Research Project

Description

This is a 15-point course which is based on a small research project involving at least 150 hours of research work. The project gives students the opportunity to obtain, develop and demonstrate research skills in Computer Science and Software Engineering. Different projects will require and develop different research skills, so it is important to talk to members of the Computer Science & Software Engineering academic staff before committing to a particular project. A project that was awarded a UC Summer Scholarship cannot be used for this course.

Examples of research skills acquired and used in the projects include:
• Formulating a detailed statement of the problem and objectives.
• Bibliographic searches to obtain information about prior work.
• Analysing research literature to obtain relevant information, identify trends, and produce annotated bibliographies.
• Appreciation of appropriate citation and attribution in research.
• Selection of an appropriate method of solution.
• System design and implementation.
• Use of appropriate tools for data capture and analysis.
• Design and conduct of experiments.
• Evaluation of work done.
• Technical writing and presentation of results for publication.

Having successfully completed this course, students will be better prepared to undertake research projects at higher levels and to apply their research skills in an industry context. All students produce a written report at the end of the course, and this is the major component of the course assessment.

COSC486 cannot be credited towards the BSc, CertSc, GradDipSc, BSc(Hons), MSc, MADS or PgDipSc degrees. BE (Hons) students wishing to include COSC486 as a part of their Third Professional Year should discuss their plans with the Director of the Software Engineering Programme.