MSc Financial Crime and Compliance in Digital Societies (top-up) (blended learning)

The programme has a mandatory dissertation component (60 credits) made up of two optional pathways. This unit specification covers Option B, the short dissertation.

Students will submit a 6,000-8,000 word short dissertation, exploring a topic of their choice through a systematic review and critical analysis of relevant academic, official and/or grey literature. The short dissertation will not involve original empirical research/data collection.

In addition, students must complete 2 x Research Skills in Practice ‘topics’ on: Critical Appraisal of the Literature and Your Responsibilities as a Researcher. These ‘topics' offer research skills to those at a more nascent stage of research development and provide foundational insights into key research practice issues, and thus supplement the short dissertation.
 

CRIM73000 FCC Online Condition

The unit aims to provide students with the opportunity to produce a short dissertation on a topic of their choice, under the guidance of a dissertation supervisor, through desk-based research using relevant academic, official and grey literature. This will enable students to apply the theoretical and conceptual knowledge and understanding, and knowledge and skills on searching for and critically analysing literature, gained through this programme. The unit will also provide students with knowledge and understanding on ‘Critical appraisal of the literature’ and ‘Your responsibility as a researcher’ via two Research Skills in Practice ‘topics’. 

Individual supervision from allocated dissertation supervisor (online meetings and email communication). Students are entitled to up to 4 hours of online supervision meetings.

By the end of the unit, students should be able to:

Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a topic related to financial crime and/or compliance in digital societies, and demonstrate understanding of key principles of critical literature appraisal and researcher responsibility as introduced in the RSiP modules. 
 

Formulate a clear and focused research question or objective based on a critical review of the literature. Synthesise academic, official and grey literature to construct coherent, evidence-based arguments. 
 

Conduct independent desk-based research using appropriate search strategies and critical appraisal methods. 

Communicate findings of in-depth literature review clearly and concisely in written form. 

• Submission of short dissertation of 6,000-8,000 words (worth 66.6% - 40 credits).
• Research Skills in Practice topic 1: Written assignment - 1,500 words (worth 16.7% - 10 credits).    
• Research Skills in Practice topic 2: Written assignment - 1,500 words (worth 16.7% - 10 credits).
   

Feedback will be provided through individual supervision meetings with allocated academic during the dissertation and final written feedback provided 30 working days after submission.

Cottrell, S. (2011) Critical thinking skills. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Sieber, J. (1992) Planning ethically responsible research: A guide for students and internal review boards. London: SAGE. 

Topic-specific reading list dependent on research area.