This is an assignment for students on Level 7 of the following courses:

MSc Digital Design and Manufacturing
MSc Engineering Smart Systems
MSc Engineering Project Management

We hope that you enjoy doing this assignment. It is an opportunity for you to work on a large specialist project aligned to your degree programme, and to communicate your skills and knowledge as a professional engineer to future employers.

The Moodle Support Page includes the support video, submission details and submission box, answers to frequently asked questions, and the latest version of this document.

Contacts

Lead Assessor: Dr Noushin Karimian

Contents

Brief context 2

Workflow.. 2

Workflow Task 1: Background Research. 3

Workflow Task 2: Development of methods. 3

Workflow Task 3: Results taking and analysis. 3

Workflow Task 4: Discussion. 3

Workflow Task 5: Completion of report 3

Schedule of work. 4

Assessment 5

Formative Feedback. 5

What is being assessed?. 5

Assessment Grading Criteria. 6

Re-assessment 8

Appendix. 8

Summary of AHEP-4 Learning Outcomes Evidenced. 8

Brief context

During this unit you will plan and undertake an individual project, drawing on the skills and knowledge that you develop in alignment to your degree programme. You will be supported by a supervisor who will provide specialist technical knowledge related to the project that you have been allocated. This is a student-led unit, which will require you to manage the timeline of your project efficiently and effectively. The unit will be supported by a series of formative assessment points that will take place during meetings with your supervisor.

The outcome of your individual project will be communicated by a report of up to 50 pages long (excluding appendices). You should refer to this document to determine the top-level headings, with reference to the Department of Engineering Report Template, specific and detailed content should be decided in collaboration with your academic supervisor.

Workflow

This workflow is aligned to the Department of Engineering Report template. It is your responsibility to manage the timeline of your project in collaboration with your academic supervisor.

Supporting Learning Resources and Activities

Department of Engineering Report Template	Risk assessment template	Ethos guidelines

Workflow Task 1: Background Research

Background research is necessary from the outset of your project. Preparing a thorough review of the available literature will enable you to understand the context of your project, why it is important to do the work, methods and analysis techniques that you can develop to reach your objectives and points of discussion as you begin to draw conclusions on your work.

Workflow Task 2: Development of methods

Based on the background research, aim and objectives, and in collaboration with your academic supervisor and technical services, you should develop the methodology(ies) required to complete your project. Early planning for this stage will give you the best opportunity to successfully complete your work in time. You will be required to complete risk assessments and an ethos application before you can begin any practical or analytical work.

Workflow Task 3: Results taking and analysis

Once you have planned your methodology and begun the practical or theoretical elements of your project, you should aim to record and begin analysis of your results in parallel. By doing this you will be able to refine your methods, notice any anomalies and begin discussions with your academic supervisor on improvements.

Workflow Task 4: Discussion

As with results and analysis, the development of the discussion of your work should occur in parallel to methods and results taking. Discussions can begin verbally with your academic supervisor, and as you become more confident with the synthesis of your work you should be writing it up, presenting your critical analysis of the connections between the elements in first three sections.

Workflow Task 5: Completion of report

As you draw towards the end of the academic year, you should refine the work that you have done. It is important that you continually proofread the report that you have been writing and ensure that there is a consistent narrative to your work; it is here that you should write your abstract and conclusions sections of the report.

The report should not exceed 50 pages (excluding appendices). You should choose a font that is easy to read (normally 10 or 12 point) and are encouraged to use one-and-a-half line spacing. You should include appendices for additional material not central to the report (e.g., questionnaires, screenshots) and these will be in addition to the 50 pages for the main body of the report.

Remember that quantity does not equal quality. Conciseness, clarity, and elegance are invaluable qualities in report writing, and will be rewarded appropriately. In addition, it is important to appreciate that the appropriate size and structure of the report can vary significantly from one project to the next.

