1 School of Mathematics & Applied Statistics MATH 407/907 Research Methods Assignment Week 03 Autumn 2017 Student Name: Student Number: Untidy or badly set out work will not be marked. This assignment is to be handed in during the tutorial in Week 05 This assessment task comprises two components: a written assignment and a presentation. Further details about the nature of these tasks are given in sections 1.1 and 1.2 respectively. Guidelines for how to write your written assignment are provided in section 2. The marking criteria for the written assignment and for the presentation are given in sections 3.1 & 3.2. You should pay careful attention to these before handing in your assignment and before giving your presentation. Instructions for which files you are required to upload onto moodle are provided on the moodle page for this assignment. If you fail to upload your presentation then your maximum mark on the presentation will be 50%. School of Mathematics & Applied Statistics MATH 407/907: Research Methods Submission Receipt Assignment Week 05 Autumn 2017 Student Name: Student Number: Tutorial Class: Date Submitted: Tutor Initials:2 General comments for written assignments 1. You should aim to write cohesive, expressive sentences that flow together into a cohesive, expressive whole, 2. Communicating complex concepts and theories effectively is difficult. 3. Writing well is difficult. 4. Rewriting is important. Even the very best writers, no matter how competent, confident or fluent, do not produce their final copy without going through drafts. 5. Sometimes it is useful to write a first, stumbling, draft before you do any research, just to make it clear to yourself what you know or what you need to research. 6. Your assignment should go through several drafts before submission. 7. When you have finished writing your assignment, print it out and then read through it again. It is important to print it out, reading it on the screen is not the same as reading a hardcopy. 8. It is helpful to receive a ‘second opinion’ before submitting your assignment. Ask a classmate or a friend to read through it. (Ideally ask someone who is a native English speaker). 9. The only way to learn how to write well is practice and discipline. 10. A helpful tip to encourage reflection and revision is to set a false deadline. If an assignment is due on 15 February then pretend it is due on the 11th and develop a polished draft for then. The extra four days will give you time to step away from your work, listen to it with fresh ears, perhaps get feedback from a reader and then rewrite. 11. The day before you upload your assignment carefully read through the assessment guidelines. Carefully check your aassignment to ensure that you have done everything possible to avoid losing ‘obvious’ marks. General comments for presentations 1. Communicating complex concepts and theories effectively is difficult. 2. The earlier you start writing your presentation, the better. 3. Practicing your presentation is important. Even the very best speakers, no matter how competent, confident or fluent, do not give a presentation without practising it. 4. You should practice your presentation by delivering it ‘out loud’, ideally to an audience. Ask a classmate or a friend to listen to your presentation. 5. Your presentation should go through several versions before you give your marked presentation. 6. The only way to learn how to present well is to practice and to learn from your mistakes. 7. The day before you upload your presentation carefully read through the assessment guidelines. Carefully check your assignment to ensure that you have done everything possible to avoid losing ‘obvious’ marks.3 1 Assessment task This assignment is about the process of finding and defining a suitable research topic for your project and developing suitable research questions as a basis for your research. As part of this assignment, at a minimum, you should read the lecture materials for the week two lecture (‘Select a Research Topic’). You will beneficially benefit from consulting the material available on the ‘Georgia Tech Research Process’ web-page. A link to this web-page is provided under the Week 2 lecture materials. You are encouraged to use other resources. 1.1 Assignment details Your essay should cover and discuss material under the following sub-headings. 1. Title. The title for your assignment should be the title of your research project. 2. Background. Provide sufficient background information about the area in which you are working in so that a general reader (assumed to be an honours student or master’s student) can understand your problem statement. 3. Problem statement. Define your selected research topic as clearly as you can. In your description identify the general aims of your investigation and the specific question/s you are trying to answer or the problem you are going to solve. 4. As part of your problem statement identify four characteristics or factors that your proposed topic has which makes it a reasonable problem. Explain why these characteristics are necessary. 5. Skills required. State the mathematical and/or statistical skills that you need to complete your research topic. Clearly identify the skills which you already have. If you need to learn new skills what will you do to acquire them? 6. Resources. Identify and discuss four specific major sources you can use to identify and develop a general area of mathematics/statistics for your potential project. Your discussion might include why you are using these particular resources and not other resources. 7. Keywords. In a section called ‘Keywords’ select and define the keywords that define the major concepts of your research topic. The number of keywords should be between three and five. You should also put your keywords at the start of your essay, following the title. 8. Bibliography. Provide a bibliography listing all resources that you have referenced in your essay. Write your references using the ANZIAM journal style. 1.2 Presentation details You will be required to give a short presentation (5{10 minutes) in the tutorial of the week that you hand in your assignment.4 2 Assessment Guidelines 2.1 Guidelines for writing your essay 1. Your assignment must be written using L ATEX with the font size set at 12pt. 2. Your assignment should be written in the form of a report1. • It should include appropriate section headings. • It should not include question numbers. 3. You must explain the details of your answers to each heading; don’t just put down the items you are asked to identify. 4. Where required explain the significance of each item and how it is necessary to your research. 5. Show how and why your topic or questions are suitable as a research problem that is suitable to your level of knowledge in the particular area you choose. 6. Your explanation, description and answers must be of a suitable length to cover the material, approximately 3{4 pages. 7. In addition to submitting a hardcopy of your assignment you must upload your L ATEX code and presentation to the moodle site. Ways in which you can loose marks on your assignment include, but are not limited to: • not spell-checking your assignment; • not structuring your assignment in an appropriate manner; • not writing your assignment in ‘academic English’, for example using contractions and informal figures of speech; • poor use of the English language; • poor use of citing references used in writing your assignment. 