Web design

University of Sunderland

School of Computer Science

PROM02 – Masters Project Module

Assignment 2 of 3 – Research Paper

This assignment contributes 60% to your final module mark.

The following learning outcomes will be assessed:

Knowledge

K1 A critical appreciation of the nature of research including ethical approaches and the goals of academic reading, information searching and communication

K2 A critical appreciation of the clarity, scientific approach and structure of academic writing

K4 Advanced knowledge in a specialised area of the relevant discipline

Skills

S5 The ability to critically assess the ethical, legal and professional issues in research relevant to your programme of study when planning research.

S6 The ability to independently design and undertake a major project on a topic which relates to the forefront of the academic area under study.

S7 The ability to reflect objectively on method, process and outcome of the project.

S8 The ability to independently critique relevant current literature, conduct empirical research or advanced technical or professional activity, in the area under study demonstrating self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems or conceptualising solutions.

S9 The ability to deal with complex issues in the area of study both systematically and creatively making informed judgements in the absence of complete data.

Important Information

You are required to submit your work within the bounds of the University Infringement of Assessment Regulations (see your Programme Guide). Plagiarism, paraphrasing and downloading large amounts of information from external sources, will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely. Although you should make full use of any source material, which would normally be an occasional sentence and/or paragraph (referenced) followed by your own critical analysis/evaluation. You will receive no marks for work that is not your own. Your work may be subject to checks for originality which can include use of an electronic plagiarism detection service.

Where you are asked to submit an individual piece of work, the work must be entirely your own. The safety of your assessments is your responsibility. You must not permit another student access to your work.

Where referencing is required, unless otherwise stated, the Harvard referencing system must be used (see your Programme Guide).

Please ensure that you retain a duplicate of your assignment. We are required to send samples of student work to the external examiners for moderation purposes. It will also safeguard in the unlikely event of your work going astray.

Submission Date and Time	As per schedule
Submission Location	Via Canvas
Estimated Time on Submission	100 hours

Overview of Assignment 2 – Research Paper (worth 60% of the module marks)

Your paper must be submitted by the date on your schedule.

Your paper must be submitted as a pdf.

The paper needs to represent both the practical and research elements of your project. It must be clear how your project relates to your programme of study.

The paper has a word limit of 6000 words. References, figures, screenshots, diagrams, charts, tables, etc. are outside of the word count. You will also have additional work provided in your supporting appendices (see Assignment 3) and should refer to this where relevant in your paper. For example when talking about system functionality you might say “see Appendix 1.2, for the signed off specification” or when selecting a dataset: “see Appendix 2.3 for further comparison between datasets.”

A basic research template is provided below providing recommended paper sections and guidance for the sections.

The Harvard referencing system must be used for citations.

Assignment 2: Paper Template & Guidance

Title

Author Name

Author Affiliation (Institution) & Address

Email

Abstract (<100 words)

Provide an abstract of your paper. This should concisely summarise

1) In-discipline challenge and research question of the paper (e.g. what the paper is about)

2) the justification, relevance and importance of the work (e.g. why you did it)

3) the practical element you undertook to answer the research question (e.g. what you did)

4) the main results / findings / outcomes from your practical work (e.g. your answer to the research question)

5) Your main finding / conclusion

Keywords

Include 3-6 key words for your paper using clear, standard terms that identify the focus of your research and practical work.

Introduction

This section needs to prepare the reader introducing the key themes and issues in your project. This section should include references particularly to the context of your research such as health care, education or finance. There needs to be a clear aim / RQ that the paper is seeking to address through the practical element. It must also be clear why this project and paper are relevant to your programme of study. Within the introduction you should briefly address the:

· Purpose: aim of project/paper – what should the reader get from reading this paper? What research question was the project seeking to answer? How does the practical element enable the research question to be answered?

· Relevance: Detail why this work is relevant to your programme of study, why it is challenging and requires advanced level knowledge and skills.

· Importance: Provide justification and context to explain why what the paper is about matters. Back this up with citations where possible. The justification might be at a macro-level about the application of data science and why experimentation with algorithms matters. It could respond to a recognised research challenge. It could include national and marketing statistics if you want to explain why the sector that you are working in matters. Or it might be at a very local level if you are creating a product for a client. However, if you do have a client keep any contextualization / client information very brief.

· Structure: Provide the paper structure as the final paragraph of the introduction, explaining in a series of concise sentences what each section is about signposting the reader and helping them understand what it is they are going to read.

