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UCL Department of Economics

The MSc Dissertation

From June – early September students undertake a research project, lightly supervised by a member of faculty , and submit a 10,000 word dissertation on or before the deadline in early September. A good dissertation will be a piece of original research, the best dissertations are published . The three-months dissertation project gives you the opportunity to acquire and enhance a number of skills including research skills, project management, organisation, software and writing.

The research methods course supports you in this project, providing training in:

• Research and academic writing skills
• Software (Matlab, Python, R, and Stata)
• Empirical econometric skills.

In total, over 30 hours of lecture support skill acquisition directly relevant to the dissertation project. Helpdesks are also provided during the dissertation writing period. Dissertations fall into four categories:

Empirical Empirical dissertations typically take an econometric model from an existing paper and applying it to a new data set and / or extending it. Such a project involves:

•     A brief critical literature review of your chosen area
•     Finding and understanding your dataset
•     Learning the appropriate software
•     Implementing your model
•     Understanding, criticising and checking the robustness of your results.

Examples of recent empirical dissertations are:

•     Corruption and Education in the Developing World
•     Analysis of Chinese Stock Market Efficiency
•     UK Wage Flexibility in the Aftermath of the Great Recession
•     Hedonistic wage estimation and the market for head teachers: Evidence for England
•     Does Microcredit Crowd Out Traditional Moneylending? An Example From Hyderabad.
•     Estimating the Competitive Structure of the UK Petrol Retail Industry
•     The impact of paid work on women’s empowerment.

Theoretical Theoretical dissertations typically take model from an existing paper and extending it in some interesting way. Such a project involves:

•     Acquiring a deep understanding of your model, in the context of the core material you’ve covered

Examples of recent theoretical dissertations are:

•     An Investigation of a Network Targeting Model with Bounded Rational Consumers
•     The finite sample performance of single equation models of ordered choice
•     Rotating Savings and Credit Associations: A Theoretical Analysis
•     News aggregators and search engines: Thumping entrants in the newspapers industry
•     Disaster risk in a New Keynesian model

Policy Policy dissertations undertake a critical analysis of some previously unexplored policy or policy issue. Such a project involves:

•     A description of the economic principles involved in the policy decision
•     A critical appraisal of existing or proposed policies.

Note policy dissertations may often involve an empirical component Examples of recent dissertations are:

•     An assessment of the second round of quantitative easing policy in the UK: A BVAR approach
•     Capital controls on outflows during financial crises: Are they effective?
•     The technological factors in the economies of developing countries: Comparison of the effectiveness of public policies on innovation in Chile for local research and inward technology transfer
•     Welfare participation by immigrants in the UK
•     A study upon market structure characterised by regulation: Information and oligopoly conditions.

Analytical Survey An analytical survey dissertation provides a clear outline of the intellectual development of the a particular area. Such a project involves:

•     A thorough understanding of the literature in your chosen area
•     Explaining the extent to which different contributors were addressing similar of different questions and in what sense and how far one contribution marks a significant improvement over earlier ones.
•     Critically assessing the different contributions and of the field as a whole.

Examples of recent dissertations are:

•     Heterogeneous Adaptive Learning in Real Business Cycle Models
•     The Great Moderation: A critical survey since the crisis
•     What are the social costs and benefits of reversing innovations in mortgage markets?
•     What explains the top income surge?
•     A survey on observational learning and informational cascades: Are observational conditions simple enough to warrant simple predictions?

"I feel the course provided me with a far more sophisticated understanding of macroeconomic policy and a wealth of useful technical econometrics skills"

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Still have questions?  Follow the link below to a list of frequently asked questions.  

Economics Handbook for MSc Students

If you have any questions please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions section of this website.

For further information please see the UCL pages for current students , or contact: [email protected]

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Postgraduate Results Day: Your options

This advice applies to postgraduate results from the 2022/23 academic year.

Results day was on Monday 27 November 2023, we know this can be a stressful time so we’ve put together some useful information about what happens next.

Results Day

The vast majority of students will receive their marks to their UCL email address from Monday 27 November and be able to view them on Portico from Tuesday 28 July.  

