6.9 Never make a choice without a reason

Students often consider that their projectwork exists in isolation, and don't bother to situate it in the wider world.

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This bundle is concerned with ensuring that students undertake an appropriate amount of background reading.

The way it works is that students are required to deliver for assessment a justification of choices taken and decisions made against external material. They are required to evidence background reading in their project deliverables.

The most common occurrence of this is through the use of a literature survey in a Research-type project [see 1.5]. However, it can have different qualities. For instance a discussion of the merits of different notations, and a rationale for any choices made, may form a (required) part of the design documentation. This can also be a requirement if a structured analysis and design method is used, for example within the Selection of Technical Options stage in Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM).

It works better if there is a shared understanding (between staff and between staff and students) that no work exists in isolation. This can be successfully addressed in other teaching with regard to the ethical and "professional" aspects of academic work (such as the necessity for proper attribution and the problems of plagiarism) and related to their work on a project.

It doesn't work unless the requirement to produce the evidence is acknowledged in assessment.

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So: consider assessing students' understanding of the context of their project