MSc Politics Handbook 2012-13

SECTION A – INTRODUCTIONS

Studying Asian and African Politics at SOAS

Aristotle described Politics as the 'master science'. By this, he meant that it brings together the findings of all the other branches of knowledge and applies them in the common pursuit of the good life. The discipline of Politics has a long tradition going back to the debates among Ancient Greek philosophers about the forms of government (i.e. the manner in which power should be organized and exercised) most appropriate to this goal. The study of Politics, now as it was then, is built upon this fundamental question.

As with Politics degrees elsewhere, the Politics degree at SOAS is structured around four core sub-disciplines, namely comparative political sociology, comparative political economy, political theory, and international relations (although these sub-disciplines are sometimes known by other names). Students receive a thorough training in the concepts and methods of these sub-disciplines, which are then applied to the analysis of real life political situations.

Where we differ from other Politics degrees is that our students have the opportunity to examine the concepts and methods of the sub-disciplines against the historical and contemporary conditions of Asia (including the Middle East) and Africa. By contrast, for most Politics degrees, the empirical focus tends to be directed towards Europe and the US, meaning that the non-western world does not receive sufficient attention.

Asia and Africa contain the majority of the world’s population as well as the dynamic economies of the Asia-Pacific Region (China, Japan, Korea, ASEAN) and India and some of the principal hot spots of international tension in the world today (such as the Middle East). By studying Asia and Africa at SOAS, students will gain good knowledge and understanding of some of the most important power shifts and conflicts of ideas taking place in the world today. They will also come to appreciate the limitations (and relevance) of social science concepts generated from western contexts.

Acquisition of Skills

Through the study of Politics, students are expected to acquire both discipline-related and transferable skills. The training provided by the degree seeks to:

foster the academic study of Politics, with particular reference to Asia and Africa, as an appropriate introduction to critical thought about the purposes and scope of human activity more generally;
define the study of Politics in terms which go beyond a narrowly Western focus and which insist on the integration of theoretical and empirical study;
give students the opportunity to refine and develop a broad range of transferable skills with a particular emphasis on the presentation of written argument;
prepare the culturally diverse student body for a variety of careers or further study in a learning environment which allows them to take some responsibility for their intellectual development;
stimulate student performance through committed teaching informed by research of a high standard.
provide a range of taught programmes in Politics suitable for postgraduate students
prepare students for the transition to a research degree

Students completing any of the Masters programmes in the Department will have:

acquired an enhanced understanding of political processes in Asian and African societies and a comprehensive knowledge of central theories and concepts central to understanding political developments in Asia and Africa;
acquired a set of transferable skills at an advanced level emphasising written communication, the ability to construct and critique arguments, to undertake oral presentations, to access a wide variety of written resources, and the use of ICT;
acquired through the conceiving, researching and writing of an assessed 10,000-word dissertation under supervision further advanced knowledge and understanding, as well as advanced skills of independent research, analysis and written expression.

Students completing one of the Department’s two Disciplinary Masters programmes will also have:

acquired broad understanding of aspects of social, political and international relations theory, with special reference to the study of Politics in Asia and Africa;
acquired detailed knowledge of either the domestic or the international politics of at least one region of Asia or Africa; or of two distinct regions of Asia and Africa

Students completing one of the Department’s four Regional Masters will also have:

the opportunity to acquire knowledge of the international as well as the domestic politics of their preferred region;
the opportunity to acquire knowledge of a language or of a cognate discipline pertinent to their preferred region.

This handbook sets out the structure and content of the various degree programmes available in the department. A more general introduction to the School and its facilities is provided in undergraduate and postgraduate prospectuses.

