Choosing a Topic

The dissertation forms one third of the masters degree programme and is started in the late autumn to complete in August. It is therefore important to chose a topic that you are going to be interested in, be enthusiastic enough about to complete to a high standard, as well as meeting our criteria for scope, difficulty and content.

As part of the resources you can find on ULearn, there are lists of topics that each academic is offering for dissertations. However, these lists are not the only topics that you can do, often the best dissertations are motivated by your interests. Therefore, please think carefully what dissertation you would like to do. If you have some ideas, or are interested in a topic being offered by an academic, please get in touch to talk through your ideas with the person concerned.

Example Dissertations

Examples of dissertations can be found on ULearn and in the library. Topics range from web-based developments, bespoke software for a business, developments using leading-edge technology, through to research. However, what is important with any dissertation is that you take a professional approach to how you conduct the required activities, whether these are software engineering or research based. For example, you will be expected to investigate appropriate approaches and previous examples of work (such as from scientific journal articles), before selecting the correct methods required to complete the work. This may also involve interviewing a number of people for requirements capture, as well as finding people to evaluate your findings.