computing research

 computing research

This is a negotiated research assignment. You are to propose and gain approval for a research paper title on one narrow topic that is relevant to your degree. This paper must be focussed on one narrow aspect of computing research and must not be the same as any other research you are doing, or will be required to do, for any other module while doing your degree.  Guidance will be given on your proposed title by your local tutor but it is your responsibility to ensure you follow this advice and ensure that the paper you submit in the end has an appropriate title.

Students on Applied Business Computing should write a research paper that is applicable to one aspect of applied business computing. For example:

• improving the design of computer systems in an application specific, but non-business specific, setting (e.g. predicting stock market trends),
• improving the efficiency of businesses by developing new and novel systems e.g. managing climate change, novel health care systems or enhancing criminal, legal or government systems.
• improving any aspect of software enterprise or user experienced design.
• Developing novel business applications e.g. wearable technologies, 5G applications, new medical informatics and diagnostic systems
• Note: a very wide definition of business applies here so this includes computing used within a public sector setting e.g. hospitals, within the voluntary sector e.g. charities or within a social setting e.g. online communications..(unique_solution)

Students on Computer Systems Engineering should write a research paper that is applicable to one aspect of computing systems engineering. For example:

• enhancing the design or development of databases,
• enhancing the design or development of web based systems
• enhancing the development of any advanced computing technique e.g. artificial intelligence or
• enhancing any aspect of the software lifecycle e.g. large scale collaborative agile development, quality assurance for deep learning etc
• Developing novel applications e.g. Internet of Things, wearable technologies, medical implant

Students on Network Systems should write a research paper that is applicable to one aspect of network systems. For example:

• Improving network security,
• Improving network efficiency,
• Improving one aspect of cloud computing or
• Improving any aspect of mobile networks or telecommunications.
• Improving underpinning technologies or customer experience e.g. Internet of Things, 5G, access in remote locations.

Students on Mobile and Web Technologies should write a research paper that is applicable to one aspect of web or mobile information systems. For example:

• Improving mobile or web security,
• improving any aspect of web or mobile design or user experience,
• Improving any aspect of underpinning technology e.g. telecommunications, operating systems, wearable devices or batteries
• Developing novel applications e.g. medical informatics & diagnostics

Students on Business Intelligence and Data Analytics should write a research paper that is applicable to one aspect of Business Intelligence and Data Analytics. For example:

• Improving data visualisation, user modelling or customer insights,
• Resolving current ethical issues e.g. algorithm fairness, transparency or accountability
• Improving any aspect of underpinning technology e.g. databases, artificial intelligence or deep learning
• Improving any aspect of the application of theory e.g. enhancing business strategy, operations, risk management or enterprise migration strategies
• Developing novel applications e.g. medical informatics or home energy management

You are to write a research paper with an appropriate title with reference to between 8 and 12 relevant conference and journal articles. Your research paper should include a detailed discussion and evaluation of current research on the topic under consideration leading to your own well-reasoned conclusions.

The word limit for this assignment is 3000 words (this includes the reference list but does not include the assignment cover sheet). You must put the word count on your assignment cover sheet (details of which are provided later) and you must explain why the topic chosen is relevant to the specific degree you are studying.

In line with University policies regarding assignment length you will be penalised according to the following table for breaking the limitations.

Your task in doing this assignment is not to undertake the research you proposed for assignment 1 but to discuss and evaluate research published by other researchers. In doing so you are required to discuss the research described in current research papers. Therefore, providing an introductory discussion, or providing a detailed description of a technical subject will score very low marks.

Care should be taken to ensure that your paper is unbiased and accurately referenced using the Harvard referencing system (see the lecture slides and publication template for guidance on this).

Any words not your own must be in quotation marks and sources cited. Quotations should be no more than two lines long and, taken all together, should represent less than 10% of the words written. The remaining 90% of this assignment must be entirely in your own words.

Your paper should be appropriately sectioned, well structured and should clearly set out your own evaluation of the evidence, analysis and conclusions. Your conclusions should be backed up by well-reasoned arguments and should be suitably illustrated with appropriate examples. It is not enough to regurgitate or summarize material found in literature.

Good academic writing uses literature to present evidence and the conclusions reached by other researchers and discusses this literature allowing the author draw out their own concrete conclusions.

Your conclusions should come from:-

• Your evaluation of the evidence presented in research papers,
• Your comparison of the theories proposed by researchers in research papers,
• Your consideration of the potential application of these theories to real world situations.

For a good balance you should aim to spend about 50% of the space devoted to presenting research materials and 50% to your evaluation of this evidence, your comparison, your reasoned argument and your conclusions.

A reference list must be included at the end of the research paper.

Your paper should be in a format suitable for publication. A publication template is available to help with this. Students will have the opportunity to get their research papers published if their paper is good enough and correctly formatted.

Assignment Submission and Marking

Your assignment should be submitted as one document. This should start with an assignment cover sheet which includes the following information:-

• the module code,
• your name and student registration number,
• the name of the degree you are studying
• the name of the centre you are studying at (for off-campus students),
• the title of your paper
• the word count and
• a short statement that explains the relevance of this research to your degree (2 or 3 sentences should suffice for this).