You should avoid the following:

Poor quality writing, structure and presentation
Writing in the first person i.e. do not use ‘I’ or ‘we’
Regurgitating general background theory from textbooks and other sources without putting it into the context of the project
Including screenshots, rather than high quality annotated images and diagrams
Including low quality images without annotation
Including many figures showing similar things, like photos of your prototype, rather than collating them together in an annotated multi-panel figure.
Providing insufficient details of methods, so your work is not reproducible
Inappropriate presentation of results i.e. lots of similar graphs, or showing the same results in a graph and table
Graphs without axis labels and lacking/ incorrect units
Failing to number and caption figures and tables and not citing them in the main body of text
Failing to number equations and not citing them in the main body of text
Failing to reference work that is not your own
Inconsistency and repetition between chapters/ sections, which can lead to confusion
Ordering the chapter in a manner that is illogical and confusing.

Please refer to the Guide to MSc Individual Project document for more details.

Schedule of work

Plan a realistic schedule of work to complete this assignment on time and to a high standard.

It is important that you manage your own timeline for this work, the deadlines given below are indicative of when you should complete sections of your report.

This assignment is for 70% of your unit mark, and we expect you to spend up to 420 hours on it, in total.

The Assignment Support video will talk you through the workflow and help guide your plan for success.

Assessment

Formative Feedback

Members of the teaching team and will answer queries about the assignment during the timetabled Workshop classes and in the drop-in Surgery sessions (see your personal timetable for details). Advice given during these sessions and feedback on any work you present will not count towards your final grade.

Outside timetable sessions, please email questions to the Teaching Team, the Support Tutors or your Personal Tutor. The teaching team will not use their office hours to provide one-to-one or small group assignment support, but a selection of emailed questions, and questions asked during the timetabled classes will be added to the assignment’s FAQs page.

What is being assessed?

Learning outcomes		Evidence
Unit Learning Outcomes	Present a full account and critical evaluation of the project outputs and the realisation of the planned benefits, including recommendations for further work	Report
	USD1 Apply skills of critical analysis to real world situations AHEPS 4 evidences M6
	USD2 Demonstrate a high degree of professionalism* eg initiative, creativity, motivation, professional practice and self-management. AHEPS 4 evidenced M6, M9
	USD3 Express ideas effectively and communicate information appropriately AHEPs 4 evidenced M8, M9, M17
	USD6 Find, evaluate, synthesis and use information from a variety of source AHEPs 4 Evidenced M4

To pass this assessment you have to fully achieve the unit learning outcomes by completing all the tasks and submitting the deliverable to an adequate standard.

This assignment will be marked out of 100.

