COMP3901/COMP3902 Special Project A/B
Semester 2, 2010

Aims

This course aims to develop skills in conducting a research project. Under special circumstances, students can request to conduct a research project supervised by academic staff. This page covers special projects under the supervision of Maurice Pagnucco (morri [AT] cse.unsw.edu.au). These projects will primarily involve robotics projects, primarily as part of the CSE RoboCup team. The UNSW Handbook Entries provide some additional information:

• COMP3901: Special Project A
• COMP3902: Special Project B

Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• formulate a research project complete with aims and goals
• conduct a thorough literature survey for research project and write a report
• identify major problems and obstacles to be overcome in completing project
• formulate project methodology and project milestones
• carry project through to completion
• write a scientific project report
• write and give a scientific project presentation

Course Details

• Course Code/Title: COMP3901/COMP3902 Special Project A/B
• Units of Credit: 6 (COMP3901) or 12 (COMP3902)
• Handbook Entry: http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2010/COMP3901.html
• Handbook Entry: http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2010/COMP3902.html

Pre-requisites

• completed all 1st and 2nd year requirements;
• WAM > 80
• permission of the lecturer-in-charge of the project

Staff

A regular weekly meeting time will be scheduled during the first week of session.

Syllabus/Schedule

• Week 1: Formulate research project aims
• Week 2 & 3: Literature survey; develop milestones
• Week 4: Presentation of literature survey, aims and miletones
• Week 5 - 11: Conduct research project
• Week 12: Final presentation and research project report

Teaching Strategies

You will learn the skills required to do conduct a research project that can be formulated and completed during a 12 week period. Starting with the formulation of aims, you will learn how to conduct a literature survey and identify the main problems and obstacles that need to be overcome in completing the project. You will then carry the project through to completion, develop a scientific report and give a presentation of your results.

Resources for Students

You will leanr how to locate major research resources in the library and on the world wide web. Other project tools like wikis, source code repositories may also be utilised.

Classes

There are no formal classes but a weekly meeting will be scheduled during the first week of semester. Additional meeting times may also be scheduled.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as using the words or ideas of others and presenting them as your own. UNSW and CSE treat plagiarism as academic misconduct, which means that it carries penalties as severe as being excluded from further study at UNSW. There are several on-line sources to help you understand what plagiarism is and how it is dealt with at UNSW:

• Learning Centre: Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
• MyUNSW: Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct
• CSE: Addendum to UNSW Plagiarism Guidelines
• CSE: Yellow Form (whose terms you have agreed to)

Plagiarism will not be tolerated; assignment submissions will be checked for similarity and anyone found involved in plagiarism will be awarded an overall mark of zero for the entire course. This does not look good on your academic record.

Exam

There is no exam in this course.

Assessment

Your final mark in this course will be based on your literature survey and project formulation report and presentation as well as your final report and presentation.

Course Evaluation and Development

Summary