[ADVANCED COMPUTING INVESTIGATION September, 2011 TOPICS]

Advanced Computing Investigation Topics CE00298-7

Assignment Specification Hand in: Friday May 4th 2012

Staff contact
D K Bishton, via email: d.k.bishton@staffs.ac.uk

[ADVANCED COMPUTING INVESTIGATION September, 2011 TOPICS]

Assignment
You must complete the coursework worth 100% for this module individually and create a report of 3,000 to 5,000 words. It is left to your choice as to the topic, as long as it is in the computing domain, and whether you include a practical artefact. Note that you must not share your work with other students. The report needs to follow the below format (failure to follow the below will result in a loss of marks as you will omit to include what you need to). Note that the numbers of words in brackets are given as suggestions, and it is expected that most students will write different amounts for each section dependent on their topic. Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty Please do NOT copy any other students work (or lend other students your work) or copy directly sentences and paragraphs from the Internet unless attributing the section correctly to the author in quote marks, e.g. The work of Handscomb forms a clear comparison to that of Johnson Campion (2006). In general try only to quote short sentences and not paragraphs in full. Instead you should as much as possible try to use your own words. As a guide you should try to limit your usage of direct quotes to around 5 or 7 occurrences within the report. Remember also to put in the full reference in Harvard style at the back of the report, e.g. CAMPION, R.J. (2006) The Triumph method illustrated, Watford, Hertfordshire Press. pp. 35-60. Please also note that the content written in the report must be original in relation to your other modules, i.e. you must not copy and reuse content directly from your other modules as this will breach the universitys rules on academic dishonesty. If you are unsure of these rules please access the following web site: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/images/academic_dishonesty_tcm68-12681.pdf

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO READ THE RULES

Note: if you are found guilty of academic dishonesty on a first occasion you will get ZERO for that assessment and need to do a new assignment that will be capped at a pass mark. If you subsequently are found guilty for a second time, again you will be awarded ZERO for your work, but this time you will FAIL the module and AWARD.

[ADVANCED COMPUTING INVESTIGATION September, 2011 TOPICS]

Report format
Please follow the format given below:

Front cover
Contains your technical report title Your name in full Your user id Your award

Abstract section
Contains an abstract (around 200 words). This must summarise what the technical report is about. Table of contents list the sections in the form of: 1. Main heading...................................................................................1 1.1. Lesser Heading...........................................................................1 1.1.1. Small heading......................................................................2 Include a list of figures and tables List figures separately List tables separately Figure 1: The Bernsen Method, Source Bernsen (1995)..................34 Table 3: Summary of Time Based Findings......................................37

Main body
For the written sections you need to present your work as follows. Introduction section (~ 400 words) Introduces your technical report Gives background context Identifies the purpose of the technical report Identifies the challenge for yourself & main risks Identifies any ethical issues involved Profiles forthcoming sections (in the form of a few sentences to summarise what is to come up in the technical report) Literature Review summary sections (~ 1200 words) An examination of existing work related to your topic area. Sets up a context by identifying key areas and summarising these. You need to ensure all works are properly referenced. Up to date references preferred.

[ADVANCED COMPUTING INVESTIGATION September, 2011 TOPICS] Research / investigation sections (~ 2000 words for those doing a review, ~ 1000 for those including a practical artefact) y From your literature review sections you will have identified areas to work on in more depth. This will involve you personally researching and exploring further in order to add your own insights. Such work will go into several research / investigation sub-sections. As an example, if your report was to investigate the current position of multimedia methods you may need the following research / investigation sections: o Current media resource tools o Current multimedia authoring tools o Multimedia models and notations o Multimedia method frameworks Artefact / solution section (~ 800 words) y This section will ONLY be included for those who create a practical artefact. The section should describe the approach to creation (likely to rely significantly on references to the earlier research / investigation sections) and the actual created artefact itself. Testing / validation section (~ 200 words) y This section will ONLY be included for those who create a practical artefact. In order to establish the value of any created artefact you will need to evaluate it to establish its success. This section will discuss your approach to testing / validating it (e.g. testing approach / framework) and will also discuss results collected. You may also discuss the consequences of these findings within the section. Summary and conclusions section (~ 300 words) Try to be brief Look back at everything you have done (e.g. approach and artefact) Be analytical Draw conclusions Be honest detail the failings as well as the successes Suggest further work/consequences References A reference section should be included, and used to support your arguments by means of citation. Note all references in the technical report body need to appear in the references section. Use a HARVARD referencing notation. Make use of a range of references, about 15 would be common. As a guide http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/cite/harvard_dis/ y DoNOTjust include a list of references at the end as these must also appear as citations within the main body of the report as well.

Appendices 4

[ADVANCED COMPUTING INVESTIGATION September, 2011 TOPICS] Any material that is so extensive or detailed that it will change the level of abstraction within a section, or is likely to overwhelm the reader, should go in an appendix When in doubt, provide a summary in a section and provide an appendix with fuller detail (e.g. raw test results data). If you create an artefact and it is coding based, you are likely to put the majority of coding in the appendices, reserving the usage of snippets (examples) of code in sections of the technical report.

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Advanced Computing Investigation Topics CE00298-7 WARNING Please check that your report is written entirely by
yourself and any quoted sections are properly referenced. Failure to do so will break the University regulations related to academic dishonesty.
Marking Criteria Front cover - should contain Title, your name, email address, award title, date, for the attention of details, and confidentiality statement. Abstract section Effectiveness of abstract, clarity of content structure, list of figures and tables included. Introduction section - suitability of introduction, setting of context, purpose, personal challenges, terminologies, clear aims and objectives, short profiles of following sections. Literature Review section quality of examination of existing works, clear setting of context, discussion of related works, display of critical understanding. Research / Investigation section level of personal research undertaken and thinking added to sources, clarity of presentation. Artefact / Solution section discussion of sources used and how applied in the creation of the practical artefact (if relevant). Testing / Validation discussion of testing approach, and results collected. Conclusions and Recommendations section Reflection on the work done, quality of critical thought and review References section correct use of citations & referencing in a Harvard style throughout, appropriateness of references. Use of Appendices. Milestone marks there are a number of points in the work that, when achieved, can be allocated a mark. In order to receive the mark, the work will need to be seen by your module tutor within a given timeframe (see details in the Blackboard VLE). The Milestones are: - Determination of a Title & Investigation Theme(s) - Production of an ethical statement & risk assessment - Production of a critical evaluation of existing literature - Identification of an in-depth area to work on individually - Production of a critical reflection on the work done Total out of 100 Maxm. mark 3

8 8

26

25 or 5* 10 * 10 * 10 10 5*2

* if the student has created an artefact marks will be awarded 5 + 10 + 10 for the Research / Investigation section, Artefact / Solution section, and Testing / Validation section. For those not producing an artefact up to 25 marks for the Research / Investigation section will be awarded.