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EC831 Lectures
Tuesday (AU Term): 14:00-15:00 Zoom Webinar (live)
One lecture in SP Term: Monday, week 18 (30 Jan 2023),
9:00-10:00, Zoom Webinar
Classes (Spring Term)
Support Classes (Stata/R/other package): 5 classes per week,
one hour each (weeks 17-25)
(Mon 16:00-17:00 (x2); Mon 17:00-18:00 (x2); and Thu
10:00-11:00)
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 2 / 22
General Information (1)
1 EC831 is a compulsory module for all economics degrees
2 It is 30 credits (i.e., it counts twice towards your final year
average)
3 It is structured in the following way:
(a) Literature Review and Project Plan (15% of the mark)
(b) Oral Presentation of the Literature Review and Project Plan
(15% of the mark)
(c) Final Dissertation (70% of the mark)
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 3 / 22
General Information (2)
Literature Review — 1,500 words max
Project Plan — 200 words max
Deadline: Wednesday, 14 December 2022, 12:00 noon
Oral Presentation — You will do it in February 2023
Final Dissertation — (see next slide)
It includes the Literature Review (but not the Project Plan)
Deadline: 28 April 2023
Check on FASER and Moodle
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 4 / 22
General Information (3)
Students can choose to write their dissertation solo (on their own) or
in a team (maximum 3 people)
(1) If solo (1 student), the dissertation must be of 5,000 words
maximum
(2) If team of 2 students, the dissertation must be of 6,000
words maximum
(3) If team of 3 students, the dissertation must be of 7,000
words maximum
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 5 / 22
General Information (4)
In all cases (1)–(3) in the previous slide, the maximum number
of words includes the literature review, but excludes abstract,
references, tables and figures
There is no minimum number of words, but you should try to
show your best effort to achieve the best result you can
Formation of a team is your decision
You choose what is best for you!
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 6 / 22
Project Title
By now, each of you should have your title chosen from the list
provided (in EC831 Moodle, see under Project) or proposed by
yourself
If you have not chosen a title yet, Professor Vernasca/I will
randomly assign one to you
If you dislike the title randomly assigned to you, then you must
propose your own title and send it to Prof. Vernasca or me
Time is running out, and if you want to propose your own title
you should do it as soon as possible
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 7 / 22
Amending the Title of Your Project
Can you change your title?
(a) To a completely different topic: No, it is impractical at our end,
making the organization of the module cumbersome
(b) To a slightly different title (but keeping your main topic
unchanged): Yes, this can be done at any time (in agreement
with your supervisor)
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 8 / 22
Why Does the Project Matter? (1)
The project will enable you to demonstrate knowledge of how
economic ideas can be applied in greater depth to relevant
economic issues
You will develop important skills (for future career and future
studies):
1 Research skills: Your ability to produce independent/original
research on a given problem
2 Writing skills: Your ability to produce a coherent and logical
written report
3 Presentation skills: Your ability to present the findings of your
literature review in front of an audience
Our data shows that the project mark tends to increase
students’ final year average → better degree classification
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 9 / 22
Why Does the Project Matter? (2)
Your dissertation can be important in job interviews
Meeting, and having discussions with, your supervisor helps you
in getting good reference letters
The best project (i.e., highest mark) receives the Prize for Best
Project – good publicity and good for your CV
The project can be published in the Essex Economics
Students Journal (EESJ) – good publicity and good for your
CV
In general: after your project, you will be a better economist,
capable to apply what you have learnt to answer an economic
question → this is what employers look for
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 10 / 22
Supervision
You will all be allocated to a supervisor (member of staff)
It is your responsibility to contact your supervisor to meet
and discuss your project
You must meet your supervisors, AT LEAST twice each term
The expectation is to have 4 hours total contact time
with your supervisor
You should submit drafts of your literature review and the final
project to your supervisors well in advance relative to deadlines
Since supervisors may not be available off-term, you should
submit a draft of your final project to your supervisor by the
end of Spring Term (you should discuss further with your
supervisor about this)
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 11 / 22
What to Expect/Not to Expect from Supervisors
Supervisors are here to help and guide you towards your
research activity for the project
Expect
(a) Discuss the approach, coverage and questions to be asked
(b) Feedback on your work
Not to Expect
(a) The supervisor to do the job for you: telling you exactly
what and how to write, uploading datasets, finding data,
running regressions, etc.