Assessment Grading Criteria

Deliverable ®	Report
Weighting ®	30	30	20	20
Grade range ¯	USD1 (M6) Apply skills of critical analysis to real world situations within a defined range of contexts (Results and Discussion)	USD2 (M6, M8, M9) Demonstrate a high degree of professionalism* eg initiative, creativity, motivation, professional practice and self management. (Research Methods and Conclusions )	USD3 (M17) Express ideas effectively and communicate information appropriately and accurately using a range of media including ICT (Report Presentation, Abstract, Introduction, Conclusions, References, Bibliography)	USD6 (M4) Find, evaluate, synthesise and use information from a variety of sources (Background Research)
86%-100%	Novel and complex problems are evaluated thoroughly with reference to theory and practice. Research methods have the potential to generate original solutions and this is expressed with clarity	The research methods and conclusions have been meticulously considered. The potential contribution to societal and business needs is high and there are clear plans for realising benefits following the project completion. There are detailed suggestions for future work. Conclusions reflect any ethical concerns or risks associated with the project and future work.	The project is presented persuasively using appropriately selected strategies and media. The abstract makes clear the research challenges resolved and potential contribution. The presentation of the work is exemplary and citation and use of appropriate references is meticulous throughout.	The research background is comprehensively articulated based on a synthesis of useful information from a wide range of appropriate primary and secondary sources. There is potential to publish the results.
70%-85%	Novel and complex problems are evaluated with reference to theory and practice, generating original solutions	The research methods and conclusions are considered in detail. The potential contribution to societal and business needs and potential future work are well described. The review of project show that risks and ethical issues have been comprehensively addressed.	The project is presented convincingly using an interesting range of appropriately selected strategies and media. The abstract make clear the research challenges resolved and the project results. The presentation of the work is to a high standard. Citation and use of appropriate references has been completed comprehensively. There may be some minor typographical or formatting errors but these do not detract from the work.	The research background is clearly articulated based on a synthesis of useful information from a wide range of appropriate primary and secondary sources. There is potential to produce useful and workable solutions.
60%-69%	Novel and complex problems are solved confidently with reference to theory and practice	The research methods and conclusions are well considered. The potential contribution to societal and business needs and future work are described. There is a review of the project risks and ethical issues and this is appropriately considered.	The project is presented coherently using a range of appropriately selected strategies and media. The abstract makes clear the project results. The work is well presented but there may be some small typographic or citation errors which do not detract from the work.	The research background is comprehensively articulated based on a synthesis of useful information from appropriate primary and secondary sources. The contribution of the work is clearly articulated.
50%-59%	Novel and complex problems are solved with reference to theory and practice	The research methods and conclusions are presented convincingly. Future work and potential contribution to societal and business needs may lack clarity. Risks and ethical issues are reviewed and have been addressed appropriately.	The project is presented adequately using a range of appropriately selected strategies and media. The abstract makes clear the project results. The work is well presented but there may be some typographic or citation errors which do not detract from the work. There may be some missing references or sections of the work which are less clear.	The research background is clearly presented with an evaluation of information from appropriate primary and secondary sources and synthesis of the results. The jusitification for the project is explained.
45%-49%	Attempts to solve novel and complex problems are partial, with limited reference to theory and practice	The research methods and conclusions are presented but these are unclear or lacking in detail. The future work and potential contribution to societal and business needs may be vague or missing. There is a review of risks and ethical issues but this may lack clarity.	The project is presented using a range of appropriately selected strategies and media. The abstract may lack detail about the project. The report structure may be unclear. The may contain typographic, grammatical or citation errors which detract from the meaning in places. Sections of the work are unclear.	There are gaps in the synthesis of information from appropriate primary and secondary sources. The research background is unclear due to the gaps.
20%-44%	Attempts to solve novel and complex problems are inadequate, with little reference to theory and practice	The research methods and conclusions are presented but these are unclear or lacking in detail. Any future work and potential contribution to societal and business needs are vague or unclear. The risks and ethical issues are unclear.	There are major gaps in how the work is presented. This may include missing abstract or introduction or an unclear structure. There are numerous typographic and grammatical mistakes and the work would benefit from proofreading. Citation and use of references is not to the required standard.	There are major gaps in the synthesis of information from appropriate primary and secondary sources. The research background is inadequate due to the gaps.
0%-19%	There is little or no evidence of any attempt to solve novel and complex problems with little or no reference to theory and practice	There may be little or no attempt to describe the project research methods and the conclusions remain vague. Issues regarding project risks and ethical approval have not been considered sufficiently.	The report has not been presented to a professional standard. The structure may be unclear or sections may be completely missing. There is little or incorrect use of citation and referencing. Typographic and grammatical errors are prevalent throughout the work.	Little or no attempt to synthesise information from appropriate primary and secondary sources. The need for the project is unclear.

Re-assessment

Note that opportunities to repeat assignments are not automatically provided, and when they are, the marks obtained may be capped. For more information about the regulations, please contact the Student Hub.

If you think you are at risk of failing this assignment, please seek advice as soon as possible form your Personal Tutor or the Support Tutors – with enough notice, there are many ways in which we can support you and help you to get back on track.

Appendix

Summary of AHEP-4 Learning Outcomes Evidenced

M4	Select and critically evaluate technical literature and other sources of information to solve complex problems.
M6	Apply an integrated or systems approach to the solution of complex problems.
M8	Identify and analyse ethical concerns and make reasoned ethical choices informed by professional codes of conduct.
M9	Use a risk management process to identify, evaluate and mitigate risks (the effects of uncertainty) associated with a particular project or activity.
M17	Communicate effectively on complex engineering matters with technical and non-technical audiences, evaluating the effectiveness of the methods used.

Requirement and Criteria

PPT Project presentation 4