SECTION B – DEGREE STRUCTURES

Introduction to Taught Master’s Programmes

The Department of Politics and International Studies offers six linked Masters programmes in the politics and international relations of Asia and Africa. All may be taken full-time over one year, or part-time over two or three years. Two of the programmes are classified as disciplinary MScs - International Politics, and State, Society and Development. In these, the objective is to give the student the opportunity to undertake a rigorous training in political theory, with special reference to the study of politics outside Europe and America. The strengths and weaknesses of existing theories are explored, and applied to particular case studies. The remaining four programmes are regionally specialised MScs, aiming to provide students with a detailed specialist understanding of both domestic and international politics (and of the implications of one for the other) in a particular region. The distinction between these two types of MSc is, however, a matter of degree. The regionally-specialised MScs will of course introduce students to relevant bodies of theory and will require them to confront various theoretical issues

Discipline Focused

Regionally Focused

MSc Course Descriptions: Click here for links to each of the MSc courses

At Masters level there is particular emphasis on seminar work. Students often make full-scale presentations for the units they take, and are expected to write substantial coursework papers that often require significant independent work. These count for at least 30 per cent of the marks in each course. A quarter of the work for the degree is given over to the writing of an adequately researched 10,000-word dissertation. Students are encouraged to take up topics which relate the study of a particular region to a body of theory.

Courses on regional politics can also be taken as part of Masters programmes elsewhere in the School, especially the Regional Studies and Development Studies programmes. For further details see the postgraduate prospectus or the individual degree booklets.

Examinations and assessment

The MSc degree will be awarded on the successful completion of a final examination and coursework in three taught courses and a 10,000 word dissertation. All courses and the dissertation carry equal weight. Examinations are normally held in May.

Requirement to do all elements of assessment:

All students are required to submit all elements of assessment to pass a course, and are required to submit all coursework as a pre-condition of exam entry. The Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) may, at the request of the Head of Department, withdraw permission to take exams or terminate degree registration if you persistently fail to submit coursework without good cause.

SECTION C –
ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

Writing and Researching Essays for MSc Courses in Politics and International Relations

1. Why Write Essays?

Essay writing is a way of mastering a body of facts or ideas. You accumulate knowledge on a particular topic by reading the relevant literature, and then present what you have found in your own terms and in your own way. You thereby retain the material more effectively than merely reading.
Essay writing develops skills of selection, analysis and condensation. Out of the mass of information available, you have to decide what to include and what to leave out, you have to be alert to contradictory arguments and points of view presented by different authors, and you have to present your answers in a succinct form without over-simplifying.
Essay writing helps you develop your powers of expression and communication. You have to express your self clearly, develop a coherent argument throughout the essay, and as far as possible write in a fluent and attractive manner.
An essay also teaches you a vital transferable skill: many jobs will require you to write written reports and assessments, to demonstrate that you understood what you have read, and to demonstrate that you can present a written argument.

These four points determine whether an essay is good or bad. These points are also relevant to your dissertations.

2. Essay Marking

An essay mark takes account of both content and structure. When marking an essay the reader will be looking for the following things:

The ability to pursue and develop a consistent argument;
The ability to use evidence, sometimes from a wide range of sources;
Logical control and organisation of your material;
The ability to discriminate between the significant and the trivial;
A clear structure to the essay;
The ability to write clearly, fluently and concisely;
Evidence of independent thought;
The ability to engage with relevant theoretical debates;
The ability to discuss, consider and assess the scholarly literature on the topic.
The ability to assess the assumptions and claims that underlie the existing literature.

3. Thinking

Give yourself plenty of time to think about the essay. Plan ahead to give yourself time to read, to plan and to develop an answer. Managing time is a crucial element in essay writing - hurried and under-researched essays are a waste of everyone’s time.

Thinking should allow you to develop a coherent response to the question, and also to consider the existing literature on the topic and how to address or engage this literature.

4. Understanding the Question

Essay writing is best thought of as a problem-solving activity, and it is vital that in your essay you answer the question. Read the question/title carefully - the words are there for a purpose. Words such as describe, discuss, explain, compare, contrast and assess are there to help you to focus and guide your attention. Also pay attention to any special restrictions such as dates, type of literature or specific cases.

DO NOT simply repeat everything you know about a certain subject. Answer the specific question, and never descend to the level of a general commentary. Furthermore, NEVER change the wording of a question without discussing it with the course convenor beforehand.
Finally, if you are not sure what a question means, ASK.

5. Preparation

Familiarise yourself fully with the library - not just the books, but also the periodicals and the electronic resources.

