At Dublin Business School, two places matter for your dissertation: the programme handbook for your course, published on the student site, and the Library's Dissertation Support Guide, which walks you through choosing a topic, the introduction, the literature review and the methodology. The guide opens honestly: "The process of writing a dissertation can be an emotional rollercoaster." Here is what each source covers, checked 23 October 2026.
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The Student Handbooks page on students.dbs.ie lists the current programme handbooks for 2026/27, from accounting and finance to film and creative media, with earlier years on a separate page. Your handbook sets what your dissertation or final project looks like on your course: its stages, its assessment and the people involved. Open the one for your own programme and year, since requirements differ between courses.
Many students search for a single DBS dissertation handbook. If your programme has a separate dissertation guidebook, your module page and your supervisor will point you to it; the public handbooks page is where the programme handbooks are published.
A fictional example of a commentYour conclusion says the measure works, but your interviews mainly show how staff experience it. Could you limit the conclusion to what your data can show?
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Try the free previewThe Library's guide starts with the topic. It asks you to choose something you find interesting, to check that there is enough academic literature, to work out the practical side of collecting primary data and to make sure you can reach the people you want to study. One line on that list is easy to skip: "Evaluate possible ethical issues." For what ethical approval usually involves, see ethical approval for your dissertation.
To refine the topic, the guide uses a simple check: "The Goldilocks test is used to establish if a topic is too broad or too narrow." Too broad, and you drown in sources that each cover a different aspect. Too narrow, and you cannot find enough research to build on. Our page on choosing a dissertation topic works through the same question.
The guide describes the introduction as the place for your rationale, your research question and objectives, and the background to your topic, moving from the general to the specific. It suggests asking what the problem is, what is already known and what gap your study fills, and gives an Irish example: research done in other countries but not in Ireland can leave room for an Irish perspective.
On the literature review, the guide draws a line that markers often draw too: "It is NOT summary of everything you have read on the topic or a chronological description of what was discovered in your field of study." Instead, it asks you to organise the review by themes aligned with your research question and objectives, moving from the broad issues to the studies closest to your own.
This is one of the places where a draft most often falls short: a review that lists study after study without showing how they relate to your question. Our page on literature review feedback looks at what a reader checks.
DBS publishes a policy statement on generative AI as part of its quality assurance handbook. Read the summary on our page on DBS and AI in your dissertation before you upload your work to any AI tool, Esmond included.
Esmond evaluates; it does not write. You upload your own draft and get comments in the margin plus a report that shows where your argument, method or use of sources is weaker, and why. It does not write or rewrite your text: it points to the weak spot and offers guidance on how to revise it. Where a comment includes an example, it illustrates a principle; the sentence you submit is one you write yourself.
Dublin Business School has no connection with Esmond and has not endorsed it. Esmond uses language models, so using it counts as AI use. Rules on AI vary by university, programme, module and assignment. Check your module or programme handbook before you upload, and if it is unclear, ask your supervisor or module coordinator and declare the use if your institution asks you to.
You upload your draft as a PDF. Most reviews are ready within minutes; a full dissertation takes a little longer. You get two things back: your own document with comments in the margin, and a separate feedback report that sets out what to tackle first. Every upload starts with a free preview, and the price depends on the length of your document and is shown before you pay. No subscription, no account.
Esmond evaluates your work and writes nothing for you. Each comment points to a passage, explains what a supervisor or examiner might question, and offers guidance on how to revise it. You decide what to change, and every sentence stays yours.
This page summarises published institutional guidance and links to the original sources. It is not legal advice and not a ruling on your assignment: what your programme, module or supervisor sets always comes first.
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Programme handbooks are published on the Student Handbooks page of students.dbs.ie, per programme and year. If your programme has a separate dissertation guidebook, your module page or supervisor will give it to you.
Yes. The Library's Dissertation Support Guide covers choosing a topic, the introduction, the literature review and methodology, with links to databases and referencing guides, and the library offers classes.
No. Dublin Business School has no link with Esmond and has not endorsed it. Esmond is an AI tool, so check what your module allows on AI before you upload, and declare any use the way your module asks.
Official library guides and the student handbooks page, checked 23 October 2026. Quotations are word for word; the rest is our summary. Read the full text at the source.
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