Unit Synopsis
This unit is specifically designed for you to apply the processes of research investigation by analysing, reflecting on, and critiquing an area of your professional practice. You will engage in a problem-based learning approach within an authentic workplace learning environment, ensuring that your investigation is relevant to industry needs. You’ll apply an appropriate research methodology that suits your research problem. By the end of this unit, you will have developed a project proposal to implement in the follow-on unit, Engineering Research Project Implementation.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 9 |
| Credit Points | 12 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.25 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Students must have completed a minimum of 36 credit points before they can enrol in this unit. Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 12-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 35% |
| 2. Presentation | 15% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 83.33% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 25.53% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE
Students expressed that assessment criteria should be available on Moodle at least two weeks in advance.
Criteria should be available on Moodle at least two weeks before the assessment deadline.
Assessment criteria, including detailed marking rubrics, were made available at the start of the learning term.
Source: SUTE
Advisors should offer after-hours meetings for distance learners who work during the day.
The academic adviser should collaborate with students to determine the most suitable meeting time.
Advisors discussed meeting times with students at the start of the project to ensure they were suitable for both parties.
Source: SUTE
Assessment marking rubric should provide clear expectations for grading levels
The marking rubric should clearly indicate expectations for each grading level.
A detailed marking rubric outlining clear expectations for each performance level and the associated marks was provided with the assessments.
Source: SUTE
Assessment feedback could be more detailed by clearly specifying actions to improve and correct errors.
Students should receive feedback on specific actions to correct errors or improve performance for any assessment criteria not fully met.
In Progress
Source: UC's observation
In-person presentations enabled students to showcase their projects, enhancing both their learning experience and skills.
This practice should be continued.
In Progress
Source: UC's observation
Students face challenges balancing time between internships and research projects.
Students should be encouraged to discuss thesis requirements with internship providers to seek flexibility.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Identify a suitable problem related to the study discipline
- Develop research questions including identifying keywords
- Conduct an in-depth review of related literature using appropriate tools
- Develop appropriate methodologies to deliver the research aims and objectives
- Communicate professionally with all stakeholders
- Professionally present the project plan in a seminar and defend the methodology adopted.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Presentation | • | • | ||||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | |||
| 4 - Research | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 5 - Self-management | • | • | • | |||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |