OVERVIEW

The course will test and develop certain basic skills necessary for conducting academic research in science and engineering. The focus is on the writing, reading, and research presentation of papers and reports.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course is intended to provide the student with the necessary skills and tools to carry out and present a research topic. It presents the profession of university staff, researchers in research institutions, and in R&D departments in enterprises and how to apply for them. This course includes also the beginning of the bibliographical study and collect information part for the MSc thesis topic.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim is to help researchers write well and present their work. To this end, students will learn the key factors that determine the quality of a text or presentation.

In their future research, students will be aware of the importance of good exposition and have a method for achieving it.

The course will run concurrently with the student's thesis work. Most reading, writing and presentation techniques can be used to develop the master thesis.

The transversal competences of teaching are:

- functional literacy: reading, writing, appropriate use of language and use of sources;

- social competence: interpersonal skills, collaborative attitude, sensitivity and empathy;

- learning to learn competence: self-assessment and self-learning;

- competence in project creation: ability to design a product or process;

- competence in project management: ability to lead the organisation of a project.

PREREQUISITES

Reading and writing in English, some research experience.

TEACHING METHODS

The main teaching objective is to explain how a project is born, analysing with attention to the customer needs.  A series of practical examples is provided.

The course explains how to structure a project according to time and resource constraints.

A series of examples will introduce clear and concise technical writing.

The second part of the course focuses on visual and oral presentations of research work.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1. Clear and concise technical writing.

2. Reading and review of research paper and reports. Preparing a literature overview.

3. Writing the MSc thesis.

4. Present the thesis.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

This is marketing - Seth Godin

Shape Up - Basecamp

The Machine That Changed the World - Daniel Roos, Daniel T. Jones, and James P. Womack

Gemba Kaizen - Masaaki Imai

What every new manager needs to know - Gerard H. Gaynor

Project based enterprise - Alfredo Biffi

Empowered - Marty Cagan, Chris Jones

Inspired - Marty Cagan

Zero to One - Peter Thiel

Business Model generation - Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur

LESSONS

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

There are no written assignments.

There is no written examination.

The students are invited to discuss about some course topics during the oral examination.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral examination assesses how well the student has understood and made the method presented during the course his or her own.