Module Directory

Many undergraduates in the Department of Sociology at Essex carry out a research project in the final year of their degree. The third-year project offers you the opportunity to focus on a topic of your choice that relates broadly to your degree course. You will find that this can be an extremely worthwhile learning experience. Carrying out a project improves your employability skills, and can be a springboard to postgraduate study.
The project can take a variety of forms ranging from empirical research using methods such as surveys, questionnaires, interviews and content analysis to library based theoretical work. Unlike other assignments, it involves you conducting and writing-up a piece of individual, autonomously designed research.

The undergraduate sociology project is the equivalent of one full year module in your degree course and must be between 10,000 and 12,000 words in length. It runs in parallel with your other third year modules - although some of you may choose to begin work on your project during the summer term following your second year.

While you will receive guidance from the project director and your supervisor, ultimately the success of your research will depend on the way in which you develop your ideas and plan and execute your project.

The aims of this module are:

• to research and produce a substantial piece of original work


• to draw together the knowledge that the student has acquired on the programme and will enable them to develop and demonstrate methodological, analytical, and writing skills.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Have knowledge of key sociological research concepts and theories.


2. Have knowledge of the principles of research design for your chosen empirical approach.


3. Have knowledge of the epistemological, ethical and political dimensions of sociological research.


4. Have the ability to develop a reasoned argument.


5. Gain the ability to formulate sociological questions.


6. Gain the ability to summarise, report and evaluate arguments, texts and findings.


7. Gain the ability to frame a research proposal and to identify and apply the appropriate research methods.


8. Gain the ability to understand, summarise and critically assess sociological work


9. Gain the ability to produce independent work.


10. Gain the ability to conduct and present a small scale piece of sociological research.


11. Gain the ability to present ideas and evidence to others in a clear and concise manner.


12. Gain the ability to identify problems and propose solutions.


13. Gain the ability to plan work, manage time, reflect on work, and respond constructively to the comments of others

Indicative syllabus

1. Final Year Project Introduction


2. Ethics Workshop


3. Writing the Literature Review


4. Data Collection and Access Workshop


5. Structuring and Writing your Project

• Introductory lecture and a mandatory conference project day (for 2nd years) in Summer Term;
• 4 lectures in Autumn term (for 3rd years) + supervision sessions with project supervisor.
• 1 lecture in Spring term.