Auto MSc Project - Individual Essay
The assignment - overview
Working individually, you are required to write an Essay that includes elements of both research and personal reflection. The essay requires that you identify and explore in depth an engineering or technology management skill or capability that you have applied individually or as a team in your practice track project, as well as a personal reflection on your individual contribution to the practice track project relating to leadership or teamworking.
The Task
Based on the experience of undertaking the Project :
1. Discuss in detail how you individually or as a team applied an Engineering Management skill, capability or process. Critically evaluate how successfully it was deployed in your project and recommend potential improvement areas.
2. Using an example (or examples) from the Project, critically reflect on your individual contribution to the project related to the application of leadership or teamworking skills.
This essay combines two styles of writing and the assessment is equally weighted between the two parts.
The first part should be written as a typical academic essay (e.g. written in the third person).
The second part of the essay is reflective, and as such allows you to explore your own experiences and viewpoints (i.e. written in the first person).
Some Guidance
For Part 1, you can choose any relevant skill, capability or process that you applied in your project that can be related to the engineering management frameworks that you have studied during the program. This can be selected from any one of the units from your Auto MSc program. You can also choose another relevant engineering or technology management framework of your choice providing it is supported with the appropriate level of research.
Some examples of skills or processes (not exhaustive) :
· Project management (or a subset of project management such as Project Scheduling)
· Strategic Analysis
· Communication skills
· Collaboration and teamwork
· Financial Planning and Analysis
· Product Development
· Agile working
· Problem solving techniques and approaches
For Part 2, given this is a reflective piece, you will not be expected to maintain impersonal objectivity; instead you are expected to highlight your own actions, emotions, and opinions. To be successful, you should critically evaluate your actions and progress, and demonstrate an ability to link your personal experience with theoretical knowledge. The scope of this part should be on your own individual contribution to the project with a focus on the application of leadership or teamworking skills. It is suggested that you apply a recognised Reflection Framework, such as the Gibb’s Reflective Cycle (1), to help structure your reflection in a clear and compelling manner.
Report specifications: Your report should be a maximum of 5,000 words (+/- 10%).
This word limit includes the following:
· The body of the assignment
• In-text references.
• Title page, Contents page, figures and tables
It excludes:
• Bibliography
• Appendices (please note that appendices should only be used for supporting material, the content will not count towards your grade).
Sticking to a strict word limit is a difficult and an important skill for you to acquire, so make sure that you write in a concise and focused manner. It should be typed font size 12 and 1.5 line spacing. You must include a word count at the start of the report.
Deadline: Report to be submitted by the deadline provided in Moodle in doc, docx or pdf format.
Credits : The Reflective Report contributes 50% to the overall unit assessment.
Assessment Criteria : An indicative marking guide for the reflective report is as follows:
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Criteria
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Proportion of marks
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1. Critical evaluation of the application of engineering management skills, capabilities or processes and identification of potential improvement areas
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30%
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2. Quality and depth of personal reflection on personal contribution to the project (relating to leadership or teamworking)
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30%
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3. Quality of research and analysis
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20%
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4. Overall Quality of report – writing, structure, presentation and academic rigour
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20%
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Plagiarism: The University of Bath operates a strict policy with regard to plagiarism and what constitutes plagiarism. It is essential that all students familiarise themselves with this policy. Please note that all group work reports will be checked for plagiarism. Cases of plagiarism will lead to severe penalties. (Please check the following UoB webpage to learn more about how to avoid plagiarism: http://www.bath.ac.uk/learningandteaching/epigeum.bho/).