Course detail
Fundamentals of Scientific and Professional Work
FSI-ZSE Acad. year: 2019/2020 Summer semester
Course content combines the basic steps that are needed to complete the preparation of the thesis. The course is intended as a support for working out a diploma thesis. It serves the students to concretize the topics of their diploma theses and elaborate background research for their diploma projects. They will have an overview of available data sources.
Language of instruction
Czech
Number of ECTS credits
3
Supervisor
Department
Learning outcomes of the course unit
Acquiring of principles of the structure of technical texts and methods of the independent and creative elaboration of the thesis. At the end of the course the students should be able to: plan and elaborate a scientific text according to the rules guiding the structure, language and construction of such texts; define the forms of scientific and expert papers (citing, bibliography, style, form, references etc); and apply these requirements in the technical text. Furthermore, master the utilization of citation and full-text databases.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of research methodology and scientific work acquired during bachelor studies.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course is taught through exercises, which are focused on practical acquisition of subject matter.
Assesment methods and criteria linked to learning outcomes
Graded course-unit credit requirements: active participation in lectures, submission of diploma project, presentation of the diploma project. Diploma project must include overview of the state of the art, analysis of the problem and clearly defined goals according to given topic. Diploma project must be prepared in accordance with the current structure and format for submission of the thesis defined by the Institute of Machine and Industrial Design.
Evaluation will be granted on the basis of continuous fulfillment of given tasks and delivery of the diploma project containing two chapters of diploma work "2. Review of the current state of knowledge" and" 3. Problem analysis and objective of the work. " The scope of the text should be approximately 30% of the scope of the thesis. Students must be able to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the matters and defend the results of the analysis during the presentation.
Aims
The overall aim of this course is to provide students with a systematic introduction to the problems of preparing their own scientific and technical work.
Specification of controlled education, way of implementation and compensation for absences
Attendance at seminars is required. Absence lessons may be compensated by an appropriate form in agreement with the teacher.
The study programmes with the given course
Programme M2I-P: Mechanical Engineering, Master's
branch M-KSI: Mechanical Engineering Design, compulsory
Programme M2A-P: Applied Sciences in Engineering, Master's
branch M-PDS: Industrial Design, compulsory
Type of course unit
Computer-assisted exercise
26 hours, compulsory
Teacher / Lecturer
Syllabus
1. The nature of science and the scientific method.
2. Purpose of the thesis.
3. Choosing and defining research topics.
4. Information sources and work with literature.
5. Work plan.
6. Scientific text structuring and its writing.
7. Professional style.
8. Citations and scientific ethics.
9. Formal editing.
10.-13. Individual presentation of results by students, discussion.