| Unit name | MSc Project Computer Science |
|---|---|
| Unit code | COMSM3201 |
| Credit points | 60 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52) |
| Unit director | Dr. Ray |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Computer Science |
| Faculty | Faculty of Engineering |
The teaching and assessment of MSc projects is split across two units:
1) A taught Research Skills unit (worth 20 credits in the 2nd semester) that will give you guidance on how to do research, plan your project, and write scientific reports. You will submit several courseworks including a major report, called a Research Review, on which you will receive constructive feedback before starting your project work. This unit was specifically introduced in order to allow us to more effectively teach and assess the required project skills (which are substantially different from those needed in regular taught units) and to provide students with helpful feedback before they start their project.
2) The untaught Individual Project unit (worth 60 credits over summer) in which you will carry out the actual technical work of your project, evaluate the results, and write up the work in the form of an MSc thesis on which you will be assessed. You will also be required to give a poster presentation and a demonstration of your work.
Students who successfully complete the unit will be able to: Work independently on a Computer Science related project for which they have defined the objectives and rationale.
Apply knowledge about an area to a specific problem, which may be engineering, analytical, academic or applied in nature.
Effectively communicate their conclusions in terms of thei motivation, methodology, results and relation existing work.
The supervision of every MSc project is carried out by a member of academic staff, sometimes with the assistance of a research associate (RA) or doctoral student (PhD). All students are expected meet regularly (at least fortnightly) with their supervisor (or assistant supervisor) throughout the Research Skills and Individual Project units. The allocation of students to supervisors and topics takes place during a period of staff/student interviews (to help ensure students get projects suitable for the abilities and ambitions). This happens in the first two weeks of the Research Skills unit (so your subsequent courseworks are tailored to your project). Although supervisors play an important role in proposing an initial set of potential project ideas, helping students turn those ideas into viable proposals (in the Research Skills), guiding the students to actually do the required work (in the Individual Project), and suggesting how the results can best be written up (for the final thesis), the entire project is ultimately the responsibility of the student.
Dependent on individual project selection
