Physics 437 guidelines

Introduction

The final year Physics Research Project courses are intended for students in the fourth year of Regular Honours Physics and Co-op Applied Physics who plan to proceed to graduate work. Students who make an average of <70% in the core subjects of third year are advised not to register in these courses.

If you intend to register for P437, you should select a project and supervisor from the list given in this site, before you leave campus at the end of your third year. You should also read through these guidelines to familiarize yourself with the requirements for the course. Further descriptions of research topics may be found in the (GWP)² brochure, copies of which may be borrowed from the undergraduate office.

Selecting a project and supervisor

After reading the descriptions of projects described in this site, you should visit those faculty members whose project area interests you. You should see at least two faculty members to discuss projects with them. These visits are for information only; no commitment on either your part or the faculty member's is implied. Please note that the projects described here are for your assistance; not all faculty members who may be willing to supervise students have submitted projects. All members of the Department of Physics (including adjunct and cross-appointed faculty) are eligible to supervise. Occasionally, faculty from other departments will agree to be supervisors, especially if a student has a particular interest in their research areas. If the supervisor is not from the Department of Physics, a co-supervisor from the department will need to be secured. The co-supervisor assumes the supervisor's duties should they be unable to do so. Selection of a project and supervisor should be done before the end of year 3 or may, for valid reasons, be deferred until the first week of the Fall term when you return for year 4. It is a good idea to do some background reading on the project during the summer, if possible. In September, if you have made a definite arrangement, you should confirm it with the faculty member concerned. Then, you should visit the Physics P437A Coordinator's office to have it formally recorded. This is done by means of the agreement form (download and print) which must be completed by you and your supervisor and handed to the Coordinator by you, normally during the first week of the term. This is very important.

The latest date for concluding final arrangements for your project and notifying the coordinator is the end of the second week of lectures. All students registered in P437A must meet the course coordinator before this date; otherwise it will be assumed that they have dropped the course and the undergraduate officers will be notified accordingly.

Work on the project

After making a definite agreement, all further arrangements, problems, etc. should be discussed with your research supervisor. Since the project is equivalent in credit to a normal lecture course, a minimum of 6 hours per week on average should be spent on it. Neglect of the project for an extended period (even with the intention of “catching up after midterms,” for example) is a serious matter. Normally, student and supervisor should meet for informal progress discussions at least once a week.

Seminar and posters

The seminar is to be a short presentation (max. of 15 min.) that introduces your topic and methods, and may already provide some early results that you have achieved. Oral presentations will be given on the Wednesday and/or Thursday of the first week of classes in January for P437A. Details about seminar sessions will be announced early so that individuals may plan accordingly. Your oral presentation will be judged by all supervisors with students in P437A.

Please note: You are encouraged to give a PowerPoint presentation. However, if you wish to use transparencies, you will be allowed about 10 of these. If you need your presentation to be photocopied on to overhead transparencies, the secretaries will gladly help you if you don’t wait until the last day.

The mode of presentation for Physics 437B, if you proceed into it, (or 437A if taken during the Winter term) will be a poster session that is typically held on Friday after the last week of classes in April. There may be some overlap with material presented for 437A, but new material based on the second term work is expected and required.

Written report

It is essential that the final report for the project course be based upon work done and results obtained after registration in the course. The final written report will be read and graded by your supervisor and by one other faculty member (normally the same person for 437A and 437B) selected by the course coordinator. The following comments are meant to serve as a guide – no attempt is made here to make them all-inclusive. Our best source for help with suggestions regarding style, format, how much material to include and in what detail, is your research supervisor. Journal articles, graduate student theses, etc. can be helpful as a guide. Your research supervisor may prefer a particular style, and this should be taken into account. Copies of previous project reports are kept in the undergraduate office. Two copies of the report should be handed in, so that they may be read in parallel by the readers, to save time. One will be returned to you, and the other placed in the department file. (Ask your supervisor if he or she would like his or her own copy).

The following general comments should be noted:

1. Research work must be completed before the end of the lecture period of the term of registration.

   For the fall term projects, at the course co-ordinator's discretion and as a special concession to allow more time for final examination review, the reports should be completed during the Christmas/New Year break and handed in during the second week of lectures in January. No such concession is possible for winter term projects, and these reports should be submitted no later than the end of the official examination period in April. Plan accordingly! Late reports will be penalized in marking. Furthermore, there is the possibility that late reports will not be graded in time for the Spring Convocation.

2. The report should be typed if at all possible; if not typed, it should be clearly and neatly written. It should be submitted in a sturdy binder with the pages fastened securely and with the title and author clearly shown on the cover.
3. The first page should list the title of the project, the author, the date of submission and a statement that it is being submitted as partial fulfilment of the requirements of Physics 437A or 437B.
4. The next page should be an abstract not normally more than half a page, concisely summarizing what is being presented in the report. The abstract will highlight any important features discovered or determined.
5. A Table of Contents, a List of Tables (if any) and a List of Figures (if any) should be included. These items 3–5 should be numbered as pages (i), (ii), (iii), etc. and item 6 should begin with regular page numbers 1, 2, 3, etc.
6. The body of the report will usually be discussed under main headings such as the following:
   1. Introduction: a brief outline of what the project is about and why it was started.
   2. Historical: a brief outline of previous work in the area before you started. These two items (1 and 2) may be combined if desired.
   3. Experimental or Theoretical Techniques: as much as needed of the actual experimental or theoretical details, especially of any new work, should be written down, so that someone else could repeat the work or continue it. (If a, b and c have been covered adequately in a 437A report, they may be considerably abbreviated in a following 437B report).
   4. Results and Discussion: with equations, tables, illustrations, etc.
   5. Concluding Remarks: including an evaluation of what was accomplished and suggestions for changes, improvements, follow-up work, etc.
7. The next page should be Acknowledgements and should acknowledge the assistance of the research supervisor and any other faculty members, graduate students and departmental members who have been especially helpful with any aspect of the project.
8. References: this page should list all previous work to which reference was made. References are best made chronologically throughout the report and listed here in that order – authors, publication and date should be shown in each case. Consult recent journals or theses for acceptable style and format.
9. The length of report will vary with the project and its details, but normally the main body of the report will range from 15–30 pages. Neatness, logical order of thought, clarity of expression are important – an overly long report is not necessarily a good one. If in doubt, get your supervisor's advice.
10. Students continuing into Physics 437B will normally be working on an extension of the 437A project or a related project. Students and supervisors should complete a second memo of agreement (page 37, inside back cover of this book) and the student should hand this to the co-ordinator during the first week of term. The written report for 437B may be similar in style to that for 437A or may be in the format of a research paper suitable for publishing in a journal appropriate for the subject matter.

Final grade

The final grade is based on your written report as well as your supervisor's assessment and the seminar or poster presentation. Each reader (your supervisor and one other faculty member selected by the course co-ordinator) will submit a final grade out of 5 to the co-ordinator. Your report grade will be the total of those submitted by the two readers. The final grade will be an aggregate of the report grade (max. 50%), the seminar or poster evaluation (max. 30%) and your supervisor's assessment of your effort and progress throughout the term (max. 20%). The co-ordinator will have no input to your final grade except in case of great disparity between the grades of the two report readers. If you put in a good solid effort and present a good write-up you may expect to receive a good grade, even if your results did not turn out exactly as you hoped. Faculty members are realistic and do not expect miracles – they do expect effort, enthusiasm and reasonable experimental/theoretical competence. Most students enjoy this project and learn much from it. In particular, it gives students an initial impression of working in a research environment and an indication of their aptitude for future graduate work in experimental or theoretical physics.