University College London
BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING

MSc/Graduate Diploma/Diploma Town & Country Planning

INDIVIDUAL PROFESSIONAL PROJECT	ENVSGO16 (20 Credits)
Co-ordinator: Dr Susan Batty	Terms One and Two 2001/2002

1.	GENERAL DESCRIPTION
As part of the course requirements for the MSc/Diploma in Town & Country Planning, students have to prepare an Individual Professional Project (extended essay) of 8,000 words maximum (excluding the abstract, illustrations, tables and appendices), on a subject approved by the Year Tutor.  Students will be allocated a personal supervisor with whom they should regularly meet to guide them in this work.  

Students are required to choose a topic of relevance to their chosen Specialism and to professional practice.  This could, for example, be an evaluation of a specific policy response, consideration of an emerging policy issue, an evaluation of planning methods and procedures, or consideration of a project outcome.  The intention is that students will draw from the breadth of knowledge imparted from across the MSc/Diploma programme to demonstrate an understanding of the broader social, economic, environmental and professional context within which planning issues and policies emerge.   They should demonstrate an ability to apply that knowledge by focusing in depth on a particular problem or issue related to their chosen Specialism.  The topic chosen should be materially different to that explored in the BSc3 Planning Project.

Note: Under certain circumstances, and by agreement with the Year Tutor, students may opt to take 20 credits worth of relevant electives instead of the Individual Professional Project.  However, this option requires that students complete the full MSc route if they wish to be accredited by the RTPI.

2.	EDUCATIONAL AIMS
Five aims underpin the Individual Professional Project:
•	To develop an understanding in-depth of the chosen area of planning practice and to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the rest of the programme to this chosen research interest.
•	To develop and make use of academic skills in identifying and defining a research topic, applying appropriate research techniques and drawing relevant practical conclusions.
•	To display  imagination and academic rigour in carrying out the agreed research programme and in presenting findings and recommendations for better practice.
•	To produce a high quality, fully referenced project supported by appropriate quantitative, qualitative and illustrative data.
•	To demonstrate an ability to reach reasoned, informed and well-supported conclusions arising from the arguments presented.

3.	TEACHING AND LEARNING METHODS
Students will be allocated an individual tutor who will work with them throughout the course of their project.  Students are responsible for arranging regular meetings with their tutor, which should be at roughly two week intervals (meetings are likely to be less frequent in Term One and more frequent in Terms Two and Three).

To maximise the value of the tuition, before each meeting students should aquatint themselves with the issues they wish to address.  Work requiring comment by tutors should be submitted at least two days prior to the meeting.   In addition to individual tuition, students are required to attend two panel reviews to formally review progress on their projects.  The panels should also provide an opportunity for students to share their approaches with their peer group.

Panel reviews	2 hours
Individual tuition	10 hours
Private reading and writing	188 hours
Total	200 hours

4.	ASSESSMENT
The Individual Professional Project will be assessed on the degree to which it meets the module aims and the research objectives established by the student.  In making judgements about the quality of projects, great weight will be attached to the quality and pertinence of the conclusions.  Much student work of this nature shows great endeavour but fails to offer well reasoned, insightful conclusions or recommendations.

The Individual Professional Project will normally contain:
•	a word count
•	an abstract of not more than 300 words
•	an introduction setting out the approach and the questions or issues to be explored
•	a conceptual/theoretical context and thorough literature review of the work already done in the particular field
•	an explanation of research design and methods
•	a presentation and analysis of the research material.  This will often be in the form of a case study
•	a generalisation of the findings leading to conclusions and recommendations
•	a bibliography

Two soft bound copies of the final Project must be submitted to the planning office on the submission date.  The Project should be presented on A4 paper with one-and-a-half spaced print on one side of the paper only.  The Project should be professionally and attractively presented with relevant illustrations included and consecutively numbered pages.

Take great care to read the statement on plagiarism in the Programme Handbook.  By submitting the Individual Planning Project, students are effectively declaring that the Project is entirely their own work.

Students may be required to attend an interview in June and it is the student's responsibility to present him or herself at the scheduled time. Attendance is compulsory.

5.	PROGRAMME
Students are required to meet two intermediate deadlines.  First, the submission of their project title and second, submission of a detailed project outline and method statement.  Although the Project is formally introduced in Term Two, it is advisable to make an early start on the Project and students should begin reading around their chosen subject as early as possible. 

