Vanessa - Preparing for my dissertation

January 1 2020
Image of an open book with notations

When I started my second year of Diagnostic Radiography & Imaging, I had it on good authority that this year would be intense because we would learn so much more and go into more detail than we did in our first year. But one thing that I was not prepared for was working on my dissertation.... well, kind of. Let me explain....

We are given a module called "Research Methods", which essentially gives us a much smaller research project to work on in order to prepare us for when we start our dissertation in third year. We learn about the different types of research that is out there so that when we do our dissertation, otherwise known as our research project, we have all of the tools at our disposal to create our final piece of work. It sounds overwhelming (and it is) but the way that it is taught allows us all to process the information in bitesize chunks. So, that leads me to what I am working on currently....

For this module, we have been given an essay question to answer, which has us looking at the different ways to conduct research for a particular subject, and analysing them to say why it works and why it doesn't. This piece of work is essentially having us work out the advantages and disadvantages of different types of research. One thing that I didn't realise before I started this module was that there are so many types of research out there in the world. To me, research is research, no? But it actually goes way deeper than I could have ever imagined.

I know that this sounds like a really exciting piece of work (yeah right), and sounds really long-winded, but the truth of the matter is, doing this type of assignment within my second year is really going to help me with my dissertation, and will have me feeling less overwhelmed by it when the time comes for me to start mine next year. Sometimes, you have to trust the assignment and the module that you have been given, because some of them prepare you for things that would have you rocking in a corner somewhere due to the sheer weight of the amount of work that you have to do.

Yes, we have other fun pieces to work on, and yes, I could have written about them, but if I'm being completely honest, the dissertation is something that most academic students cannot escape. And it's good to know that the university is preparing us for what is ahead, so that when the time comes, we will have all of the tools at our disposal to do well.

Some of you might be thinking "but why not do this module in the third year before the final research project?" Well the answer to that is there is no time. Between learning the theory that we need in order to understand diagnostic radiography, hospital placements, and exams, there is just no time. Also, it is good that we are doing this now because before the academic year comes to an end, we have to have hand in our dissertation question, and knowing the question means also knowing the type of research that we will need to do in order to get the answer.

As I mentioned before, this is a much shorter research project than the dissertation and so it has to be handed in by the end of the semester. However, just like the dissertation, we are given lots of support by the academic staff. Our tutors join us in our seminars and help us to understand the research methods in more detail by giving us research scenarios to look at and breaking them down. They are also available to us via email outside of the classroom, so when there are parts of the teaching that we don't understand, they can explain it in a way that is understandable. The staff have truly been great.

So that is what I'm working on! To anyone that is worried about their dissertation, no matter how far away it is for you, don't be! After completing this module, you will be so prepared for it that there will be no fear or hesitation. You will be more than prepared!