Optional BSc Project Unit

This is a web page for the optional BSc undergraduate project unit MA30128 (third year BSc, Semester 2).

Please note that this unit is not available to MMath students. Instead, final-year MMath students must do a 12-credit project (MA40249) spread over both semesters. That unit is separately administered and is not covered by this page. MSc projects are also not covered by this page.

It can be beneficial to do a project. As well as being able to explore a narrow mathematical topic in depth, you gain valuable transferable skills such report-writing, time management, presentation skills, and mathematical typesetting. Against this you should set the fact that projects are often time-consuming (mainly because the students find them interesting) and require a high level of commitment.

Your project will be supervised by a member of staff, who will give you an individual topic. Normally the supervisor will be in the Mathematical Sciences department. You will produce a project report by the end of teaching (i.e. before the exam period), typically 30 pages long. Assessment is partly through presentation or oral examination in addition to the project report. THE PRESENTATION IS NOT OPTIONAL AND YOUR SUPERVISOR MAY NOT WAIVE IT EITHER. It carries 20% of the marks (this is also not something that can be changed).

If you are interested in doing a project, you should choose MA30128 as one of your options and approach suitable lecturers to see if they can supervise you or suggest who might. To do that you need to have a general idea of what area you are interested in. If you do not know whom to ask or need help choosing an area, contact the unit co-ordinator, Professor G.K. Sankaran. We cannot guarantee that it will be possible to find supervisors for everyone wanting to do a project, and if not, then you will have to choose another unit. In practice that seldom happens.

It is the student's responsibility to find a project supervisor, but we will help you. It is not your responsibility to propose a topic.

Timeline for projects:

• Agree with a supervisor on a project. The first moves in this direction should ideally be made before the Christmas vacation. However, this is not always possible, so do not worry if it is already January and you have not done that.
• Project descriptions should be finalised by the end of the second week of teaching in February. Here is a template that your supervisor can use to write the description. The supervisor and the student, as well as the checker and the Head of Group, need to sign the project description. That way we know that the student knows what he or she is supposed to be doing. And we know that the students who claim that nobody told them there was a presentation involved are wrong, but that doesn't stop it happening.
• Work on project individually with supervisor. A high level of independence is expected. Projects are highly personal and may not resemble one another in size, format or style. For this reason among others we do not make previous projects available to students: experience has shown that seeing previous projects does not help students plan their own projects.
• Look at the library and referencing session materials (these are a bit out of date now but still possibly useful):
  • Referencing activity
  • Worksheet
  • Slides on citing and referencing
  • Slides on literature search
• Submission will be online via Moodle. The deadline is always NOON on Wednesday of Revision Week. Not midnight: the idea is that if you have a problem submitting, then you have it at a time when there is somebody around to solve it.
• The COMPULSORY presentation usually takes place after the submission, but earlier is permissible. The only requirement is that the marks should be ready by the usual marks deadline.
• When you submit your report, you will be asked to indicate what GenAI tools you used and how you used them, OR that you have not used genAI. Unless otherwise agreed, the use of GenAI is permitted. Under the University’s Academic Integrity Statement, you must not present content created by generative AI tools as though it were your own. Any text or code produced by genAI must be checked for correctness and cited. You should be prepared to explain anything in your submission to an examiner if asked to do so.