Back to Studying; Dissertation Year begins!..
…by Kiki / from Nigeria / MSc Global Health and Infectious Diseases 2017-2018
Its back to school again. And because this is my final year (a.k.a, dissertation year), this deserves a thousand YAAAYS!!!
I welcome everyone – full-time and ODL – back to school again. I hope you all had an awesome break. I also want to congratulate all of my known colleagues who have now completed their ODL Masters program. To Yusuf, Ellen, Chaona, Salima, Ben, Velma, Lesley, Erin, Daniel, Sandile, Naveen, Imran and Frances … Congratulations to you all and I wish you the very best in your future endeavors.
I must admit that I had a really long blog-holiday (shall we call it blog-iday? lol)… 3 whole months of it. And through the whole duration of “blog-idays”, activities went on and milestones were achieved. Some of which are;
– I successfully completed the courses Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), my last two courses for Year 2
– The annual GHID Summer School was held in Uganda – which I sadly (much sadly) could not attend due to conflicting schedules in Nigeria
– I received my qualifying final grades for the second year, hence I have now proceeded to my final (dissertation) year of study
As expected with the dissertation year, the main purpose is to undertake and complete a named peer-reviewed research thesis that would complete the requirements for an MSc qualification. As all my coursework have officially been completed, I would miss the usual discussions and interactions with my colleagues and course supervisors that we have all been used to for the past 2 sessions. However, I am really glad to be moving to next and final phase of study.
The dissertation is expected to be largely independent study undertaken by the student but with direct supervision by the allocated personal tutor and/or course supervisor.
Over the long break, I got to begin my dissertation journey after being contacted by my personal tutor on the matter. I then sent in short note based on my dissertation idea after which I had a series of Skype conversations with my supervisor, Dr. Kim. She was very helpful in guiding me through the process of idea validation and fine-tuning. I have now written and submitted a concept note towards my proposed dissertation and I am expecting further communication on this. I look forward to discussing with you all, the details of my dissertation after the concept note has been confirmed and I am given the go-ahead to undertake the research project.
This dissertation is very important to me not just because it is needed for me to complete my Masters program, but will give me a sure background and experience into scientific peer-reviewed research. (This is much needed as I intend to undertake a PhD). More importantly, it will provide useful information and data for a deeper understanding of my proposed subject area in my country, Nigeria.
So, I look forward to working on this over the course of the year, and being successful at it.
Wish me luck everyone and until next time!