Read purposefully and selectively, concentrating on relevant material - use the index and contents pages of books, and abstracting services such as International Political Science Abstracts or BIDS: ask in the library about these resources. Your reading lists are a guide only, they are never fully comprehensive.
Take notes carefully, keeping full records of author, title, page numbers etc.
Plan the essay - the plan is a map showing the route of your argument.
Structure your essay - the structure is the skeleton which give the essay shape.

6. The Essay

Decide on your strategy - are you going to give a balanced summary of the various opinions on the question, or are you going to show why you believe one opinion is better than another? Have opinions but try to avoid polemics.

You should assume that the reader of your essay is intelligent but uninformed. Remember that essays are not written for the benefit of the marker but should inform you about the subject.

Style is important. You are NOT marked on the standard or quality of your English, but the more clearly you can express your ideas the easier it will be for the marker to realise your brilliance. There are numerous writing guides available, the most helpful of which is Strunk and White, The Elements of Style (Macmillan).

Introduction
Take great care with this. Show as briefly as possible that you have understood the question. You may wish to outline your answer and how you intend to develop this answer in the introduction. [This is very much a matter of personal style some people prefer a direct answer at the start, others prefer the argument to emerge in the essay and the intro to be a summary of the topic. Both methods are equally valid.]

Main Body
Much will depend on the subject matter, but you should order your points so that there is reasoned argument and a smooth sequence. Link your paragraphs together with topic sentences. Show why the information you are giving is relevant, and ask yourself continually if the information you are providing is relevant, to ensure you exclude what is irrelevant.

Conclusion
Your concluding paragraph should sum up the discussion and set out the main results. Remember to check that it agrees with your introduction. Also remember that an essay is not a cliff-hanger mystery or a whodunit - don't leave your answer to the question to the last line, make sure you have developed it throughout the essay. Never introduce a new idea or argument in your conclusion.

7. Referencing

Showing the source of your ideas and arguments is vital. Use the MLA footnote/endnote OR the Harvard system to indicate clearly where your ideas have come from. Good referencing not only helps you avoid plagiarism it also demonstrates that you know the literature and the arguments on the topic.

Footnotes should never contain substantive pieces of argument or information: if something is important it belongs in the text. If it is not important, it does not belong in the essay.

Always include a full bibliography.

8. Plagiarism

See below and the Faculty plagiarism statement on http://www.soas.ac.uk/lawsocialsciences/plagiarism-statement/.

9. Word Limit

Word count is defined as the number of words contained in the submitted work including quotations, footnotes, titles, abstracts, summaries and tables of contents. Appendices and bibliographies are not included in the word count. Appendices will not normally be marked and they must not include material essential to the argument developed in the main body of the work.

Keep to the word limits - Marks will be deducted for work that exceeds the prescribed word limit on a sliding scale:

Excess Length Mark Deduction (Percentage points)
Up to and including10% 5 percentage points
More than 10% up to and including 20% 10 percentage points
More than 20% up to and including 30% 15 percentage points
More than 30% The work may be submitted and will be
accepted. It will not be marked but will
be assigned a grade of 0.

10. Finally

Use a word-processor, and print out your essay with a good sized font and sensible spacing
Remember that computers break down - always keep copies and back-up your work regularly.
Re-read your essay carefully in hard-copy before submitting.
Keep to the word limits - you will be penalised if you fail to do so.
Discuss your essay with friends.
Hand the essay in on time: you will be deducted marks if you fail to do so without good cause.

Writing and Giving Presentations for Seminars/ Discussions in Politics.

Seminars, tutorials and discussion groups are central to the teaching of Politics at SOAS. They typically involve a small group of students and a seminar leader and are based around either a lecture topic, a specific issue, or a set of readings. Seminars provide you with an opportunity to interact with the teaching staff and your fellow students in a semi-structured way. You are expected to attend all seminars unless you are prevented from doing so due to illness or other good cause. In such cases please inform your course convenor(s) and your postgraduate convenor as soon as possible. PLEASE NOTE: staff in the Politics Department will often use the terms 'seminar', 'tutorial' and 'discussion group' inter-changeably.

