The word limit on the dissertation I handed in on Tuesday was 10,000. Having scoured the guidelines, I assumed the primary data I included with it in the form of tables, which I collected myself and from which I drew all my analysis and conclusions, would not be included. I sent several emails to the department enquiring about it last week, only to receive automatic replies saying they were all out of office.

Now, today, they've replied back, saying table content is included. This puts my word limit at 18,000. This means I've failed my degree.