ANTH490 Dissertation

Supervised individual research on a topic in anthropology.

ANTH 490 is an individual research project on an approved topic under the supervision of one or more members of staff, culminating in the submission of the dissertation of no more than 20,000 words (excluding footnotes, appendices and references). Submission date for dissertations is the last day of second semester. The choosing of your topic is one of the most challenging and rewarding decisions that you will have to make in the whole exercise. It will depend on the kind of interests you have developed in Anthropology and the availability of supervisors with appropriate expertise. Please review the list of staff members and areas of interest on the Anthropology website. It is recommended that you consult with appropriate staff as soon as possible and before the end of your third year. If you have developed strengths in particular areas of your subject or become closely involved with certain courses, there would be considerable advantage in continuing with that work for your dissertation

One important consideration, and one reason for consulting closely with staff, is making sure that you select a topic that is practicable within the time available. The challenge here is selecting something that is going to make a satisfying and rewarding piece of research, but that will also be of such size and scope that you will be able to bring it to completion on time.

In social anthropology, potential topics range from library-based studies based on primary and/or secondary sources, to research involving fieldwork using one or a number of the many different methods used in field research (for example, participant observation, formal interviews, unobtrusive methods). This is usually your first opportunity to carry out field research, and with the supervision that is provided by the Department it will enable you to gain valuable first-hand experience in doing social research. Fieldwork involving human subjects requires ethical approval from the University Ethics Committee; your supervisor will advise you about this.

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Restriction

ANTH 495, ARCH 490

Limited to

BA(Hons), PGDipArts

Contact

anthropology@otago.ac.nz or individual members of staff

More information link

View more information on the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology's website

Teaching staff

All academic staff

Paper Structure

Writing of a dissertation

Teaching Arrangements

Weekly meetings with supervisor/s

Textbooks

None specified, but reading relevant to topic is essential

Graduate Attributes Emphasised

Lifelong learning, Scholarship, Communication, Critical thinking, Ethics, Research, Self-motivation.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.

Learning Outcomes

1. The ability to conduct independent, high-quality and rigorous research
2. The capacity to locate, evaluate and analyse diverse sources, data and information
3. Skills in writing a report-length dissertation based on original research

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