1. What is the purpose of a seminar/discussion group?

The most important function of the seminar is to provide a forum for you to discuss the course with your teachers and fellow students. You can use the opportunity to:

ask questions about the lectures
ask questions about essay preparation
ask questions about how your essay has been graded
ask questions about the organisation of the course
ask questions about the examination
meet fellow students and discuss issues related to the course with them
raise any problems you may have
deliver a presentation on a specific topic

2. Why attend seminars/give presentations?

Giving a presentation is a way of developing powers of expression and communication. You have to express yourself clearly, develop a coherent argument and demonstrate that you understand the issue(s).
As with writing an essay, preparing presentations develops skills of selection, analysis and condensation. You need to express ideas and arguments in a succinct form that is easily understood by others.
Giving a presentation should enable you to present and defend your ideas in front of others. It helps to develop your verbal reasoning skills and teaches you how to respond to different opinions and arguments.
Participating in seminars enables you to develop a range of transferable skills related to oral presentation and discussion. Most jobs (and all interviews) will require to talk in front of groups of people and to present ideas and information.

3. What should I do when not presenting a paper?

If you are not presenting a paper in a seminar or discussion you are still required to work and to participate in a seminar. It is essential that you read any required reading before the seminar begins and that you are prepared to both answer and ask questions about the reading. Always ask as many questions as you can, even if you think they are naive.

4. Preparing presentation

There are two main types of presentation: those for which you have a set question (the seminar), and those based on your own interpretation of a reading or set of readings (the discussion group). Give yourself plenty of time to think about the presentation. Plan ahead to give yourself time to read, to plan and to develop an answer. Managing time is a crucial element in preparing presentations - hurried and under-researched papers are a waste of everyone's time.

A. Address the question
Where a question has been set, address it directly. As in essay writing you can regard presentation of this sort as a problem-solving activity, and it is vital that in your presentation you address the question. Read the question/title carefully - the words are there for a purpose. Words such as describe, discuss, explain, compare, contrast and assess are there to help you to focus and guide your attention. Also pay attention to any special restrictions such as dates, type of literature or specific cases.

Finally, if you are not sure what a question means, ASK.

B. Address the literature
Where a specific question has not been set it is important that you engage with the literature in you presentation. This is more than simply summarising what you have read: you should discuss the strengths and weaknesses or the author’s argument; consider the assumptions upon which the reading is based and address the methodology employed by the author(s).

5. The paper

Decide on your approach - are you going to give a balanced summary of the various opinions on the question, or are you going to show why you believe one opinion is better than another?

You should assume that the people in your seminar are intelligent but uninformed. Remember that presentations are not written for the benefit of the teacher, but should inform you and your classmates about the subject.

Style is important. You are NOT marked on the standard or quality of your English, but the more clearly you can express your ideas the easier it is for those in your discussion group. As in an essay your presentation requires:

Introduction
Main Body
Conclusion

You may wish to distribute handouts with your presentation to enable other to follow your argument more closely: where presentation are assessed this is required. The staff member in charge of the tutorial can help you with photocopying.

6. Nerves

Many people feel nervous when speaking in front of others. Seminars offer a friendly and supportive forum within which to develop the confidence needed to speak in public. Help yourself to relax by breathing slowly, and staying focussed on your presentation. Remember that your fellow students will be sympathetic to you as they will also have to make presentations. You can receive further advice from the teaching staff and from the student counsellors on how to deal with nerves.

Preparing for and Writing Examinations in Politics
Most courses in the Department of Politics and International Studies are examined by a combination of coursework (typically essays) and a formal written examination. The main exception is the Dissertation. The exam component of your final mark for each course can be up to 70%: please check your course outline or discuss with an appropriate member of staff to find the exact proportion of coursework/exam to final mark. These guidelines are designed to provide you with basic information on how to prepare for and take written exams. They should be read in conjunction with the other guidelines in the handbook, especially those that refer to essay writing.

Why take examinations?
Examinations are a way of assessing your understanding of a course you have taken during a single academic year. They require you write a number of essays (usually three) in a set time period (usually three hours). Examinations provide a fair assessment of your ability to assimilate and retain knowledge and to develop that knowledge in answer to a range of questions. Written exams therefore test your knowledge of a specific subject, your ability to reason and to argue on paper, and your skills of expression and communication.

