Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

This course is a compulsory requirement for Year 1 and Year 2.

The ANU Doctor of Medicine and Surgery (MChD) program draws on the research strengths of the ANU and other ACT and Commonwealth organisations by requiring all medical students to conduct a research project during years 1 and 2 of their 4 year degree.

The projects provide students with the opportunity to join world-class research teams and to build or broaden their research skills and experiences.

The aims of the Research Projects are to:

 1. Teach students to identify research questions, and design and implement a research plan

 2. Foster critical analysis of the literature and, where appropriate, teach students how to explore,  analyse and summarise research data sets

 3. Teach students to synthesise their ideas and present coherent arguments

 4. Encourage students to develop publication style writing skills

 5. Promote career development through original research

Other Information

Only students offered a place in the ANU Medical School are eligible to enrol.

Indicative Assessment

The research paper, report or grant proposal is the sole assessment of the Research Project.  Assessment will be by the primary research supervisor and an independent examiner, against published assessment criteria.

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

Each student is required to:

1.   Undertake a research project of at least 80 hours in duration of relevance to health or medicine.  The research must seek to answer a research question.

2.   Submit a research paper, report or grant proposal of, at maximum, 4000 words (excluding data and references) and written in one of the following styles:

a.   As set out by a scholarly journal in the discipline

b.   Government report

c.    Cochrane review

d.   Systematic review

e.   NHMRC grant proposal

3.   Maintain a workbook that details the day-to-day progress of the program of study. For a laboratory-based program a laboratory notebook must be kept; for a non-laboratory based project the workbook will essentially be a diary recording what the student did each time they worked on their project. The workbook will be taken as evidence that the student has fulfilled the 80 hours of research time and will be handed to the supervisor for review at the same time as the completed research paper.

4.   Maintain a full reading record in an electronic database. This will form the basis of the bibliography or reference list of the research paper.

Prescribed Texts

Please refer to http://medicalschool.anu.edu.au/students/.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links