HONOURS PROJECT

Year	No.	Offer	Mode	Description			Cred. Pts
96	70711 	S12 	D 	HONOURS PROJECT           	2.00

Contents


STAFFING:

Examiner: N. HANCOCK
Moderator: D. DOWLING

RATIONALE:

Project units offered by the Faculty have limitations on their use as indicated below. The Council of the University of Southern Queensland, its Faculty of Engineering and Surveying, and the staff of the University of Southern Queensland, do not accept any responsibility for the material associated with or contained in this Project. Persons using all or any part of the Project do so at their own risk, and not at the risk of the Council of the University of Southern Queensland, its Faculty of Engineering and Surveying or the staff of the University of Southern Queensland. The sole purpose of the unit entitled "Project" is to contribute to the overall education process which may assist the diplomate or graduate enter the workforce at a level appropriate to the award. The Project Report is the end of an educational exercise and the report, associated hardware, drawings, and other appendices or parts of the Project should not be used for any other purpose and, if used, are used at the risk of the user.


SYNOPSIS:

The project is intended to apply the student's total formal knowledge to a real problem. In this sense it will test the ability to define and analyse the problem, to develop solutions to the problem, to make the necessary decisions, convert ideas into hardware and to cope with the unexpected problems encountered in testing. All of this must be accomplished against a tight timescale. In short, the project is a good test of overall engineering ability. The Honours Project goes beyond straightforward engineering application and requires the ability to seek and find innovative solutions to non standard problems. Such a project will demonstrate an ability to contribute to the engineering profession at a high level.


OBJECTIVES:

  1. To develop the student's self confidence in handling engineering problems and/or situations.
  2. To develop in the student those attitudes and personal skills necessary to "get a job done" which includes reporting to an appropriate professional standard within specified time and resource constraints.
  3. To integrate all sections of the student's formal education and bring them to bear on a substantial task.
  4. To demonstrate the student's ability to innovate and to contribute to the discipline of engineering by means of original design, analytical, experimental or research work.

TOPICS:

 Description                                                    Weighting(%)
  1. Students will tackle an individual, generally open ended 100.00 task which will encompass a range of engineering skills appropriate to the student's major study. These will include some (or any) of the following : . planning and management . research . investigation . feasibility assessment . experimental work and trialling . fieldwork . data analysis . design . prototype construction and testing . simulation and modelling . financial analysis The work will be undertaken with the guidance of a supervisor or supervisors, normally appointed from the academic staff of the Faculty. Sponsors and supervisors external to the Faculty may also be involved.


TEXT and MATERIALS to be PURCHASED:

Nil.


RECOMMENDED REFERENCE MATERIALS:

The project will require full use of the resources of the Library eg
literature searches, research papers, journals and trade literature
files.

"Guidelines and Requirements for the Preparation and Submission of the Honours
Project Thesis", (available from the Examiner in August).


STUDENT WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS:

	ACTIVITY				HOURS
Tutorials/Workshops                           	20
Seminars                                      	20
Project Work                                  	260
Report Writing                                	50

ASSESSMENT DETAILS:

No	*F/S	Marks		Due		Description					Wtg(%)		LBL
1 	S 	        	26/07/96	PROGRESS ASSESSMENT                     	        	N
2 	F 	        	18/10/96	DRAFT THESIS                            	        	N
3 	S 	        	07/11/96	PROJECT PERFORMANCE                     	100.00  	N