Meet your supervisor regularly and well prepared in advance
If you have problems with your supervisor, please contact me
by email or in my academic support hours
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 12 / 22
Marking Criteria (1)
How do we assess a project?
* e.g., theoretical analysis, critical discussion of the literature, econometrics (if
needed), data presentation and analysis (if needed), use of examples, case
studies, etc.
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 13 / 22
Marking Criteria (2)
The table above is just a part of the Feedback Form you will
receive together with your dissertation mark criteria
The full version will be available in the Moodle page of EC831,
along with the Feedback Form of the Literature Review and Plan
and the general Marking Criteria used in Economics
To give you an idea, a First Class mark:
(a) Your project should show that you master economic analysis. It
must show that you are capable of:
doing proper economic research, depending on your title and
your approach (for example data analysis, regression analysis,
critical analysis of the literature, case studies, etc.), and
using appropriate economic reasoning (right economic
principles, proper terminology, etc.).
(I will explain more in detail what this means during the
lectures)
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 14 / 22
Marking Criteria (3)
(b) The project must be very well written in English (academic
writing) and very well structured (good sensible headings, titles,
etc.; the structure will be discussed in future lectures).
(I will explain more in detail what that means during the
lectures)
This is not an easy task, but it is feasible if you put the right amount
of effort
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 15 / 22
Marking Criteria (4)
These lectures will provide you with the tools to be able to complete
a proper project, which means:
How to research articles;
how to read them;
how to write a literature review, and the dissertation in general;
how to structure the project, etc.
Keep in mind:
The project is really your OWN WORK (independent research)
You should aim to show off your academic skill, all the skills
you pick up while at Essex
You can/should see examples of First Class projects in the EESJ
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 16 / 22
Marking Distribution of EC831 in 2021–2022
Distribution
First (≥ 70) 49%
60-69 30%
50-59 11%
40-49 8%
Fail 2%
Total 100
In 2021/22, 79% of students obtained a mark in the project
≥ 60 (not bad!)
7 students failed (a mark below 40), so they had to resubmit
over the summer of 2021 (or later)
It is possible to get good grades, but you need to put some effort
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 17 / 22
Basic Rules for a Good Mark
1 Demonstrate that you understand your topic (why it is
important and what you need to address it)
2 Explain what others have written about your topic and what
techniques they used (this is the literature review). Critically
discuss their strengths and limitations. Explain how these relate
to and inform your own work. Cite correctly and do not plagiarise
3 Think economics and apply economics (and if needed data
analysis) to your question. Demonstrate your understanding of
your approach and techniques
4 Organise and present your work well. A clear and logical
structure, clear labelling and explanation of any tables, graphs
and equations
5 Write clearly, logically, and in a professional academic style
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 18 / 22
Plagiarism (1)
Always use “ ... ” when quoting any source and write down the
source. Avoid long quotations (that is bad style).
Example of a quotation: “. . . Friedman argued that monetary
policy could not permanently influence the levels of real output,
unemployment, or real rates of return on securities” (Sargent
and Wallace, 1981).
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 19 / 22
Plagiarism (2)
Basic Rules
(a) Do not copy from any source (internet, your friends, an essay
you have submitted previously (self-plagiarism)) directly into
your submitted work, unless you are careful to ensure that all the
extracts you include are enclosed in quotation marks
(b) It is not sufficient merely to add a citation for the source of
copied material following the copied material (typically the end
of a paragraph). You must include the copied material in
quotation marks
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 20 / 22
Plagiarism (3)
Keep in mind:
(1) Every project will be reviewed using a software to spot copied
material. If there is plagiarism it will be found out
(2) Markers may also report if the paper looks suspect, and may
confer with the supervisor to consider whether this seems to be
your own work (normally it is not difficult to spot this)
(3) Ignorance of the rules is no defence
(4) Penalties can be very severe: from a formal warning to getting a
mark of 0 in the project and this can normally mean no
degree!
(5) Bottom line: DON’T COPY without properly citing the
sources
Marco Francesconi (Essex) EC831 - Lecture 1 AU 2022, Essex 21 / 22
Basic Readings
There is not a single references on how to write an economics
dissertation properly. Here are some references you may want to look