How should I revise/prepare for the exam?

The best way to prepare for the examination is to work consistently throughout the year. If you have worked hard, kept up with all the required reading, attended your lectures and seminars, and read as much recommended reading as possible, preparing for the exams is straightforward.
Revision should consist of reminding yourself of material with which you are already familiar - it should not involve acquainting yourself with material for the first time. Where available, re-read required readings.
Read through your essays, and ideally those of your fellow class mates. Remember that re-reading a poor essay can teach you as much (with regard to technique and style) as a good essay. Read through notes you have taken in lectures or seminars and the notes you have taken on books and articles you have read.
You should familiarise yourself with key events and issues, and also with the various interpretations or explanations of these events and issues.
Read through previous examination papers - this will help to familiarise you with the format of the exam. However, always check that the exam format has not changed. Also, never prepare for a previous exam paper or try to guess/predict questions: the questions vary, often considerably, from year to year. However they will always reflect what has been taught on your course.
Write practice essays: writing an exam is physically and mentally demanding. An excellent way to prepare for this is by writing essays for one hour or two hours under exam conditions, either at home or in the library. This will improve your technique, enable you to manage time better, and help you to develop writing muscles that computer use has atrophied.
The benefits of placing books/revision notes under your pillow the night before the exam are as yet unproven.

How is the exam organised/what is on the exam/ what should I write?

The typical Politics exam is three hours long, and usually consists of a list of 12 questions. You will normally be asked to answer three question.
Note however that some papers will have greater or fewer than 12 questions, and some exams are of less than three hours: check your course outline and discuss the format with an appropriate member of staff.
Some papers are divided into sections. Always read the rubric very carefully and ensure that you answer the correct number of questions from the correct sections.
More specific details of each examination will be provided in a revision lecture/seminar, usually given a few weeks before the examination in Term 3.
The same advice for writing coursework essays applies to writing exam essays: please check the appropriate pages in the Handbook.
Knowledge from one course can often inform your understanding of another course: please use information from different parts of your degree to inform and cross-fertilise your answers. Try not to think in narrow, discrete units.
You should not repeat significant pieces of information in separate answers, or cross-references between your essays.
A very common question is: how long should my essay be? Assuming that you have to answer three questions in three hours, your essay should be 1 hour long. For four questions in three hours, your answer should be 45 minutes long. However remember to leave yourself time to think about and plan your answer and to read through your answer afterwards. For a one hour answer allow yourself at least 5 minutes to think about plan your answer, and not more than five minutes afterwards to read through what you have written and to check for errors/ambiguities.
Poor handwriting. Clarity of expression is very important in the exam, and if the markers cannot read your writing it will be difficult for them to assess your answer. If your handwriting is hard to read a simple way to improve its legibility is to write on every other line.

How are exams marked?
All exams in Politics are anonymously double marked. This means that your script is anonymous (it does not have your name on it) and it is marked by two members of staff independently of one another. Assessment is also moderated by the External Examiner.

Three pieces of Vital Information
The three most important pieces of information for any examination are the DATE, TIME and PLACE of the exam. This information is usually made available provisionally at the end of the second term, and is confirmed at the start of the third term. If you have any doubts please confirm with the Registry (Examinations Section) and/or the Faculty Office. It is vital that you have this information correct and it is your responsibility to attend the correct venue at the correct time.

Concessions (Dyslexia, Illness etc)
If there is any medical or personal reason that may have an influence on your exam performance, please alert your MSc Convenor or the course convenor, and notify the Registry (Examinations Section). You will usually be required to provide evidence to substantiate any request for a concession.

Guidelines for the Preparation of MSc Disserations

General Regulations

As part of the MSc course requirements, students are required to submit a dissertation of up to 10,000 words on a topic of their choice and in consultation with their supervisor. In some programmes the dissertation must relate to a specific area; see below for more advice on topics.

