Track C - A chameleon genre

A Chameleon Genre: an audit of the dissertation at a typical UK University Dr Nick Endacott and colleagues, Middlesex University Learner Development Unit

Undergraduate students at Middlesex are expected to complete a dissertation/research project (or equivalent ‘substantial’ piece of work) in their final year. In order to better develop/embed the required writing/linguistic/analytical/critical skills of these students, the LDU (whose remit this is) need to have a clear idea of what is expected of same students with regard to their dissertations/research projects – or whatever they may be called – and what’s in a name anyway?

Nick Endacott and colleagues in the LDU have undertaken an ambitious project to complete an ‘audit’ of all these projects in all the Schools and most of the disciplines across the University. At present their findings are descriptive, not evaluative, and are based entirely on Module Handbooks (all those that could be got hold of).

The session got underway with some very interesting questions concerning the dissertation ‘genre’. Is it a genre in the straightforward sense, or rather a ‘chameleon genre’, adapting to its environment or is it, as in Peter Medway’s phrase, a ‘fuzzy genre’ with rather blurred edges? The context of different disciplines was discussed. How can expectations of a dissertation be the same across disciplines which are cultural phenomena divided by gulfs of linguistic variation? For the LDU to support students in a discipline they need to be able to unpick the cultural and linguistic expectation (science: analytical, arts: imaginative – simplified but understandable examples).

The initial findings were presented as a series of graphs depicting commonalities and differences in nomenclature (report; essay; portfolio; dissertation; project etc.) and pathways (empirical research; journal article; artefact-based project; combinations of these, etc.) Word length requirements also varied widely which raises other challenges for the LDU – low word limit = concise writing, high word limit = expanded writing etc.

The research is only just beginning and this is the start of a larger on-going project to explore this ‘genre’ and improve the LDU’s ability to develop the students’ skills to meet the demands of the dissertation in whatever form it may take.

Report by Celia Cozens