CS5500 MSc Dissertation CW Assessment Brief 2024-25 | BUL

CS5500 Main Objective of the Assessment

This assessment aims to demonstrate advanced knowledge and critical skills in an agreed topic area relevant to your master’s programme.

Description of the Assessment 

Through your written dissertation (submitted as a single PDF file), you will be demonstrating that:

• You can critically identify a research problem in a topic area related to your master’s programme.
• You can critically identify and apply appropriate methods for the chosen problem.
• You can critically describe, evaluate, and present the results for the chosen problem.
• You can communicate your work to your reader.
• You have engaged with the University’s ethics process and, where required, have the proper ethical approval for your study.

For further details on how each criterion is assessed, please see below.

CS5500 Learning Outcomes and Marking Criteria

Your MSc dissertation (Task 2) will be assessed using the criteria listed below.

We are aware that a small minority of students are purchasing dissertations rather than writing them themselves. So-called contract cheating is considered an act of academic misconduct (SR6:21).

If your supervisor suspects you of engaging in contract cheating (or any other type of academic misconduct), as per Senate regulation 4 (17), they reserve the right to require you to attend a viva to demonstrate that the work is your own.

Format of the Assessment

You will prepare and submit the MSc Dissertation (Task 2), using the template provided on Brightspace. Your dissertation should not exceed 12,000 words (±10%) (excluding title page, abstract, acknowledgements, table of contents, references, and appendices).

You are encouraged to use the Harvard referencing style (example in Task 1 template), but the use of any other citation style is not a problem as long as you use a consistent style throughout the document, using a reference management software like Zotero/Mendeley/RefWorks or any other software that is convenient for you and is available for free. Lecture 2 in Semester 2 has given you a demonstration on how to use the RefWorks library and citation manager.

You must write your coursework using Microsoft Word (or similar software packages, e.g. Pages, LibreOffice Writer, LaTeX, etc.) and submit it as an Adobe PDF file on WISEflow by the 30th of September 2025, 11:00.

Any code developed during your dissertation should be included as text (not as images) in the Appendix.

Submission Instructions

You must submit your coursework as a PDF file on WISEflow on 30th of September 2025, before 11:00. You can follow the link to WISEflow through the module’s section on Brightspace.

 The name of your file should follow the normal convention and must therefore include your student ID number (e.g., 0612345.pdf). It can also include the module code (e.g., CS5500_0612345.pdf).

You will be submitting the following files:

If there are any problems with the submission, please visit the Taught Programmes Office in room 056 of the Michael Sterling building.

We STRONGLY suggest that you attempt to submit your dissertation a day early. It will be a large document and sometimes will take several attempts to upload.

All Submitted Dissertations Will be Checked for Plagiarism!

Avoiding Academic Misconduct

Before working on and then submitting your coursework, please ensure that you understand the meaning of plagiarism, collusion, and cheating (including contract cheating) and the seriousness of these offences. Academic misconduct is serious, and being found guilty of it results in penalties that can reduce the class of your degree and may lead to your being expelled from the University. Information on what constitutes academic misconduct and the potential consequences for students can be found in Senate Regulation 6.

You may also find it useful to read this PowerPoint presentation, which explains, in plain English, the different kinds of misconduct, how to avoid (even accidentally) committing them, how we detect misconduct, and the common reasons that students give for engaging in such activities.

If you are experiencing difficulties with any part of your studies, remember that there is always help available:

• Speak to your tutor. If you’re not sure who your tutor is, please ask the Taught Programmes Office (TPOcomputerscience@brunel.ac.uk).
• Alternatively, if you prefer to speak to someone outside of the Department, you can contact the Student Support and Welfare team.

Late Coursework

The clear expectation is that you will submit your coursework by the submission deadline stated in the study guide. In line with the University’s policy on the late submission of coursework (revised in September 2024), coursework submitted within 48 hours will incur a deduction from the original mark/grade, except where it may fail, when the final grade will be capped at C- for PG and D- for UG.

Please refer to the Computer Science student information pages and the Coursework Submission Procedure pages for information on submitting late work, penalties applied and procedures in the case of Extenuating circumstances.