How to turn your dissertation from a 2:1 into a First Class...
In order to preserve their quality benchmark, most universities strictly limit the number of First Class degrees that they award and this is reflected in the assessment of a First Class dissertation. When you think about it, you wouldn't really want it any other way because the expansion of the number would devalue the inherent status that achieving a First Class degree carries and the key to this is the ability to research and write a First Class dissertation. For this reason, if for no other, you need to work not only harder to achieve a First Class dissertation grade but also in a very specific way. Let's examine precisely how by taking the structuring of a First Class dissertation step by step.
You will have at your disposal a marking scheme with which you should be very familiar by the stage in your academic career when you are required to write a dissertation. You need, now, to look at this more closely, even analytically, than you have ever done before, so that you isolate the features which separate the wider excellence of the 2:1 from the specific excellence of the First. Looking closely at the marking levels, you will instantly see that it would be theoretically possible to achieve a First Class dissertation grade by gaining a mark that is anything over 70%. In practice, however, you will more often than not be literally competing for a First against your fellow students because the university might often decide in abstract how many Firsts it ultimately intends to award and your dissertation is a crucial part of this. Therefore, you must ensure that your dissertation stands out from the rest and rather than just edging into the 70s reaches closer to 80%.
The basics should not need to be stated if you are aiming at the highest level with your dissertation so let's take it has read that you will write well, argue coherently, reference appropriately and correctly and provide a convincing conclusion; even to get a 2:2 you would need all of these to be present. Therefore, it is not on that you should focus for a First but on other factors, not called for in the lower levels, even the 2:1: this extra something is rooted in the demonstration of research abilities beyond the obvious and the ability to find the original in the familiar. In other words, a First Class dissertation will display not only wide reading but also an innovative approach to both the interpretation of the research and its application. Your thoughts need to be both critical and original and whilst the first of these may be familiar, the second will be less so because in all probability you will not have been required to display originality until now. Indeed, you may have been actively discouraged from allowing your own thoughts to enter into your work, as most academic work encourages you to take an objective view rather than a subjective one. You now need to forget that to some extent and begin to allow your personal perspective to enter your work. Of course, you still need to present a balanced argument, well supported by strong evidence in the form of wide and yet focused reading, but you must now also add to this the evident ability to detect and develop a nuance so that it becomes a uniquely significant imperative in your work that separates it from the work of others. Above all, to obtain a First Class grade for your dissertation, you need to display a scholarly approach, together with an individualistic but grounded and viable methodology which includes evidence of innovation and independent thinking.
This is of course a very difficult task, especially if you are working in a very familiar field. Most of the original lines of approach may appear to have been developed already but this will not be the case. There is not a single topic on which the last word has been said and if you can find and develop an original line of thought which you can support with a strong argument and comprehensive research, then that prized First Class dissertation is within your grasp, all you have to do is go for it!
