Unit information: Engineering Research Skills and Practice in 2020/21

Unit name	Engineering Research Skills and Practice
Unit code	EENGM0029
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. David Bull
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Faculty	Faculty of Engineering

Description including Unit Aims

This unit is designed to equip students with the complementary skills required to plan, deliver and communicate a research project in an academic or commercial environment.

Topics will include: Literature Surveys, Project Management, Presentation Skills, Writing Technical Reports and Papers, Reproducible Research, Identifying and Delivering High Impact Research, Soft Methods, Unconscious Bias and Responsible Innovation.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit students will be able to:

1. research and collate information;
2. digest and critique existing literature;
3. explain where or why your Individual Project will add value;
4. structure and write a comprehensive scientific report;
5. plan a project taking account of risks and resource constraints

Teaching Information

The the majority of the time allocated for this unit is intended for independent study and for you to liaise with your project supervisor.

Lectures will be provided on researching and report writing, covering aspects such as:

• Types and styles of projects
• What makes a good project?
• How to write
• How to use references
• How your final thesis should be structured and presented
• How to avoid plagiarism
• Evaluation and metrics and how to measure performance

Assessment Information

Submission of a Research Review document (70%). This will typically be the early-stage precursor of the Research project. During the second teaching block students will refine their project description with other stakeholders (Academic and industry stakeholders). This report will therefore be general in form and would typically involve a critical review of a small number of papers in the field recommended by the academic supervisor, associated with an identification of key challenges and opportunities.

Presentation of a Research Project literature survey (30%)

Reading and References

The lecture materials will provide suggested relevant literature