Module Identifier WS30130  
Module Title WATER SCIENCE DISSERTATION  
Academic Year 2006/2007  
Co-ordinator Professor Tony Jones  
Semester Semester 2 (Taught over 2 semesters)  
Other staff Professor Mark G Macklin, Dr Stephen Tooth, Professor David Kay, Professor Tony Jones, Dr Paul A Brewer  

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Formulate, execute and communicate a water science study.

Aims

To develop skills in their basic research and written presentation of results. Emphasis is placed on initial design of investigations, quantitative and inferential analysis and all aspects of presentation, including argument and graphical support.

Brief description

This triple module consists of a piece of independent research work in any area of Water Science, involving field and/or laboratory and/or library study, together with appropriate follow-up work and consolidation, leading to the production of a written dissertation.

A list of suitable projects and their respective supervisors will be posted, normally by the beginning of semester 2 of Year 2, but students are not confined to these possibilities. Enterprise and initiative are encouraged, but students should bear in mind that a suitable project:

  1. must fall within the Institute's safety guidelines,
  2. must be academically suitable, in particular having the potential of allowing a first-class dissertation to be produced from it,
  3. must be logistically feasible (e.g. accommodation, transport),
  4. must be agreed with a supervisor. If the project involves fieldwork, the supervisor will probably not be able to pay a field visit, and may not know the area closely.

After confirming the choice of project with the supervisor, the student arranges and executes the project, and prepares the dissertation, independently, but under the guidance of the supervisor. The completed dissertation should fall within a standard prescribed length and be submitted before a specified time. Each student also presents a verbal report on their project, to an open audience which includes their peer students. Normally the presentations are given in early December, with each taking 15 minutes including a 3 minute discussion period.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6