2.2 Guidelines for your presentation Look at your presentation. Is it clear where you are addressing the marking criteria? Ways in which you can loose marks on your presentation include, but are not limited to: • not spell-checking your presentation; • not structuring your presentation in an appropriate manner; • presentation too long (going over the time limit); • presentation too short. 1This does not mean writing your assignment using the report documentclass in L ATEX. Use the article documentclass5 3 Marking criteria 3.1 Marking criteria for assignment The rubric used to mark your assignment is provided in table 1. You should read the rubric in conjunction with the guidelines presented in section 2.1 and the material below. 1. Introductory Material. (5 marks) • Is the title appropriate? (1 mark) • Use of keywords. (1 mark) • Use of references. (1 mark) • Identify and describe the background to your project. (2 marks) 2. Research Focus (6 marks) • Explain the nature and content of your research problem including your general aims and specific questions in a style that can be understood by someone who is not an expert in your field or topic. (2 marks) • Factors that make your research problem suitable. (2 marks) • Identification and discussion of appropriate resources. (2 marks) 3. Skills (3 marks). Describe the main mathematical and/or statistical skills used in you research. • What skills have you got? (1 mark) • What skills do you need? How are you going to obtain them? (2 marks) 4. Miscellaneous (3 marks). • Your bibliography. • Your use of L ATEX. • General use of academic English (including defining all terms). 5. You will be penalised 10% of your mark if your assignment does not conform with the guidelines provided in section 2.1. Note that partial marks may, and usually will, be awarded. Although your assignment will be marked out of 17, it is worth 10% of your final mark in this subject. You should be able to work out the scaling factor. . . Criterion 0 marks 1 mark 2 marks Title Title does not clearly indicate area of research topic Title clearly describes area of research topic. continued on next page6 continued from previous page Criterion 0 marks 1 mark 2 marks Keywords No or inappropriate keywords Keywords defined and clearly related to research topic. Use of references No or inappropriate references References clearly related to research topic and at an appropriate level. References used to justify statements. Background Background not presented or presented in a manner that is jumbled or unclear or background aimed at an expert audience. Background presented adequately with limited connection to research project and/or background not always aimed at a general reader. Background very well presented, clearly and expertly linked to the research project. Background understandable to a general reader. Problem statement, including general aims and specific questions, aimed at the target audience Background, including aims and specific questions, not identified and/or described in a too technical manner that is not clear to a non-expert. Adequate description of background, including aims and specific questions, aimed at a nonexpert, but some areas assuming expert knowledge. Excellent description of background aimed at a nonexpert audience. Research factors Did not identify and explain the research factors which make your topic a good problem. Insufficient research factors identified/research factors not clearly identified Four research factors identified, excellent description as to why these are necessary. Resources No identification of resources or identification but no discussion. Insufficient resources identified/usefulness of resources not clearly identified Four resources identified, excellent discussion of their usefulness. What skills do you have that are related to the project? Did not identify current skill set. Clearly identified current skill set. What skills do you need to acquire for your project? Did not justify why you have complete skill set or justification not believable Described missing skills, but did not adequately explain how you would acquire required skills Described missing skills, clearly explained how these would be acquired. continued on next page7 continued from previous page Criterion 0 marks 1 mark 2 marks Bibliography No bibliography. Bibliography provided, all references correctly cited. L ATEX Did not use L ATEX or L ATEX code did not compile. L ATEX code compiled, correct coding. Academic English Very poor. Excellent. Table 1: Rubric for marking assignment. 3.2 Marking criteria for presentation The rubric used to mark your presentation is provided in table 2. You should read the rubric in conjunction with the guidelines presented in section 2.2 and the material below. Content (including depth): (6 marks) • Explanation of the aims of the project and why these are interesting/useful/important. (2 marks) • Clear explanation of the theory behind the project and how it will be applied. (2 marks) • Identification of resources. (2 marks) Engaging the audience: (2 marks) • Looking at the audience | not the screen/board. • Eye-contact. • Vocal dynamics. Clarity of ‘written’ material: (2 marks) • Clarity of slides, powerpoint or other AV materials. • Use of font-size: too small, too big? Are labels on graphs readable? • Amount of material on each ‘slide’. • Does the displayed material fit on the screen? You will be penalised 10% of your mark if your presentation is either too short or too long. If your presentation is too long, then it will be stopped after ten minutes. You will only be marked on the content upto the point at which it is stopped. Note that partial marks may, and usually will, be awarded.8 Criterion 0 marks 1 mark 2 marks Aims No aims mentioned or aims presented with neither context nor rationale. Clear aims presented with superficial discussion of their relevance, interest and/or importance. Clear and precise aims presented with a quality discussion of their relevance, interest and/or importance. Theory underpinning the project and how it is applied or extended Underpinning theory not presented or presented in a manner that is jumbled or unclear, with no connection to current project. Underpinning theory presented adequately with limited connection to current project. Underpinning theory very well presented, clearly and expertly linked to the current project through application or extension. Identification of resources No identification of resources. Insufficient resources/resources not correctly referenced and/or the use of the resources not clearly identified. Four resources identified, correctly referenced and their potential use described. Audience engagement Constantly looking at the screen or board and/or speaking too softly to hear. Adequate level of eyecontact with the audience and adequate vocal dynamics. Outstanding interaction with audience through both eye contact and vocal dynamics. Visual material Visual material difficult to read or interpret. Visual material adequate for presentation. Outstanding visual material. Table 2: Rubric for marking the presentation. Note that spelling errors will be penalised under ‘visual material’.