M.Sc. Project Guidance
Session 2011/2012
Department of Medical Physics & Bioengineering
University College London
Projects for the MSc degrees in Physics and
Engineering in Medicine & Medical Image
Computing
How to do it and write it up
Following discussions with the course
organizers suitable projects and
supervisors are identified. The student
makes contact with the supervisor and
following discussions starts planning the
project and reading suitable background
material. Selection of the research
project should take place during
October/early November (see table 1 for
ultimate deadlines).
Introduction
The research project component of the
course is one of the examination
elements that must be passed in order to
be awarded the degree. It is a significant
amount of work but usually one that is
enjoyed by the student. At masters level
the requirement of the project is
threefold;
• to demonstrate that the student can
research the background to a piece
of work;
• to demonstrate that the student can
make reliable measurements and
carryout a thorough and correct
analysis of those results, and
• to demonstrate that the student can
present their work in a clear and
concise manner appropriate to the
results they have taken.
There is no requirement that the work be
original although if it is it can often
make the work more exciting. It is much
more important that the work is carried
out carefully, correctly and well
presented. Students should not mistake
quantity for quality.
Project selection – part time students
Part-time students are generally
expected to find their project from their
home department. However, should a
part-time student require help in finding
a suitable project they should approach
the course organizers (see above for the
link to all available projects). Students
are encouraged to consider an area
appropriate to their specific MSc
programme in which they would like to
carry out their research project. Part
time students are often limited in area by
the work undertaken in their own
department and/or the placements they
have chosen during their training
programme. Initial contact should be
made with possible supervisors during
the first term of the 1st year, and a
project selected possibly by the end of
January of the first year (see table 1 for
ultimate deadlines).
Project selection – full time students
Students are encouraged to consider an
area appropriate to their specific MSc
programme in which they would like to
carry out their research project.
Available projects can be found here:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/medphys/msc/msc
projects11.
1
M.Sc. Project Guidance
Session 2011/2012
1. The project plan, once agreed by the
supervisor should be submitted by the
student to UCL. The outline is
considered by the course organisers to
ensure that the project will satisfy the
degree regulation requirements.
NB ALL STUDENTS - full or part
time - carrying out their project at
UCL must make sure that their
supervisor fills in a project risk
assessment form. Forms & guidelines
will be downloadable from the Moodle
website (see below). Such form is a
mandatory attachment of the project
outline, and the outline will not be
considered complete (and therefore
valid!) should this form not be included.
It is responsibility of the student to make
sure that their supervisor fills in the
form reasonably before the submission
deadline, in order to be able to include it
in the outline.
Phase 2 - experimental measurements
and analysis- will occupy the majority of
the time allocated for the project. It is
important that close contact is
maintained
with
the
supervisor
throughout. She/he will advise on the
work as it proceeds but the student must
maintain a laboratory note book in
which all work is logged and which can
be inspected at any time by the
supervisor or course organisers. Part
way through this phase a progress report
is required (for submission date see
table 1). This is a 4/5 page document in
which the student should:
- quickly summarize aims & targets of
the project;
- describe the work done so far, discuss
whether some of the above aims/targets
have been met and to what extent;
- describe the work that remains to be
done and the plan which will be put in
practice to achieve it;
- list ANY CHANGE with respect to the
original plan, discuss the reasons behind
this and how this affects aims &
timings;
- provide an updated timeline.
General information about project
selection
When selecting a project the student
should take the following into account;
• some projects require particular
skills, i.e., computing - make sure by
consultation with the project
supervisor that you will be able to
complete the project
• some projects require the use of
clinical equipment that may only be
available at certain times of the day make sure by consultation with the
project
supervisor
that
your
availability will not compromise you
being able to complete the project
• make sure that the effort expected
from you by the supervisor matches
your expected input
• All the supervisors are experienced
supervisors and therefore will be
able to advise you on the
challenging aspects of their projects
- but make sure the challenge isn’t
too great!
• The student is expected to maintain
regular contact with their supervisor.
Carrying out the project
All projects have three phases
1. Project planning and background
research
2. Experimental measurements and
analysis
3. Writing up
You should start with phase 1 - project
planning and background research. The
dates that this phase should be started
are given in table 1. It is important that
during this phase a project outline is
produced. This document should be
about 3 or 4 pages long and should
include a brief outline to the project, a
summary of the background that has
been research so far, an outline of the
proposed project tasks and a time-line
diagram to indicate that you have
considered how long each task should
take. The project outline must be
submitted by the date indicated in table
2
M.Sc. Project Guidance
Session 2011/2012
must be included after the title page.
Any permanent method of binding is
suitable but ring binding does make the
report easier to read. The front and back
pages of the report should be thin card
and are available from the Department.
