Individual Project Introduction

CW1: Preliminary Report

Aula: 18:00:00

Word Limit*: 1500 words

File types and method of recording:  MS Word file

Mark and Feedback method (e.g. in lecture, written via Gradebook): Aula and project meetings.

1.      Plan and take responsibility for a self-managed project within an appropriate ethical framework.

2.      Research and compile information relevant to the specialist subject area in which the project is based, maintaining a suitable log for recording information obtained and progress in the project.

3.      Communicate the work done through a written report of an appropriate academic standard.

Individual Assignment Task

The primary purpose of a dissertation is to train the student in the process of scholarly research and writing under the direction of a supervisor. After the student has graduated and the work is published, it serves as a contribution to human knowledge, useful to other scholars and perhaps even to a more general audience.

Your main task is to produce a concise Preliminary Report with proper referencing using the appropriate format. The Preliminary Report should summarise other people’s academic or technical work in the field of the project. This could include work developing similar products, processes (methodology), and technologies. The Preliminary Report should about 1500 words in length (±10%). The word count only includes the main body of the report.

The Preliminary Report should set the scene, giving an overview of the current and existing fundamental knowledge in the area of the project. This will help you build a strong foundation from which you can properly analyse the problem and come up with an appropriate solution, which you can then defend.

The Preliminary Report should include the following:

Introduction (Indicative word count: 300 words)

Although this is the first piece of writing the reader comes to, it is often best to leave its preparation till the end. This is because until then, you will not be absolutely sure as to what you are introducing to the reader. The introduction should include the Aim and Objectives.

The literature review (Indicative word count: 1200 words)

The purpose of this chapter is to show that you are aware of where your own piece of project fits into the overall context of research in your field. To do this you need to:

·        describe the current state of research in your defined area;

·        consider whether there are any closely related areas that you also need to refer to;

·        identify a gap where you argue that further research is needed; and

·        explain how you plan to attend to that particular research gap.

The literature review should compare and contrast other’s work, providing a critical evaluation, with a view to explaining how contemporary ideas and techniques could be incorporated in the implementation of the project. This can lead logically into a clear statement of the problem(s) you will be addressing in your project.

Note that, by this stage in the project, you should have already completed and finalised, with your supervisor, the following:

·        Project Selection.

·        Regular Project Meetings by setting up project meeting times.

·        Started a project logbook. This should be in an electronic format and saved on cloud. A live link should be shared with your supervisor for them to access it at all times.

·        Started working on your Ethics profile on CU Ethics website.

1.      You are expected to use the appropriate referencing style. For support and advice on this students can contact Centre for Academic Writing (CAW).

2.      Please notify your registry course support team and module leader for disability support.

3.      Any student requiring an extension or deferral should follow the university process as outlined here.

4.      The University cannot take responsibility for any coursework lost or corrupted on disks, laptops or personal computer. Students should therefore regularly back-up any work and are advised to save it on the University system.

5.      If there are technical or performance issues that prevent students submitting coursework through the online coursework submission system on the day of a coursework deadline, an appropriate extension to the coursework submission deadline will be agreed. This extension will normally be 24 hours or the next working day if the deadline falls on a Friday or over the weekend period. This will be communicated via your Module Leader.

6.      Assignments that are more than 10% over the word limit will result in a deduction of 10% of the mark i.e. a mark of 60% will lead to a reduction of 6% to 54%. The word limit includes quotations, but excludes the bibliography, reference list and tables.

7.      You are encouraged to check the originality of your work by using the draft Turnitin links on your Moodle Web.

8.      Collusion between students (where sections of your work are similar to the work submitted by other students in this or previous module cohorts) is taken extremely seriously and will be reported to the academic conduct panel. This applies to both courseworks and exam answers.

9.      A marked difference between your writing style, knowledge and skill level demonstrated in class discussion, any test conditions and that demonstrated in a coursework assignment may result in you having to undertake a Viva Voce in order to prove the coursework assignment is entirely your own work.

10.   If you make use of the services of a proof reader in your work you must keep your original version and make it available as a demonstration of your written efforts.

11.   You must not submit work for assessment that you have already submitted (partially or in full), either for your current course or for another qualification of this university, unless this is specifically provided for in your assignment brief or specific course or module information. Where earlier work by you is citable, ie. it has already been published/submitted, you must reference it clearly. Identical pieces of work submitted concurrently will also be considered to be self-plagiarism.

First

Professionally formatted with no grammatical errors. The report is coherent and easy to read.

Upper Second

Well-organised, clearly written and expressed. A well formatted and structured reports with only a few grammatical errors. The report is coherent.

Lower Second

The structure and expression lacks clarity. It is not well-structured or clearly expressed. Contains more than a few grammatical errors. The report is east to read.

Third

Marginal
fail

Fail