Research Projects (2017/2018)
This information pertains to students taking the taught Masters in Cognitive Science (full time or part time) only. Project requirements change from year to year. The information is updated for 2017/2018.
Overview
The research project is a substantial portion of your overall degree, and counts for 30% of the final grade. Here is a rough time line, from conception to submission:
Writing your Project Specification
February: Students will decide whether they want to work alone or in groups (max 4 people). Each person or group will submit a project proposal. This is a 2 page document. It should outline the subject area of the project, the anticipated research question, the proposed methods to be used in investigating the question, and a list of milestones culminating in submission of the final report. We understand that many students are rather unsure about what an appropriate set of project goals might be. This process should help you and us to move towards a realistic and satisfactory plan.
Project proposals will be critiqued by us and returned to you. You will then submit an amended two-page project specification. Specifications are not graded, but they form the basis on which the project progress will be evaluated.
- Submission of project proposal: Friday Feb 9th.
- Return (by us) of critiqued proposals: Friday Feb 16th.
- Submission of final project specification: Friday Feb 22rd.
- Project specification is not graded.
Literature Review
March/April: Preparation of a 10 page literature review outlining previous work in the area and leading to the identification of a research question.
- Submission of the literature review: Friday April 27th.
- Literature review counts for 40% of the project mark. For group projects, each group member will prepare their own literature review independently, and they will be marked individually.
- The 10 page limit does include references, but not your title page. This is an encouragement to you to be concise and focussed in your writing and to make sure that your references are relevant.
Presentations
June: Brief public presentations of work in progress.
- Presentation accounts for 5% of the project grade.
- For groups, the presentation should be made by all group members, and marks will be awarded for each individual separately.
Final Report
August: Submission of final report formatted as a conference submission (see below). The final report is strictly limited to 10 pages.
- Submission of final report: Friday August 17th.
- For group projects, all members will receive the same mark for the final report. Groups will be asked to detail on a separate sheet what the respective contributions of group members was.
Evaluation
The project counds for 30% of the overall degree. It must be passed in its own right, as well as reaching a pass grade overall, for the degree to be awarded.
- Literature review: 40%, individual.
- Presentation: 5%, individual.
- Final report: 40%. Group members share mark.
- 15% awarded by supervisor for engagement, dilligence, etc. Individual.
Sample topics from previous years are listed here. This is an informal list and may be added to at any time.
The AICS Conference
AICS is a national conference in the area of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. It ran almost annually from 1988 to 2012. After a hiatus, the conference was reborn in 2017, where it was held in DIT.In 2018, the conference will be held in Trinity College Dublin. Conference website.
Final reports must be formatted as if they were submissions to this conference. Formatting instructions are provided here from Springer.