PGM0120 - RESEARCH SKILLS AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Module Identifier

PGM0120

Module Title

RESEARCH SKILLS AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Academic Year

2006/2007

Co-ordinator

Dr Reyer Zwiggelaar

Semester

Semester 1

Other staff

Dr David A Stoker, Dr Ian Archer, Dr Luke C Desforges, Professor Martin J Barker, Dr Richard J Marggraf-Turley, Professor Diane Rowland, Professor David Ellis, Dr Graeme A M Davies, Mr John D Morgan, Professor John Harvey, Miss Joy Cadwallader

Course delivery

Lecture

30 Hours.

Practical

2 Hours.

Assessment

Assessment Type	Assessment Length/Details	Proportion
Semester Assessment	2,500 word Research Skills Development Portfolio, designed to demonstrate awareness of the following areas: computing skills; bibliographies, computing skills, dissemination strategies; key skills in teaching; team-work; conference papers; research management; legal and ethical issues.	50%
Semester Assessment	2,500 word Academic writing assessment	50%

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to;

Demonstrate a range of bibliographic and computing skills
Critically assess the ethical and legal issues involved in research practice, including issues of intellectual property rights
Demonstrate skills in a range of dissemination strategies, including writing, oral presentation, internet usage, media usage
Demonstrate an awareness of the key skills involved in teaching in a higher education context
Work as part of a team
Show an appreciation of the issues involved in managing a long-term research project
Demonstrate skills in personal development, including self-awareness, career planning, self-promotion and marketing

Brief description

This module is designed to be an integral component of the new RT masters courses which the University has introduced in order to meet the joint funding council / AHRB statement on Research Training. Through this module Masters and PhD students will gain a broad knowledge of a range of transferable skills which they can apply in a variety of research contexts.

Aims

This module aims to give research students a broad knowledge of a range of transferable skills that they can apply in a variety of research interests. In particular, it will develop the ability of students to undertake independent research projects. to this end, students will be required to submit independent work, which is linked to their own research topic, and their ability to formulate and manage independent research projects will be assessed. The module will also cover personal and career development. Students will be given skills in negotiationg and networking, self-awareness and career evaluation, teaching skills, self promotion and personal marketing. The module also contains IT skills, both for general career development and in an applied research context.

Content

This module covers the following topics:

Academic writing 1
Personal communication; working with your supervisory team
Research management
Academic writing 2: Functional structures in academic writing
Teamworking skills
Academic writing 3: writing / communication
Academic communication and Information seeking
Academic writing 4: bibliographic skills including ENDNOTE
Legal and ethical issues, including intellectual property, privacy and confidentiality, and issues relating to information and material contained in electronic format

Legal and ethical issues, including intellectual property
Writing a conference paper
Introduction to teaching strategies
Presenting a conference paper
Small group strategies for teaching
Portfolio session

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7