Literature Review

Provide a review of the research literature that underpins and informs your work. This section should provide a methodical investigation of relevant and contemporary research material and how this has been incorporated into, underpins and is relevant to your practical development and in enabling you to answer your research question. In particular, this section should demonstrate your ability to:

· assimilate and disseminate research relevant to the specific project area

· critically assess and present this research in a written form

· relate this review to the practical elements of the project

· apply this review to the research elements of the project

The literature review must be related to your practical work and to your discipline / programme of study. It must be discriminating and demonstrate critical evaluation using a wide range of relevant sources which are appropriately referenced and cited. Ensure that Computer Science is the focus of your literature review rather than the domain or context of use (this will typically be in the introduction). Focus on a limited number of themes and ensure that there is a clear narrative provided so that the reader can understand the relevance of the literature, providing an introductory paragraph to the section to signpost the reader. To ensure the focus on application of research to practical, you must end your literature review with the sub-section:

Key findings from the literature and application within the practical element

Provide a bulleted list, table or figure of the key literature findings and how they informed and influenced your practical work, research and approach to answering the research question.

Main Body

This section is the main part of your paper and should be where you present the practical work you have undertaken and how you have used it to answer your research question.

Provide an appropriate heading for this section.

Practical Element

For some students the practical and research aspects of their project will be entirely interlinked while other students may have used a different approach (e.g. an analysis, design and implementation of an app/website/product) followed by a user study (e.g. user testing, results and analysis) as a way to answer the question. The template divides the project into Practical (e.g. development / implementation) and Research (e.g. answering your research question through using your practical element). However, if in your project the research design and the implementation/practical element are the same, then just provide a single diagram and section covering both research and practical.

In this section present your practical approach that aimed to enable you to answer your research question. This should include how you designed, developed and tested /applied the practical outcomes of your project. This section should include citations that explain why you did what you did and your application of research to the practical element. You should also include references to your appendices where relevant. The section should include:

· Critical evaluation and justification of the approaches, methods, techniques, tools, etc. used. This should include citations and could be presented as a table.

· Outline of activity undertaken detailing how you achieved the practical outcome – this can be presented as a diagram supplemented with justification and explanation e.g. if you used agile what sprint cycles did you undertake; if you’re interrogating a dataset how did you clean the data, how did you modify algorithms in R, etc.; if you developed a security strategy how did you validate it, etc.

Research Element

Specify the research question and hypotheses/issues/focus you are intending to take to enable you to answer the question

Provide a diagram of your research design identifying the steps of your research specifying the methods, analysis techniques and outputs during those steps. [N.B. If this is very similar to your practical element diagram just include one diagram]

Briefly justify your selection of approach including citations to methods, tools, techniques and approaches where appropriate.

· Testing, experimentation and evaluation – approaches and methods

· Ethics – if you involved human participants you should include that you have ethical approval

By the end of this section you should have presented the practical development and your research design.

Results / Outcomes / Evaluation

This section should provide the analysis, results, outcomes and evaluation from your work. Whilst some of you will have results that show significance, insight and that do answer the Research Question, many will not. Your goal in this section is to present the outcomes and results even if they do not provide you with “good results” or rather the results and outcomes you wanted.

In this section you should also include references to your appendices that provide further outcomes, results, evaluation, etc.

Include a brief overview of this section, summarising the sub-sections as an introductory paragraph. Include the following three sub-sections:

Research Results / Findings

Present the results, findings and/or outcomes that enable you to answer your research question. This may include charts, diagrams, screenshots to further explain your work.

Sponsor / Client Evaluation

Identify how you evaluated your practical objectives / outcome with the client/sponsor and their response.

Project Evaluation

This section is provided as a table based on the evaluation plan provided in Assignment 1. Briefly justify changes to objectives, evaluation approaches and/or demonstrable evidence from those in the Terms of Reference, where relevant.

Objective	Evaluation Approach	Evidence	Assessment
Objective specified in your terms of reference or updated objectives	Detail how you evaluated the objective	Identify the evidence you have collected to demonstrate contribution to each objective (e.g. deliverables and outputs including design documentation, questionnaires, literature review, testing reports, presentations, sign-off documentation, approved meeting minutes, etc. – N.B. these should be provided in Assignment 3 – Appendices)	Assess how well you achieved the objective

Discussion

In this section, consider:

· the results and findings for your research question e.g. whether you answered it through your approach and practical outcomes / results and what that answer was or implies

· whether your practical element was an effective way of enabling you to answer your research question

· the Social, Ethical, Professional and Legal Issues relating to your project including referring to the Ethics Canvas that will be in your appendices (Assignment 3)

· Client/Sponsor evaluation and whether your project met their requirements

· The literature you reviewed, did it support your practical work and was your literature useful. Did you confirm what the literature said or did your results enable you to conclude differently

· If there is anything original or novel about your research and outcomes briefly identify what and why with supporting citations

· limitations of your work such as what could have been done better / what would you have done differently.

· Very brief extensions to your project or future work.

Conclusions

In response to your research question, what are your conclusions? This should provide a take home message for your reader.

