11  Semester 2 Week 9

Note: In 26-27, this session will be in Semester 2 Week 7 because the dissertation deadline is earlier than normal, due to the early Easter Bank Holiday in 2027

11.1 Last-minute questions

This session tends to be left as open for students to bring along questions. By this point, they are nearing the end of the process and they all have niggling questions that is then quite helpful to cover as a whole group.

As with Semester 2 Week 3, I ask students to post questions on Teams in advance where possible, so I can prepare properly. As before, I remind them that even a vague “I don’t know where to start with X” is worth bringing, this matters even more here than in Week 3, since students this close to submission can be more reluctant to admit they’re still unsure about something basic.

Even if nobody raises them, I make sure to cover a few common last-minute items myself: submission logistics (how and where to actually submit), formatting or word count requirements, marking criteria, whether appendices or consent forms need to be included, and reference list completeness. This is the same pre-empting approach I use for data collection, just applied to the administrative end of the process instead.

I also ask students more generally how they’re doing at this point, not just what questions they have. This tends to be one of the more stressful points in the whole process, and it’s worth checking in directly rather than only covering the academic content.

I don’t prepare anything in advance for this, other than reminding the students on teams to come along with their questions. I will also remind them that we are going to do a practice presentation in the next session and confirm the details with them (place, day and time).

11.1.1 Expected progress

  • By week 9, students would usually be around 1 week away from submitting
  • All analysis sections should be submitted and feedback returned by now, unless there are students with extenuating circumstances.
  • Students should have already done peer review for their Discussion if they are doing this, and should be working on the final edits.