Assignment Task
Strategy
Assessment will be by means of a single individual in-course assessment comprising:
1. A literature review on a chosen topic.
2. A poster outlining an individual proposal for a masters project that could be undertaken in the final stage of a masters programme
1. Systematic Literature Review and Report
Identify a computing related research topic or area and carry out a systematic search of Teesside University library’s online databases to identify relevant peer-reviewed academic journal or conference papers (not books).
The topic you select for this element will be used for your project proposal (Element 2 of this ICA). Your list of papers should include some primary research, not just articles that summarise the literature or give a personal opinion.
Prepare a report to describe your full literature search and review process, including the following:
Introduction
Short introduction to your topic (a couple of paragraphs. What area are you interested in?
Why do you think it will make a good research topic?
Search Results
Ideally in table format with columns for keywords, filters, number of results and notes. Here you should show your skill in using the databases.
Specify the database that you use for each search.Say why you have chosen each database.Aim to search at least 3 databases.For each database, continue to refine your results until you have 30 or less.Notes should contain your thoughts on the number of returned results and your reasoning behind your next search terms to expand/reduce the number of matches.
Criteria
Define criteria for determining which papers will be included or excluded from the final list. Consider the relevance of each paper identified in the short list (from the searches) and state the reasons (based on the criteria) for including or excluding from the final list.
At the end of your literature search you will have a number of papers e.g. 30 or less from each database you searched. This is your short list.
You must now decide which papers to include in your final list, and which to exclude.
Conclusions
What did you learn about doing a systematic literature search?
How well do you feel the literature search went? Did it go as you expected? What difficulties did you have? How easy did you find the different databases to use? What limitations did you encounter?
2. Research Proposal Poster
Create a research proposal poster , which could form the basis of your master’s project. Your research poster must be based on the topic you chose in Element 1.
Your poster should be A3 size. You may use any software to create the poster but the final version must be in pdf format.
Your poster will contain a research proposal, a plan for a masters project. It can form the basis of your masters project but does not have to.
There is no word count for the poster but note that you should aim to minimise the word count. This is not a report.
Your proposal should mostly draw upon the papers that you found in Element 1 (but you can include additional references). It should contain the following:
Research Purpose
Introduce and explain the research’s purpose:Short introduction to your topicYour overall research question that will be addressed by the research Any research objectives You must also define the anticipated product(s) i.e. the anticipated contribution to knowledge
Background Context
Justify the need for your research question.
Why is your research important?What were your main findings from your final list of papers from element 1. Summarise them for the poster.Cite the papers that you discuss.
Research Methodology
Identify and justify:
One or more research strategies that you will useThe data generation methods that you will useIf appropriate, your data analysis techniques
Evaluation Methodology
Justify how you plan to evaluate your end product(s)/contribution to knowledge. How will you check the usefulness of your findings/artefact/product to your target audience? Note that masters projects are expected to include third party evaluation of the end product if at all possible.
Identify and justify:
One or more research strategies that you will useThe data generation methods that you will useIf appropriate, your data analysis techniques
Schedule and Publishing
Identify the set of tasks, the timescale for each task and hence the timescale for the overall research which captures your schedule visually. Allow 13 weeks (or 26 weeks if your studying part-time) from ‘project start’ to ‘hand-in of all project work’. Projects normally include a viva that should not be included in the schedule as it is normally after the hand-in.
Identify the academic journal or conference for which you will prepare your project’s final research paper.
You can use a project planning tool e.g. produce a GANTT chart to show your tasks.
Professional, legal and ethical issues
Professional, legal and ethical issues that your proposal raises, and how they will be addressed.
