PYU44NP2 Nanoscience Research Project

Please click here for the 2019-20 academic year structure. Guidelines for the project(including general guidelines, timelines, report writing guidelines, message to external supervisor, and assessment guidelines) can be downloaded here.

Please read the following instructions carefully. The SS project accounts for roughly a third of your final year marks, so you need to commit to the project and work very hard over the 9 week period.

Schedule: Projects run from the start of Michaelmas term (Monday, 9th September, 2019) to the 11th week of term (Friday, 8 November, 2019) . Projects continue through the Study Week (Week 7). Lecture commence at the start of week 10, Monday 11th November 2019.

Interim Reports: A 1-page outline (covering scientific goals, the methods that you intend to use) must be submitted via Blackboard, not later than 5 p.m. on Friday 13th September 2019. Please discuss this summary with your supervisor.

A brief interim report, of maximum length 500 words, must be submitted Blackboard, not later than 5 p.m. on Friday 11th October 2019 . Diagrams, tables etc are NOT required.

Final Report: Two examples of SS project reports are included here (Example 1, Example 2). Note that they may not conform to the current guidelines for the preparation of the project report, however they may still be useful to consult. In particular they do not include a statement as part of their Acknowledgement as to the level and nature of assistance rendered by others in your host research group or research institute. Please conform to the present guidelines. Five Hard copies of your final report are required.

• Three copies must be handed in to the School of Physics Office, not later than the first teaching day of Semester 2, Monday, 20th January 2020. Further, softcopy of the report will also have to be submitted by Monday, 21st January 2019, via Blackboard.THIS IS A HARD AND FAST DEADLINE.
• The fourth copy should be handed in person to your project supervisor. If your project is outside College, you should ensure that your supervisor receives a copy by the same date. When you submit your copies, you will be asked to confirm that you have already given a copy to your supervisor.
• You must also retain a fifth copy of your report for yourself, since none of the submitted copies will be returned to you. You should bring your copy with you if the External Examiner calls you to a viva voce examination after the Moderatorship examinations.
• Report submission is always your personal responsibility. If you fail to submit a report you can obtain no marks for it.
• If an ad misericordiam reason, such as illness, appears likely to prevent you from handing in your project report on time you must contact the Course Director as soon as the problem arises. An ad misericordiam reason will not be considered if it is offered after the submission deadline.

Poster: You are required to present a poster of your work, which will be assessed at the poster exhibition, typically held on an afternoon in the middle of February: details will be circulated later. A poster template can be downloaded from Blackboard. You must submit the softcopy of your poster via Blackboard  and email the Powerpoint slide of your poster to the Colm Stephens, at stephec@tcd.ie, by Monday, 20th January 2020. Remember to use your name in the filename of the email attachment to allow identification. The School will arrange for the A0 poster to be printed off and you will be notified when you can collect it, typically shortly before the poster session.

Project Assessment: Your project mark will be assessed on the basis of marks from your project supervisor, two readers here in TCD, and on the basis of your poster presentations at a date to be arranged in Hilary term. Your project supervisor will be asked to assess all aspects of your work during the period of the project including the quality of the data and analysis, your effort and initiative. The second and third readers will assess the project report by itself. These readers will then have an opportunity to assess your understanding during a poster presentation. The breakdown of marks is as follows:

• The Supervisor's mark 40%
• The 2nd and 3rd Reader's mark (20% each) 40%
• Poster mark: 2nd, 3rd Readers (10% each) 20%

The date of the poster presentation session in Hilary term will occur no earlier than the fourth week of term, most likely either in the fifth or sixth week. When a date, time and venue is chosen, you will be notified.