FIT5553 Minor thesis part 3 - Semester 1, 2013

This unit is a research/thesis unit for FIT Masters (Honours) degrees, taken in the final stage of the Masters (Honours) course.

Before enrolling in the unit, students need to have reached agreement with a potential supervisor about a research area/feasible research topic for their Minor Thesis project.

Mode of Delivery

• Caulfield (Day)
• Clayton (Day)

Contact Hours

Regular meetings with supervisor(s) over the course of the unit enrolment.

Workload requirements

The workload in this unit is equivalent to a 6 credit point unit, i.e.12 hours study per week.
Contact hours will consist of regular meetings with your supervisor.

Unit Relationships

Prohibitions

FIT5014, FIT5016, FIT5017, FIT5018

Co-requisites

FIT5552

Prerequisites

Students must be enrolled in a Faculty of IT Masters (Honours) degree.

Chief Examiner

Campus Lecturer

Academic Overview

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit students will have made substantial and measurable progress towards -A knowledge and understanding of:

• their research topic and the wider research domain;
• research approaches and methods, and how to resolve research problems and issues;
• well honed skills in critical thinking, analysis, evaluation and synthesis.

Developed attitudes that enable them to:

• have confidence in their ability to undertake independent research, and to plan and execute an individual research project;
• appreciate the significance and contributions of a research culture in both academic and workplace contexts.

Developed the skills to:

• plan and undertake rigorous independent research;
• locate relevant research literature, and critically analyse and evaluate published research findings;
• identify open problems in current research and promising new research directions, and from this to define a viable research topic;
• develop a sound research design and feasible research project plan and schedule;
• communicate effectively research results in a variety of forms, including informal oral presentations, written reports, seminar presentations and poster presentations.

Although research projects are carried out individually, students will be part of a wider research group, with whom they will interact regularly, and participate in research seminars and discussions. At the completion of the unit students will have demonstrated the communication and teamwork skills necessary to:

• communicate research ideas effectively in formal or informal contexts;
• collaborate effectively with others involved in a research project (supervisors, research colleagues, industry collaborators).

Unit Schedule

Week	Activities	Assessment
0	Students will research an agreed thesis topic under the guidance of their supervisor and will receive feedback on their progress through regular meetings with their supervisor.	No formal assessment or activities are undertaken in week 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
	SWOT VAC	No formal assessment is undertaken in SWOT VAC
	Examination period	LINK to Assessment Policy: http://policy.monash.edu.au/policy-bank/ academic/education/assessment/ assessment-in-coursework-policy.html

*Unit Schedule details will be maintained and communicated to you via your learning system.

Assessment Summary

At the completion of the requirements for the thesis the following components of assessment will be completed:

Research Proposal: 5%; Literature Review: 10%; Interim Presentation: hurdle; Final Presentation: 5%; Thesis (normally 10,000 - 20,000 words): 80%

These assessment tasks will be completed over the course of several units in the Minor Thesis program but the overall grade for the thesis will only be finalised on completion of FIT5554 (24pts).

Teaching Approach

Research activities

Assessment Requirements

Assessment Policy

Faculty Policy - Unit Assessment Hurdles (http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/staff/edgov/policies/assessment-examinations/unit-assessment-hurdles.html)

Academic Integrity - Please see the Demystifying Citing and Referencing tutorial at http://lib.monash.edu/tutorials/citing/

Assessment Tasks

Participation

This unit forms part of the sequence of units comprising the Minor Thesis in the Faculty of Information Technology.

The exit point for the Minor Thesis is FIT5554 - 24 cpts and is applicable to:

• Master of Information Technology (Honours),
• Master of Information Technology Professional,
• Master of Business Information Systems (Honours).

At the completion of the requirements for the thesis the following components of assessment will be completed:

• Research Proposal:(approximately 3000 words) 5%;
• Literature Review:(approximately 6000 words) 10%;
• Interim Presentation: hurdle;
• Final Presentation: 5%;
• Thesis (normally 10,000 - 20,000 words): 80%

These assessment tasks will be completed over the course of several units in the Minor Thesis program but the overall grade for the thesis will only be finalised on completion of FIT5554 - 24 cpts.

Please refer to the Unit Guides for FIT5551, and FIT5554 for a description of the assessment items to be completed over the course of the Minor Thesis.

Learning resources

Feedback to you

• Other: Supervisor meetings and seminar presentations.

Extensions and penalties

Returning assignments

Assignment submission

Online submission

If Electronic Submission has been approved for your unit, please submit your work via the learning system for this unit, which you can access via links in the my.monash portal.

Other Information

Policies

Graduate Attributes Policy

Student services

Monash University Library

Disability Liaison Unit

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