There are not expected to be missing results following the previous Marking and Assessment Boycott. However, your department should contact you if this is the case to advise what will happen next.

Different programmes use different rules to calculate your final classification. You can find the standard regulations in the Academic Manual ( Section 10 Classification ).

Deferred an assessment or taking a second attempt?

If you have failed an assessment or exam, your department should contact you before your official results being released. They will let you know how this impacts your award and if you need to do anything.

If you have deferred coursework, your dissertation or departmentally managed assessments, your department will let you know how and when you need to do this.

Unhappy with your results?

If you are unhappy with your results, or would just like some general feedback, you may want to contact your department or personal tutor to arrange a time to discuss this.

UCL's Student Support and Wellbeing team is also on hand if you would like some extra support. You can find more information about the support they can offer on results day here .

If you have reason to believe that UCL’s academic regulations and related procedures were not followed correctly in the marking of your exam, you may want to consider submitting an academic appeal. However, please note that it is not possible to submit an appeal on the basis of academic judgement. This means that appeals will not be considered on the grounds that the examiners’ assessment was incorrect. This is because all assessments will already have undergone a rigorous marking and moderating process.

You can also submit an academic appeal if there were circumstances which significantly affected your assessments, but you were unable to submit an Extenuating Circumstances claim at the time. Please note however that you will need to provide compelling reasons with supporting evidence to show why you were unable to notify your department of these circumstances during the period of your assessment.

You can find more information about the Academic Appeals process her e .

Certificate and Transcripts

You will receive an email from Academic Services with your confirmed results/award on the 27 November 2023.  Once you have received your official results email, you will be able to access a self-serve E-transcript and Statement of Award from the  28 November 2023.

If you have completed your degree, you should receive your degree certificate and a copy of your official transcript to your home address within around 3 months from the date of award.  

New for this year, you will be able to access an E-certificate via the Gradintel platform. UCL anticipate that this will be available from early December, date to be confirmed in due course.

You can find more information about transcripts and certificates on the UCL website here .

If you have any questions about your graduation, start by checking the  Graduation FAQs. 

If you would like some further advice about any issues relating to your results, you can contact our Advice Service via our online contact form here .

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Open@UCL Blog

Open Access theses

By Kirsty, on 31 March 2021

Among the many things that can be made Open Access; publications, data, software, and so many more, it is now increasingly more common for PhD theses to be made Open Access. This can be a great resource when you are undertaking your own PhD to get an idea of scope, structure and can be a great source of ideas.

Finding Open Access theses

UCL Library Services manages the DART-Europe service, the premier European portal for the discovery of open access research theses.  At the time of writing, this service provides access to over one million research theses from 564 Universities in 29 European countries.  It was founded in 2005 as a partnership of national and university libraries and consortia to improve global access to European research theses.  It does this by harvesting data from thesis repositories at contributing institutions, including from UCL Discovery (see below), and providing a link to at least one open access electronic copy of each thesis.  The theses themselves are located on the websites of the contributing institutions.

Users of the DART-Europe portal can search this vast database by keyword, or browse by country or institution, and view the research theses in full, without charge.  New theses are added every day, from doctoral and research masters programmes in every academic discipline.  For more information about the service, please contact the DART-Europe team .  Institutions not currently represented in the portal can view information on how to contribute to DART-Europe .

In normal times, the digitisation of doctoral theses can also be requested on an individual basis through the British Library’s e-theses online service (EThOS) .  This is a database of all UK doctoral theses held in university library collections, with links to open access copies in institutional repositories, and hosted directly in EThOS, where available.  If an electronic copy is not available, you can create an account with the service to request digitisation of the print copy: this prompts the institution where the thesis is held to find and check the print thesis, and then send it to the British Library’s facility at Boston Spa for digitisation.  Please note that this process incurs a charge (which is indicated during the requesting process) and is currently suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Your thesis – UCL Discovery

Since the 2008-09 academic year, UCL students studying for doctoral and research master’s degrees have been required to submit an electronic copy of their thesis to the Library as a mandatory condition of the award of their degree.  Students are encouraged to make their theses openly available in UCL Discovery , our open access institutional repository, although in practice access can be restricted for a number of reasons if necessary.  A citation of the thesis appears in UCL Discovery even if access to the full text is restricted.

