Purpose: allows students to produce work on a topic of the student’s choice or as issued by the lecturer.

It requires students to show the following:

• evidence of professional approach to independent research.
• a conceptual understanding of the topic chosen and its relation to the academic content of the biopharmaceutical masters degree programme.
• the ability to evaluate and interpret evidence.
• the capacity to demonstrate clarity in argument and expression.
• to show competence in scholarly and bibliographical skills.

Length: The required length is approx. 4,000 words (minimum 4000 words & maximum 6000 words). Every effort should be made to summarise the main research and findings into the recommended number of words.

Scope: What is acceptable?:

• Literature review: (e.g. analytical essay)
• • e.g. compare & contrast, evaluate, assess, analyse, review justify etc.
• Company based project: May be based on a project assignment relating to a body of work for the students company etc.

Initial Preparation:

• Agree a topic with your module supervisor. Normally, the lecturer will provide a list of appropriate topics and students will select from this list. The number assigned to each topic may be limited. Students may provide a title of their own but this must be pre-approved by the lecturer.

• Carry out some background reading and research on the topic.
• Narrow your topic down to an achievable research objective in the timeframe available :
• not too broad nor too narrow.
• researchable (access to information, timeframe, expertise, skills, equipment etc).