Date

Items – Tasks to Do

Progress Remarks / Action/ Reflection

Student’s Signature

Lecturer’s

Remarks

Week 1

1. Revisit and review RES60604’s previously used articles.
2. Construct a literature matrix by cross-referencing the critical review.
3. Use the literature matrix to write a literature review.
4. Start the skeleton of the draft dissertation.

First, I reviewed my previous work and filtered out what could and couldn’t be used. There was a lot of unused work, but many just needed rewording, as I can remember what I originally intended to write. I continued to examine past references and articles and had to update some of them. Luckily, throughout my semester break, I had prepared for my shortcomings and spent a good time finding articles and books to refer to, and gained plenty of knowledge from doing so. I then proceeded with transferring data, as it needed updating. I realised some questions were not completely useful to the research, but plenty still gave me insight and answers. It brought a lot of joy to know I’ve improved, even if just a little.

Looking back, I realise my writing style was messy, and I remember that it was difficult for me to articulate what I wanted to say.

General Feedback:

• Avoid procrastination
• We should properly understand our previous work to help us create the dissertation.
• Treat the guide as the skeleton for the paper.
• Discussion & Analysis will be the section to demonstrate our critical thinking.
• New articles are allowed to be used to renew material

Specific Feedback:

• Websites can be used outside of literature as long as they’re checked for reliability.

Week 2

1. Start draft literature review.
2. Finalise draft dissertation structure
3. Transfer research data

Entering the second week, it was difficult to write a literature review as there was no feedback on the literature matrix. I tried my best to develop useful subchapters and focused on finishing the dissertation structure. While I waited for feedback, I focused on transferring data instead, as it needed updating urgently.

No classes conducted.

Week 3

1. Edit the Literature Matrix
2. Finalise the draft literature review (chapter 3)
3. Draft the chapter on research methods

This week, I rearranged the literature review content and made additional sub-subchapters according to feedback. I believed everything was coherent.

Before I’d done that, I checked back with my literature matrix as I was concerned how I could have possibly missed the “discussions” section, only to realise the reference I used had labelled it as “conclusions”, meaning I did not miss it, just misunderstood. It was frustrating as I felt embarrassed when it was pointed out to me, and I realised upon this fact that I still needed to work on my confidence with my work.

General Feedback

• The connection between chapters 1 and 2 needs to be there
• A good literature review exposes what you understand from reading
• Themes may be similar to keywords
• Without understanding, you will have difficulties creating a discussion. You must be able to create a discussion through your subsections

Specific Feedback

• It would be best to minimise the area of research, as it’s too wide for now.
• Do not make definitive statements unless they come from the literature that’s being reviewed.
• Our role is strictly to review and narrow down topics.
• Reflect on whether I have been critical enough to be able to agree or disagree with the literature.

Week 4

1. Finalise research methods
2. Draft the chapter for research results
3. Draw further conclusions from primary research data, if any
4. Read through the current progress for editing

This week, I focused on writing research results after finalising the research methods section. While I was writing for the research results, I realised I had misunderstood the purpose of the research results section. Originally, I believed it was meant for the conclusions drawn from the primary research. I now know it’s reserved for the discussions section, and the research results are meant to lay out factual data received.

Generic Feedback

• Don’t compare yourself with others, as we all have strengths and weaknesses.
• Utilise secondary data if we are capable of it.
• Literature review is different from a critical review, which only focuses on one literature at a time.
• We need to know our decision, why we conducted our methods, etc.

Specific Feedback

• Write down our reflection, what we understand as mistakes, is important to write in point form to refer to.
• Our chosen research issues allow us to describe the research narratively.
• New data is made for enhancement rather than renewal.
• The need to narrow down the topic is not urgent, as we aren’t PhD or Master's students- the title is better.
• Google Forms is inherently a descriptive analysis and statistical treatment.

Week 5

1. Finalise chapter 4, Research results.
2. Draft chapter 5 (discussion)

The focus this week was to finalise the Research Results chapter and start with discussions to progress. Some charts were resized or removed from the main chapters. In this current stage, I realised a crucial part of the dissertation- there were too many sections and too many chapters, and I have been calling all of them sections. I combed through the text to make sure they were renamed correctly- chapters, subchapters, and sections. Hopefully, this would make it easier for anyone who reads it and avoids any confusion it could’ve brought. I’m not very confident that there aren’t more mistakes that would’ve confused readers, but one mistake fixed is a good step forward.

