Overview
This unit will allow you to start to develop your Honours research area, including the development of a relevant and appropriate topic of study. You will develop specific skills in the critical analysis of the literature, research design, and written and oral communication.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2017
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Personal communication from student supervisors.
Supervisors were supportive of the unit content and use of ZOOM to deliver seminars.
Continue with relevant seminar-style content delivery.
Feedback from Email communication from students.
Students were pleased with the rapid response to emails, including on weekends and evenings.
Continue with close monitoring of student contact.
Feedback from Self-reflection.
Be increasingly mindful of time to review the review of the literature and project proposal assessment items
Provide clear guidelines for markers regarding expected turnaround times for marks and feedback.
- Search the literature utilising a wide range of library resources and online services
- Formulate and present a written proposal on a suitable research topic
- Demonstrate technical knowledge relevant to the topic
- Effectively communicate the background literature and proposed methodology relating to your chosen project to an educated non-specialist audience
- Undertake an oral presentation on the chosen topic.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Presentation - 0% | |||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 0% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Presentation - 0% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 0% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
There are no specified textbooks for this course. You should consult your undergraduate textbooks and resources in research methods and statistics, and use the online resources for this course, to assist your learning and ensure successful completion of assessment tasks in this course.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Microsoft Office or similar word processing, spreadsheeting and presentation software.
- Statistical software relevant to the students' study area such as R, SPSS, or NVIVO, or equivalant online statistical application. Consult your supervisor(s) for detailed information.
- ZOOM Videoconferencing software. A ZOOM account is available with your student credentials. We will use this software for seminar delivery.
- Zotero or EndNote citation management software. Zotero is available freely online. EndNote is supported by CQUniversity and is freely available to CQUniversity students via ITD.
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
r.stanton@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Research ethics and integrity.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Undertaking a critical analysis.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Scientific writing.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Research design.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Preparing and delivering a research presentation.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Essential tips for preparing your literature review and project proposal.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Submission of the draft literature review and project proposal (optional).
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Submission of the FINAL literature review and project proposal. Due Friday of Week 12 at 12:00 Noon (Midday).
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Oral presentation. Due Monday of Review Week.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Presentation
You will deliver a presentation which outlines your project, to your peers and academic colleagues,on the Monday of Review week. The presentation will:
- include a brief background to your project;
- highlight the significance of the study;
- outline the research question(s) to be answered;
- describe the project methodology including ethical considerations and data collection and analytical techniques;
- and describe how the project outcomes will be disseminated.
The presentation will be no more than 15 minutes in duration (strictly adhering to this timeframe is essential), with up to 15 minutes for questions. Presentations will be primarily conducted on the Rockhampton campus only, with videoconference links to other campuses as required.
You must submit your slides as a pdf file by 8.00am on the Monday of Review week. The presentation will be conducted on the Monday of Review week and will be on the same day as final presentations for completing students. This will help build an Honours research culture within the School.
Grades will be advised once all examiners have returned marking sheets.
The presentation is assessed as a Pass/Fail item. In order to pass this assessment item, you must adequately address all of the criteria specified in the criteria sheet available on Moodle. Students who do not adequately address all criteria during their presentation will have the opportunity to do so by answering questions from the assessment panel during question time.
- Search the literature utilising a wide range of library resources and online services
- Demonstrate technical knowledge relevant to the topic
- Effectively communicate the background literature and proposed methodology relating to your chosen project to an educated non-specialist audience
- Undertake an oral presentation on the chosen topic.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Written Assessment
You will prepare and submit a single document which contains your literature review and project proposal. The literature review will provide a detailed background relevant to your topic. It will demonstrate a critical synthesis of the literature which is unbiased and well-researched, and will identify relevant gaps in the literature. The project proposal will specify one (1) or more research questions which have been identified from the review of the literature, and highlight the significance of undertaking the proposed research project. You will describe in detail, the proposed methodology you will use to answer the research question(s) including data collection and analytical techniques both technical and statistical. In this way, you will demonstrate a sound understanding of the problem and the solution, and demonstrate that your project is feasible, and has the capacity to answer the proposed research questions.
Week 12 Friday (6 Oct 2017) 12:00 pm AEST
An optional draft submission may be submitted for comment by close of business, Friday Week 9. Final submission is due Friday of Week 12 at noon (Midday).
Grades will be advised once all examiners have returned marking sheets.
The literature review and project proposal is assessed as a Pass/Fail item. In order to pass this assessment item, you must adequately address all of the criteria specified in the criteria sheet available on Moodle. A draft submission will be available during Week 9 of Term and feedback will be given on the document to allow changes to be made ahead of the final submission. Students who do not adequately address all criteria in their final submission will be given one (1) additional opportunity to resubmit. You will be contacted by the unit coordinator and the resubmission will be due one (1) week after you have received your mark.
- Search the literature utilising a wide range of library resources and online services
- Formulate and present a written proposal on a suitable research topic
- Demonstrate technical knowledge relevant to the topic
- Effectively communicate the background literature and proposed methodology relating to your chosen project to an educated non-specialist audience
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