The regulations for the degree state that
there is an upper limit of 10,000
words. This must not be exceeded and
the word count must appear on the
title page. Figure captions must be
included in the word count. Appendices
(not included in the word count) can be
used if there are compelling reasons for
the inclusion of material not directly
relevant to the topic of the report. Three
written copies and one electronic copy
(CDROM) of the final report must be
submitted on or before the date given in
table 1. This date is determined by the
date of the final viva and therefore
cannot be altered for any reason.
Please note that by the same deadline
the supervisor must submit his/her
report to the department. It is
responsibility of the student to liaise
with his/her supervisor to make sure this
happens.
Due to this requirement, students must
give a copy of their report to their
supervisor well in advance (and in any
case no later than the deadline indicated
in table 1), to give the supervisor
enough time to mark the report and
complete the Supervisor’s Report form.
The student is responsible for ensuring
that all the work associated with the
project can be completed by the
submission date. The student must bring
a copy of the report to the oral
examination.
We also encourage students to submit
the laboratory notebook as well with the
progress report to the course organizers.
Note that by the time the progress report
has been written up and submitted
students are expected to have carried out
at least 1/3 of the project, and this
should be clearly indicated in the
enclosed timeline.
Phase 3 - writing-up - is always more
difficult than anticipated. There are two
parts to the process of writing-up firstly the student should produce a
complete first draft that is given to the
supervisor to read. The supervisor is
expected to guide the students with any
corrections that should be made but the
student should NOT regard the
supervisor as his proof reader. It is the
responsibility of the student to write
clear, accurate English. If you have
difficulty in writing good English then
you should allow as much time as
possible for this part of the writing up
process, a minimum of three weeks will
be required and maybe much more. The
student should also discuss with the
supervisor when she/he would be
available to read the draft report. The
second part of writing up requires the
student to produce a final copy of the
report
including
all
the
corrections/modifications.
Diagrams
should be clear and well presented; all
tables, figures and diagrams should have
titles. The source of any diagram must
be referenced. The references should be
given in a consistent style and must be
complete, i.e., all page numbers, dates,
publishers, as required. The style for
references is that used by Physics in
Medicine & Biology. The student should
consult a copy to be clear about the
correct style. The text should be type on
A4 paper, 1.5 line spacing in Times
Roman font, 12 point. An appropriate
margin of 1.5 cm should be left around
the text that allows it to be bound. An
abstract of not more than 200 words
Project assessment
The project is assessed throughout the
period of study and by the project
outline, poster presentation (see below),
final report and oral examination.
The final report is marked by your
project supervisor first. He/she is asked
to assign marks for project planning and
3
M.Sc. Project Guidance
Session 2011/2012
(details of the project outline are given
below). The bulk of the research project
is undertaken during both summer
terms. It is recommended that the
student allows time during November,
December, March, April and May to
prepare fully for the exams. The student
is strongly encouraged to complete the
bulk of their project work (~70%) by the
end of the first year. This allows
sufficient time to complete the research
and prepare a project report by the
submission date.
Part time students undertaking the
clinical scientist training programme are
particularly advised to complete as
much of their project work as possible
during the first year as the training
scheme
imposes
deadlines
for
examinations and portfolios in the
second year similar to deadlines for the
MSc project.
organisational skills (based on the
Project Outline, Progress Report and
Lab Book), experimental ability and for
the presentation of the work in the final
report. Two members of the examining
board also read and assess your report.
These examiners will then conduct an
oral examination (sometimes with an
external examiner present) part of which
will be devoted to asking questions
about the report. An agreed mark is then
obtained using the marks from the three
assessors (the two examiners and your
supervisor). Any moderation is carried
out by an external examiner who may
also have read your report.
For your information a supervisors
assessment form and an examiners
assessment form are included at the end
of this booklet.
Project timescales
Full time students
Full time students select their research
projects during the first term. A project
outline must be submitted by the start of
the last week of Term 1 (details of the
project outline are given below). From
October until March students are
expected to spend at least two days per
week on the project. This will generally
involve finding a suitable project,
carrying out background reading and the
design of the experimental equipment
(should it be needed). It should also
include some preliminary experiments.
Students work full time on their projects
after the May examinations until the
date that the project must be submitted.
Students are expected to plan their time
on the project carefully. Little or no
project work is undertaken close to the
May examinations to allow the student
to prepare fully for the exams.
Project outline
A project outline must be submitted
according to the deadlines given below.
This should consist of the following
details:
Project title,
Supervisor name and contact details,
Aims of project,
Brief description of project background
(generally about 1 page)
List of tasks to be completed,
Timescales for the various tasks (such as
a timeline chart detailing the tasks to be
completed during each of the months
until the end of the project).
