Investigate and specify a substantial problem in the domain of study, place it in the context of related work and produce a plan to address this problem.

2026-02-09 14:57:26

Assignment Specification

School of Computer and Engineering Sciences

Module Code SE7200

Module Title

Research Dissertation

Assessment No

3 of 3

Weighting

60%

Title

Report / Thesis

In-Year Reassessment Offered

Generative AI

Not Allowed

Summary

This brief contains the instructions, guidelines, and tasks for the Report/Thesis of the Research Dissertation (SE7200) module.

Submission Date

1G January 2026 (Monday) at 13:00

7-day Submission Window Allowed

Feedback Due

19 February 2026

Instructions

You should prepare and submit a written project report, in accordance with the information and instructions provided in Appendix-A (page 4,5,6 of this document).

Please read the instructions and guidelines in the Appendix-A thoroughly before submitting your work.

Word count: Your word count should not exceed 12000 words.

Individual report to be submitted by each student.

Marking Criteria for assessment is based on the generic marking criteria for level 7 detailed in the Programme Handbook and Moodle page. Essentially, the submission will be evaluated on the following criteria:

Planning and progress of the dissertation work
Writing, structuring, grammar, spelling of the report
Literature, context, related work, references
Intellectual performance, originality, and independence
Professionalism / choice of methodology
Usefulness of results and findings

Detailed marking rubrics are included on Page-3.

Additional Information

COMP1 Investigate and specify a substantial problem in the domain of study, place it in the context of related work and produce a plan to address this problem.

COMP2 Make use of transferable skills necessary for the conduct of the project.

COMP3 Critically evaluate research and advanced scholarship relevant to the project and evaluate their own work.

COMP4 Demonstrate the capability to make an original contribution to the domain of study.

COMP5 Critically evaluate the project with due regard to relevant professional, legal, social and ethical frameworks.

Submission Window, Exceptional Circumstances, and Assessment Regulations

You are expected to submit work by the submission date specified at the start of the assignment specification. Some assignments may support a 7-day window in which students can submit work late without penalty and this will be specified below the submission date at the start of this brief. Any work submitted outside of the submission date (or submission window where allowed) will be given a mark of zero.

You can find details about what you need to do if you are unable to submit the assessment on time on the Registry Services Exceptional Circumstances Portal page. Any deferral request must be submitted online within 7-days of the final submission date (or submission window where allowed). In all cases, evidence will be required to support the deferral.

Deadline for applying for a deferral to the next assessment point1: 2 February 2026

You can find out more about University regulations related to assessment on the Registry Services Assessment Regulations page.

Generative AI

The use of generative AI tools where not permitted will be treated as a breach of the academic conduct policy.

You may not use AI tools for this assessment.

AI tools include, but are not limited to, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek, Midjourney, and other similar Generative AI tools and chatbots.

Submission Information

Word count: Your word count should not exceed 12000 words.
File needs to be saved as: [SE7200_Report_JNumber]. For example, SE7220_Report_J12345678
File format needed for submission: .pdf / .docx
Files submitted in an incorrect format will usually be marked as zero.

¹ The deadline for applying for a deferral for the next assessment point is 7 days after the deadline or 7 days after the 7-day window (where permitted)

Assessment Criteria

Category	Fail (<50%)	Pass (50–5G%)	Merit (60–6G%)	Distinction (≥70%)
Problem Definition, Background C Research Rationale	Problem unclear, trivial, or not academically grounded; weak or missing rationale; poor connection to literature or professional context. No clear research aim/questions.	Topic relevant but underdeveloped; limited justification; aims/questions present but lacking depth or alignment with identified problem.	Well-defined problem situated in appropriate domain; strong rationale linked to literature/professional need; clear aims/questions with good alignment.	Outstanding clarity, significance, and originality; excellent contextualisation within academic and professional landscapes; compelling justification demonstrating genuine research necessity.
Literature Review C Critical Scholarship	Minimal/irrelevant literature; descriptive, non-critical; significant inaccuracies; poor or missing APA referencing.	Some relevant sources; limited organisation and critical insight; mostly accurate referencing but inconsistent.	Good breadth and depth; clear thematic structure; growing critical evaluation; strong integration of academic sources; consistent APA referencing.	Comprehensive, current, and authoritative sources; high-level critical synthesis; nuanced comparison of scholarly positions; impeccable APA referencing; clear demonstration of advanced scholarship.
Methodology C Professionalism (Design, Methods, Ethics)	Methodology unclear, unsuitable, or incoherent; missing key elements (design, participants, tools, data collection, analysis). Ethical issues ignored or misunderstood.	Basic but partially appropriate methodology; limited justification; procedures vaguely described; partial awareness of ethics.	Clear, coherent, and appropriate methodology; strong justification; well- described procedures; clear ethical considerations and compliance.	Rigorous, well-reasoned, and innovative methodology; excellent justification of choices; sophisticated awareness of limitations, risks, ethics, and alternative approaches (LO2, LO5).
Planning, Progress C Project Management	No meaningful planning; missing milestones; unrealistic timelines; poor evidence of progress or decision- making.	Basic project plan with some structure but limited detail or feasibility; partial evidence of progress.	Logical, well-structured plan with realistic timelines and milestones; clear evidence of progress and decision- making throughout the project (LO2).	Highly professional, detailed project schedule (e.g., Gantt chart); excellent documentation of progress, initiative, risk management, and decision-making.
Results, Analysis C Findings	Results absent, unclear, incorrect, or unrelated to aims; no analysis; weak connection to methodology.	Some results presented; basic analysis; limited interpretation; results partially linked to aims.	Clear, accurate, and well- explained results; appropriate analysis; good alignment with aims and methodology; some critical interpretation.	Insightful, rigorous, and well-executed analysis; findings presented with clarity and precision; strong interpretation showing originality and intellectual depth (LO4).
Discussion, Evaluation C Contribution	No meaningful discussion; fails to evaluate methods or findings; no recognition of limitations; contribution unclear or absent.	Basic discussion with limited evaluation; some mention of limitations; contribution described but weak.	Well-structured discussion; thoughtful evaluation of strengths/limitations; clear explanation of the project’s academic/practical contribution.	Highly critical, reflective discussion; excellent evaluation of methodology, findings, and limitations; strong, original contribution clearly articulated.
Ethical, Legal, Social C Professional Considerations	Missing or incorrect understanding of ethical, legal, or professional obligations; no evidence of ethical approval.	Limited but acceptable consideration of ethics/legal aspects; incomplete or surface-level treatment.	Clear and appropriate ethical, legal, social, and professional reflection; compliance demonstrated.	Sophisticated, critical engagement with ethical/legal/social issues; demonstrates high professional standards and mature reasoning (LO5).
Structure, Writing Quality C Presentation	Poorly structured; hard to follow; significant grammar/spelling issues; inconsistent formatting; APA referencing inaccurate or absent.	Adequate structure and clarity; some issues in academic tone/grammar; referencing attempted but inconsistent; formatting largely acceptable.	Well-written, well- structured dissertation; clear academic tone; accurate referencing; formatting consistent with guidelines in Appendix-A (spacing, numbering, captions).	Exceptional clarity, coherence, and academic style; professional presentation fully aligned with appendix requirements; flawless APA referencing; polished and publishable quality.

Appendix - A

Instructions:

This assignment is to be completed individually.
Each student must submit their individual report on Turnitin.
Suspicion of Academic Misconduct/Malpractice shall result in being reported to the appropriate Academic Conduct Committee/Authority.

Formatting and Content Guidelines

Cover Page

The title should be centred on the front page with the University logo above and your name, student number, module number and title, and the word count.Please note that the word count is for the main body of text and excludes the front cover, contents page, foot and end-notes, appendices and bibliography.

Formatting

There are no specific rules for formatting your dissertation, but the following is strongly suggested as a guide. Consistency of style and spelling in the document is key.

For the text, use one and a half line spacing and a general font such as Arial/Aptos size 12;
Printing can be double sided and generous margins should be used to take into consideration the space required for binding and marking of the work;
Heading, subheadings and text should be consistent throughout;
Numbering of chapters and sub-sections within chapters should match with the Contents page, i.e. chapter 1 should have sub-sections 1.1. – 1.11 –…; Chapter 2 should have sub-sections 2.2. – 2.21 –… etc.;
Pages and illustrations should be captioned and numbered;
Abbreviations should be defined before use;
Writing style should normally be past tense, 3rd person singular;
The language and spelling should be English and UK spelling, respectively;
Grammar and punctuation should follow the usual rules of English Grammar and punctuations as described in the Oxford English Dictionary;
References should be APA referencing system.

