Students

COMP8990 – Master of Research - Computing

2021 – Session 1, Special circumstances

Notice

As part of Phase 3 of our return to campus plan, most units will now run tutorials, seminars and other small group activities on campus, and most will keep an online version available to those students unable to return or those who choose to continue their studies online.

To check the availability of face-to-face and online activities for your unit, please go to timetable viewer. To check detailed information on unit assessments visit your unit's iLearn space or consult your unit convenor.

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Mehmet Orgun
mehmet.orgun@mq.edu.au
Young Lee
young.lee@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
80
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

The 800-level components of the Master of Research are not designed around units. The thesis together with four core research activities form a single coherent research unit based on individual research plans and will consists of the following:
1. Research Frontiers 2: you will attend a number of department or faculty-run sessions and engage in a program of activities developing your knowledge of the sub-disciplinary field in which you want to situate your own research
2. Literature Review: you will attend sessions explaining how researchers in your field engage with previous research literature, and produce a draft of your own literature review for your thesis
3. Research Methods: with other students and led by academic staff, you will develop the research methods you will use in your research project
4. Research Planning: through a combination of group sessions and individual work with your supervision team, you will develop a plan for a large scale research project, part of which will be completed in the MRes
5. Thesis: you will complete a small research project, and write it up in a short thesis of about 20,000 words.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Formulate a research question that has the potential to make original contributions within their research field
  • ULO2: Research and compose a comprehensive and critical literature review in a specific research area centered around a research question.
  • ULO3: Conduct independent scholarly research in your field or discipline following well-established research methodology within their research field.
  • ULO4: Use well-developed judgement to undertake research ethically and responsibly at the highest professional standards
  • ULO5: Undertake a qualitative or quantitative analysis of the data collected, identify and apply appropriate research methods for the research question at hand, inclusive of critical reasoning, argumentation and justification.
  • ULO6: Write a significant research thesis of 20,000 words with a professional presentation

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Project planning 0% No Week 4
Literature Review 0% No Week 14
Thesis 90% No Mid-October
Research Frontiers 2 10% No Mid-June
Research Methods 0% No Week 10

Project planning

Assessment Type 1: Plan
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Week 4
Weighting: 0%

The objective is to provide training in project management, and planning of a major research project. A brief project plan & budget will be developed.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Formulate a research question that has the potential to make original contributions within their research field
  • Use well-developed judgement to undertake research ethically and responsibly at the highest professional standards

Literature Review

Assessment Type 1: Literature review
Indicative Time on Task 2: 40 hours
Due: Week 14
Weighting: 0%

The goal of this task is to collate and understand the background literature for your chosen project and to produce a written report which will be part of your thesis.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Formulate a research question that has the potential to make original contributions within their research field
  • Research and compose a comprehensive and critical literature review in a specific research area centered around a research question.
  • Conduct independent scholarly research in your field or discipline following well-established research methodology within their research field.
  • Use well-developed judgement to undertake research ethically and responsibly at the highest professional standards

Thesis

Assessment Type 1: Thesis
Indicative Time on Task 2: 1084 hours
Due: Mid-October
Weighting: 90%

This is the major component of the year, the writing of a thesis; the other activities are all designed to support this.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Formulate a research question that has the potential to make original contributions within their research field
  • Research and compose a comprehensive and critical literature review in a specific research area centered around a research question.
  • Conduct independent scholarly research in your field or discipline following well-established research methodology within their research field.
  • Use well-developed judgement to undertake research ethically and responsibly at the highest professional standards
  • Undertake a qualitative or quantitative analysis of the data collected, identify and apply appropriate research methods for the research question at hand, inclusive of critical reasoning, argumentation and justification.
  • Write a significant research thesis of 20,000 words with a professional presentation

Research Frontiers 2

Assessment Type 1: Poster
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Mid-June
Weighting: 10%

This will have two components: (1) a research poster and (2) five short reports on your attended Departmental seminars.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Research and compose a comprehensive and critical literature review in a specific research area centered around a research question.
  • Use well-developed judgement to undertake research ethically and responsibly at the highest professional standards

Research Methods

Assessment Type 1: Report
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Week 10
Weighting: 0%

The goal of this task is for you to really scrutinise the experimental and/or theoretical design of your research and to write the methods section of your thesis.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Formulate a research question that has the potential to make original contributions within their research field
  • Conduct independent scholarly research in your field or discipline following well-established research methodology within their research field.
  • Use well-developed judgement to undertake research ethically and responsibly at the highest professional standards
  • Undertake a qualitative or quantitative analysis of the data collected, identify and apply appropriate research methods for the research question at hand, inclusive of critical reasoning, argumentation and justification.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

There will be 2-hour weekly meetings (sessions starting from week 1 to week 13, S1 2021) to help your MRes program and Activities in particular, The sessions will be held online on Wednesdays 11am - 1pm.

All the resources will be provided on ilearn.

Unit Schedule

Weeks

Deliverables

 

Discussion Topics

 

1

 

Introduction & Administrative Matters

 

2

 

General discussion of discipline-specific research methods; expectations for research planning & budgeting

 

3

 

Writing & reviewing research papers;

Ethics and academic honesty policies

 

4

The research plan & budget

[Due 9am on Wednesday]

Discussion of how to structure and write a discipline-specific literature review;

 

5

 

Giving presentations at conferences

 

6

5MT presentation slides

[Due 9am on Wednesday]

5MT presentations by the students on their  research plan & budget

 

Recess (3-18 April)

 

 

 

7

Paper review

[Due 9am on Wednesday]

 

Deciding on where to publish work;

Searching for information on publication venues

 

8

Progress Report

[Due 9am on Wednesday]

Scientific writing using LaTeX

 

9

 

Writing a thesis; using LaTeX thesis styles

 

10

The research methods report

[Due 9am on Wednesday]

Introduction to MQPGRF and other funding sources for research

11

 

Independent reading

 

12

10MT presentation slides 

[Due 9am on Wednesday]

10MT presentation of the  research methods  

13

 

10MT presentation of the  research methods  (cont’d)

 

14

The literature review

[Due 9am on Monday]

 

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to help you improve your marks and take control of your study.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

If you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2021.03 of the Handbook