Poster presentation
All students will be asked to present
their project in a poster. This is typically
displayed in approximately nine A4
pages plus a title (or, equivalently, a
single A0 sheet), in which the project is
introduced, its aims are given, materials
and methods are discussed, the results
obtained up to that point are presented
and future work is outlined – possibly
Part time students
Part time students select their research
projects during the first or second term.
A project outline must be submitted by
the end of Term 2 of the first year
4
M.Sc. Project Guidance
Session 2011/2012
with the aid of a Gantt chart or
equivalent.
Information is expected to be displayed
primarily in graphic format, with text
kept at the bare minimum. A day is
allocated, in which students are
expected to stand in front of their
posters and explain the content to an
audience. This audience will include a
committee of Exam Board Members
who will assess the posters and assign a
mark, which will account for 10% of the
overall project assessment.
For the dates on which the poster day
will be held, see table 1 below.
of tasks corresponding to all deadlines
listed in table 1 appears in the Moodle
page, and students are required to take
simple actions (e.g. confirm that they
have done something through an action
button) before each deadline. In order to
enroll students should do the following:
1) go to http://moodle.ucl.ac.uk;
2) login with their UCL password;
3) a list of courses appears, divided
by area. Under Engineering
Sciences,
choose
Medical
Physics and Bioengineering,
among the different courses
choose MSc Medical Physics
Projects;
4) ENROL
by entering
the
enrolment key provided.
From any page, it is possible to go back
by clicking on MSc MedPhysProjTest
on the top left of the page. Further
details will be provided at the induction
days and/or can be obtained by
contacting Dr. Olivo.
Moodle
All material on how to carry out your
project will be available on a Moodle
webpage, to which all students have to
enroll. The enrolment key will be
provided on the induction days or can be
obtained by contacting the MSc project
manager Dr. ILIAS TACHTSIDIS
(iliastac@medphys.ucl.ac.uk). A range
TABLE 1 - IMPORTANT DEADLINES FOR M.Sc. PROJECTS
Note that penalties will be introduced for not respecting the deadlines, with particular emphasis on deadlines
relative to report/outline submissions.
FULL-TIME
STUDENTS*
25th November 2011
9th December 2011
PART-TIME STUDENTS
on their 1st year
24th Feb 2012
9th March 2012
Select project by
Submit Project Outline to
the Departmental Teaching
Administration Officer
28th September 2012
2nd March 2012
Submit Progress Report to
the Departmental Teaching
Administration Officer
Poster presentation
20th June 2012
mid-November 2012 (TBA)
27th July 2012
late July 2013 (TBA)
Complete draft report to supervisor
mid-August 2013 (TBA)
10th August 2012
Submission of reports and CDROM to
the Departmental Teaching
Administration Officer
mid August 2013 (TBA)
10st August 2012
Ask your supervisor to submit his/her
report to the Departmental Teaching
Administration Officer
*the last three deadlines apply also to current part-time students on their SECOND year
5
M.Sc. Project Guidance
Session 2011/2012
Some general advice on the presentation of M.Sc. reports
1. Explain clearly the objective of the work
2. Maintain a framework of the report. A good example would be;
abstract
full introduction and context
previous work
your work
discussions
conclusions
3. Use diagrams and figures whenever they help in the illustration of the point being
made
4. Use legends and proper references on all figures and diagrams. Ensure that all
graphs are properly labelled, contain error bars if required, etc.
5. Discuss at the end of the report the extent to which the original aims have been
achieved.
6. Avoid excessive use of jargon or medical terms. Remember that the report is a
physics report.
7. Do not exceed 10,000 words and remember the word count must appear on the
title page
8. Do not assume the reader knows everything about the topic. Expect the reader to
be scientifically informed but not necessarily an expert
9. Do not try to pack in too much material.
10. Do not copy sections from other peoples work and present them as your own - this
is plagiarism. Furthermore, it is easy for the examiners to spot where the good
English finishes!
6
M.Sc. Supervisor’s Report
Name of Student
:
Department where
work was carried out
:
Title
:
General comments
:
(an indication of how the project was planned and executed; the level of supervision required; the
significance of the student’s contribution; the student’s experimental ability; etc)
Suggested marking scheme
project planning
laboratory note book/log book
general competence/ability
report
Signed
:
Date
:
(max. 10)
(max. 10)
(max. 40)
(max. 40)
:
:
:
(
(
(
(
)
)
)
)
M.Sc. Examiner’s Report
Name of Student
:
Title
:
General comments
:
Provisional marking scheme
Project outline
(max. 5)
:
(
)
Background and literature review
(max. 15)
:
(
)
Descriptive content
(max. 30)
:
(
)
Results & discussion
(max. 50)
:
(
)
Signed
:
Date
: