MST8025 : Marine Ecosystems Research
- Offered for Year: 2021/22
- Module Leader(s): Professor Pip Moore
- Owning School: Natural and Environmental Sciences
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 10 |
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 50 |
| Semester 3 Credit Value: | 60 |
| ECTS Credits: | 60.0 |
Aims
To give students a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the research environment; To develop the research skills, practices and knowledge required to address specific research objectives; To prepare for more effective participation in professional programmes involving research, including higher research degrees.
Outline Of Syllabus
Research supervision
The form of supervisions will be determined by student and supervisor, but may be in approximately the following form: focusing of topic of study; writing a proposal; completing contingent requirements including agreement of any research partner, compliance with any statutory issues (health, safety, risk assessments, permissions, COSHH, diving rules, ethical issues, insurance); literature review of selected subject; project initiation; project supervision; project management; processing and analysis of data; interpretation of information derived; draft review; completion of review; writing a scientific paper; draft paper; completion of paper; submission of paper for publication.
Research project
The work undertaken by the student will depend on the topic they decide under supervision to address, and may involve solely laboratory or field-based work, solely desk-based work, or some combination of these. The student will be encouraged in the second semester to attend relevant teaching in existing modules to help develop knowledge and skills (e.g. GIS, statistical modelling) as appropriate to the topic selected,Oral presentation. The student will orally present the results of their research.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 2 | 2:30 | 5:00 | Introduction, proposal writing, funding, paper writing |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 10 | 3:30 | 35:00 | Proposal preparation: writing and reading |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 44 | 3:30 | 154:00 | Scheduled seminar - Oral presentations and research papers |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 10 | 3:30 | 35:00 | Topic selection and focusing: reading |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 46 | 1:00 | 46:00 | Detailed project planning, initiation |
| Guided Independent Study | Project work | 200 | 3:30 | 700:00 | Conduct and completion of project |
| Guided Independent Study | Project work | 60 | 3:30 | 210:00 | Processing, analysing data, and writing up |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Dissertation/project related supervision | 15 | 1:00 | 15:00 | Scheduled supervisions across module |
| Total | 1200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
As a preparation for research and higher research degrees, the learning offers a well-structured balance between scheduled teaching, directed reading, preparation for assessment and actual project work (desk and/or lab and/or field). The teaching and learning structure reflects the main stages of project formulation and proposal, through planning, to initiation, data gathering, to data analysis and interpretation, and presentation of the results in oral and written forms, the latter to publication standard; both outputs essential to the delivery of research outcomes and impacts.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research proposal | 2 | M | 10 | Word limit 5000 (excluding risk assessment, ethical forms etc) |
| Research paper | 3 | M | 50 | Word limit 8000 including abstract and references (excluding title page, figures, tables and supplements). |
| Essay | 3 | M | 25 | Word limit 8000 including abstract and references (excluding title page, figures, tables and supplements). |
| Report | 3 | M | 15 | Oral Presentation 20 minutes plus questions |
Formative Assessments
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research proposal | 3 | M | Research notebook: freestyle record of research planning, conduct and completion |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
Research proposal will be assessed within the supervisory team. Students’ ability to extract and synthesise information from the global literature will be tested primarily in the subject review and their literature contextualisation of findings especially in the research paper. The research paper will be independently marked by an External and Internal Examiner, with the supervisor reporting only on the student’s ‘practical ability, initiative and commitment to the project’. In-depth knowledge will be developed across all of the assessments. Objective evaluation of different methodologies will be tested at the proposal stage, in the review and in the main research paper via reflection on the methodologies ultimately employed. Knowledge of the research environment will contribute to all of the assessments, including logistics and budgeting, funding and ethics, and publication. A student’s ability to successfully plan and conduct original research work and generate results to an international standard will be assessed across the proposal, main research paper and oral presentation. The notebook is standard practice across all research disciplines but because of its highly variable character across the range of possible project topics and approaches will be subject only to checking with formative feedback where required.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- MST8025's Timetable