Older theses have also been digitised and added to UCL Discovery retrospectively.  The bulk of this work has been carried out as part of a specific project covering over 10,000 theses from 1990 to 2008.  This project is ongoing but mostly complete: over 7,000 digitised theses have been added to UCL Discovery during the last twelve months alone by Library Services staff who have not been able to carry out their normal work due to COVID-19 restrictions.

If you cannot access a UCL thesis which is listed online through these methods, please contact the Open Access Team , who will be able to provide advice on options for obtaining access.

Filed under Advocacy , UCL Discovery

Tags: Doctoral theses , open access , Thesis

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How can i find a masters' dissertation.

We don't generally hold Masters' Dissertations, and see our guide to dissertations and research projects for more information, but your department may have some hard copies, or they may make some available in their Moodle modules.

• Finding Resources
• Last Updated Oct 03, 2023
• Answered By Debs Furness

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Thesis or dissertation

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To be made up of:

• Year of submission (in round brackets).
• Title of thesis (in italics).
• Degree statement.
• Degree-awarding body.
• Available at: URL.
• (Accessed: date).

In-text citation: 

(Smith, 2019)

Reference List:  

Smith, E. R. C. (2019). Conduits of invasive species into the UK: the angling route? Ph. D. Thesis. University College London. Available at: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10072700 (Accessed: 20 May 2021).

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UCLA Graduate Programs

File Your Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (ETD)

Ready to file.

Review the formatting requirements for filing theses and dissertations and University policy regarding graduate thesis and dissertation public dissemination in UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Filing Requirements & Public Dissemination .

To begin the ETD filing process OR to check the approval status of your ETD:

During the filing process, you may choose your publishing agreement, register your copyright, and order copies of your manuscript.

FILING DEADLINES

See also: Filing Deadlines Chart

Deadline for Registered Students and Students on Filing Fee to Submit their Manuscript via ProQuest & Receive Committee Member Approval

*Complete Degree Requirements includes: completion of the online ETD Filing Application (button above), all committee members have reported approval of your manuscript and the passing of the final oral examination (if applicable) to the Division of Graduate Education; submission of a final PDF via ProQuest including requested changes from the Division of Graduate Education, and receipt of the Division of Graduate Education confirmation email of the formal completion of degree requirements.

See the UCLA term calendar for the  degree – award date , which is the final day of the term, also the deadline to submit manuscripts and to complete graduate degree requirements.

Deadlines for previous academic terms are available in the Registrar’s Office online calendar archive .

PREPARING TO FILE YOUR ETD

• Review UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Filing Requirements & Public Dissemination
• Register and Enroll for the term, or apply for Filing Fee
• Review  Graduation Requirements
• Changing your Name on your Thesis or Dissertation

THESIS & DISSERTATION COMMITTEES

• Thesis Committee Regulations
• Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution
• Change Committee Members

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• ETD Workshops & Drop-In Hours
• ETD Workshop Presentation Slides
• Video: Formatting Tutorial
• UCLA Library Scholarly Communication Services (Copyright Assistance)

ETD & FILING FAQS

1. What happens to the thesis or dissertation a graduate student files?

In the past, the physical manuscript was placed on the shelves of the UCLA library where it could be accessed by visitors and through the international interlibrary loan network. Today, digital access to the document is provided through the University of California Digital Library , our institutional repository. Additionally, the abstracts of theses and dissertations worldwide are indexed by ProQuest , SciFinder and other abstracting services. In the past, interested scholars who wanted to obtain copies of theses and dissertations would either write to the author or purchase paper, microfilm or microfiche copies from ProQuest, but now they can purchase electronic copies instead. Technology changes aside, graduate students retain the copyright on your dissertation, and will receive royalties when copies are purchased. See University of California Copyright for more information.

2. Can graduate students file their thesis or dissertation from outside the US?

Yes. Graduate students do not need to be physically present on campus to submit their thesis or dissertations. Graduate students only need access to the internet.

3. Do graduate students have to be registered when they file?

Graduate students must either register and enroll or, if eligible, use the Filing Fee .

