| CODE | GSC3403 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Independent Research Project | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 18 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Geosciences | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The candidate will work on an extended project assigned by the department during the summer preceding the final year and will be supervised by one of more members of the academic staff. A list of topics is prepared for the purpose every year, and these depend on the research interests of the academic staff. The candidate will be required to prepare and deliver a presentation and then to submit a dissertation on the work done. Part of the assessment includes a short viva-voce examination. Study-unit Aims: The study-unit aims to - train the candidate to carry out a critical and thorough literature review of their chosen topic, and become familiar with current trends and developments in the area; - deepen the candidate's scientific knowledge and understanding of the topic; - familiarise the candidate with research methods and procedures; - encourage the candidate to work independently; - provide training and some experience to improve presentation skills; - train the candidate in scientific writing style through the preparation of a dissertation. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - appreciate the importance of critical reviews in scientific research; - assimilate and understand the background science relevant to the assigned project; - apply the scientific method, appreciate and discuss its importance. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - carry out a critical literature review; - use the available search facilities to find and retrieve documents on a specific subject; - provide a written summary of a literature review, making use of standard referencing techniques; - use a literature review to place into context the relevance of a research question or problem; - use appropriate methods to investigate a research question or problem and interpret the results; - identify the limitations of the methods used when investigating a research question or problem; - use appropriate statistics where relevant to quantify the significance of the results obtained; - write a well-structured and well presented dissertation, including the application of proper referencing and avoidance of plagiarism; - communicate clearly the scientific results obtained in both an oral and written form to a targeted audience; - defend the work carried out during an oral interview. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Guidelines and notes will be provided on the Department website. Other texts will depend on project title. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | **Resit Availability and Revision of Paper: Students who fail to obtain an overall pass mark will be re-examined in the Dissertation. However, the resit availability and the revision of paper for the Oral Examination/Presentation is at the discretion of the Board of Examiners. | ||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Project | ||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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