L7 Faculty of Science & Technology Project Handbook 2024-2025 | Bounemouth University

CONTENTS

1.    Introduction
2.    Aims
3.    Industrial Collaboration
4.    Selecting a Suitable Area for a Project
5.    Supervision and Project Development Record
6.    Literature Search
6.1    Literature sources
6.2    Library
6.3    Internet
7.    assessment methods
7.1    Project report
7.2    viva
8.    Assessment criteria
8.1    project report
8.2    viva
9.    Ethics, Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights and risk assessment
10.    HELP AND SUPPORT
APPENDIX A – Dissertation/Project Declaration Form
APPENDIX B - TITLE PAGE
APPENDIX C – project report (90%) marking criteria
APPENDIX d – viva (10%) marking criteria
APPENDIX e – Individual Masters Project (60 credits) – Proposal Pro forma
APPENDIX f – Unit Specification

1. Introduction

The Masters project provides an opportunity for you to display your ability and pursue your academic interests in a piece of individually researched work and to acquire skills and expertise different from those obtainable through taught units.  The importance of the project is reflected in the weighting given to it in the final degree assessment.

The 60 credit Project is assessed through 100% coursework comprising an Individual Masters Project Report (90%) (equivalent to 13,500 word report, excluding appendices) and a viva (10%) (typically 25mins – 10 min presentation, 15 mins defence). You will not be penalised if you write less than the maximum for the report, provided you have covered all the important points. The 60 credit project may be based on the construction of an artifact to professional standards. 

Note - Normally the coursework submission will comprise of an Individual Masters Project Report, possibly accompanied by an artifact. However, it may also be acceptable, by negotiation, for the coursework submission to take the form of an academic journal paper (which must be submitted to refereed journal) plus appendices of analysis of results etc.

You will be assessed on your ability to critically evaluate alternative approaches to a problem and to present a reasoned argument or design/development solution. You must produce a report/dissertation, possibly with other deliverables. However, an essential element of the project is that you must identify and define the project’s objectives. In doing so, you should demonstrate your ability to analyse a problem situation. The scope of such work will depend largely on the interests specific to you but, in general, the work will explore or develop themes or cases encountered in the Postgraduate Diploma programme units. The themes chosen for investigation must thus be centred upon the theory and/or practice of the key material presented in the units.

This handbook is designed to give you necessary information and to provide general help with all stages of project work.

2.Aims

The 60 credit project aims to develop an understanding of the characteristics and implications inherent in the solution of a complex, real-world problem.  To engender fusion of the taught programme, recent research findings and industrial experiences within the context of a substantial, an independently-conducted project should be undertaken.  This will provide an opportunity for the student to:

• develop knowledge of philosophy, methodologies and techniques of research relating to the domain of the named award;
• critically investigate and report on a particular issue in depth;
• engage with complex issues and present an analytically rigorous and well argued case.

See Unit Specification in Appendix F for more details.

3. Industrial Collaboration

This section applies mostly to part-time students. Students can engage in a “live” project with an industrial partner. This is useful for a number of reasons, including employability, developing a relationship with a company with a view to obtaining promotion in the longer term. If you are a part-time student, it is hoped that you will be conducting a piece of work for your employers as a vehicle for your project. 

Your industrial partner must be involved in the initial agreement process. If you are a part-time student, your employer will obviously have a stake in the nature of the work which you are undertaking, and it is in the interests of all to have the industrial and academic objectives as closely matched as possible. You must furnish your Project Supervisor(s) with the name of an industrial partner who should be in a supervisory role at your place of work. If you are undertaking a project privately, then this representative must be your customer or his agent, as appropriate. Note that your industrial representative, as a non-academic, will not be involved in the assessment process, although the assessment team may invite comment from him/her on your performance throughout the project.

4.Selecting a Suitable Area for a Project

Selection of an appropriate project for your Masters degree is critical to ensure that it is both feasible (e.g. that it can be completed within the available time frame and can be properly resourced within the University) and meets the academic objectives given in the Unit Descriptor.  The chosen project must be in keeping with the themes of the particular programme (pathway). It is the student’s responsibility to verify that their project is appropriate. 