F=Formative, S=Summative

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

1    A   student will not normally be permitted to commence a  project
     until  he/she is in the final two (2) semesters  of the  Bachelor
     of Engineering.
     The  following regulations relate to the assessment  of  students
     performance in their projects.
2    TOPICS AND SUPERVISORS
     2.1  Both project topics and supervisors will be allocated by the
          examiner  on the advice  of  one of the assistant  examiners
          depending  on  the student's major study, staff availability
          for supervision and, where practicable, student preferences.
     2.2  The  student  shall  meet  with the  supervisor  at  regular
          intervals,   normally  weekly,  or  as  indicated   by   the
          supervisor  and  keep  whatever  records  of  progress   the
          supervisor may require (eg a log book).
3    PROJECT SPECIFICATION
     3.1  An  individual  project  specification will be  written   by
          the  supervisor   for each project endorsed by  the  student
          and lodged  with the examiner.
     3.2  A  revised project specification will be written during  the
          course  of the project  if  the  work diverges significantly
          from  the original project conception.
     3.3  The  project  specification  will  be  used  for  management
          and  assessment  purposes throughout  the  duration  of  the
          project.
4    SEMINARS
     4.1  The   student shall present a FIRST SEMINAR, normally in the
          first semester, which shall be regarded as preparatory.
     4.2  The student shall  present a SECOND SEMINAR, normally in the
          second  semester,  which must be of a satisfactory  standard
          appropriate to honours level work.  A student whose   second
          seminar  is  not  of a satisfactory standard  shall  present
          further   seminar(s)  until  a  satisfactory   standard   is
          achieved.
     4.3  Attendance  throughout the seminar programme  is  compulsory
          and  a register  will be kept.  Students with unsatisfactory
          attendance       will   be  required to find  and  attend  a
          seminar(s) on  topics  of      relevance  to the engineering
          profession  and provide satisfactory      written  report(s)
          on these seminar(s).
5    PROGRESS ASSESSMENT
     5.1  A  mid  unit  progress assessment will be conducted  by  the
          supervisor and may comprise:
     .    an interview, and/or
     .    a demonstration, and/or
     .    a written report  at the discretion of the supervisor.
     The   result   of   the  assessment will  be  lodged   with   the
     examiner.
5.2  Where  a  student has failed to maintain a satisfactory  rate  of
     progress he/she will be required to show cause why he/she  should
     not  be  transferred  from  Honours Project  (70711)  to  Project
     (70810).  (Such a transfer would debar the student from receiving
     an Honours degree.)
5.3  Where unsatisfactory progress is the result of factors beyond the
     control of the student this shall be recorded.
6    DEADLINES
     6.1  The  deadline  for  receipt of the  thesis  is  4.00  pm  on
          THURSDAY as indicated  in the assessment details section  of
          the specification above.
     6.2  Credit  will  be given for projects completed  significantly
          in advance of this deadline.
     6.3  Extension   of  this  deadline  will  only  be  granted   in
          exceptional  circumstances, such as  prolonged  illness  and
          only  by  the  Examiner.  Application for such an  extension
          must  be  made in writing to the examiner, fully  justified,
          and be endorsed by the supervisor.
     6.4  For   certain  exceptional projects a non standard  deadline
          may   be      set.    This  will  be  stated  and  justified
          on  the   project      specification.
     6.5  Any   student unable to submit by this deadline  must  state
          briefly      in  a letter to the examiner why he/she  should
          not be graded F at      this time.
     6.6  Projects  not  submitted  by  the  deadline  above  will  be
          eligible for      a C grade only.
     6.7  The  FINAL DEADLINE for project submission is 31 January  of
          the       following  year.  Projects not submitted  by  this
          final  deadline      will  be  automatically graded Fail and
          the  student  will normally      be required to undertake  a
          NEW project in the following year.
7    SUBMISSION
     7.1  At  least  three  copies  of the  project  report  shall  be
          submitted  in a format  stipulated  by the examiner  of  the
          unit.    This   is  currently   outlined  in  the   document
          "Guidelines   and  Requirements  for  the  Preparation   and
          Submission  of the Honours Project Thesis", (available  from
          the  Examiner  in August).  A report  that  is  not  in  the
          required format will not be accepted.
     7.2  Submission  at  the due date (set out above)  may  take  the
          form  of  EITHER  the  three identical  bound  copies  OR  a
          complete   unbound  copy for  assessment  purposes  PLUS  an
          official binder's  receipt for at least two copies.
     7.3  At  least  two bound copies must be received by the  Faculty
          before a passing grade is confirmed.
8    ASSESSMENT
     8.1  Assessment of the  project and project thesis shall be  with
          respect  to  the   final version of the  individual  project
          specification  and  will take into  account  the  degree  of
          difficulty   of  the work and all of the four  (4)  workload
          activities listed  above.
     8.2  Project   assessment  may  also  involve  demonstration   of
          hardware constructed, software written and/or inspection  of
          fieldwork as appropriate.
     8.3  At   least  two members of academic staff shall perform  the
          assessment, one of whom will normally be the supervisor
     8.4  If   the  project   is  judged to be unsatisfactory  at  the
          Honours  level a pass may be awarded in Unit 70810  Project,
          at the discretion of the Dean.
9    In  case  of any dispute that cannot be resolved by the assistant
     examiners or examiner, the Dean's decision shall be final.

This information is accurate as at 02/12/96