The title page should then be followed by the body of the assignment which should be a correctly formatted a research paper. A research paper template is provided to help you with this within the module materials. For reasons explained later the research paper, if correctly formatted, will duplicate some of the information on the assignment cover sheet (ie. title and author name).

The assignment will be submitted electronically via your module space in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).  The submission is electronic and there is no requirement for any other form of submission.  Uploading your assignment constitutes the submission. Late submissions will not be marked!

Please note that the assignment must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document.

Assignments are normally marked within 4 working weeks – this does not include the three week holidays period at Christmas or Easter. You can view your assignment marks and feedback by returning to the assignment link after this period.

Research Paper Publication

The best research papers will be published in the University of Sunderland library. Students who do get their papers published will be able to refer to this on their C.V. and other researchers and students will be able to access these publications.

If you do not want your paper published please put a note on the assignment title page to that effect.

Only papers that meet the following standards will be considered for publication:-

• achieve an overall mark of 70% or above,
• have referenced 10 or more research papers and
• demonstrate excellent critical evaluation or reasoned argument.

The best 15 papers submitted each year that meet this minimum threshold will be published if they are submitted as Microsoft Word documents and are formatted correctly. To help you with the formatting a publication template has been included in the module materials. The publication template includes all of the formatting instructions and has inbuilt predefined style templates that should help you to format the text correctly.

Only papers that are formatted according to the publication template exactly will be considered for publication. Any deviation from these instructions, no matter how small, may result in your paper being rejected.  This decision will be final and is not open for negotiation. Small mistakes in formatting the paper correctly may prevent your paper from being published but these will not have an impact on your module mark.

Note the assignment cover sheet, included in the template, will be deleted and only the body of the research paper will be published. This is why some of the information on the assignment cover sheet is duplicated in the research paper.

Research paper proceedings will normally be produced in May/June and an electronic copy of the proceedings will normally be posted on the module space by July. Students can download an electronic copy of these if they so desire.  Assignments that are submitted too late to meet the publication deadline will be considered for publication the following year.

Publication, or failure to be published, will have no impact on your module mark. The opportunity to get your paper published is entirely an optional extra.

Assignment Marking Scheme

Content:- the quality of content that describes current research                                                    20%

Critical Evaluation: – the quality of your critical evaluation of the evidence presented            15%

Reasoned Argument: -the quality of your reasoned argument and conclusions                        15%

Citations: – how well the materials from the literature are cited in the body paper                  15%

Literature Search: – the range and quality of the reference list                                                         15%

Presentation:- the quality of formatting and structuring of the research paper                         20%

A more detailed breakdown of this marking scheme is presented at the end of this document for further guidance.

Essential Information

1) This is an individual assignment, the work must be entirely your own.  The safety of your assessments is your responsibility.  You must not permit another student access to your work.

2) Your assignment will be submitted electronically via the module space. You must therefore sort out any module registration \ log in problems within the first three weeks of the module and upload your assignment by the date specified. If you cannot log in and upload an assignment by the due date you will fail this assignment. You are strongly recommended to upload a draft assignment at least 1 week before the deadline and to keep uploading revised versions. Technical problems on the deadline day will not be accepted as a valid excuse for non-submission. 

3) The assignment deadline will be 4pm UK time on the date specified in the VLE.

4) You are required to submit your work within the bounds of the University Infringement of Assessment Regulations (see your Programme Guide).  Plagiarism, paraphrasing and downloading large amounts of information from external sources, will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely.

5) All text taken from other sources must be in quotations and the sources cited. Quotations should be no more than two lines long and, taken all together, should represent less than 10% of the words written. The remaining 90% of this assignment must be entirely in your own words.

6) You should upload a draft of your research paper via your module space early and respond to the ‘TurnItIn’ report generated. This report will indicate any non-original words in your paper including a) correctly quoted text, b) the reference list and c) and any plagiarized text. Reports that come back rated at less than 20% non-original text are usually fine. Those that come back with a score of over 25% i.e. yellow, orange or red usually need fixing. Plagiarised text will not be tolerated. Please note that the generation of originality reports can take up to 24 hours.

7) Where a word limit is specified the university has implemented a standard policy and penalties on assignments that go over the word limit. On your assignment you must provide your word count and lying about this is an academic offence.

8) You can repeatedly submit your assignment up until the deadline and the last assignment uploaded at the deadline will be marked.  You will be marked online and will be able to see your marks and feedback online at the same location – usually marks and feedback will be available after 4 working weeks (this does not include holidays).

9) If you cannot complete this assignment for reasons that are outside of your control, e.g. serious illness, you can apply to the Extenuating Circumstances Panel asking for a deferral but you will need to provide appropriate evidence e.g. medical evidence covering the appropriate period. Technical problems on the day of the assignment deadline, module registration issues and failure to back up your work will not be accepted as valid excuses. Therefore you should a) ensure you can log into the module b) upload a draft assignment early and keep uploading revisions as you make changes c) keep electronic copies of your work. If you provide a good reason your local tutor can grant an extension of 72 hours but there are restrictions on this – see module guide for more details.

10)  The following learning outcomes are assessed by this assignment:-

Knowledge

an understanding of current research, scientific principles and research methodology within an area appropriate to the students named degree.                                                                                                              þ

Skills

the ability to critically evaluate current research within an area appropriate to the students named degree and document this in the form of a research paper.