The Research Methods unit has been designed to prepare students for project work. Assessment for the Research Method unit comprises two parts: a literature review and a draft project proposal. The process of producing a detailed literature review of a particular field is intended to assist in identifying suitable project ideas and ensuring sufficient background knowledge for the construction of a well-founded project proposal. The draft project proposal, underpinned by the literature review, will define the specific research questions or hypotheses to be tested, methodology, evaluation criteria, time schedule, etc.  

Once the Research Methods assessment has been marked, it will be determined if the project proposal is or is not a suitable basis for the individual masters project (see Section 4.2). If the proposal is suitable, you will begin your project once your supervisor has been allocated (see Section 5).  

If found not to be a suitable project, your allocated supervisor will inform you and work with you to ensure you have a suitable project proposal.  You will not be required to resubmit a full proposal, but enough information should be provided to enable your supervisor to assess the project suitability.  In such a case the pro forma in the Appendix E should also be used to provide a summary of your revised proposal to your supervisor.  The Project Supervisor and/or Project Tutor will have to agree to the changes. Please note, you will still need to complete your project in the allocated 15 weeks (30 weeks for part time students) even if you need to revise your proposal.

4.1 UN Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

Sustainable development is about improving the quality of life for everyone and ensuring that we do not detract from other peoples' enjoyment of the planet, now or in the future. 

ESD aims to raise awareness of sustainable development and to allow everyone to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. The concept of sustainable development continues to evolve and a big part of the ESD learning process is to debate and explore these new concepts as they evolve.

Through ESD students should feel empowered to engage with democratic processes and to lead change in those spheres in which they can influence better outcomes.

The goal of sustainable development is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without compromising the quality of life of future generations. (HMGovernment 2005)

As part of the project selection process, you are required to consider how your project maps to the Sustainable Development Goals which will inform the economic, legal, social ethical and environmental context of the project.  You can find more information about UN Sustainable Development goals here:

Sustainable Development Goals

4.2 Project Approval

A Project Board will be convened to approve project proposals or learning contracts and confirm supervision arrangements.

5. Supervision and Project Development Record

Normally two supervisors will be allocated to each student. However, the role of the 2nd supervisor is normally to act as the second marker. The 1st supervisor is normally the main project supervisor. He/she monitors your process and provides tutor support in order to ensure that progress is maintained and that you receive ongoing feedback as your study develops. 

Thus the role of the 1st project supervisor is:

• to advise on technical matters and offer direction;
• be available for regular meetings. These meetings may be on a one-to-one basis, or could involve other project students with the same project supervisor. The frequency of the meetings will depend upon the type and status of the project;
• to monitor your progress and report any serious problems to the Project Tutor;
• to read and comment on the preliminary draft of your project report/dissertation (provided you give him/her sufficient time before the submission deadline);
• to assess all aspects of your project.    

N.B. Whilst every effort will be made to try to respect the wishes of the student regarding project supervisor, this is not always guaranteed due to staff commitments. 

It is strongly suggested that you keep a development record of your project. This is likely to include your thoughts and ideas, comments and suggestions from project supervisor, results of literature searches, results of analysis, design and experiments.

6. Literature Search 

6.1 Literature sources

Journal Articles: Journal articles are the main source of high quality information about a subject area. Every area of study has a number of high quality journals, which publish the best research in their field. Most journal articles are refereed, that is, before material is published it is reviewed by a number of other researchers.

Conference Papers: Conferences are the source of the most up-to-date information on a topic. However, the quality of conferences can vary greatly.

Technical Reports: Technical reports are published by product vendors, universities and research institutes as a means of disseminating information. Technical reports can provide a lot of in-depth knowledge about a specific piece of research but can be difficult to obtain. However, care should be taken in using information supplied by vendors for the purposes of selling a product.

Books: Books are normally used as an introduction to a subject. Because they take a long time to write they normally discuss the foundations of a subject area and are not as up-to-date as journal articles and conference papers.

Newspaper/Magazine Articles: Newspaper articles are not normally intended to report research results and as such are not a good secondary source of information. They can provide an easy introduction into a subject or provide support for claims about the relevance of a subject area.

Internet Conferences: The Internet is an increasingly useful source of information.  However, anyone is free to publish on the Internet and so the quality of the information can vary greatly.

6.2 Library

The library is the starting point for locating relevant material. You should find out about the services offered by the library.  Some of these include:

Book Catalogues: All the books in the library are indexed in the book catalogue. This is electronic and can be search by author, title, keywords, etc.

Author/Keyword Indexes: These are large indexes of books, articles and conferences, which have been indexed by author, title and keyword. Many of these indexes classify the material according to the subject covered and so can be used to quickly find a range of publications on a subject.

Citation Indexes: Citation indexes index publications according to who has used and referenced the material in their own work. This is a good method of constructing a set of related materials on a subject.

On-line Indexes: On-line indexes provide a quick method of finding published material. However, methods of searching for particular subjects can be limited and on-line searching should complement other forms of search.

Inter-library Loan: The library can obtain publications from other libraries when it does not stock the material itself. This is very useful but can take a long time to find material (several weeks).

Librarians: Employed to help you find what you want.

6.3 Internet

The Internet is a very valuable source of information. However, publishing information on the Internet is simple and free and, therefore, not all information published on the Internet is of a high standard. Care must be taken in deciding to use information obtained through the Internet. 

7. Assessment Methods

In this section you will find details of the two elements of assessment (report and viva) for this unit.

7.1  Project Report

Some recommendations/suggestions for organising your project report include:

• Produce an outline of the report/dissertation or a draft of the contents page early in the project; this will make the task of organising information and determining the scope and boundaries of the work much easier.
• Start writing early in the project (using a word processor allows you to easily change and re-organise information)
• Apportion the work correctly in your writing, for example, do not allocate half the document to the introduction.
• Contents

-Front Cover: this must bear the title of the project and your name.
-Title Page: this must include title of project, your name and the programme name (see Appendix B).
-Dissertation/project declaration (see Appendix A).
-Abstract summarising the whole work in no more than 300 words. The abstract is an important element of the report and should cover the aims, findings and conclusions.  Anyone reading it should be able to clearly understand what work has been carried out and what has been found.
-Acknowledgements.
-Contents page.
-Introduction (including an unambiguous statement of the project aims and their significance).    
-Body of the report/dissertation arranged in suitable chapters. This should cover the background to the project, a description of the work that you carried out during the development of the project, and analysis of results.
-Critical evaluation of the project.
-Conclusions and further work.
-References and Bibliography.
-Appendices: This section should contain information not suited for inclusion in the main text, for example a detailed requirements specification, detailed technical designs, code listings, project plan.
-Approved (signed off) ethics form

• Use Arial font with a font size of 11 and 1.5 lines spacing for your report.
• When writing up a piece of work you will be expected to cite the bibliographical references of all documents you have used, or to which you have referred. It is important to be consistent, complete and accurate, because the references may need to be traced at a later date by someone else who reads your work.  

References need to be cited in two different places.  Firstly, at the point at which a document is referred to in the text of the work and secondly in a list at the end of the work.  Be aware that an author may have published more than once for a given year. You must use the Bournemouth University standard for references. The library has leaflets on this. Alternatively, use: https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/students/library/using-library/how-guides/how-cite-references

• You are expected to write up in good English without grammatical errors. You should, therefore, ensure that all typos and spelling mistakes are identified and corrected before submission.  Do not use first person and diary like accounts (...and then I did this and then I did that...). 
• You are required to submit a PDF copy of your report/dissertation via Turnitin on Brightspace.  A physical copy of the report is not required.
• The main body of the report/dissertation should not normally exceed 13,500 words (a tolerance of 10% is allowed). You will not, however, be penalised if you write less than the maximum, provided you have covered all the important points.  Everything else does not count towards the word count, namely what is in the initial sections, reference list at the end, appendices and figures and tables, although their captions do.

7.2 Viva

The second coursework element will consist of a viva (typically 25mins – 10 min presentation, 15 mins defence) with the first and second supervisor.  

• You will be required to demonstrate the ability to communicate and defend the planning, methodology and outcome of the individual project through graphical and oral methods.   
• The viva will include a short oral presentation of the work demonstrating command of grammar, vocabulary and style appropriate for a professional audience.

You may find the Library guide on presentations useful for your preparation

• You are required to submit a PDF copy of your presentation via Turnitin on Brightspace in advance of your viva.  

8. Assessment Criteria

In this section you will find details of the assessment criteria used to mark the two elements of assessment (report and viva) for this unit.

8.1  Project Report

When assessing a project report, staff will mark against the Intended Learning Outcomes 1-6, which cover the below general criteria, using an Assessment Pro forma.  The 1st and 2nd supervisor will mark the project independently of each other and without knowing the other’s mark.  A final mark will then be agreed between the two supervisors.  

Problem Formulation

• Problem formulation and the establishment of an appropriate method
• Industrial/commercial relevance
• The extent to which appropriate literary sources have been used and critically evaluated

Research Method

• Selection and justification of methods/tools
• Application of appropriate methods
• The degree of complexity and originality of the project work    
• Critical evaluation of the primary sources and evidence used.

Organisation and presentation of material

• Overall clarity and rigour of exposition
• Basic structure of the work    and project management
• How issues are raised and solutions offered

Overall conclusions

• Achievement of aims and objectives
• Completeness and coherence of the work as a whole
• Location of the project within a broader academic framework
• Delivery of the conclusions

Guidance notes for assessing Project Report can be found in Appendix C.

8.2 Viva

When assessing the viva, staff will mark against the Intended Learning Outcome 7 using an Assessment Pro forma.  The 1st and 2nd supervisor will mark the viva independently of each other and without knowing the other’s mark.  A final mark will then be agreed between the two supervisors.  

Guidance notes for assessing the Viva can be found in Appendix D.  

9. Ethics, Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights and Risk Assessment

Ethics

It is a requirement of the University that you undertake any research in accordance with the Bournemouth University Research Ethics Code of Practice, which can be found here.  You must comply with the code and submit and get approved the Initial Research Ethics Checklist which must be submitted electronically for approval.  

Login to the Online Ethics Checklist using your University credentials and click on ‘Create’ to begin the ethics checklist.  A document outlining the questions on the ethics checklist is available here.  Guidance for Students on how to create and complete an online ethics checklist can be found here.

When providing the Researcher Details you must select the correct Faculty, Status and Course.  You can then select your allocated supervisor who will be emailed to let them know the form has been submitted for them to review.  You will receive an email back, once reviewed to let you know if modifications are required or the form has been approved.  

Research ethics applications for undergraduate and postgraduate (Taught) are initially reviewed and approved by the named supervisor (minimal risk applications) or approved by Faculty Ethics Programme Teams (above minimal risk applications).  If a Supervisor receives an ‘above minimal risk‘ application to review, they will forward onto the Ethics Programme Team for review and approval. If a decision cannot be made by the Programme Team, applications will be forwarded to the Research Ethics Panel via the Research Governance Adviser. 

You must obtain approval before you commence data collection.  The collection of data before receiving ethics approval is an academic offence and will be dealt with accordingly. A mark of zero will also be awarded if appropriate ethics approval has not been obtained.

A copy of the approved ethics form, which can be downloaded in pdf form from the online ethics site, must be included in the submitted project report/dissertation.  New approval should be sought if you change your methodology.

IMPORTANT: If you are planning to use an online survey you must use JISC Surveys which complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and complies with the ethics around data management. 

You can register with Jisc Online Surveys for free with our BU software licence.  For information on how to use the tool look HERE. 

Copyright page

The copyright page (see Appendix A) allows you to acknowledge the copyright of any material you have included in your report. You are expected to include it as the first page following the project cover page and sign it.

Third party copyright materials may be included in a report/dissertation without permission of the copyright owner under Section 32 of the Copyrights, Designs and Patent Act (CDPA) 1988, which allows copying of material solely for the purpose of setting or answering an examination question. If any person, including the report/dissertation author, wishes to publish any part of the report/dissertation containing third party copyright material, then they are first required to gain permission from the copyright owner. 
 
Intellectual Property Rights 

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) will be retained by you over the report.

If you are employed by an organisation to do the work described in the report, then the IPR in the work belongs to that organisation by default.

If you are not employed by an organisation, but are doing the work in collaboration with them, then the IPR in the work remains with you by default; you can, of course, negotiate away the IPR of the work (to the organisation). However, in general it is unwise to negotiate away the IPR or copyright of the report.

Should the report contain sensitive information (commercial or ethical), you may provide an embargoed version of the report. It must be clear that this is an embargoed copy.

Risk Assessment

Risk assessments are used to reduce the number and severity of accidents by assessing the risks beforehand and introducing appropriate prevention measures.   It is also required by law. The Management of Health and Safety At Work Regulations (the ‘Management Regulations’) 1999 require suitable and sufficient recorded assessment of the risks to health and safety to the University’s employees and students.

With regard to the Masters project you will need to complete a risk assessment for any new experimental equipment you are planning to use, this would likely include all equipment in either research lab. You may also need to complete a risk assessment if you are planning external research work, including site visits. In either case you will need to discuss the risk assessment requirements for your planned project activities carefully with your supervisor before you start and complete the appropriate risk assessment forms. If there are significant risks to your planned activities you may need to change either the activities you have planned, or the way you are planning to conduct these. Again, all risk assessments must be conducted beforehand.

A risk assessment is nothing more than a careful examination of what could cause harm to people so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. The aim is to make sure that no one gets hurt or becomes ill due to work activities. 
 
The risk assessment process consists of the following steps:

• identifying hazards
• deciding who might be harmed, and how
• assessing the risks from those hazards (i.e. the possibility that the hazard will actually result in harm or loss)
• considering whether further action is needed to eliminate or reduce the risks identified and what would be effective, reasonable and manageable
• and implementing and maintaining some control measures and programming in a regular review of the assessments

You will need to complete a risk assessment form for each activity, you can do this via the BU On-Line Risk Assessment Tool via the links below:

10. Help and Support

• If a piece of coursework is not submitted by the required deadline, the following will apply:

1. If coursework is submitted within 72 hours after the deadline, the maximum mark that can be awarded is 50%. If the assessment achieves a pass mark and subject to the overall performance of the unit and the student’s profile for the level, it will be accepted by the Assessment Board as the reassessment piece. The unit will count towards the reassessment allowance for the level; This ruling will apply to written coursework and artefacts only; This ruling will apply to the first attempt only (including any subsequent attempt taken as a first attempt due to exceptional circumstances).  
2. If a first attempt coursework is submitted more than 72 hours after the deadline, a mark of zero (0%) will be awarded.
3. Failure to submit/complete any other types of coursework (which includes resubmission coursework without exceptional circumstances) by the required deadline will result in a mark of zero (0%) being awarded.

APPENDIX C – Project Report (90%) Marking Criteria

Pass performance is the minimum acceptable standard.  It is consistent with systematic understanding coupled with some ability to evaluate and critique methodologies, and shows some evidence of critical awareness of current problems and forefront techniques, with some originality in their application.

Very good performance (merit) is consistent with systematic understanding coupled with good ability to evaluate and critique methodologies, and shows very good evidence of critical awareness of current problems and forefront techniques, with originality in their application.

Excellent (distinction) performance is consistent with systematic understanding coupled with strong ability to evaluate and critique methodologies, and shows comprehensive evidence of critical awareness of current problems and forefront techniques, with originality and flair in their application.

APPENDIX D – Viva (10%) Marking Criteria

Pass performance is the minimum acceptable standard.  It is consistent with systematic understanding coupled with some ability to evaluate and critique methodologies, and shows some evidence of critical awareness of current problems and forefront techniques, with some originality in their application.

Very good performance (merit) is consistent with systematic understanding coupled with good ability to evaluate and critique methodologies, and shows very good evidence of critical awareness of current problems and forefront techniques, with originality in their application.

Excellent (distinction) performance is consistent with systematic understanding coupled with strong ability to evaluate and critique methodologies, and shows comprehensive evidence of critical awareness of current problems and forefront techniques, with originality and flair in their application.

APPENDIX F – Unit Specification