Attempting to write up the Discussions was a challenge, and it started to become overwhelming. I believe this is a direct cause of my past, where I had more confusion about the purpose of my dissertation, so now it’s difficult to summarise a wide topic. There will likely be a delay in the writing, knowing that although I can make relevant sentences to complete the word count, I’m losing the flow and cohesive structure of the paper. I can feel myself losing more words than gaining new ones. Hopefully, there will be time to workshop this issue.

General Feedback

• The findings are not the same as the discussions.
• Remember ‘Hierarchy’ for a good flow/sequence for the structure.
• We are encouraged to enhance with another method as long as it doesn’t put us at a great disadvantage in following the given progress timeline.
• Methods include quantitative and qualitative, whereas instruments refer to surveys, questionnaires, interviews, etc.
• We can treat open-ended findings as a qualitative answer if it fits.
• Distinguishing differences in results makes a good researcher.

Specific Feedback

• hi

Week 6

1. Finalise the Discussion chapter
2. Research supporting articles if necessary
3. Revise any necessary details in the progress so far

During this week’s feedback session, although I wrote notable criticism and suggestions down, one of them bothered me greatly. I had written a sentence including a hyphen, which was my own words and a mistake, but the lecturer had pointed out that it’s commonly used as part of generative AI. I don’t doubt it, but I felt upset as I never even touched ChatGPT, and I’d rather be called stupid instead. Anyway, I do use Grammarly as a correction tool since I type fast and make errors, but it did have me wonder if that counted as usage of GenAI. I started using it as a recommendation from my previous lecturers, but it has since been turned off. If there are any writing mistakes, I want it to be my own. I really want to improve in this field. On the bright side, it motivated me to properly learn the difference between a hyphen, em dash, and en dash.

Moving on, I started revising the draft Discussion chapter by rearranging the structure for a better flow of reading, then made it so that the introduction can include a general recap of what will be mentioned in the following subchapters.

General Feedback

• The discussion chapter should include a general introduction
• There is no need to have the titles of each subchapter be a word-for-word copy of the research questions.
• The discussion chapter should include a limitations subchapter

Specific Feedback

• There are some unnecessary hyphens
• Avoid having limitations at the very beginning of the chapter, as it brings negative energy.
• Responses should not be modified to support our arguments, hence the existence of direct quotations.

Week 7

• Create graphs if necessary
• Draft conclusions, future project recommendations, and abstract.
• Revise entire dissertation as needed

I don’t really know what’s expected from this week, checking the MIB didn’t really help me much either but it’s expected for the entire draft to be finished soon. Following that train of thought, I went and reread my writing for mistakes and any changes necessary, while adding a few writing points in unfinished chapters for future use, namely the conclusions and abstract. Before the semester started there was some writing I’ve done (a small advantage in retaking the module) for the abstract that I can use.

The writing tips for abstract and conclusions were provided at the later end of the week, and with that I attempted to follow the provided guide.

General Feedback

• Those who are not in progress and believe it is not possible to complete, it's recommended to drop the module to avoid affecting the CGPA.
• Although we take our old work as the basis for the dissertation, it’s heavily advised against  copy-and-paste.
• Your visual must be in line with your research. Photoshop and Illustration can help for your editorial but cannot be the file for the entire dissertation. Use InDesign.
• You must know the size for printing. It is important to understand possible binding options.
• Outline (similar to web wireframe) using references to get some idea for the page layouts.
• In summary, use rules learned from typography for a good dissertation visual design.
• Don’t be afraid of colour.
• Don’t link Google Drive for submission. Upload as a PDF.

Specific Feedback

• Keywords must be included in the Abstract

Week 8

• Create a moodboard for Visual Design

This week I was focused on creating moodboards for the overall look of the visual design. I attempted to connect the topic with the visual design as an effort to enhance the dissertation, and realised that I haven’t supplied many figures and images. I believe I can fix this in the overall visual design.

