Postgraduate Course: Research Skills for Theoretical Physics (PGPH11086)

Course Outline
School	School of Physics and Astronomy	College	College of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	10	ECTS Credits	5
Summary	This second-semester course is compulsory for all students on the MSc programmes in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics. Students will develop their research skills through a set of exercises which include written and oral analyses of recent research papers. This will impact on their choice of MSc dissertation topic.
Course description	This course consists of several exercises, each of which will develop the students' research skills: 1. Review of recent research papers in theoretical or mathematical physics: reading and comprehending the papers; explanation of the papers' content to the student's peers; writing a short report. 2. Detailed analysis of one or more research papers in a specialised area, preferably related to the student's MSc Dissertation; oral examination. 3. Choice of general area of MSc Dissertation; project planning and topic of dissertation; aims and objectives, with realistic targets, including dates.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 2
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 2, Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 5, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2, Formative Assessment Hours 3, Summative Assessment Hours 1, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 85 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	100% continuous assessment
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
After completion of the first part of the course, students will be able to - Understand and critically review a paper in the research literature via a written report. After completion of the second part of the course, will have - understood in detail an extended theoretical derivation in one or more research papers - understood the underlying physical principles; - communicated this understanding orally. - Chosen a topic for their dissertation and completed an initial time-plan for the project