Graduation Research Project - Supervisors' Page

Research Supervisors

By the end of the first semester, students – or pairs of students who work on one project – will be assigned research supervisors. Supervisors are faculty members of the ELT department. Assignment of supervisors is a topic-based process in which instructors choose titles among students’ proposed topics based on their specialty and research interest. Afterwards, supervisors engage in supervision sessions with students on a regular basis until the completion of projects. Throughout these in-person sessions, supervisors ensure that students are clear about expectations, requirements and, most importantly, the quality of the produced work.

Student Requirements in Semester One

Prior to working with assigned supervisors, students, whether working on a topic alone or with another peer, need to ensure that they meet the following prerequisites:

They have chosen a specific topic that is Researchable (Narrow, Interesting, and Significant)
They have formed clear and academically-significant research questions about their topics
They have explained why their research papers will be of interest within the ELT readership.
They have put forth a tentative outline indicating the main headings and subheadings.
They have a list of annotated bibliography that includes at least 3 reliable scholarly resources
Importantly, they have produced a preliminary literature review paper of no less than 5 pages (excluding any titles or references) on their selected topics.

The Supervisory Process

To achieve the highest levels of academic standard and its educational objectives, supervisors from the ELT department spend time with students to discuss their research projects and ensure meaningful progress. Supervision sessions need to take place on a weekly basis, and each session lasting around 45-60 minutes. Meetings are to be in person and all parties need to be present. Unless it is tutorial, a supervisory session must allow opportunities to both students and supervisors to discuss the research project in necessary detail. Both students and supervisors need to ensure these conditions are met for each supervision session.

Supervisor Requirements

The supervisors are expected to observe the following requirements in relation to their students’ research projects:

Working with students to develop a research plan with clear expectations and a program of action across a 4 month timeline
Explaining the nature of academic research and standards
Assisting students to make any modifications to their research topics, research questions and research focus
Reviewing students’ research outlines and suggest necessary changes
Assisting students to locate resources and relevant literature
Helping students with assessing credibility of sources
Familiarizing students with the broader research topic and the standards of the discipline that the student is researching about
Provide necessary tutorials with students on areas of weakness such research methodology, data collection, data analysis, etc.
Ensuring that students avoid plagiarism and the work is of their own production
Giving advice on how the students produce their research including evaluation of summarized, quoted, and paraphrased texts
Supporting students with how to cite and reference sources based on the APA style
Being available for advice or support when needed
Providing feedback on students’ work including evaluation of quality
Raising issues with repeated attempts from students to plagiarize; notifying the head of the ELT department about attempts from students to submit work that is not of their own, or if suspensions arise in regard to cheating attempts including if the submitted work appeared to be written by others
Preparing students for the viva including the final presentation
Offering a mock viva if necessary
Ensuring that students submit a final draft at least one week before submission for review
Reading the student’s final draft and giving any necessary feedback

The Viva

Upon the submission of their research papers, students will undergo a viva to present and defend their research. Schedules will be announced from the ELT department indicating each paper’s viva dates. The defence committee will consist of at least two members from the ELT faculty and external examiners might be invited. Supervisors of the research papers might attend the viva; however, they do not have the chance to intervene in the viva (i.e. they stay quiet throughout the viva), nor they make any decisions on the outcome of the viva.

The student(s) will need to prepare and present their research topic and findings in an academic presentation to be between 10-15 minutes, followed by questions from the defense panel. The panel ensures that the produced work is the result of the effort invested by the student, not anyone else. 100% of the total mark will be decided by the examiners divided into two allocations: 50% on the quality of the research papers, and 50% on the quality of the presentations and the student’s ability to defend his/her work.

See templates in the next pages

Templates (downaloadebale)

Click here to see the template of a Cover Page

Supervisor’s Approval for Submission and Authorization

Viva Committee Final Project Certification

Supervision From (to be printed out and filled on weekly basis sessions)

The content of each research paper

The content of each research paper