Preliminaries

The preliminaries may be subdivided into:

Abstract – the abstract is normally included with, but not numbered, the preliminaries and no page number is displayed.The abstract is a statement of the aims, method and results of your research – it is a summary of everything – it does not include references;
Title page;
- Disclaimer – the following statement should be included here: ‘This work is my own work and has not been previously submitted in support of any other course or qualifications.’ This must be signed and dated;
- Dedication – optional in essays. When present the dedication should be no more than a few lines and should be placed upon its own page;
- Acknowledgments – optional in essays. This is an opportunity to thank the people who have made your dissertation possible. Acknowledgments should be placed upon their own page and may take up several paragraphs but you should avoid being over-effusive;
- Table of contents – should illustrate the document structure as well as providing pointers into the document;
- List of figures – should correspond with captions and have consistency of style with table of contents;
- List of tables;
- Glossary of terms – if applicable.

Main Body

Every chapter should start on a new page.

Subsections – within a chapter – sections, subsections, and sub-subsections when present are given titles called sub-headings which are designated respectively:

First-, second-, third-level etc. subheadings – the different levels of sub-heading are usually differentiated from one another. Be consistent in their use.

Introduction – the text should begin with an introduction. It is usual to set out the background to the work in the introduction. Anything that fills in the background up to the point at which the work began is relevant to the introduction.

Chapters or their equivalents – the main body of the essay is usually divided into chapters, each chapter beginning on a new page and having a title. The Discussion and Conclusion chapter is the proper place for a summary of the preceding chapters.

If you want to include images/diagrams/graphics from other sources such as papers or books or websites, then please follow the following guidelines:

Citing is necessary but not sufficient in most cases.
If taking from closed-access papers/books: redraw it, or get permission from the publisher. Redrawing the diagram/image again on your own is usually the faster option (as permissions cold take time).
If you use a redrawn version (created by yourself), then you should write “Adapted from Smith et al. (2023)” under the figure, where Smith et al. (2023) is an example paper, and you should replace it with the correct citation.
For CC-BY open-access papers: you’re fine with proper attribution.

References

References serve a number of purposes. They allow you to credit the authors who originally made observations or proposed ideas. They indicate the historical order in which discoveries were made. References allow the reader to confirm details e.g. experimental methods or precise quotations, which is not appropriate for you to include in your dissertation, by referring to the original source.To fulfil these purposes references are cited in a formal manner. References should be APA referencing system.In the main body of the text the author(s) and the year of publication are given.References can be given in the active or passive form. Avoid using the active form of references too frequently or your text will become a list- like reiteration of facts or ideas.

If there are many authors of one publication the names of the second and subsequent authors need not be given in the text after the first citation of that reference. The form to use in this case is ‘Smith and others (1988) showed that…’ Word processors and sophisticated typewriters allow you to put ‘et al’ in italics – if you cannot do this you should underline the words.

The list of references must contain only authentic and real/existing references,which you have genuinely used for your research.Inclusion of a non-existent and/or imaginary and/or incorrect reference(s) would lead to the submission being reported to be breach of Academic Conduct in the category of Falsification using AI.

Appendices

The appendices should be reserved for detailed material that would detract from the flow of the presentation that is found in the main text. They are usually identified by letters e.g. Appendix A, or Roman numerals, Appendix I.Follow the APA guidelines. Appendices typically contain large tables e.g. raw data, raw results; statistical analysis; original qualitative analysis; extensive quotations from other authors e.g. description of some methodological tool from a research paper. Appendices do not `count` in the overall word count.

Page numbering is independent and optional.

Bibliograph

Difference between References and Bibliography: bibliography is useful reading around the subject which has not been directly referenced in the body of the text. As with references you must follow the APA guidelines.

At the end of your dissertation, in the bibliography section, you should give more details of the sources of information. You should keep the format consistent.Our recommended format is to give authors’ names, year of publication, title of the article, journal, volume and page numbers e.g.Smith, A., Jones, B. C Evans, C. (1988) this is the title of the publication. J. Irreproducible Results. 33, 25-51.

More information on referencing can be views in the following link: https://portal1.chester.ac.uk/LIS/LibraryFacilities/Pages/referencing.aspx

Proof Reading

Ask someone literate to read the whole document carefully and to point out:

Spelling errors
Typing errors
Misuses of punctuation and grammar
Incorrect page numbers or references

Your report word count should not exceed 12000 words. The number of words in the list of References (and Appendices, if any) does not count in the 12000 words.

100% Plagiarism Free & Custom Written, Tailored to your instructions