4. Can a graduate student file during the Summer?

Yes. In order for a graduate student to file and receive a Summer degree, students must either register and enroll in a minimum of 4 units in a Summer Session or be on Filing Fee status.

5. Can a graduate student still file on paper?

No. Since March 13, 2012, only electronic filing is available for graduate students.

6. How can graduate students order hard copies of my thesis or dissertation?

Graduate students may order hard copies through ProQuest. Copies take about 5 weeks to ship after the manuscript is published by ProQuest. Graduate students can also order copies through the UC Bindery .

7. I’ve included co-authored works in my thesis or dissertation. How do I cite them?

You must include in your Acknowledgments section any material based on co-authored work that is published, in-press, submitted, or in preparation for publication. For each segment of the work that involved co-authors, you must identify (briefly describe) and acknowledge the specific contributions of each co-author. For details, see page 15 of UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Filing Requirements & Public Dissemination .

8. Will my thesis or dissertation manuscript be sold to third-party retailers?

No. A graduate student’s thesis or dissertation is not shared with Amazon. ProQuest’s reseller program with Amazon has been discontinued, with all existing agreements ending in 2014.

1. What are the filing deadlines for graduate students?

See the Deadlines above. Deadlines of past academic terms are available in the Registrar’s Office online calendar archive .

2. What counts as submitting my thesis or dissertation by the deadline?

All of the following must occur by 5pm PT on the day of official deadline:

• All committee members have approved electronically
• Committee has certified you have passed the final oral exam (if applicable)
• A graduate student has submitted a final PDF via ProQuest
• A graduate student has completed the online Division of Graduate Education process using the link at the top of  this page
• If the Division of Graduate Education requests any changes, the graduate student will have submitted the specific changes within the designated time period

3. How will the Division of Graduate Education determine my thesis or dissertation filing date and whether I’ve met the deadline?

The last date that all of the items listed above is complete will be your filing date for your thesis or dissertation. For example, if you submit your final dissertation PDF and complete the online process on May 31, three committee members sign on June 1, and the final committee member signs on June 2, your filing date will be June 2 assuming you have met all other degree requirements.

1. What is a certifying member?

Certifying members are responsible for approving your dissertation.  Effective Fall 2016, all doctoral committee members must read, approve, and certify the dissertation. All committee members must enter a decision for the final oral exam, if required.

2. Do my thesis or dissertation committee members need to sign the committee page?

Certifying committee members approve the thesis or dissertation electronically. There is no signature page, but rather a committee page listing your certifying committee members in the manuscript.

3. Can a committee member approve a thesis or dissertation from outside of Los Angeles?

Yes. Professors can approve a thesis or dissertation from anywhere with access to the internet.

4. A graduate student’s UCLA faculty committee member prefers to use a non-UCLA email address. Can an email request be sent to that email address?

No. UCLA faculty will be notified via their official UCLA business email addresses. Graduate students are welcome to send a reminder email to their non-UCLA email address with the link (https://go.grad.ucla.edu) to the approval page.

5. How do committee members who are not from UCLA approve theses or dissertations?

Committee members from outside UCLA will still receive the email notification and go to a similar approval page as UCLA faculty.

6. Can graduate students check the status of when their committee members approve their manuscripts electronically?

Yes, after graduate students complete the online process they can log back into the ETD Filing Application to check the status.

Formatting Guide

1. What special characters can graduate students use in their titles?

Only the ones approved by UCLA. The list can be found on the  Formatting and Filing Information page.

FYI: ProQuest will NOT publish any special characters included in your title although the special characters will display when you submit your thesis or dissertation.

2. Does the Division of Graduate Education have a LaTeX template?

No. Please consult with your graduate department or program.

3. Can the Division of Graduate Education check my thesis or dissertation formatting before submitting it to ProQuest ?

The Division of Graduate Education will only check your thesis or dissertation formatting once you have submitted it to ProQuest, or during designated ETD Drop-In Hours.

Release of Manuscript

1. Why will my thesis or dissertation be available for public access after it has been filed by the university?

The UCLA Graduate Thesis and Public Dissemination Policy affirms the university’s commitment to open access of scholarly work.

