Year No. Offer Mode Description Cred. Pts 97 70711 S12 D HONOURS PROJECT 2.00
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.
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 and will also provide an introduction to the research dimension of engineering practice.
Description Weighting(%)
- 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.
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).
ACTIVITY HOURS Tutorials/Workshops 20 Seminars 20 Project Work 260 Report Writing 50
No *F/S Marks Due Description Wtg(%) LBL 1 S 22/07/97 PROGRESS ASSESSMENT N 2 F 17/10/97 DRAFT THESIS N 3 S 06/11/97 PROJECT PERFORMANCE 100.00 N
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.
10 The Faculty of Engineering and Surveying will NOT accept
submission of hand written or typed assignments by facsimile,
email or computer diskette. Students in remote locations who do
not have regular access to postal services may be given special
consideration.
11 A minimum standard of communication skills must be demonstrated
in order for a passing grade to be achieved.