Some general advice

Marking Criteria

You may find it helpful to consider the Department’s marking criteria.  

Examining the criteria for the higher marks will provide an indication of what your dissertation should contain. The descriptions for the lower marks will provide you with indicators of what to avoid. 

Plagiarism including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and translation tools

It is important that you reference your work correctly to avoid plagiarism, the major form of academic misconduct. Please consult the Academic Integrity section of your handbook for full details and the academic integrity tutorial for further details, available at the Yorkshare VLE.   

There is also guidance around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and translation tools.  It is important you are aware of how to use AI, translation and proofreading services to ensure your work does not lead to ‘false authorship’, which is considered as an academic misconduct offence under University policy.   

Accessing journal articles

We would recommend you to use LibKey Nomad to check what academic articles and research materials are available through the University of York library subscriptions.  It is easy to install and full instructions are provided how to use it.  If there is an article that is unavailable you can make a request to access it via the library. 

Submission requirements

You are required to submit an electronic copy of your dissertation to the submission point on the VLE. Please make sure that you do not mention anyone by name in the acknowledgements section as this is considered a breach of confidentiality. 

Additional academic support

The Department’s Academic Skills Advisor will be running sessions providing support on the following: 

• Expectations and conventions of UK Master’s-level dissertations

• Reporting, citing and commenting on others’ work

• Creating cohesive and coherent texts

• Search skills

• Bringing an authorial voice into writing to demonstrate critical evaluation

• Articulating ideas logically

• Understanding and acting upon feedback

The University also offers resources on study skills including writing and maths skills.