• Project background and plan
• Peer review

• Blackboard
• Unconfirmed practical marks when available
• Exam Papers, past 2 years (where applicable)

The aims of the module are to provide students with:

1. a solid foundation in academic research methodology, directly applicable for their dissertation project. Students will receive instruction on, and will practice, academic research methods, e.g. systematic literature review.
2. an in-depth overview of applied research into new technologies and products. Students will receive instruction on relevant industry/applied research methods, e.g. Design Thinking.

• Write a background report or literature review which is concise, well-structured, up-to-date and critical.
• Establish a feasible plan for a research project, identifying risk and formulating viable contingency plans to mitigate risk in the project.
• Work within, and appreciate the implications of working within, the appropriate professional, legal and ethical framework
• Assess others' work as part of the peer-review process.

Module content will focus on academic and industry research methods, including (but not limited to):

• Academic project conception, presentation and planning
• Literature reviews
• Product research methods
• Research and design
• User surveys and evaluation

Only available to students on COMT19 MSc in Computer Science

There will be ten seminars, typically including 30 minutes to 1 hour of delivered material, during timetabled two hour sessions. There will also be five lab sessions scheduled as relevant.

The first half of the semester will focus on academic research and will be assessed through an individual report on project background and planning (potentially aligned with the dissertation project work).

The second half of the semester will focus on applied/industry/product research in small teams.

Students are expected to develop their own knowledge and skills outside the timetabled sessions, including meeting with their teams (second part of semester).

• Students will meet during seminars and form teams for seminar work and a team assessment. They will meet as a team with teaching staff for feedback and advice, as well as to discuss their plans and progress.
• Following the individual assessment, students will be provided with feedback including suggestions for their dissertation where relevant.
• The team assessment will be marked as an overall mark, and given feedback, for the whole team. Individual (anonymous) peer review will be used to adjust marks with maximum increase of 10%; i.e. to do best, team members need to focus on the overall team mark.