deadline varies with departments). The writing is same as anywhere else, and the outcome should be 12 thousand words long dissertation. Marks for the dissertation are worth roughly 25% of the whole degree and is often also stated separately.

I am quite looking forward to this whole process, the topic I choose definitely interests me, despite not being very usual or easy one. But I hope that I will get absorbed by working on it and that I will manage to coordinate it with advanced third year modules as well as with my responsibilities in societies.