About word count allowed for the MBA dissertation report: my view

 About word count allowed for the MBA dissertation report: my view

Previously, the recommended word count figure is 15,000 words. Then some students from previous intakes complained to the university and requested to lower the recommended word count figure to 12,000 words.

Now some MBA students tell me that their dissertation report word count figures are beyond 16,000 words and one of them told me that his friend's dissertation report in the same MBA programme is more than 16,000 words and he got a dissertation mark at 60 something.

My view is as follows:

1. Dissertation report should have a recommended word count at 15,000 words. Set at 12,000 words, it is much more challenging to produce a dissertation report up to MBA level because this requires report writing be much more concise.

2. Now that the recommended word count figure is 12,000, I would say that a dissertation report with an actual word count figure a bit less than 14,000 is quite acceptable.

3. When a student earned a dissertation report score at 60 something, with word count figure at more than 16,000 words (exceeding the recommended figure at 12,000 words.), the student should keep a low profile because exceeding the recommended word count figure by more than 30% is not something to be proud of, to say the least. As a marker, I will state in the assessment report that this is a major report weakness with figure excess such as this. I am not interested to know that the other markers and the university examiner do not mind or care about word count figure requirement and that they are happy to give such a report an academic score at 60 something. When other markers and students do not mind or do not care about the official word count guideline, it does not imply that I also do not mind or do not care about it.

4. If students now realize that the recommended word count figure should be 16,000 words, and not 12,000 words, they should ask the university to change the requirement back to 16,000 words.

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