This case study analyses undergraduate dissertations, and the supports needed to increase the number of them that are ready to be published in peer reviewed journals. It looks at the supports needed by undergraduates to produce unique dissertations that successfully add to the body of knowledge, and which provides the undergraduates with a portfolio of work to showcase their academic writing and research capabilities for future career progression opportunities.

It builds on previous research presented at the 13th Annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULearn) 2021. This research investigated a new approach to academic writing to improve the quality of assignments, and the confidence of the students writing them, using theories from the field of behavioural science to explain to students their ethical responsibilities with academic writing, when engaging with undergraduate studies. This research is specifically focused at undergraduate dissertations, with a view to exploring the research supports needed to help more students achieve a goal of having a publishable body of work in a peer reviewed journal upon graduation.

This case study examines the findings from 200-university undergraduates who are submitting their final year undergraduate dissertations in 2024. These students were all within the same university, and at the time of survey had all completed and submitted their final dissertation, having spent the previous 18-months working towards the final submitted project. The undergraduate students were all advised at the beginning of their programme of study (in the student handbook), that the ultimate goal of a well-written dissertation is a body of work that is publishable in a peer-reviewed journal with only minor amendments.

The preliminary results show that there are three key areas where these students lack supports that would help set them upon the path to producing a body of research at undergraduate level that effectively adds to the body of knowledge. These include:
- Tools for developing the ability to follow a research thread to its natural conclusion without stopping prematurely, and then being able to cross relate information of relevance from this to their research.
- Tools for developing the ability to effectively and efficiently filter relevant information from general information
- Tools for developing the ability to structure research papers and write in a time-efficient manner

This is broadly practitioner based research across a single case study as illustrative of real-world phenomena. The methodology for comparison draws heavily on Bereday’s model of comparative styles and their predispositions (Bereday, 1964).

The key outcome of this paper will be to develop insights into the supports needed at an undergraduate dissertation writing level, so as to produce more dissertations of publishable quality in peer reviewed journals. These findings could be very relevant to the many universities who are looking to increase the standards of undergraduate dissertations, and the number of them that add to the overall body of knowledge.

Keywords: Dissertation, undergraduate, behavioural science, student centric.