GEOLOGY 4050B - Honours Geology Project (Two-Year) Final

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2016

This course forms part of the honours program in Geology. It consists of independent research, guided by a supervisor. This course equips honours students with a knowledge of research process as well as a wide range of field and/or laboratory skills and project management.

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Course Details

Course Code	GEOLOGY 4050B
Course	Honours Geology Project (Two-Year) Final
Coordinating Unit	School of Physical Sciences
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	15
Contact	By supervision
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	N
Incompatible	GEOLOGY 4000A/B
Restrictions	Available only to students admitted to the relevant Honours program
Assessment	Seminars, thesis

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Juraj Farkas

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

A successful student in this course should be able to:

1	Develop and manage a Geology research project from hypothesis building to result interpretation;
2	Develop their own fieldwork program;
3	Conduct laboratory analyses using state-of-the-art instrumentation
4	Undertake computer analyses and modelling with industry-standard software;
5	Communicate with industry and government scientists;
6	Attend and present results at conferences, workshops and meetings, and;
7	Write a scientific publication that can be developed into a refereed publication.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1,2,3,4
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	2,5,6,7
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	4,5,6,7
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	2,5,6
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	1,5,6,7

Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

The Geology Honours course consists of:
• Independent research project
• Scientific seminars

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

A student enrolled in this course should expect to spend, on average, 32 hours per week on the studies required. This includes both the formal contact time required to the course (e.g., lectures, seminars, meetings and fieldtrips), as well as non-contact time (e.g., reading, research and revision).

Learning Activities Summary

Independent Research Project
All honours students will have the opportunity to undertake an independent research project, which may include fieldwork, laboratory analysis and/or computing. The student will be guided through this project by a supervisor, expert to the field of research.

Written summaries of scientific seminars
Each student is also expected to attend weekly TRaX and Sprigg seminars. These seminars will contribute to your own research project by means of developing your skill in particular methods or interpretation of data. You may be excused attendance at seminars for attendance at MTEC courses, fieldwork and/or instrument sessions or illness.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Thesis Project	Summative	October	96%	1-7
Written summaries of scientific seminars	Formative & Summative	March-Oct	4%	1,5

Assessment Detail

Independent Research Project (96%)
The thesis will have a preset format that is common to all students submitting. The format is as a manuscript submittable to the Australian Journal of Earth Science. The main text has a rigorous 8000 word limit (this includes all titles and sub-titles and in text references). This does not include the abstract, main title, table of contents, list of figures, figure captions, references (i.e. bibliography), acknowledgements and appendices. A thesis with main text longer than 8,000 words will incur a 5% penalty for every 5% over the word limit of 8000 words. The final draft is due in late October and must be posted on the MyUni system.

Written summaries of scientific seminars (4%)
A written summary of the problem the presenter is addressing, the methods they have used and any conclusions that they make is to be completed for each seminar attended. Notes should be taken during the presentation.

Submission

All items for assessment must be submitted by the stated deadlines. There will be a penalty for late submission: the submitted work will be marked 'without prejudice' and 10% of the obtained mark will be deducted for each working day (or part of a day) that an assessment task is late, up to a maximum penalty of 50% of the mark attained.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M11 (Honours Mark Scheme)
Grade	Grade reflects following criteria for allocation of grade	Reported on Official Transcript
Fail	A mark between 1-49	F
Third Class	A mark between 50-59	3
Second Class Div B	A mark between 60-69	2B
Second Class Div A	A mark between 70-79	2A
First Class	A mark between 80-100	1
Result Pending	An interim result	RP
Continuing	Continuing	CN

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

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Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator