In the UK, writing a thesis is worth 100 points and can be categorised into four grades based on performance:
1. 70 points or more, called Distinction
2. 60-69 points is called Merit. 3. 50-59 points is called Good.
3. 50-59 points is called Good. 4.
4. 49 points or less is called Pass. 5.
5. 49 points or less is called Fail.
It is very difficult to get a Distinction grade, only 5-10% of students can get it, most students’ grades are between Merit and Pass, and a few students may fail. If you fail the dissertation, you can’t get a Master’s Degree, you can only get a Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate.
1. Learn time management
The academic evaluation consists of a thesis and a final exam, and sometimes a teaching presentation/project. Papers are due in the middle of the semester and should be over 2500 words. It takes work to get a good grade. That’s why it’s important to plan your timetable and upload it to the Turnitin system as soon as your teacher assigns the work. If you hand it in late, you may fail straight away or even get a zero.
2. Do the presentation seriously (Presentation)
This is not just a group PowerPoint presentation as we usually understand it, but more importantly the format. In the UK, presentation is included in the marking of essays and other assignments. Although it does not account for a large proportion (usually only 5% of the total mark), any small mistake may affect the final mark. When working on a presentation, take the reader’s perspective. Ask your classmates and self-reflection to help identify your problems.
3. Communicate more with your teacher
Many students are easy to neglect in this aspect. In the UK, teachers will not push you to hand in your assignments on time, but encourage you to study on your own. For example, if you have any problems in the process of writing your dissertation, you can solve them by email or by making an appointment to see your teacher, and you can also discuss the direction of your research with your teacher to make sure that your dissertation does not deviate from the topic.
4. Make full use of the Academic Help Centre (Academic Help)
This is a resource that students tend to overlook. British universities have academic help centres, where professional teachers help you check your dissertation and provide feedback. They mainly focus on presentation skills, reference format and other academic norms, and may not know much about the content of the dissertation. So students can write their dissertation first, book a time in advance to send it to the teacher, and then discuss it in the interview meeting after the teacher has corrected it and confirmed that there are no problems. In this way, the academic standard of the paper can be guaranteed.
5. Common ways to search for information
1. Campus online library/library search–This is the most important way to search, as long as you log in the school website, you can use it. You will often need to cite journal articles when writing your dissertation, and this library will be able to meet your needs.
2. Use university news and social media platforms for academic information – for example, University College London (UCL) is regularly updated with the latest research findings, as well as information on lectures and other important events by teachers. You can also use platforms like ResearchGate to find potential academic collaborators.
3. The second common way is Google Scholar, which is similar to searching in the school library, just type in the keywords and you will find what you need.
4) For those of you who are new to the UK, it is important to distinguish between paraphrase and plagiarise, as you may be accused of plagiarism by your teachers if you are not careful. Even if you have been studying in the UK for many years, you may be accused of plagiarising because of a small mistake. Therefore, those who have just come to study in the UK should pay attention to the fact that the UK has a very strict attitude towards plagiarism in dissertations, not only will they be warned verbally, but they may also be required to sign a guarantee.