Introduction 	10.00 - 11.00 Wed 9 Jan 2002
Submission of project title (to Year Tutor)	latest Friday 18 Jan 2002
Submission of outline and method statement (to project tutor)	latest 10.00 Wed 6 Feb 2002
Panel review.	10.00 - 17.00 Wed 6 Feb 2002	
Final Submission	14.00 Wed 24 April 2002

These deadlines are absolute and marks will be deducted for late submissions.  Marks may also be deducted for Projects exceeding 8,000 words and for Projects that are poorly written or presented.

The detailed project outline and method statement should be no longer than three A4 sides and should explain in clear and precise terms the research task that has been set, the issues/questions to be investigated, the boundaries drawn around the project, and the approach that will be taken.

Your work will also require a well researched and appropriate literature review. This should be well referenced in the Harvard style (see Programme Handbook for advice).

The starting point for the review should be the issues/questions that have been posed in the project outline.  This will give themes and topics to explore, each of which should be pursued as thoroughly as time will allow.  After reading the review it should be possible to get a clear idea of how well the issues explored through the project are covered in the existing literature, what the limitations and gaps are, and how the project work fits into this existing body of work.  Thus the literature review represents an assessment of the merits and deficiencies of the existing literature.  Your literature should cover relevant articles in the professional press and academic (refereed) journals, relevant government guidance and reports, books and other research reports, relevant local authority publications and so forth.  Those marking the Project will be looking to see whether the literature used is the most up to date available and whether any major gaps exist in the review.

The explanation of research methods should spell our what hypotheses or questions have been raised by the literature review, and how they will be tested.  It should also make clear the relationships between the research questions/issues , the methods proposed to test them and the kinds of empirical information and data to be collected.

It is not expected that the Individual Professional Project will include extensive gathering and analysis of primary data, for example from interviews, questionnaires, surveys, although these methods could be used in limited forms if other means are inappropriate.  It is however expected that the Project will include the gathering and analysis of secondary (published) information/data or student analysis of project/policy outcomes and that this should be critically analysed and evaluated.

It may be useful for students to establish their own detailed timetable for the work, allocating deadlines for the completion of key tasks.  In preparing this timetable it will be important to allow sufficient time for the editing process.  This always takes much longer than one thinks.  However, it is absolutely vital.  Time spent clarifying arguments, sharpening up writing style and cutting out unnecessary material is time very well spent.

6.	GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reading will focus on the chosen research topic, but should also draw from across the programme of study and particularly from the related Specialism modules and from Research Methods.

7.	RELATION TO MSc REPORT (DISSERTATION)

For those wishing to complete the MSc route, the Individual Professional Project can be used as a stepping stone to the completion of the MSc Report (Dissertation).  Although the Report should be an academically distinct piece of work and not simply an extended version of the Individual Professional Project, the Report can build on the Project through exploring in greater detail any research gaps identified by the Project.  The Report is intended to be a more focused, academic piece of original research aiming to address clear focused and fundamental research questions.  The Report will always include the gathering and analysis of primary research data.

Individual Professional Project and Dissertation: Distinguishing Features

Individual Professional Project
	
Dissertation (Report)	

Purpose	
To allow students to demonstrate the breadth of their knowledge by drawing from and bringing together in one place the range of professional skills and knowledge imparted from across the Diploma
	
To allow students to demonstrate the depth of their academic capabilities and knowledge by focusing on one particular aspect of their studies	

Emphasis
	
Professional practice based	
Academic research based	

Character	
A professional investigation drawing from the wide knowledge base and applying that knowledge to a clearly identified problem
	
An academic investigation based on original research and aiming to address clear, focused and fundamental research questions	

Focus and outputs	
Broad focus, but usually leading to site or case specific recommendations or proposals
	
Focused and specific work leading to academic findings of general significance	

Data	
Critical literature review and analysis secondary data	
Critical literature review and collection and analysis of primary and secondary data

Style	
Professional extended essay and proposals
	
Fully referenced dissertation	

Teaching methods	
Individual guided study complemented by small group tutorials and seminars
	
Individual guided study	

Word length	
8,000 words
	
10,000 words