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Dissertation and Sources

BillieTheBotBillieTheBot Posts: 8,721 Bot
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I'm a History student, and I need to decide what I'm doing my disseration on soon, so I can get myself a supervisor sorted out. Because of the limits on how many people a tutor can supervise, I'm trying to sort it ASAP so I get someone I like and will feel comfortable discussing my work with, as not all of the tutors are like that.

Anyway, I've (pretty much) decided to do it on Russia and the February 1917 revolution, focusing on the end of Romanov rule. Only thing that concerns me slightly is primary source material, and the fact that a lot of it will most likely be in Russian, which I unfortunatly can't read.

So my question is, does anyone have any experience of doing a dissertation where they have had to work with sources in different languages, and does this present much of a problem? We have a dissertation meeting for all students in about 6 weeks, but I don't want to wait until then. I also have an appointment to see the Russian History specialist at the uni, so I can ask him, but I just wondered if anyone had any experiences.
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Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sometimes I have had to use sources from Ancient Greece but generally speaking they have all been translated into English. Just have to give a credit to the translator in the footnotes and put whos translation you used in the bibliography. Also I have found that the translations can vary so this can be to your advantage if you pick the version which best supports your point.

    Do you have a dissertation "supervisor" who you could ask?

    If your degree is straight history then I am sure they don't expect you to learn enough Russian to be able to translate it yourself.

    Good luck with it :)

    I really should be doing my dissertation right now instead of wasting time on thesite
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't have a supervisor yet, I've started to sort things out about 2 months before everone is getting told to do it. Hopefully the guy I see tomorrow will have more info and agree to supervise me.

    Thanks for the help :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't have a supervisor yet, I've started to sort things out about 2 months before everone is getting told to do it. Hopefully the guy I see tomorrow will have more info and agree to supervise me.

    Thanks for the help :)
    You sound way too keen to me!

    But yeah, it's like that at my university too. I only choose mine in September though :o but everyone else choose them towards the end of last academic year.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm only sorting it out this early because each tutor can supervise a maximum of 7 people here, and even with my shoddy maths I'm not sure there is enough staff for the amount of students, and I want to get someone with the right research interests that I like. I can't think of anything worse than having to see one of the people I don't like and having to do a topic I dislike because the other tutors are taken.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    At UCL the chemistry department gives first choice for final year projects etc to the person with the highest exam results, second choice to the next highest etc. So if you are thick you get the one nobody else wants!

    Thankfully I am doing my final year project in a much nicer department than chemistry.
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