Research Projects
This information pertains to students taking the taught Masters in Cognitive Science (full time or part time) only.
The official project guide is here (pdf format)
Important dates
Dates for milestones in 2012/2013 will be published shortly.
In the first semester, students will identify a research area. A list of suitable research areas, with related papers that may help you to find your feet, is provided at this page. Guest access should be possible, or contact Mark Keane (mark.keane@ucd.ie) if you have difficulty accessing the page.
If you decide to conduct research in an area that is not listed above, you must find a faculty member who is competent and willing to supervise your work. This is best done in discussion with the course directors..
Background reading is done over the Christmas break.
A one page project proposal is to be submitted to Fred Cummins by in February 2013. This should contain a clear outline of your proposed work.
An interim report is to be prepared and submitted by Friday, March 23rd, 2012. This report should present your chosen area of research in detail. The main content will be a substantial literature review of your chosen area (max 10 pages). In addition, it should contain a clear and explicit set of goals for the remainder of the project (2-3 pages).
Work on the project continues throughout the summer. The final date for hand up of the finished and final report is 5 p.m. Friday, August 10th, 2012.
There are three deliverables for this project:
- A short presentation of your research area to your classmates. This will take place in May, after lectures end and will be on the same day for everybody. Presentations will be short (10 minutes + 5 for questions). The presentation will account for 20% of your project grade.
- A comprehensive literature review of your chosen area. This accounts for 40% of your project mark. The literature review is the main part of your interim report.
- The final report (also 40%) is a conference-style paper describing your contribution to the area. This can be a pilot experiment, a synthesis of two or more disparate approaches to a topic, the application of an existing model to a new area, or any other coherent contribution. The paper will be approximately 8 pages long, plus a title page and an abstract, and should be written so as to be suitable for submission to a professional conference. Further details will be given at a later date.
Some words of warning based on experiences of past students:
- Do not wait until the Summer. You should start work on the project in January, not May. Some students who are a little late kicking off with the project, then feel that they need to devote their attention to their exams, and do not get started properly until May. This is disasterous. Start in January, and continue work on the project throughout the rest of the course.
- Use the interim report to demonstrate your progress. Some of the purposes of the interim report are to ensure that you have settled on a worthwhile and do-able plan for your project, that you have engaged with your chosen research area, and that you have an explicit set of milestones over the following months. This is primarily for you benefit. If you are not sure about what you will be doing at this point...seek help! The greatest danger in these projects is that you are unclear about what you wish to achieve.
- Make use of your supervisor. Your supervisor will be able to provide you with reading recommendations, advice, and suggestions throughout your project. Ensure you meet regularly with your supervisor--usually once a week.
- Back up your work. A dissertation, even a so-called minor-dissertation, is a lot of work. Do not risk losing it all because a cup of coffee gets spilled on your hard drive! Remember Murphy's Law is at work: as a deadline approaches, computers will fial, power cuts will intervene, networks will cease to function. All with the inevitability of fluff on a dropped piece of buttered toast. Make frequent backups and keep them in a safe place.