What's your dissertation about?

[Yellow Fang]

Say you went back to university to study a 1 year Masters degree in something. In the third trimester you have to do a project and/or write a dissertation on it. What would yours be?

I was thinking of a few:

1. Which was more critical to the British war effort in WW2, the Spitfire or Hurricane?
2. Were British WW2 heavy bombers over-manned?
3. Inflation since 1824 - how much was a pound worth compared with 2024?
4. Linen as a form of wealth in the 18th Century

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Is it right to alter history to suit present day ideology?

 

[Drago]

Mine was The Probable Structure of the Jovian Atmosphere Across All Altitudes.

Were I to do another it would be...

The Political Inclinations of Marmite Crisps Eaters.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

If I were to go back to University I would like to do more stuff around Astro Chemistry - if I stuck to my original subject

However, I do not have my original notes and the subject has, for some reason, advanced a lot since 1981!!!!!
so exactly what I would do it on would be difficult to determine!

If I was to do it on something i have done since then it would be IT based - but again - since I worked on it seriously things like cloud stuff (proper cloud - not marketing speak for "you using our computer for storage and us charging you for it"
WHich I was supposed to be studying on an MSc in 2002 but the course was cancelled with 2 weeks notice - which is still a sore subject!!!

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Chris Rea and his time machine, did he really change the world?

 

[Baldy]

Interesting question, first time around was pyroclastic flows. If I were to do it again, maybe methyl hydrate degassing in the Arctic Ocean. Not that I ever worked in Geosciences, it's just an interest.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I did do a dissertation as part of my PGCE to qualify to be a teacher

It was about the use of Interactive whiteboards as part of teaching - as they were new to school at the time and most were stuck in a corner and not used
I thought they could be a very useful tools for teaching in many subjects - which I went on to prove by doing just that a year or so later

Never been quite sure if it was really a dissertation or just a long essay with the word dissertation nailed to it for marketing purposes!!

Problem with the subjects I have some expertise in is that they move forward fast!

 

[Grant Fondo]

Chris Rea and his time machine, did he really change the world?

The winner right there.
I would do 'Chris Rea and his Seed Drill Revolution - 1701-1715'
What a legend.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I did do a dissertation as part of my PGCE to qualify to be a teacher

It was about the use of Interactive whiteboards as part of teaching - as they were new to school at the time and most were stuck in a corner and not used
I thought they could be a very useful tools for teaching in many subjects - which I went on to prove by doing just that a year or so later

Never been quite sure if it was really a dissertation or just a long essay with the word dissertation nailed to it for marketing purposes!!

Problem with the subjects I have some expertise in is that they move forward fast!

I suspect it was the invention of non permanent marker pens that made them viable. Otherwise you would have to replace them every time you wrote over them.

 

[grldtnr]

I think I'd do a dissertation about the various brewers of oat meal stout and other porters and dark ales,
At the very least I'd have bloody good time doing it.....perhaps including a study in falling of bar stools and intricacies of internal and external waste plumbing.
Not much, perhaps in furthering education, but at least it's many sided egg !

 

[Drago]

If you're writing a science paper I've fou d the knack is to write about something unlikely to be disproven in my lifetime.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I think I'd do a dissertation about the various brewers of oat meal stout and other porters and dark ales,
At the very least I'd have bloody good time doing it.....perhaps including a study in falling of bar stools and intricacies of internal and external waste plumbing.
Not much, perhaps in furthering education, but at least it's many sided egg !

That's a good one. What is the difference between stout and porter?

 

[Yellow Fang]

If I were to go back to University I would like to do more stuff around Astro Chemistry - if I stuck to my original subject

However, I do not have my original notes and the subject has, for some reason, advanced a lot since 1981!!!!!
so exactly what I would do it on would be difficult to determine!

If I was to do it on something i have done since then it would be IT based - but again - since I worked on it seriously things like cloud stuff (proper cloud - not marketing speak for "you using our computer for storage and us charging you for it"
WHich I was supposed to be studying on an MSc in 2002 but the course was cancelled with 2 weeks notice - which is still a sore subject!!!

Astrochemistry is a bit beyond me. It would be interesting to do a dissertation on heavy water. In the 60s Batman series The Penguin made some of his henchmen drink heavy water but they all disappeared into thin air when they were hit too hard. That would not happen, but I have heard heavy water is poisonous to drink, why?

Another chemistry dissertation: why do some elements end in 'ium' and other elements just in 'um'. If there is a reason for it then we would know who is right, us or the Americans, in whether it is 'aluminium' or 'aluminum'.

 

[dicko]

I didn’t do a dissertation in fourth year sec mod but each boy/girl had to talk for ten minutes on their hobby. My talk was on flying control line diesel powered model aircraft which interested the boys and all the girls dozed off.

 

[Grant Fondo]

I've done three and I don't intend to do another one anytime soon.