The dissertation accounts for 25% of the total assessment for the MSc programme, it is thus equivalent to one taught element. The mark for the dissertation is based on the dissertation alone, and follows the normal scale for the MSc. Students are required to complete the dissertation to a satisfactory standard (pass mark 50%) in order to complete the MSc, and may be required to resubmit the dissertation if it is unsatisfactory. The grading of dissertation follows broadly the same criteria as that used for grading essays.

The dissertation must not exceed 10,000 words, the word count includes quotations, footnotes, titles, abstracts, summaries and tables of contents. Appendices and bibliographies are not included in the word count. Appendices will not normally be marked and they must not include material essential to the argument developed in the main body of the work. The word limit must be strictly adhered to, please refer to page 28 of this handbook for a breakdown of the penalty scale for overlength coursework, dissertations that exceed 10,000 words may be penalised or rejected altogether. Candidates are further warned that, if there is an unrealistic ratio between the length of the text and the footnotes, this may also be taken to be non-compliance with the regulations.

Academic Requirements and Key Dates:
An introduction to the dissertation process, including advice on picking a topic, research methods, and writing up, will be held during January/February 2013 (date to be advised).

Dissertation Topic Proposal: In January, all MSc students will receive a dissertation topic and prospective supervisor form from the Law and Social Sciences Faculty Office that must be returned, together with a working title and brief outline of the proposed topic, usually by Friday of the week following Reading Week Term 2. At the beginning of the second term you should therefore consult with your prospective supervisor to discuss this outline. The Department as a whole allocates supervisory responsibilities after these proposals have been received. In most cases students will receive the supervisor they expect, but in some the Department will specify an alternative based on the topic proposed.

A more detailed outline and at least one draft chapter should then be submitted to the supervisor by the end of June 2013. This date marks the end of formal teaching and it is likely that most members of the Department will only be available for supervision at specified times or by email until September.

The purpose of the dissertation is to enable students to demonstrate their capacity to carry out a substantial piece of independent academic work on a selected topic. Students will be assessed on their capacity to define a topic for examination, to articulate a coherent scheme for examining this topic, to gather the necessary information, and to present and analyse this information in a way which satisfactorily addresses the question which has been set.

Students are reminded that all work submitted as part of the requirements for any examination of the University of London must be expressed in their own words and incorporate their own ideas and judgements (see plagiarism statement below). Any suspected plagiarism must be referred to the Academic Registrar.

With the above dates in mind, students should start thinking about the topics they wish to tackle. Inevitably, however, prospective supervisors will be best placed to provide more detailed advice, so students should initiate discussions with them in the first weeks of the Second Term.

Students are encouraged to select dissertation topics which are linked to the themes covered in other parts of their MSc. They may be primarily empirical investigations of an aspect of politics in the region on which the student is specialising, or they may be theoretical investigations of questions raised in disciplinary courses. For those students on the MSc International Politics, their proposed topic must have an international or foreign policy dimension, a requirement which the Department will evaluate carefully. For those students taking a regional MSc, their proposed topic must have clear relevance to the politics of that region. In all cases, topics should be clearly focussed: a piece of work carried out over 3-4 months to a maximum of 10,000 words can provide scope for only a limited amount of research and the more focussed the topic, the greater the opportunity to produce an interesting and to some extent original piece of work. All dissertation titles are sent to the external examiner for approval and cannot be changed after July 15 2013.

The dissertation outline should include the following:

Name:
Working Title:
Statement of the research hypothesis/argument (max. 500 words)
A rationale for the topic, explaining the theoretical or practical relevance of the topic and its relation to the existing literature (max. 300 words)
A brief outline of the dissertation, indicating the principal sections into which it will be divided (max. 300 words)
Methodology. State the methods of investigation to be employed, including an indication of the sources to be consulted. Students should here raise any problems which they foresee in collecting adequate data (max. 150 words)
Bibliography. This should include at least 10 readily accessible items of direct relevance to your topic.

Following discussion of the proposal with the supervisor, and its modification where necessary, students will then carry out the programme of research required and write up the results. Since the dissertation is substantially longer than an essay, it is particularly important for students to take notes accurately and file them carefully, in order to ensure that they have access to the right information at the right time. It is good practice to keep a list of sources consulted and to file notes either by source, or according to the place at which the material is to be used in the dissertation. Where word-processing makes it easy to make duplicate copies of notes, it may be helpful to do both.

