Computing, Engineering and Built Environment

Faculty of

Computing, Engineering and Built Environment

In-Course Assessment Brief

Postgraduate Programme

Academic Year 2014-2015A

Module: / Professional Skills and Research Methods
Assessment Title: / Write an Academic Article and produce a Poster
Assessment Identifier: / CWRK001
School: / CTN
Module Co-ordinator: / Dr. Cain Evans
Assessment Details and Deadlines: / See MyCourse and Moodle
Brief Assessment
Details / The module is divided into two key components:
1.An article
2.Academic Poster
The Article is individually written and marked accordingly. Each Action Learning Set will be required to Peer Review the Academic Poster

IMPORTANT STATEMENT

Both cheating and plagiarism are totally unacceptable and the University maintains a strict policy against them. It is YOUR responsibility to be aware of this policy and to act accordingly. Please refer to the Academic Registry Guidance at

The basic principles are:

* Don’t pass off anyone else’s work as your own, including work from “essay banks”. This is plagiarism and is viewed extremely seriously by the University.

* Don’t submit a piece of work in whole or in part that has already been submitted for assessment elsewhere. This is called duplication and, like plagiarism, is viewed extremely seriously by the University.

* Always acknowledge all of the sources that you have used in your coursework assignment or project.

* If you are using the exact words of another person, always put them in quotation marks.

* Check that you know whether the coursework is to be produced individually or whether you can work with others.

* If you are doing group work, be sure about what you are supposed to do on your own.

* Never make up or falsify data to prove your point.

* Never allow others to copy your work.

* Never lend disks, memory sticks or copies of your coursework to any other student in the University; this may lead you being accused of collusion.

By submitting coursework, either physically or electronically, you are confirming that it is your own work (or, in the case of a group submission, that it is the result of joint work undertaken by members of the group that you represent) and that you have read and understand the University’s guidance on plagiarism and cheating.

Students should be aware that, at the discretion of the module co-ordinator, coursework may be submitted to an electronic detection system in order to help ascertain if any plagiarised material is present.

Students should also be aware that it is their responsibility to ensure that work submitted in electronic format can be opened on a faculty computer and to check that any electronic submissions have been successfully uploaded. If it cannot be opened it will not be marked. Any required file formats will be specified in the assignment brief and failure to comply with these submission requirements will result in work not being marked.

Assessment Details
An individual component comprising of an article written individually and to be weighted at 50% of the module marks. This will require students to work individually to research and write an article. Additionally, students are required to design an Academic Poster, this will be presented towards the end of the module.
The assignment will have a number of components that need to be met (Article Title, Literature Review, draft article, final article and Academic Poster) and appropriate deliverables associated with it.
There are two stages to the assessment of this module and this document lays out the assessment requirements and details the coursework assignment tasks. The coursework overall is 100%.
There are two stages, they are:
Stage 1: Article is 50%
Part 1.1 – Research related article of 3500 words
Stage 2: Academic Poster is 50%
Part 2.1 – Academic Poster (peer assessed Poster – group work)
Assessment Criteria:
See MyCourse on the intranet.
Learning Outcomes / Learning and Teaching Methods
On completion of the module, the student should be able to:
1. justify and apply appropriate research concepts to a Computing
related topic; / The delivery and assessment of this module will involve the writing of an academic research paper.
Students will enhance their knowledge and professionalism, and research skills, by selecting and applying appropriate research methods, introduced in the module, in order to write a research paper and to present it.
This module aims to prepare student for their dissertation at masters level. Additionally, students will design an Academic Poster.
2. identify, justify and plan an approach to writing an article;
3. compare and contrast the strengths and the limitations of a variety of research methods, and the choices and trade-offs that need to be made in designing a research paper;
4. recognise and comprehend professional and ethical practices in the IT and Telecommunications industry, including professional networks, code of conduct and standards.
5. critique and summarise key issues of Computing research for the masters level project.

Table of Assessment Criteria and Associated Grading Criteria

Student Name / Student ID

(Article Guidelines for marking)

(9-10 Marks) / (7-8 Marks) / (5-6 Marks) / (3 - 4 Marks) / (0-2 Marks) / Mark (max 10)
Aims and Objectives / Single Aim followed by clear, measurable and distinct objectives. / Single Aim followed by a number of measurable objectives.. / Single Aims followed by a number of objectives. / No Aim but vague objectives. / No Aim, no objective.
(33-40 Marks) / (25-32 Marks) / (17-24 Marks) / (9 - 16 Marks) / (0-8 Marks) / Mark (max 40)
Analysis of
Literature
Review / Exclusive focus on research papers. In-depth analyses strengths/weakness of academic argument. / Mostly academic sources. .
Genuine attempt made at Literature analysis. Some academic argument. / Mix of academic and nonacademic source. Superficial attempt made at Lit.analysis.
No academic argument. / Few academic sources. No attempt made at Literature analysis. No academic argument. / Few items of literature. Poor quality. Non-academic sources
(17-20 Marks) / (13-16 Marks) / (9-12 Marks) / (5 - 8 Marks) / (0-4 Marks) / Mark (Max 20)
Synthesis and Evaluation / Compares different sources
critically. Constructs conceptual model derived from sources. Appraises derived model methodically. / Compares diverse sources. Adapts existing theoretical models. Some idea appraisal. / Compares Literature. Utilises existing theoretical models. No idea appraisal. / Mix of descriptive / appraisal of literature. No synthesis of ideas. No academic appraisal. / Very descriptive account. No synthesis of ideas. No academic appraisal.
(9-10 Marks) / (7-8 Marks) / (5-6 Marks) / (3 - 4 Marks) / (0-2 Marks) / Mark (max 10)
Introduction and
Conclusions / Summary of main points made in paper. Evaluates degree of success of initial objectives. Prioritises recommendations. Identifies potential for new research. / Summary of main points made in paper. Evaluates degree of success of initial
objectives. Makes recommendations. / Summary of main points made in paper. Evaluates degree of success of initial objectives. / Provides only summary of main points made in paper. / No conclusion section.
(9-10 Marks) / (7-8 Marks) / (5-6 Marks) / (3 - 4 Marks) / (0-2 Marks) / Mark (max 10)
Harvard
Referencing / All sources fully referenced alphabetically. Both ‘in-text’ and ‘end-of-essay’ reference list present. / All sources fully referenced. Both ‘in-text’ and ‘end-ofessay’ reference list present. / Either ‘in-text’ or ‘end-ofessay’ reference list present – but some sources incomplete. / Genuine attempt to reference using some other (non-BCU) referencing style (e.g.
Vancouver). / No attempt made to reference sources. No in-text’ and ‘endof-essay’ reference list.
(9-10 Marks) / (7-8 Marks) / (5-6 Marks) / (3 - 4 Marks) / (0-2 Marks) / Mark (max 10)
Writing Style / Maters level of writing English Spelling, grammar excellent. Excellent use of third-person, past tense, academic English, includes ‘word-count’. / Maters level of writing English Spelling, grammar good. Good use of thirdperson, past tense, academic English, includes ‘word-count’. / Maters level of writing English Spelling, grammar satisfactory. Satisfactory use of third-person, past tense, academic English, includes ‘word-count’. / Maters level of writing English Spelling, grammar poor.Poor use of third-person, past tense, academic English, includes ‘word-count’. / Maters level of writing English Spelling, Grammar unsatisfactory Un satisfactory use of third-person, past tense, academic English, includes ‘word-count’.
Total Mark (max 100%)