Undergraduate Course: Project Design and Literature Analysis (GESC11001)

Course Outline
School	School of Geosciences	College	College of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Year 5 Undergraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	This course will allow students to reflect on a subject area of their choice, become familiar with the important and current literature on the subject, and design a research project on the topic of their choice. This course will run alongside ¿Research Methods and Transferable Skills¿ to provide a complementary introduction to research skills required to plan and execute novel scientific research. Students will be introduced to on-line scientific databases used for researching scientific literature and the skills required to identify potential areas for research. Students will use these skills in tandem with training in the use of various analytical and experiment techniques to formulate their independent research project. Students will present their research project proposals to each other (and other members of the School) at a one-day workshop, as well as write a detailed project proposal, in the form of a NERC research proposal.
Course description	This is a discussion based class, the topics of which will be decided on a needs-basis once an initial meeting with the students is set up.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	While there are no pre-requisites for this course, only students who are accepted onto the MEarthSci programme can enrol in it.
Additional Costs	None.

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 100, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 84 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Written Exam: 0%, Course Work: 100 %, Practical Exam: 0%. Student presentation (20%): Week 10 (18th-21 November) Project proposal (80%): Due on 12th December 2014, 4pm. The project proposal will describe the background to the student¿s independent research project, work to be conducted as part of the project, and how this work will be performed (scientific methodology). Students will be given guidance in how to plan their individual research projects, and will present their research plans (including research background and available scientific literature) to each other and their supervisors at a planned event. This will provide students with an opportunity to critically assess each other¿s research topics, as well as gain some appreciation for the breadth of scientific research conducted in the Earth Sciences.
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: Design a research project with testable hypotheses and achievable goals. Interrogate and critically assess existing scientific literature for work still to be done. Be able to set their research in the broader context of work in their field of interest. Have a detailed, thorough and up-to-date understanding of one particular area of research in the geosciences, as well as an appreciation of the range of research conducted in modern geoscience.