The role of the supervisor

The main responsibilities of the supervisor are as follows:

to meet with the student a maximum of three times, once before and twice after reading week in the second term;
to discuss and approve the choice of topic and dissertation plan;
to provide guidance on the preparation of the dissertation (sources to be used, method of analysis);
to read and comment on the dissertation outline and at least one chapter of the dissertation draft;
to act as the first marker following the 15th September 2013 submission deadline. (All dissertations will be assessed by two internal examiners as well as an external examiner.)

The supervisor does not, however, have any responsibility for the preparation of the dissertation itself, for the ideas and material that it contains, or for the standard that it attains; the dissertation must be entirely the student's own work, and the help given by the supervisor must necessarily be limited.

The dissertation should include the following elements:

Cover: this should state the title of the dissertation, the name of the student, the degree scheme for which it is submitted (e.g. MSc in Asian Politics).
Title Page: this should give the same information as on the cover, together with the statement: "This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MSc (full title of the degree for which you are registered) of the University of London", followed by the date.
Table of Contents: this should list the contents of the dissertation by chapters or sections where appropriate, and the page number for each, together with the page number for the notes, bibliography, and any maps, figures and tables.
Abstract: this should provide a brief statement, of not more than two hundred words, of the main themes or findings of the dissertation.
Acknowledgements: students may wish to acknowledge any help that they have received in the preparation of their dissertation.
Main Text: each main heading (sections, references, bibliography) should start on a new page; sections within main headings may continue on the same page.
References: footnotes should be numbered consecutively and the references to which they refer should be placed in order after the main text, and before the bibliography.
Bibliography: the bibliography should list all works used in the preparation of the dissertation, including all those noted in the references; further guidance on the bibliography is given below.

Bibliography and References

Preparation of the Bibliography is an important part of the dissertation; it should be presented in the following form:

Documentary sources: official documents and reports, by origin in alphabetical order;
Books and Articles: these should be listed by author in alphabetical order, in the form given below;
Newspapers and Periodicals: these should be listed in alphabetical order, with their place of publication;
Interviews: people interviewed, where appropriate, should be listed in alphabetical order, with a brief description of their standing.

References in the footnotes and bibliography should be presented in the following form:

Books: author, title of book, (place and date of publication); e.g.: R.H. Jackson, Quasi-states: Sovereignty, International Relations and the Third World (Cambridge, 1990). If you prefer you can use underlining instead of italics.
Articles in journals: author, 'title of article', title of journal, volume and number, year, pages; e.g. R.W. Cox, 'Multilateralism and world order', Review of International Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2, 1992, pp. 55-72.
Chapters in edited books: author, 'title of chapter', in editor, title of book, (place and year of publication); e.g. J. Herbst, 'The United States and Africa: Issues for the Future', in J.W. Harbeson and D. Rothchild, eds., Africa in World Politics (Boulder, 1991).
Documents: conform to the same pattern as far as possible (with appropriate variations); e.g. Correspondence respecting the Earl of Elgin's special missions to China and Japan, 1857 to 1859, Parliamentary Papers 1859, vol. xxxiii.
Where quoting documents directly, give a description of document as well as identifying source; e.g. Clarendon to Elgin, 20 April 1857, Parliamentary. Papers 1859, vol. xxxiii.
Where quoting documents at second hand, make this clear; e.g. Miller, quoted in Jackson, Quasi-states, p. 170.
These conventions may be adapted for other forms of publication; the essential requirement is that the principal title (title of book or periodical) should be underlined or italicised, while subtitles should be in inverted commas; dates and places should be included.

Abbreviations are a convenience to the writer, which should not inconvenience the reader (by being made cryptic or unintelligible).

Where you devise your own, make them self-evident (i.e. not requiring a separate key or explanation); however some journals have standard abbreviations; e.g. B.S.O.A.S.
ibid. This refers only to the immediately preceding note; it cites the same work (hence cannot be used if the previous note cited several); but you can vary the volume/page reference, e.g. ibid., p. 241 (where a different page was cited previously).
op.cit. This refers to a previously cited work by the same author and cannot be used where more than one work by that author has already been cited.

