The University of Sheffield
Geography Undergraduate Student Handbook

GEO356 Geographical Research Project

Level 3
Credits 40
Availability Core for BA Geography; BSc Geography
Approved for Duals with Economics, Mathematics, Planning, Politics, Sociology
Semester Autumn
Prerequisite GEO263 or GEO264
Description This module requires the student to prepare, organise, research and report a piece of original work on a geographical topic. The student will decide on the topic and will either be expected to collect original material in order to investigate it, or to perform secondary analysis on information drawn from existing sources. The finished product is presented in the style, and at the length, associated with academic journal articles.
Aims
  1. To give students the experience of carrying out an original research project under supervision.
  2. To enable students to put into practice the skills of information collection, analysis and presentation gained at levels 1 and 2 of their degree programme.
Learning Outcomes By the end of the module, a student will be able to demonstrate:
  1. The ability to conceptualise a clear research question arising from key academic debates in the field under investigation.
  2. The ability to design and carry out a programme of research, involving the collation and analysis of either original or secondary data, appropriate to answering the research question under investigation.
  3. The ability to analyse research data competently and appropriately.
  4. The ability to write a substantial research report, summarising relevant literature, methodology, and results.
Outline Contents Initial work for this module will have been carried out in modules GEO263 or GEO264 which are pre-requisites for GEO356. At the end of level 2 students will have identified and done preliminary project design work on their research topic for GEO356.Students are expected to spend a suitable proportion of the vacation between levels 2 and 3 collecting the information necessary for their research project. During their first semester at level 3 students will work on the analysis of their information and on the presentation of their results, with a limited amount of advice from an individual supervisor.
Delivery Methods Self-learning, plus limited individual supervision
Student Contact Hours A minimum of 2 hours personal supervision
Supporting Texts None
Assessment Methods A project report (excluding the title, abstract, contents page, acknowledgements and references) which should not exceed 10,000 words in length. In addition up to 20 additional pages of appendices.
Staffing
(convenors underlined) 		Human: Dr Tariq Jazeel
Physical: Dr Felix Ng
 

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