UFCF9Y-60-M CSCT Masters Project Assessment Task- Proposal | UWE

UFCF9Y-60-M Proposal Section 1: Overview of Assessment

This assignment assesses the following module learning outcome:

Learning outcome

MO1 Identify a research problem and scope research to suitably investigate it

The assignment is worth 0% of the overall mark for the module, and is marked on a pass/fail basis. Broadly speaking, the assignment requires you to define your proposed project, drawing on initial background research to identify a research gap. The initial submission allows you to start your project and discuss your ideas with a supervisor.

The assignment is described in more detail in section 2.

This is an individual assignment.

Working on this assignment will help you to clarify what you are doing for your project, and the sources you will use. The document will be used by your supervision team to enable discussions to progress your dissertation.

If you have questions about this assignment, please post them to the discussion board “FAQs: Proposal”

on Blackboard. This can be found under Learning Materials > 24Sep (2024-25) > Learning Materials by Questions > WHAT you will need to produce (Deliverables) > Deliverable 1. Project Proposal.

UFCF9Y-60-M Proposal Section 2: Task Specification

You are required to do some initial research around your chosen project topic, and create a formal proposal for the work you are going to undertake. Your proposal should be written for an academic audience.

The proposal should be a maximum of 1000 words long (excluding Title and References), and should contain the following:

• Your Details

• Name
• Course / Programme
• Student ID number

• Project Title
• A clear statement of the problem that you are seeking to address and why it is important. You
  should aim to express this as:

• Aim and scope of the project (2-3 paragraphs; provide links to the literature when necessary to bridge the identified gaps with your project’s aim towards these gaps)
• Project objectives (2-4 bullet points).
• Expected project outcomes, including description of your proposed artefact and statement of the way(s) in which your artefact will help to overcome (some aspect of) the challenge identified in your problem statement (1-3 paragraphs)

• Brief review of relevant literature. In your literature review you are seeking to establish the context of your problem. The literature review may not be complete, it could just be a list of resources (i.e. titles of papers, databases, etc.) that you have referred to or even anticipate referring to, where the paper is located and its date.
• Statement of how you plan to test and evaluate the success of your work (1 paragraph).
• Ethical review statement (are there ethical issues related to the project? Note that your supervisor will need to complete an ethical review form before you can collect any primary data) (1 sentence)
• Project plan (Gantt chart or similar to visualise the next steps in the project development)

UFCF9Y-60-M Proposal Section 3: Deliverables

UFCF9Y-60-M Proposal Section 4: Marking Criteria

The final submission will be assessed against the following criteria. In order to pass, your proposal should pass all criteria.

UFCF9Y-60-M Proposal Section 5: Feedback mechanisms

You will be able to work on drafting your project proposal with the help of a supervisor during the supervision sessions prior to the initial submission deadline.

Following the initial submission, you will be given verbal feedback on your proposal by your supervisor. Proposals can be revised and resubmitted until the final submission date. You are advised to discuss any proposed changes with your supervisor.

UFCF9Y-60-M Proposal Section 6: Appendices

6.1 Completing your assessment

Where should I start?
Attending the library sessions and the supervision sessions before the initial submission will help you to identify suitable topics and clarify your ideas. These sessions will provide information such as how and where to find existing literature, how to make appropriate use of the literature to identify a research gap, and ethical considerations.

What do I need to do to pass?

In order to pass this assessment, you will need to ensure that your proposal passes each of the criteria listed in Section 4: Markign Criteria. Your proposal will be given a Pass/Fail grade, and will not contribute toward the overall mark for your project.

What additional resources may help me complete this assessment?
Please refer to the materials on Blackboard regarding the proposal. In particular, please make use of the materials from the library and supervision sessions. The FAQs: Proposal discussion board can be used if you have questions about the proposal. Your supervisor will also be able to provide ongoing feedback on your proposal prior to the final submission deadline.

What do I do if I am concerned about completing this assessment?
UWE Bristol offer a range of Assessment Support Options that you can explore through this link, and both Academic Support and Wellbeing Support are available.

For further information, please see the Academic Survival Guide.

6.2 Assessment Content

In line with UWE Bristol’s Assessment Content Limit Policy (formerly the Word Count Policy), word count includes all text, including (but not limited to): the main body of text (including headings), all citations (both in and out of brackets), text boxes, tables and graphs, figures and diagrams, quotes, lists.

6.3 Assessment Offences

How do I avoid an Assessment Offence on this module?

Use the support above if you feel unable to submit your own work for this module.

The most common forms of Assessment Offence for this assessment are plagiarism, and falsification of references. 

UWE Bristol’s UWE’s Assessment Offences Policy requires that you submit work that is entirely your own and reflects your own learning. It is important to:

Ensure that you reference all sources used, using the UWE Harvard system. Use the guidance available on UWE’s Study Skills referencing pages.

Avoid copying and pasting any work into this assessment, including your own previous assessments, work from other students or internet sources

Develop your own style, arguments and wording. Avoid copying and changing individual words but keeping essentially the same sentences and/or structures from other sources Never give your work to others who may copy it

If you are doing an individual assessment, develop your own work and preparation. Do not allow anyone to make amendments to your work (including proof-readers, who may highlight issues but not edit the work). When submitting your work, you will be required to confirm that the work is your own. Textmatching software and other methods are routinely used to check submissions against other submissions to the university and internet sources. Details of what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it can be found on UWE’s Study Skills pages about avoiding plagiarism.

6.4 Use of Generative AI (ChatGPT or similar)

Generative AI may be used to ensure that your proposal is clear. Suggested prompts are:
“Suggest some alternative titles for a research project on…”
“Help me clarify the wording of the following research problem.”
The AI will then prompt you to enter your problem, and will make suggestions about the wording you have used.
“Please check whether the following aims and objectives are clearly presented.”
The AI will then prompt you to enter your aims and objectives, and will make suggestions about the wording you have used.
“Could you help me rephrase these objectives to make them more specific and actionable?”

6.5 Guidance on Referencing:

Please note that the aim of referencing is to demonstrate you have read and understood a range of sources to evidence your key points. You need to list the references consistently and in such a way as to ensure the reader can follow up on the sources for themselves. For this module, you are required to use the UWE Harvard referencing style. Your proposal will be assessed against the criteria shown in Section 4: Marking Criteria, including the referencing style.