ME7711A Assessment 1 Research Techniques - 17831750

School of Engineering and the Environment
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Coursework Assessment Brief
Module Code ME7711A
Module Title Engineering Research Techniques,
Entrepreneurship and Quality Management
Title of Assessment Research methodology
Summative (% of module) or Summative – this assignment is worth 40% of
Formative your module grade
Typical individual student hours 40 hours to complete
required to complete the assessment
Assessment set by (and contact) Prof Andy Augousti, Room RVMB104
[email protected]/Dr A Aboutorabi
[email protected]
Submission deadline (date and time) 19th October 2020, 23h59
Formal feedback 16th November 2020
All assignments must be submitted by the date and time specified above.
Students are required to submit an electronic copy of their completed assignment via the
Assignments section of Canvas and follow any specific instructions. Any change to this instruction
will be advised via Canvas.
In line with Faculty policy for late submission of coursework, any work submitted up to a week late
will be capped at 50%. Coursework submitted after this time will receive 0%.
In case of illness or other issues affecting your studies please refer to the University Mitigating
Circumstances policy. Guidance on mitigating circumstances can be found on MyKingston:
https://mykingston.kingston.ac.uk/myfaculty/sec/secstudentsupportMC/Pages/Mitigating-
Circumstances.aspx
Please note that if you submit a piece of work you have judged yourself fit to undertake the
assessment and cannot claim mitigating circumstances retrospectively.
Guidance on avoiding academic assessment offences such as plagiarism and collusion can be
found on MyKingston
https://mykingston/myuni/academicregulations/Pages/default.aspx
Module Learning Outcomes
The following module learning outcomes and professional body learning outcomes are tested in
this assessment:
• Formulate strategies for successful research within a variety of settings by selecting &
utilising appropriate research methods
School of Engineering and the Environment. Coursework Assessment Brief. Page 1 of 4

Assessment task and specific terms
Select an engineering topic that is of interest to you personally and relevant to your
course of study.
Research the topic using physical and electronic resources of the university library
(preferred), or external sources, to identify and review recent research papers,
ideally published within the past 5 years in peer reviewed journals (not
conference papers). The papers should report original work – this excludes
review papers – if a journal contains ‘Reviews’ in the title, then these papers are
not eligible. Remember, ‘journals’ and ‘journal papers’ are not the same thing –
please do not mix up these terms. You should use the website scimago.com to
determine the quality of the journal these papers are published in – choose only
papers that are published in journals that are in the 1 st or 2nd quartile (Q1 or
Q2).
Select two (2) of these papers. Critically analyse the outcomes that have been
presented in these two sources you have selected in terms of their
methodologies, data collection and interpretation process. You must use the
concepts that are discussed in the lecture material, such as identifying if a paper is
primarily analytical, descriptive etc. Remember, this assessment is a test of your
understanding of research methods. Do not simply give a description of the
papers.
Write a structured report explaining your research process to find and select two
sources – this means that you must describe how you found these articles, what
search terms you used, how you filtered these down and made the final selection.
You should also give a full citation of the two papers you are analyzing in the
body of the report, not just in the References section at the end. Do not mix up
the terms References and Bibliography – the References section contains those
sources that are cited in the text, the Bibliography section lists sources which are
not cited in the text. You should then compare and contrast the two papers as
specified in the previous paragraph, presenting your analysis of their findings,
and how such analysis has helped to increase your knowledge of the subject.
The report should be no more than 2000 words. Note: Figures, tables,
references and appendices are not included within the word count. The use
of figures and tables to present information is encouraged. Tables are particularly
good for providing comparisons.
It must be properly structured (e.g. Abstract or Summary, Introduction etc.),

accurately referenced, and correctly presented. In addition to reference citations in
the body of the report all illustrations should also be captioned and appropriately
referenced.
(40 marks)
NB
The assignment will be awarded marks for a logical, well-structured layout which
presents relevant information succinctly and clearly. Include a proper bibliography

(i.e. sources you have used or looked at) and/or reference list (i.e. sources you are
ACTUALLY citing in the body of your work) at the end, including Internet URLs
where necessary. If you use diagrams, either from the Internet or elsewhere, then
each diagram should have a caption indicating the source. IT IS VERY
IMPORTANT THAT YOU OBSERVE THESE RULES, AND AVOID THE USE OF
COPY-AND-PASTE FROM THE INTERNET, EITHER TEXT OR DIAGRAMS,
WITHOUT CLEARLY INDICATING THE COPIED MATERIAL. WORK THAT IS
IDENTIFIED AS COPY-AND-PASTE WILL BE TREATED AS PLAGIARISED IF
NOT REFERENCED AND HEAVILY PENALISED, AND MAY ULTIMATELY BE
AWARDED A MARK OF ZERO. Do not worry if you think that your written English
does not read as well as the electronic or hardcopy sources that you use - you will
receive more credit for attempting to express yourself in your own words, rather
than copying from these sources.
The use of italics and/or inverted commas to highlight text extracts which are not
your own original work is a simple way of demonstrating honesty in your work and
of avoiding any problems. Each text extract you use should be individually linked
to a numbered list of specific references provided at the end of your work.
Submission details
Please upload your report in Word or pdf format on Canvas/Turnitin by the
deadline.
Assessment Criteria
Heading Marks Description
Content 70% The process by which the two papers are sourced
and selected is fully described in detail. A full
description of the two papers selected for comparative
evaluation is given, well supported by appropriate
references and bibliography; the methodology, data
collection process and interpretation used in each
paper is discussed and critically analysed using
concepts introduced in lectures (e.g. are the papers
descriptive, analytical, computer simulations etc?), and a
comparative evaluation of the two papers is given
(what does each paper do better? how do they differ?
etc.); good use of supporting diagrams; the papers
selected are clearly identified and referenced
throughout.
Structure 15% Logical presentation, with relevant headings and sub-
headings. Appropriate signposting (i.e. indicating what
will be coming up in later parts of the report by describing
the structure) and summarizing (give a condensed
version at the end of sections or the report as a whole).
Presentation 15% Clearly written, good spelling, grammar and
punctuation. This is essential. Proofread (i.e. read
your report carefully checking for errors) carefully several
times, and ask others to do this for you too.

Academic skills support
For help and advice on this assessment please contact the assessment setter/s or the module
leader. For advice on academic writing and referencing please contact the Faculty of Science,
Engineering and Computing (SEC) Academic Success Centre (SASC). Trained staff and students
will give you guidance and feedback on assessments. SASC can be contacted by email:
[email protected]

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School of Engineering and the Environment

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Module Learning Outcomes

School of Engineering and the Environment. Coursework Assessment Brief. Page 1 of 4

It must be properly structured (e.g. Abstract or Summary, Introduction etc.),

School of Engineering and the Environment. Coursework Assessment Brief. Page 2 of 4

School of Engineering and the Environment. Coursework Assessment Brief. Page 3 of 4

School of Engineering and the Environment. Coursework Assessment Brief. Page 4 of 4

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