The main piece of work of the majority of Masters' degrees is the Masters Project in which students apply a wide range of skills learned in the taught modules to an interesting research problem or practical application of their choice. As part of this module students will understand the typical lifecycle of a Masters Project and the activities associated with it. These will include: start to identify (i) objectives for the project, (ii) prior research in the area and similar tools available, (iii) the probable methodology, action plan or approach to their project, (iv) routes to implementation, testing, and maintenance. The Project Methods module provides useful transferable skills for carrying out the project, and supports students in some preparatory tasks such as critical review and project planning through the delivery of tailored workshops from academics in the School. The module is delivered through a set of workshops focusing on project planning; social, ethical, and professional issues; and commercial, legal, security and IP issues relevant to computer science projects.
Private Study: 45
Contact Hours: 5
Total: 50
This module will be assessed by 100% individual coursework
W Booth, G C Colomb & J M Williams, The craft of research, University of Chicago
Press, 2nd edition, 2003.
T Greenfield (Ed), Research methods: a guide for postgraduates, Arnold, 2nd edition,
2002.
J Kirkman, Good style, E&FN Spon (1997)
J Kirkman, Guidelines for giving effective presentations, 2nd edition, Routledge, 2005.
A Fink, Conducting Research Literature Reviews, Sage, 1998
A Fink & J Kosecoff, How to conduct surveys, Sage, 3rd edition, 2005
S Toulmin, R Rieke and A Janik, An introduction to reasoning, Prentice-Hall, 1984.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Understand the typical lifecycle of a Masters Project and all the activities associated with it.
2. Read and critically review research papers or technical documentation and present findings in an effective and coherent way.
3. Document their analysis in the form of a reasoned argument;
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of legal, social, ethical and professional issues in the context of computer science projects
5. Demonstrate an understanding of the commercial and economic context of a project, as well as any relevant information security, and intellectual property issues.
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