SIT 792 Minor Thesis Assignment 4 – Minor Thesis Introduction Your Minor Thesis is a high quality written and presented document that describes in detail your research work this Trimester. This should capture the full range of research tasks you have undertaken and report back on your findings. It should be sufficiently detailed to substantiate your claims. Thesis Brief description of assessment task This assessment task requires the student to systematically organise the outcomes of their research project. The thesis is a substantial document that represents student progress and accomplishments in the process of completing the research investigation/project. The thesis must be developed over time and should include information about research ideas, questions, design and methodology, experimental data, discussion of results/findings and conclusion. The thesis must persuasively argue the need for research, respond to identified gaps and discuss original contributions that add value to advance the field of study. Detail of student output This is an individual task. Students are required to prepare a comprehensive thesis for submission not exceeding 10,000 words. The thesis must be structured as required and include all relevant information with appropriate formatting and references using Harvard style. Grading and weighting (% total mark for unit) 45%  Marked and graded This task assesses your achievement of these Unit Learning Outcome(s) ULO1 – Demonstrate an advanced and integrated understanding of a complex body of knowledge in one or more discipline areas by generating substantial contribution to knowledge through the use of appropriate research principles and methods.  ULO2 – Apply critical analysis and reflection to ethically research, synthesise and evaluate complex information, problems, concepts, interpretations and theories to demonstrate cognitive and technical skills in a body of knowledge or practice.  ULO3 – Effectively disseminate research outcomes to a variety of audiences using highly developed communication skills and work productively within a team of experts in the field.  ULO4 – Demonstrate autonomy, expert judgement, adaptability, initiative, resilience and responsibility as a practitioner or learner. This task assesses your achievement of these Graduate Learning GLO1 –through student demonstration of an advanced and integrated understanding of a complex body of knowledge in one or more discipline areas of IT.  GLO2 – through student demonstration of written communication skills toOutcome(s) persuasively argue their contribution to the field of research study. GLO3 – through student capacity to extract relevant information from a set of self-selected sources  GLO4 – through student competence in evaluating the need for research by applying critical analysis and reflection to published scholarly work, derive research ideas, methodological concepts, interpretations and theories. GLO5 – through student competence in applying problem-solving strategies to identify and resolve research problems. GLO6 – through student ability to reflect on the research outcomes achieved, originality of contribution, and apply code of research ethics.  GLO8 – through student ability to evidence application of high-level ethical and professional standards in completing work tasks as required. How and when you will receive feedback on your work Students are expected to participate in regular weekly or fortnightly meetings as agreed with their thesis supervisor. During these meetings/consultation sessions, thesis supervisors will usually provide students with verbal feedback and support for setting goals and research tasks. When and how to submit your work Monday, May 29, 2017, 5 pm. Submission via CloudDeakin Dropbox. Content Your Minor Thesis should contain at least the following key content. Every research topic and thesis is different so there may well be significant variation in emphasis and focus between students’ theses. You should get your supervisor’s advice on your thesis outline as soon as possible and feedback on draft sections as you produce them. Your minor thesis should be professionally presented, organized and have a high quality look and feel.  Title page including name, course, unit, supervisory team;  Table of content  Short Abstract summarizing thesis  Introduction – overview of research area and project  Background to your research area and project topic – what has been done to date? Use the literature synthesis you prepared to assist you in justifying this  Motivation / Rationale for this research project – why is it important?  Problem statement – what are key unsolved research issues in this problem domain?  Related work – a critical analysis of the literature, including review of key related work, limitations to date, areas the current research project is addressing  Research methodology you used – what method(s), why chosen, how carried out the research project described in this minor thesis  Problem analysis, assumptions, main technical contributions that you have made  Results, evaluation, discussion of your results  Conclusions, contributions of your research findings, key future work directions and possibilities  Bibliography – references to all literature using consistent and complete referencing – only references cited in the minor thesis should be included  Appendices (if needed)Marking Rubric – SIT792 Minor Thesis Number Fail Weak Satisfactory Excellent 1. Submission Did not submit minor thesis Minor thesis submitted but very short (<3000 words) Minor thesis submitted, around 6000- 8000 words Minor thesis submitted, around 8000- 10000 words 2. Title page and Abstract No title page, key information missing, no abstract. Abstract partially covers project scope and title has required information Title page complete, Abstract good summary of project Title page complete, Abstract an excellent, clear, concise summary of project 3. Introduction No introduction and research area overview, incomplete or very hard to follow Hard to follow or incomplete Reasonably good summary of review and research area Excellent, concise, complete, easy to follow summary of review and research area 4. Background and Motivation No background, motivation, problem statement overview, incomplete or very hard to follow Some background and motivation overview but incomplete, hard to follow, not closely related to topic area Reasonably good summary of research areas, background, motivation, problem statement Excellent, concise, complete, easy to follow summary of key research areas, background, motivation 5. Key related research review No related research reviewed incomplete or very hard to follow Some related research reviewed but incomplete, hard to follow, not closely related to topic area Reasonably good summary of key related research Excellent, concise, complete, easy to follow summary and critique of key related research 6. Methods and Methodology No methods indicated, incomplete or very hard to follow Unclear research methods used in this area or incompletely explained Good explanation of how research in this area is being done Very clear, concise, complete explanation of how research in this area is done 7. Problem analysis No problem or questions, incomplete or very hard to follow Some research problem scoping, some research questions but appear incomplete, not focused Reasonably good research problem scoping and research questions identified Excellent scoping of research problems, challenges, research questions in this research area 8. Results No or very incomplete presentation of key research results Some research results, evaluation, discussion but incomplete, unfocused, unclear, imprecise Good presentation of results, discussion of results Excellent description of the key results, evaluation, discussion of results 9. Conclusions and future research No conclusions or very incomplete, no or very incomplete future research discussion Conclusions and future work partially complete or lack details Good set of conclusions, good set of future work ideas Excellent conclusions including key outstanding issues and future work directions 10. References No references, very incomplete Some missing, incomplete References all present, mostly formatted correctly References all present, excellent formatting 11. Presentation and format Poorly formatted. Lots of grammar mistakes. Very hard to read. Formatting, grammar, presentation could be improved significantly Formatting, grammar, presentation all reasonable quality Excellent Formatting, grammar, presentation Overall Grade Not yet to a pass standard. Pass - none of the ‘Fail’ items, and more than 50% of the ‘Weak’ items. Credit – good work - contains no items of the items in the ‘Fail’ list, most of the elements in the ‘Satisfactory’ list above, and elements of the excellent items. Distinction - Very good work. Contains none of the items in the ‘Weak’ list, majority of items in the excellent list. High distinction - Exceptional work. Contains none of the items in the ‘Weak’ list, almost all items in the excellent list.