Postgraduate - UnitFIT5016 - Minor thesis

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Information Technology
Offered	Gippsland First semester 2012 (Off-campus) Gippsland Second semester 2012 (Off-campus)

Synopsis

FIT5016 is an optional research/ thesis unit for FIT coursework masters degrees, taken in the final stage of the Masters Professional or Masters course. While FIT5014 is a 24-point unit taken in a single semester, FIT5016 is a component of the 24-point Minor Thesis taken over more than one semester, along with FIT5018 or FIT5017.
Before enrolling in the unit, students need:

1. to have prior approval from their course coordinator; and
2. to have reached agreement with a potential supervisor about a research area/feasible research topic for their Minor Thesis project.

Outcomes

At the completion of this unit students will have -
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).

Assessment

Presentation and final thesis: 100%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Michael Morgan

Contact hours

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

Prerequisites

Students must be enrolled in a Faculty of IT Masters (Honours), Masters Professional or Masters (Minor Thesis) course or the Master of Information Technology degree; FIT5016 is to be taken in the final stage of the course.

In undertaking the Minor Thesis students must have: (1) their course leaders approval to enrol in the unit; and (2) completed/enrolled concurrently in FIT4005 IT research methods. In addition, the following rules apply:

+ in the Masters Professional and Master of Information Technology courses, students must have completed at least 24 points of level 5 units in their degree and attained a Distinction average on their Masters coursework; and
+ in the Master of Information Technology (Honours) degree students must have completed at least 24 points of level 5 units in their degree.

Co-requisites

FIT4005, taken in the first semester of enrolment (only in cases where enrolment in the Minor Thesis extends over more than one semester).