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5. The research project should be written up in the form of a dissertation, and should follow theguidelines set out in the American Psychological Association‟s Publication Manual (6 thedition).Dissertation Support MeetingsA requirement of your enrolment in the first Research Dissertation unit includes attendance atSupport Meetings while developing and working on your dissertation. Your attendance at thesemeetings is essential. Supervisors are unable to give individual time to those students who do notmake maximum use of class time. You need attend these meetings only while you are enrolled inDissertation Preparation Ia.Dissertation meetings are held fortnightly throughout semester 2 on Thursday, 2pm – 4pm. Theywill provide you with information that is directly relevant to the development of your proposal, andlater work on your dissertation. Ethical issues and information regarding development of the Ethicsproposal, as well as structural information on writing a proposal are covered.SupervisionPart of your early deliberations in choosing a supervisor should involve a visit to your adviser whowill help to clarify your supervisory needs. If you are stuck for dissertation ideas you may wish toapproach various other members of staff if you: (a) have a few general areas of interest and wish todiscuss these with one or more members of staff or (b) wish to join an ongoing research projectbeing carried out by a staff member. The primary dissertation supervisor must be a Curtin staffmember, however, students may also have an external supervisor or adviser.The ideal is to begin thinking about your research area a few months prior to developing theproposal and carrying out the research. Organise a supervisor, then work together in developing theplan of research and the research proposal. It is typical for supervisors to offer more intensiveadvice at this phase of development, through to submission of the proposal. It is most effective toplan a regular meeting throughout the process of research. It is important that you select asupervisor with whom you can work effectively. It is useful to discuss supervision styles and seehow they fit in with your working pattern. For example, a good fit would be a supervisor who iscomfortable with weekly meetings, and a student who likes regular contact and discussion. A bad„fit‟ would be a supervisor who lets the student set the pace (meetings etc), with a student whoprefers a more structured, consistent working relationship (or who knows they need a bit ofpressure!). It is important to consider supervisor availability with regard to long service leave andstudy leave.SupervisorsThe role of supervision is to provide academic guidance, advice and support for the researchdissertation to be prepared by the student. It is expected that the supervisor will assist with directingthe student to appropriate reference reading, discuss the theoretical and practical issues associatedwith the development of the proposal and carrying out the research, and provide feedback on draftcopies of the proposal and dissertation. Supervision should occur regularly, the frequencydepending on the phase of the research. For example, meetings may be an hour a week in theearly stages, reduce to half an hour every two weeks as the data are being analysed and thedissertation written up. It is expected that the supervisor will provide feedback on no more than twowritten drafts of each section of the dissertation. All work is expected to be grammaticallycorrect and presented in APA format.Once the student has completed the dissertation, it is marked. In the case of changes beingnecessary, it is expected that the student will liaise with the supervisor until the changes have beencompleted in a satisfactory manner and the final mark awarded.17Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology.CRICOS Provider Code 00301J (WA), 02637B (NSW)