Module overview
The Individual Research Project is a 7.5 ECTS credit masters level module undertaken by independent study that allows students to demonstrate mastery of an advanced aspect of their discipline, including critical evaluation of current research and research methods, and an awareness of the current limits of knowledge in this aspect of their discipline.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Locate, read, understand and review research articles
- Communicate information at the forefront of your discipline in writing
- Communicate information at the forefront of your discipline as a conference-style poster
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- The historical and current developments in an advanced aspect of your discipline, and an appreciation of likely future developments
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Critically evaluate current research in an advanced aspect of your discipline
- Critically evaluate the research methods in an advanced aspect of your discipline
- Select, summarise and survey a group of related research articles
Syllabus
This project is not required to have a practical element, but the highest scoring projects typically do. It might be appropriate, for example:
- To compare, in a uniform framework, the surveyed approaches
- To complete or extend the work in the surveyed articles
- To repeat a complex, hence suspect, measurement
Learning and Teaching
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Wider reading or practice | 34 |
| Project supervision | 12 |
| Completion of assessment task | 104 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
Justin Zobel (2004). Writing for Computer Science. Springer.
Assessment
Assessment strategy
You must agree a suitable area to research with your supervisor, and should use the skills developed in your earlier modules to locate a group of 15 or so significant articles, 150 pages or so, relevant to the chosen topic. Ideally these articles should span a period of time, range of publication methods, and research institutions. You should read and summarise these articles, producing a 8 page (using a two-column format) survey article indicating the background to the problem, the methods and results presented in your group of articles, a comparison and evaluation of approaches, and an indication of the outstanding or unsolved issues and problems. On the basis of this you must also prepare a poster based on your research, to be given at an end of semester research-style conference.
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Continuous Assessment | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Set Task | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Set Task | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External