Postgraduate Course: Engineering Research Methods with Grand Challenge (MSc) (10 credits) (PGEE11195)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course aims to equip students with essential skills for engineering research and comprises two parts:
Research Methods: through lectures delivered in the first 10 weeks, students will study essential topics for the completion of a research project such as literature surveying, project planning & reporting, time management, Gantt charts, plagiarism & Intellectual Property issues, presentation of research outcomes etc.
Grand Challenge Project: During week 2, students are given a ¿grand challenge¿ and are asked to do a literature review, identify a specific problem and propose/design solutions to the problem. The project requires them to use all the skills and tools they learned in this course. While the projects are individual, the students form forums where they discuss aspects of the challenge and exchange ideas. The final deliverable, which also forms the coursework assessment, is a 6-page report formatted as an IEEE journal paper to be submitted in week 11
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| Course description |
Indicative list of topics covered in the lectures:
Literature surveys: methods and sources of information
Quantitative & qualitative methods in research
Project planning & Gantt charts
Project management & reporting
Time management
Plagiarism & Intellectual Property
Scientific writing
Presenting research outcomes
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
78 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework %: 100 |
| Feedback |
Formative feedback on week 4 |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- be able to research the literature databases to find, assimilate, formulate and communicate new information from diverse sources;
- gain technical understanding of research in their field of engineering through a study and solution design for a particular problem;
- have an understanding of research in a wider societal context and an ability to prepare reports with technical information for specialist audience;
- be able to use software tools to carry out engineering research.
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Reading List
D. V. Thiel, ¿Research Methods for Engineers¿, Cambridge University Press, 2014, ISBN: 9781139542326
G. Tomas, ¿How to Do Your Research Project: A Guide for Students 3rd ed.¿, SAGE Publications, 2017, ISBN: 147394886X
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Research Methods,Project planning,Project management |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Hannah Chalmers
Tel: (0131 6)50 5694
Email: hannah.chalmers@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Jo Aitkenhead
Tel: (0131 6)50 5532
Email: Jo.Aitkenhead@ed.ac.uk |
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