Some writers, especially in social sciences such as anthropology and economics but increasingly in other areas, use the author-date system, sometimes called the Harvard system. Here, references to secondary sources are made by author, date, and page number if necessary, and are placed in brackets in the main body of the text. The full reference can then easily be found in the bibliography at the back. For example: The political causes of economic stagnation are more controversial (Joshi and Little, 1987, pp. 371-8). An alternative way of setting out the reference is (Joshi and Little 1987: 371-8). If you use this system, then the bibliography must obviously be laid out in a way that makes it easy to identify each entry:
Joshi, Vijay and Little, I.M.D. 1987. 'Indian Macroeconomics Policies'. Economic and Political Weekly, 15, pp. 313-6
Where an author has published more than one item in a year, then it is usual to distinguish by lower case letters, 1987a, 1987b, etc.

Click here for assessment guidelines for postgraduate MA/MSc students

SECTION D- HELP & ADVICE

There are many different sources of help and advice available to students: it is very important that you make use of the support systems if you need to do so. Small, easily solved problems may grow rapidly into big, difficult ones if nothing is done about them. Such difficulties are particularly common in the first year.

Email
Students should check their SOAS email account regularly as important information about your degree and/or courses will be sent from tutors and the faculty office. Details of how to forward messages automatically to another email account (eg hotmail) are given in the Faculty Handbook and the Students Union handbook.

Timetable
Students should check the up-to-date timetable by referring to www.soas.ac.uk/timetable. If you find that your core courses clash you should complete the on-line form at www.soas.ac.uk/timetable or consult the Faculty Office for advice.

Student Representatives, Departmental Meeting and the Staff –Student Forum
Each year student representatives are elected for the BA, MSc and PhD programmes. Representatives are invited to attend departmental meetings of the academic staff and to raise matters of concern. The forum is the means by which students representatives and staff can issues relating to specific courses and teaches, whereas the department meeting deals with more general issues. There are separate staff-student forums for BA, MSc and PhD representatives. They meet at least once a term. The BA staff-student forum is made up of student representatives, Undergraduate Tutor and the Head of Department. You will be given more information on the election of student representatives at the beginning of the first term.

For Student Services contacts (Welfare, Counselling, Disabilities, and Mental Health and Wellbeing) see:

http://www.soas.ac.uk/studentservices/contact/.

N.B. For information on making appointments and drop-in times, see:

http://www.soas.ac.uk/studentservices/appointment/.

SECTION E- DEPARTMENT INFORMATION & USEFUL CONTACTS

KEY CONTACTS

For faculty contacts see http://www.soas.ac.uk/lawsocialsciences/keystaff/

For department contacts see http://www.soas.ac.uk/politics/staff/

For Registry contacts see http://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/

For Library contacts and information see http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/subjects/devstudies/

For Careers contacts and information see http://www.soas.ac.uk/careers/about/

KEY DATES

For terms and other key dates see http://www.soas.ac.uk/about/keydates/.

For events at SOAS see:

http://www.soas.ac.uk/about/events/ and http://www.soas.ac.uk/careers/events/

KEY LOCATIONS

For a map of the SOAS’ campus, please see http://www.soas.ac.uk/visitors/location/maps/.

Teaching at SOAS takes place on different sites. For more information on how to find rooms, see:

http://www.soas.ac.uk/timetable/teaching-and-meeting-rooms/finding/.

ACCESSING READING LISTS & COURSE INFORMATION ONLINE

BLE is run on Moodle, a virtual learning environment which is used to make reading lists and other course information available online. Log-on to http://ble.soas.ac.uk. For further information about BLE, contact ble@soas.ac.uk. During the busy registration period, all students will have access to all courses within their registered departments. From the second week of term, students will only have access to courses they are registered for. If you don’t have access to any of your courses on BLE, there is likely to be a problem with your registration. In this case, please contact the faculty office as soon as possible.

SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Department of Politics and International Studies