1. Marking rubric for the oral presentation

Content (60%) Important: Pitch your presentation to an audience of your peers, that is, to your classmates. This implies that anyone intelligent with a background in physics or astronomy should be able to follow your story without getting lost.

• Introduction makes the topic clear.
• Accurately explains the background, methodology and results for the project.
• Presents information in a logical sequence.
• Gives a conclusion summarising the main points of the presentation.

Presentation - visual aids (20%)

• Slides are informative with a well-balanced amount of text and visuals.
• Well polished slides with correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Presentation - delivery (20%)

• Speaks clearly and at an appropriate pace.
• Maintains good eye contact with audience.
• Responsive to audience questions.
• Keeps to time limits.

2. Marking rubric for the written report

Note, the "background report" and the "final report" are meant to represent a single submission, due at the same time. You are expected to compose a combined final report of up to 20 pages (maximum) that resembles a peer-reviewed article. Intermediate deadlines for report sections are provided on the iLearn pages. They are optional but will help you keep track of your progress and you will receive feedback from the unit convener.

Literature review (25%)

• Clearly reports key relevant achievements in the field
• Shows appropriate depth of understanding of relevance and interconnections 
• Uses appropriate referencing (throughout)

Introduction and theory (25%)

• Clearly introduces the project goal/hypothesis
• Explains theoretical aspects and their relation to project work

Methods, results and analysis (40%)

• Clearly explains experimental plan/methods/approach
• Presents raw results with an appropriate recording of conditions/assumptions
• Analyses raw results to address project hypothesis/goal
• Presents results logically and in appropriate forms

Conclusions and outlook (10%)

• Draws clear conclusions drawn from the results and analysis
• Puts outcomes in context of past results
• Outlines future work

Late Assessment Submission Penalty 

From 1 July 2022, Students enrolled in Session based units with written assessments will have the following late penalty applied. Please see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/assessments for more information. 

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of '0' will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern. 

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.  

In this unit, late submissions will accepted as follows: 

• Final project report (which combines the project background report and the project report) – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies 

• Oral presentation – NO, unless a Special Consideration is granted 

Students will need to liaise with their staff supervisors as regards the requirements for them to carry out their research projects successfully.

Project reports are expected to be written in LaTeX (although Word will be accepted); oral presentations are expected to use powerpoint slides or equivalent as supporting materials.