In the middle of it, I had troubles with Adobe InDesign, and spent a good time trying to remember how to use it. I soon realised I was unsure how to format the document, and went with an A4 page size with 3px bleed.

No classes conducted.

Week 9

• Ideation of cover pages
• Visual design for table of contents
• 50% of the visual design by next week

This week I focused on getting the cover page finished, coming up with designs following the moodboard I have compiled. Besides that, all content was pasted onto the InDesign file for future editing.

General Feedback

• Look for ‘page layout designs’ ‘Typography cover design’ ‘Page number design’ ‘Content page design’ ‘Bar chart design’.
• Utilise thumbnails to think about possible page layout designs- plan ahead for our pages.
• Elements of contrast and balance- using all elements in principles of design as a base for the design.
• Think of it as an illustration.
• Student ID not necessary in the cover page.

Specific Feedback

• Did not attend.

Week 10

• Visual design of abstract, acknowledgements, and cover page

For progression, I’ve completed up to Chapter 3. It was until I’ve reached this chapter that I feel like I’ve only achieved 35% rather than the 50% that was requested. Furthermore, it’s difficult to come up with eye-catching designs at this moment, although I do feel proud of some of the layouts I’ve come up with; both with and without references. My main difficulty was in designing the flowcharts. I can’t quite figure out how to decorate it in a way that doesn’t make it look out of place but also distinctive enough from each other that the flow is understandable for all.

No classes conducted.

Week 11

• Visual design up until discussions & analysis.

Proceeded with the visual designs up until the final pages, although left out some figures and images to be remade. I wasn’t too happy with the progress this week, although I was a bit ill. If I put it into numbers, I’d say I’ve completed only 75% of the entire visual design, before any feedback was made.

General Feedback

• Update the weekly progressions sheet
• Always best to position the texts in empty spaces
• Pie chart/Bar chart can be redesigned in Illustrator or anywhere else.

Specific Feedback

• Take inspiration from typographers such as David Carson, Paula Scher, and Neville Brody.
• The ‘in’ is a bit loose, and could be placed in a square or italicised, something to make it look less off.
• References can be designed however looks good, there are no rules to it.
• Use smaller leading
• See how the references look of only the first

Week 12

• Finalise the figures and decorate with images.
• Revise and refine the visual design.
• Revise final dissertation based on feedback

For this week, I focused on revising the design and making adjustments based on last week’s feedback. I realised during the session that I have not been uploading proof of progression to the Google Drive folders, which I’ve amended.

Once visual design updates were made, I moved on to revising the final dissertation, as feedback was given. Thankfully, there were only minor adjustments to be made.

General Feedback

• The visual design’s contents do not need to be the Final Dissertation due to time changes

Specific Feedback

• Adjust the figure labels.

Week 13

• Work on final assignment, the journal article publication.

This week I managed to finalise the final dissertation, and started to work on the journal article publication. At first I found it a bit difficult to articulate my thoughts and make adjustments due to all the topics being intertwined with the rest of the writing in one way or another. Separating one piece of the dissertation that I was confident in from the rest felt impossible, but I realise that everything is connected in some way so that I shouldn’t stress too much about it.

General Feedback

• If you did not finish the draft dissertation, it would be difficult to complete the final tasks.

Specific Feedback

• Focus on the strongest objective that I have confidence in to write for the journal article.

Week 14

• Revise journal article publication based on feedback

The following week I managed to complete the drafted version of the journal article. I did have difficulties in shortening and simplifying my dissertation, so I waited firstly for feedback.

General Feedback

• Citation adjustments, two authors should be mentioned by their last names. Three or more authors should be written as (first author last name et al., year) as parenthetical format.

Specific Feedback

• Conceptual framework must be added as part of the table of content, not only the list of tables and figures.
• Grammarly does not need to be marked as AI.

Week 15

• Finalise all assignments

Upon receiving feedback, there were several adjustments made to the drafted version of the journal article. Starting with the abstract and introduction, although I believe the content was understandable, it lacked in flow of reading and therefore needed restructuring. For this process I usually shift the previous written words below while typing down the new attempt where the final result should be.

Of course, although I’m rather satisfied with my writing now, I can’t help but wonder how much different it would look like if I tried again in the future.

Did not attend.