Welcome to year 4 of your M.Phys. degree

http://www.shef.ac.uk/physics/teaching/fourth-year/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deathvalleysky_nps_big.jpg

Lessons From Previous YearsIt is a mistake to think of the 4th year as ‘just another yearof my degree’. It is very different in one important respect.

THE WORK IS FAR MORE SELF DRIVEN !

All of you will be doing some kind of project, the vast majority of you will do the two semester PHY480. For many of you it will be a good experience that will teach

you lots of in-depth physics

HOWEVER, for some students there is a temptation to leave the project work till the last minute Do. not do this!

Remember the project counts for 1/3 of your final yeargrade. (13% of your degree.) Give it the time it deserves

throughout the year. In borderline degree classification cases, the project mark is looked at very carefully, and the external

examiner will ask to see your report.

Planning your time

• Project reports are due Friday of week 12

• Several courses have assessment deadlines near the end of semester (eg essays).

• Late submissions are penalized

• Therefore: you need to plan your time carefully so that you meet all deadlines on time.

Overall assessment traps

• There is NO third class M.Phys. If you fail to get a 2.2 MPhys. degree, you will likely be awarded a B.Sc. and have wasted year 4.

• You MUST pass a minimum of 90 credits at level 4 to get a masters degree, and have an average above 50%.

• The pass mark for level 4 modules is 50%, not 40%

Y3-4 Study Facilities

• IT facilities in G floor, • D13 common room,• D17 IT suite • I19 study room, • E42 study room.

Extenuating circumstances• This includes anything which might have an adverse affect on your studies,

assessment or exams, including: illness, bereavement, mental health, family circumstances etc.

• Please read the Department's guidance on Extenuating Circumstances and the correct processes to follow to submit a request for your circumstances to be considered:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F2NXbRBaAJWDykBXOKUZ8SNdK6AIrADHtUI90YQ2oIM/edit

• LET US KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

• Contact your Personal Tutor, Year Tutor, Senior Tutor (Prof David Mowbray), or Student Support Adviser for Welfare (Lizzie Ibbotson) at F10 reception. All conversations will be treated in confidence.

• It is much harder to make allowances for problems if they go unreported until after deadlines have been missed or exams taken.

• Remember! You may need to provide supporting documentation, please read the policy for further guidance.

• If you have any questions or concerns about the process or the guidance document, please email phy-support@sheffield.ac.uk.

Employability & Careers

• There is lots of help at the University for finding your future career, particularly the careers service, traditionally under utilised by Physics students.

• Graduate school in the U.S. requires a particularly early start, standardised test scores, and money!

• A good reference from your project supervisor can be one of the most valuable outcomes of Y4.

• If you wish to apply for graduate school in the U.K., be ready to submit applications in the early part of the spring term.

• Departmental contact: Dr Mark Quinn

Projects• With exceptions for medical physicists, some chemical

physicists, ALL of you will take PHY480 - research project in Physics and Astronomy. 40 credits, two semesters.

The project is your opportunity to experienceresearch in a specialist topic. Aside from the

short duration, there is really very little differencebetween Y4 project work and the early

phase of a Ph.D. research project.

Well, there is one difference.....

Working with Partners

Many of you will be working on your project with a partner.

Remember your INDIVIDUAL contribution to the project will be assessed. So your reports,

personal knowledge and lab book should be good measuresof what YOU did towards the project you and your partner

work on.

Each member of a pair will be expected to submit THEIR OWN reports. You should

make it clear what your contribution was.

Getting started on your project• The project choice and allocation process was carried

out at the end of the third year.

• Your supervisor will be expecting you to make contact with him/her.

• Aim to set up weekly meetings with your supervisor

• Collect your lab book from F10 (see next slides)

• Work load:

Semester I: ~ 1 day / week (10 credits)

Semester II: ~ 2.5 days / week (30 credits)

Bardeen, Shockley, BrattainNobel Prize 1956

Inventors of transistorLab book of Walter Brattain 24/12/47

Lab books

Lab books• Your lab notebook is a key research tool and learning outcome of the

project.

• Lab books are useful for ALL types of project, including computation ones (now where DID I put that calibration file...etc).

• What you put in them depends on the project, but you should DATE your notes, and NOT erase or remove things that you later discover are ‘wrong’.

• Every 2 weeks or so, your supervisor should inspect and sign your lab book.