It is the University of California’s expectation that the research and scholarly work conducted by graduate students that is incorporated into theses and dissertations will be made available to the public. UCLA requires that research and scholarly work conducted by graduate students and incorporated into theses and dissertations be made publicly available through the University of California’s institutional repository, eScholarship .

All theses and dissertations are available as open access via UC eScholarship unless a delayed release is selected.

2. When will I be able to view my thesis or dissertation on ProQuest?

6-8 weeks after you receive final confirmation from the Division of Graduate Education.

3. When will I be able to view my thesis or dissertation on UC eScholarship?

2-3 months after you receive final confirmation from the Division of Graduate Education.

4. What is the UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Submission Agreement?

The UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Submission Agreement allows graduate students to affirm their understanding of the rights and responsibilities associated with the submission of their manuscripts to the campus institutional repository, eScholarship .

All thesis and dissertation filers will complete the institutional repository agreement as part of the submission process via ProQuest.

In the process of filing a thesis or dissertation via ProQuest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a degree at UCLA, graduate students agree to grant a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual license to The Regents of the University of California (“University”). Graduate students retain copyright.

1. What does it mean for graduate students to register the copyright of their thesis or dissertation? 

The copyright of your work is inherent upon creation. Graduate Students do not need to register their copyright to enjoy copyright protection, but registration does provide some benefits. For full detail, read the U.S. Copyright Office circular “ Copyright Basics “. The benefits of registration are outlined on Page 7 of the circular.

2. I found images on the internet that I want to use in my thesis or dissertation. Is this OK?

Graduate Students should assume that anything produced by someone other than themselves is protected by copyright unless they determine otherwise. This includes items found on the internet. Items in copyright will need either permission or a fair use justification.

If you have flexibility in the final selection of your images, search for images that are 1) in the public domain, or 2) made available for reuse via a Creative Commons license . Such images can be incorporated into your dissertation without permission or concern for fair use.

3. I’ve provided attribution and a citation for the source material I used in my thesis or dissertation. That’s all I need, right ?

Proper attribution is absolutely required; that’s a part of academic integrity and good scholarship. But copyright permission, if necessary, is an entirely separate matter and covered by U.S. Code Title 17 .

4. Do I need permission for every image, chart and graph that I use in my thesis or dissertation from other sources?

It depends. Some materials may qualify under fair use, and others are best used with permission. Graduate students should consult the filing procedures for more detail, or for consultation on a specific situation, get assistance from a UCLA librarian at [email protected] .

5. I’ve obtained verbal permission to use copyrighted material in my thesis or dissertation. Is this sufficient?

Written permission is best. It can be as simple as an email granting permission. Graduate students should retain copies of all permissions in their files.

6. How do graduate students determine what they can use without permission under Fair Use?

If graduate students do not know the four-factor balancing test of Fair Use , they need to become familiar with it. For more information on Fair Use, we recommend you explore the UC Copyright website .

7. Can I use an article, which I previously authored and published, as a chapter in my thesis or dissertation without permission?

It depends on the agreement you signed with your publisher. Most agreements require you to transfer your copyright to the publisher. If this is the case, you must request permission from the publisher to “reprint” the article as a chapter in your thesis or dissertation. However, some agreements specify that you retain the right to reprint the article in your dissertation. Read your author agreement to see if you retained such rights; if you are unsure, consult with a UCLA librarian at [email protected] .

8. After my thesis or dissertation is published, can I reuse one of the chapters as the basis of a future journal article?

If portions of your thesis or dissertation have been previously published as journal articles, you are bound by the agreement you signed when that content was published. But in regards to the remaining, unique content of your thesis or dissertation: Yes, you own the copyright of your thesis or dissertation, and are free to adapt and republish it as you see fit.

9. For those items that require permission, do graduate students need that permission before they file?

Though it is highly recommended that graduate students secure permissions as early as possible, they DO NOT need those permissions in order before they file their theses or dissertations. Permissions are only necessary from ProQuest’s perspective, and theses or dissertations will be published on ProQuest only after the filing process is complete. So, there is a window of several weeks for graduate students to finish gathering permissions.

10. What happens if a graduate student cannot produce the necessary permissions if/when a copyright owner objects and ProQuest asks for them ?

