Course Coordinator:Catherine Creamer (ccreamer@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
UniSC Sunshine Coast |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
This course will build on the work you completed in your Research Methods course. Using the proposal you developed, you are required to develop a research project in a core area of counselling under the supervision of academic staff in counselling. The research question under investigation may have either theoretical or practical application of counselling significance. In this semester, you will refine your research project with your Supervisor, complete your application for ethical approval, and commence the project.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Blended learning | |||
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus training on design of research project - 3 hours | 3hrs | Week 1 | 13 times |
700 Level (Specialised)
12 units
Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
1 | Demonstrate a mastery of theoretical knowledge and reflect critically on theory and professional practice through a research project. |
Creative and critical thinker Ethical |
2 | Develop the cognitive and technical skills to ethically investigate, analyse and synthesise complex counselling information and develop interventions or research for specific needs. |
Empowered Ethical |
3 | Communicate and justify your findings with clarity through written and oral presentations. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
4 | Demonstrate academic scholarship |
Knowledgeable Ethical |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
CMN574, SCS725 or other approved Research Methods course and enrolled in Program AR708
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Timely and detailed feedback is provided for each assessment. Feedback is provided both within text and general comments to build scholarly skills. Students are able to seek feedback through face-to-face discussion with the course coordinator. Tutorials will include extended discussion and review of the assessment task requirements and scope.
Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
All | 1 | Report | Individual | 0% | 500 words |
Week 4 | In Class |
All | 2 | Written Piece | Individual | 25% | 1000 words |
Week 7 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 3 | Oral | Individual | 20% | 15 minutes |
Week 11 | In Class |
All | 4 | Literature Review (or component) | Individual | 55% | 4000 words approx. |
Week 13 | Online Submission |
All - Assessment Task 1:Analysis of a research article | |||||||||||||
Goal: | To demonstrate skill in the critical evaluation of published research. |
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Product: | Report | ||||||||||||
Format: | Students will be invited to critically evaluate a provided research publication, and complete a provided worksheet. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 2:Proposed Dissertation Introduction | |||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To develop a written introduction to your research dissertation. |
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Product: | Written Piece | ||||||||||||||||||
Format: | You are invited to prepare a 1000 word written introduction to your dissertation. The introduction should include an overview of the research topic and a clear rationale for the research questions to be addressed. The introduction should explicitly state the overall study objectives and the specific aims of the investigation. The introduction should be submitted following discussions with your supervisor |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Organisation, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 3:Oral Presentation | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | The oral presentation will provide you with an opportunity to receive additional considered feedback on your dissertation proposal. The oral presentation will demonstrate your ability to: articulate the theoretical framework, research questions and research methods selected; argue for, and defend, the proposed research. It will be presented within your research supervision group. |
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Product: | Oral | |||||||||||||||||||||
Format: | Detailed presentation criteria for this assessment are available on Canvas. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 4:Dissertation research proposal | |||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | You will produce a dissertation research proposal which will lead into your next research stage. |
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Product: | Literature Review (or component) | ||||||||||||||||||
Format: | The dissertation research proposal, including introduction, literature review, and method, should be submitted following discussions with your supervisor. The introduction should include an overview of the research topic and a clear rationale for the research questions to be addressed. The introduction should explicitly state the overall study objectives and the specific aims of the investigation. The literature review should provide a critical review of relevant literature, identify knowledge gaps, and address the relationship of the literature to the thesis aims. The method will describe the specifics of investigation design, participant recruitment, ethical approvals, procedures, and data analysis. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Please note that you need to have regular access to the resource(s) listed below. Resources may be required or recommended.
Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
Required | John McLeod | 2022 | Doing Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy | 4th | Sage Publications Limited |
Nil
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying: The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4% The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct
Late submission of assessment tasks may be penalised at the following maximum rate: - 5% (of the assessment task's identified value) per day for the first two days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - 10% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the third day - 20% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the fourth day and subsequent days up to and including seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - A result of zero is awarded for an assessment task submitted after seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. Weekdays and weekends are included in the calculation of days late. To request an extension you must contact your course coordinator to negotiate an outcome.
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