References

In Harvard format

PROM02 Assignment 2 – Research Paper

1

PROM02 Assignment 2 - Research Paper - Grading & Feedback Grid

Grading:

Element	Mark Range	Mark
Academic writing including style, citation use, structuring and the title, abstract and keywords	0-5
Introduction	0-10
Research literature	0-10
Practical Element / Research Approach	0-15
Results / Outcomes / Evaluation	0-10
Discussion & Conclusions	0-10
Total	0-60

PROM02 Research Paper – Feedback Grid

Element	Grading Criteria
	Fail - Under 35%	Borderline - 35%-39%	Pass - 40%-59%	Merit - 60%-69%	Distinction - 70%-79%	Outstanding - 80+%
Academic writing incl. Title, Abstract, Keywords	Poor use of academic writing and of graphics, screenshots and diagrams. Insufficient citations and/or poor selection. Missing or very poor title, abstract and keywords	Poorly written, structured and presented paper. Insufficient use of academic writing and/or graphics, screenshots, diagrams. Poor selection and/or use of citations. Poor quality title, abstract and keywords	Well-written, well- structured and presented paper. Good use of graphics, screenshots, diagrams. Good selection and use of citations throughout. Good title, abstract and keywords reflecting content	A very well- written, well- structured and presented paper. Very good use of graphics, screenshots, diagrams. Very good selection & use of citations throughout. Very good title, abstract and keywords reflecting content	An excellent well- written, well- structured and presented paper. Excellent use of graphics, screenshots, diagrams. Excellent selection & use of citations throughout. Excellent title, abstract and keywords reflecting content	An outstanding, well- written, well- structured and presented paper. Outstanding use of graphics, screenshots, diagrams; and selection & use of citations throughout. Outstanding title, abstract and keywords reflecting content
Introduction	Little framing of the paper or provision of purpose, research questions, relevance and importance. Poor or missing structure	Poor framing of the paper not providing clear purpose, research questions, relevance and importance. Limited or missing structure.	Good framing of the paper providing clear purpose, research questions, relevance and importance. Reasonable structure.	Very good framing of the paper providing clear purpose, research questions, relevance and importance. Very good clear structure.	Excellent framing of the paper providing clear purpose, research questions, relevance and importance. Excellent clear structure.	Outstanding framing of the paper providing clear purpose, research questions, relevance and importance. Outstanding clear structure.
Background literature	Lack of critical awareness of research and practice in your discipline and lack of application of research and techniques to your own research and practical work	Poor critical awareness of research and practice in your discipline and limited application of research and techniques to your own research and practical work	Good critical awareness of research and practice in your discipline and of the application of research and techniques to your own research and practical work	Very good critical awareness of research and practice in your discipline and of the application of research and techniques to your own research and practical work	Excellent critical awareness of research and practice in your discipline and of the application of research and techniques to your own research and practical work	Outstanding critical awareness of research and practice in your discipline and of the application of research and techniques to your own research and practical work
Practical Element / Approach	Choice, justification and application of method(s) and practical approach very poor or missing	The choice and justification of method(s) and the practical approach are poor or inappropriately applied.	Good practical outcome well designed, developed, tested, evaluated and presented. Good research design and choice, justification and use of method(s).	Very good practical outcome very well designed, developed, tested, evaluated and presented. Very good research design and choice, justification and use of method(s).	Practical outcome excellently designed, developed, tested, evaluated and presented. Excellent research design and choice, justification and use of method(s).	Practical outcome outstandingly designed, developed, tested, evaluated and presented. An outstanding research design, justification and use of methods.
Results / Findings / Outcomes	Limited findings and/or poor presentation. Lack of consideration of overall project and practical outcomes.	Findings and outcomes could be presented more effectively. Limited consideration of overall project and practical outcomes.	Findings and outcomes reasonably well presented. Good consideration of overall project and practical outcomes including consideration of client/sponsor evaluation.	Findings and outcomes well presented. Very good consideration of overall project and practical outcomes including consideration of client/sponsor evaluation.	Findings and outcomes excellently presented. Excellent consideration of overall project and practical outcomes incl. consideration of client/sponsor evaluation.	Findings & outcomes outstandingly presented. Outstanding consideration of overall project and practical outcomes incl. consideration of client/sponsor evaluation.
Discussion	Research question very poorly discussed. Limited application of appropriate knowledge and a limited practical understanding of how techniques of research are used to create and interpret research in the discipline. Poor or missing conclusion	Research question has been poorly evaluated and discussed. Some application of appropriate knowledge and a practical understanding of how techniques of research are used to create and interpret research in the discipline Limited conclusion with little overview of findings	Research question has been reasonably well evaluated and discussed. A good application of appropriate knowledge and a practical understanding of how techniques of research are used to create and interpret research in the discipline Good conclusion providing an overview of findings	Research question has been well evaluated and discussed. A very good application of appropriate knowledge with some originality, good practical use and understanding of research techniques to create and interpret research Very good conclusion overviewing findings with take home message	Research question excellently evaluated and discussed. Excellent application of appropriate knowledge and excellent practical understanding of how techniques of research are used to create and interpret research in the discipline Excellent conclusion with clear take home message for the paper	Research question outstandingly evaluated and discussed. Original and outstanding application of appropriate knowledge and practical understanding of how techniques of research are used to create and interpret research in the discipline Outstanding conclusion & compelling take home message for the paper