If the inclusion of copyrighted material is challenged by the copyright owner of the material and/or ProQuest, then the publication will be removed from ProQuest until the issue is resolved. A full citation and abstract of the graduate student’s thesis or dissertation will remain.

This rare issue (less than 1% of dissertations are challenged in this manner) is most commonly resolved by redacting or removing the copyrighted content from your thesis or dissertation and resubmitting the modified document to ProQuest. This will require the graduate student to pay a processing fee to ProQuest. Keep in mind that the copyright owner must be amenable to this as a resolution.

11. Won’t having my thesis or dissertation freely available online reduce my chances of securing a book deal and/or publishing portions as journal articles?

If you are concerned that such availability would impact your ability to later publish the thesis or dissertation as a monograph, or derive a journal article from a chapter, several studies of publisher practices have shown that this is not the case. In a 2011 Publisher’s Survey , only 6% of monograph publishers and 3% of journal editors would “never” consider a work derived from a publicly available ETD. If you have concerns, you can embargo your dissertation for up to two years.

Delayed Public Dissemination (Embargo)

1. What does delayed public dissemination (embargo) mean?

Delayed public dissemination, commonly known as “embargo”, postpones public distribution of the thesis or dissertation that has been approved and filed with the university.

2. I chose to delay the release of my thesis or dissertation? When will the embargo begin?

The delayed release period in ProQuest will begin on the date that ProQuest receives your submission.

The delayed release period in eScholarship will begin on the date that your submission is approved by the Division of Graduate Education.

3. Can I request to delay the release of my thesis or dissertation for more than two years?

Under rare circumstances and prior to the filing of the thesis or dissertation, the Dean of Graduate Education may approve requests for time-delimited embargoes beyond the two-year limit. Please see UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Filing Requirements & Public Dissemination for more information on the exception request process.

4. I did not delay the public dissemination of my thesis or dissertation at the time of submission. Can I request an embargo in eScholarship post-submission?

Graduate students who wish to delay public dissemination in eScholarship must select this option at the time they submit their theses or dissertations to the Division of Graduate Education via ProQuest. Requests to embargo a thesis or dissertation after the manuscript has been filed in UC eScholarship are permissible only in exceptional circumstances, and require Division of Graduate Education approval.

Please see UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Filing Requirements & Public Dissemination  for more information on the exception request process.

5. I think (or my research adviser thinks) that my thesis or dissertation work contains classified, secret or confidential information that cannot be disclosed to the public. Can I restrict access?

The University of California and UCLA do not have security clearances that permit the conduct of classified research on the UCLA campus (see page 2 of Responsibility for Executing Research Memo ). Further, the UCLA Graduate Council does not endorse the conduct of confidential research by graduate students; in instances where it is approved, the end results must be in an academically acceptable thesis or dissertation that can be deposited at the University without restricting access to it. In some cases, for example when a patent is being filed, it may be reasonable and appropriate to put in place an embargo that delays public release of the thesis or dissertation. Such an embargo should not be permanent, however. See UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Filing Requirements & Public Dissemination  for guidelines and instructions on this option.

6. I have heard that publishers won’t publish articles based on results that have been presented in preliminary form in my dissertation. Is that true?

In general, no. Publishers recognize that work described in theses and dissertations is often preliminary and may require additional research and writing before it can be submitted to the journal. Theses and dissertations also have not undergone peer review. Consequently, the vast majority of scientific and scholarly publications do not view theses and dissertations as constituting prior publication that would render articles based on the work ineligible for consideration.

7. Depending on the academic field, books/monographs are considered the primary form of publication and the basis for getting an academic position. Do graduate students jeopardize their chance of getting future books published if their theses or dissertations are “out there”?

What publishers say is, “A dissertation is not a book.” The process of turning the dissertation into a book involves considerable transformation, which may include additional research, shifts in scope or emphasis, broadening or narrowing, refining of the arguments, and/or changes in style to appeal to the target audience. Because of these significant differences, and the fact that dissertations are not marketed, most publishers do not consider making a dissertation available in a public repository such as eScholarship (the UC Digital Library) as cause for rejecting a book proposal.