• The lab book has to be submitted with the semester II report. It will be marked by the independent assessor, not your supervisor.

• Medical physicists may have one too for their projects.

Electronic lab-books• Electronic notebooks can be used provided that they can be

printed out in a suitable form for assessment.

• There are many electronic notebook apps available. We recommend Labstep. You can download an individual copy for free. See https://www.labstep.com/product

Safety considerations• All projects involving experimental work contain elements

of risk. It is standard practice in such cases for the practitioner to compete a risk assessment and have it signed off before being allowed to start work.

• Risk assessments are compulsory for all experimental projects. You cannot start experimental work until the risk assessment has been done

• In these cases, part of the 1st semester report will be a risk assessment completed by you and signed by your supervisor.

• You might need to attend safety training courses (e.g. lasers, radiation). Discuss this with your supervisor and plan when to take the course.

PHY480 Project assessment: semester I

• Written report due Friday 12th week• Worth 10 credits (25% of overall module mark)• Assessed by supervisor + A.N. Other• Four elements

o Literature review: 40%o Progress on work so far: 30%o Project plan: 10%o Writing style and presentation: 20%

• Optional viva for practice and feedback

Semester I report: literature reviewExaminers’ guidelines: “A review of the scientific background to theproject should be given with appropriate references. The thoroughnessof the literature search and the effectiveness with which the informationwas conveyed should be assessed, together with the scientific writingstyle and appropriate presentation methods. Unrefereed sources arenot acceptable. The recommended upper limit on the number ofreferences is 20, but this is not obligatory.”

• See https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/idlt/referencing for guidance on referencing

• References should all be of refereed journal articles or text books unless explicitly allowed by your supervisor.

• Ask yourself the following questions, and try to answer them in your report:o Why are you doing this research? o What are the objectives of the project? o What scientific question are you trying to answer? o What previous work has been done on the topic?o Why would other scientists working in the field be interested in

the results?

Semester I report: Report on work so farExaminers’ guidelines: “Work conducted on the project during semester I should be reported. The new work should be clearly distinguished from work done in any previous projects. Techniques learned that are relevant to the project should be clearly and concisely presented. Any figures or graphs should be appropriately presented in a clear scientific style. Preliminary data can be included, but is not essential. If included, it should be analysed and presented correctly. Risk assessments are obligatory for all experimental projects.”

• You should summarise your early work on the project, including background skills you have gained, be it theory, computer or laboratory skills.

• You may also give preliminary results if you have them, but this is not compulsory for semester 1 – some projects are easier to get early results from than others.

• If you have done a summer project on a related subject, you must clearly explain how your PHY480 project is different.

• Risk assessments should be attached as an appendix

Semester I report: project planExaminers’ guidelines: “The project plan should be present in thereport, and should be clear, concise and realistic given the timeavailable for the remainder of the work. Each element of the planshould consist of a task, an estimate of how long it will take, and anachievement milestone that indicates the task has been completed.”• Think about the work you have to perform to complete your

project.• Identify milestones (milestone = “A significant stage or event in

the development of something”) • Break the work down into tasks and allocate a sensible amount of

time to each task. • Draw up a time plan for semester II, maybe as a Gantt chart: see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart• Note that you will have to reproduce your plan verbatim in

your semester II report and comment on how well you kept to it.

More help on lab books and literature reviews

Dr Susan Cartwright will give a presentation giving advice on lab books and literature reviews

Monday, week 2, 11 am, Hicks LT4

Collusion

Collusion is stealing the ideas and efforts of your classmates.Plagiarism is stealing the ideas and efforts of others. This

includes failing to provide proper references.

The temptation to cheat can be great, especially whenunder pressure to meet deadlines. Don’t do it. Your

reports will be processed by Turnitin and plagiarism will be identified. You will get zero if your work is

plagiarized.Do not attempt to recycle work submitted previously (eg

for a Y3 project or a summer studentship) into the Y4 project; this is known as

self plagiarism, or double submission and is defined as an offence in the University regulations just like plagiarism.

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/exams/plagiarism

PHY480 Project assessment: semester II

• Worth 30 credits (75% of overall module mark)

• Four components are assessedo Project attempt (12.5%) (awarded by

supervisor alone)o Lab book (12.5%) (awarded by assessor

alone)o Written report (50%)o Viva (25%)

The very best ofluck to all of you !

Any problems that you cannot otherwise resolve, ask me:

Mark Fox, E14, X24527