RMS Assessment A: Draft proposal (Weighting: 20%)
Your first assignment is to provide a rationale and context for your research proposal. It will have the following sections:

Introduction [250 – 300 words]
Introduce the topic – the concept and the ‘industry’ of interest. What is the rationale (justified reason) for your project? You should provide an overview of recent developments in the area. Why is the topic relevant /interesting NOW? What is known about this issue? Briefly outline current problems, issues or developments which are of academic interest (you will expand on this in the following section).

Research aims, objectives and questions [150-200 words]
What will your research be exploring? What are you aiming to cover? What steps will you take in order to answer your research question

Brief literature review [450 – 550 words]
Here you need to provide a theoretical context for your research and an outline of past and current research in the area. You need to cite at least five academic sources. A literature review should move from the general to the specific. A possible structure for a literature review is to:

• provide a brief historical background of research in the topic;
• give an overview of the current debates, issues and questions in the field;
• describe key research in the field and show how your work extends or challenges this
• identify any gaps in the existing literature
• include a discussion of relevant theories and concepts
• link the theory to your topic by giving examples of the theory in practice

References
Your work should be referenced according to the Harvard referencing system.
The word count for this assignment is 1000 words (and this work can be used for your larger assignment of 3,000 words).

RMS Assessment B: Poster (Proposal) Presentation (Weighting: 20%)
You will deliver a presentation of your research proposal. You should prepare to talk for 15 minutes and then to answer questions for 5 minutes (so 20 minutes in total). This assessment is worth 20% of your total course mark.

You will need to cover the following areas:

• An introduction which provides a rationale for your research proposal and introduces the main aims of your research. This part is very important as it sets the scene for a non-specialised audience
• A brief summary of the key literature in your field
• A brief summary of the theoretical concepts you will be using (this can be incorporated into the point above)
• A justification of your proposal (why is this research relevant/necessary? What’s new/innovative about your proposal etc
• A brief explication of your proposed methodology (no ethics and no timeline needed)
• The significance of your study
• Any limitations (time, budget etc.)
  We will be looking for the following when assessing:

Content

• Is your presentation relevant and academic enough?
• Is there a clear rationale for your proposal? Is it clear what it is you want to investigate?
• Is there a clear literature and theoretical context?
• Is there a clear and logical methodology?
• Is it clear that you understand the ideas you are communicating?

Organisation

• Is there a clear structure to your presentation?
• Is there a clear introduction?
• Is there a clear body divided into appropriate sections?
• Is there a clear concluding slide?
• Is there clear signalling and signposting (turning to….first, second, etc)

Presentation style

• Is the presentation easy to follow?
• Is your pronunciation clear?
• Can you convey your ideas well?
• Did you construct a clear rationale for the research project?
• Are your slides clear, correct and interesting to the audience? (Consider visuals)
• Do you make eye contact with your audience? Do you look ‘comfortable’ and confident in front of the group? Do you face the group?

Question time
Are you able to provide informative answers to the questions put to you at the end?

Please note!!!
Do not just read your research proposal, you will fail (that is not a presentation).

RMS Assessment C: Research proposal (Weighting 60%)
You should provide a written account of your research proposal, and should build upon your draft proposal. Please cover the various points highlighted below. The word count is 3,000 words.

Cover page
This includes the title of your dissertation and module and personal details.

Introduction [300-400 words]
Here you can simply expand slightly on that in the draft proposal

Aims, objectives and questions [150-200 words]
This can be the same as in your draft

Literature review [1000 – 1200 words]
You need to expand considerably on your draft proposal, possibly including quotes, and using at
least 5 more sources (so at least 10 in total)

The research methodology [1000 – 1200 words]
Outline the methods you will be employing and include:
a. Research approach: You will either be doing quantitative, qualitative or a mixed methodology. These correspond to positivist (objective truth), interpretivist (people’s interpretations) or pragmatic (mixed methods).
b. Research method(s): questionnaire, interview etc. Why you are choosing these (think of the advantages, as outlined in lectures)
c. Your population (who are you interested in)
d. Sample (and sampling method)
e. Ethical issues: What do you need to provide to the participants? How will you ensure anonymity? Where will the data be stored etc.

NOTE: You do NOT have to write out a full survey!!

The significance of your study [100 – 200 words]
A brief summary of what the significance of the work will be – what the study will add to the current
body of knowledge (as outlined in your literature review)

The limitations of your study [100 – 200 words]
A recognition of any limitations of the work
Think of time, budget, limitations of method, possible unrepresentative sample etc.

A timescale showing when the main tasks should be carried out

References
Harvard referencing should be used.