GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

All information related to the submission of the Final Dissertation report is included in Annex IV of the Final Dissertation regulations (Degree in Biology).

The assessment of the Final Dissertation is the responsability of the evaluation committee. After the Final Dissertation has been submitted and presented, the evaluation committee will assess the student's work, always taking into account the previous evaluation done by the supervisor/s. The evaluation committee's assessment criteria will be published before the Final Dissertation report is presented.
The grade of the Final Dissertation will be the arithmetic mean of the marks given by each member of the evaluation committee.

Students whose grade in the Final Dissertation is 9 or above are elegible for a distinction (Matrícula de Honra), always depending on the evaluation committee's criteria.

Students who fail their Final Dissertation will receive a document produced by the evaluation committee with its recommendations for the improvement of the report. A copy of said document will also be submitted to the supervisor/s of the work.

Students can appeal their Final Dissertation grades following the process described in the UDC assessment regulations (article 31, Normativa de Avaliación, Revisión
e Reclamación das Cualificacións dos Estudos de Grao e Mestrado Universitario).

Enrollment allows the student to submit and present their Final Dissertation report in the two opportunities included in each term, always according to the UDC regulations. Students who fail to pass their Final Dissertation (or absent themselves) in the two opportunities included in each term will have to re-enroll. They will not need to choose a different topic for their Final Dissertation, as long as there is agreement between the student and the supervisor/s and the student requests it.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FINAL (WRITTEN) REPORT

The final report of the Final Dissertation must be signed by the supervisor or supervisors. It is important to consider, though, that this will never be a substitute for the official authorisation of the defense signed in the "secretaría virtual" by the supervisor/s.

The final report must include, at least, a summary with key words, an introduction to the topic, a section or chapter setting out the aims of the project, a section describing the materials, methods and experimental procedures (if any), a description of the obtained results, a discussion or critical analysis of the results, the conclusions of the project (if any) and the bibliographic references used. In addition to all this, at least the summary and the conclusions should be written in english (as well as in galician and/or spanish).

-The format of the report will also be evaluated, and it must conform to the following basic requirements:

1. Maximum 25 pages, not including the cover, the supervisor signature page, the summary and the index.

2. Margins not below 2 cm (top, bottom, left and right)

3. Body text: Arial (or equivalent), 12 points / Captions and headings in figures and tables: not less than 10 points

4. Single to 1,5 lines spacing

5. Annexes (graphics/tables/extra figures) may be added if necessary

-The supervisor or supervisors will decide whether they want to use

plagiarism detection software

or not, although the use of turnitin is strongly recommended. The reports not analysed using turnitin can be presented, although they will not be included in the institutional repository of the University of A Coruña (RUC)

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ORAL PRESENTATION

1.
The student will present the aims, methodology, contents and conclusions (if any) of their project in a maximum time of 15 minutes (10 minutes is strongly recommended). The evaluation committee will inform the student of the available time at the beginning of the defence.

2. After the project is presented by the student, they will discuss their results with the evaluation committee. Members of the committee will make all the comments and questions they consider relevant. A maximum time of 5 minutes per member of the committee is strongly recommended. The discussion of the Final Dissertation should not last for more than 20 minutes.

Learning outcomes	Study programme competences
By completing his/her final dissertation, the student will acquire all the basic and general competencies of the degree (type B), as well as some specific competencies (type A), depending on the characteristics of the project. Institutional (or transversal, type C) competencies are also considered in this final dissertation, although the nature of the project will determine which ones and to what degree.		B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13	C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8

Topic	Sub-topic
Final dissertation (project) topic	A list of the available projects for the year will be published by the end of the second semester of the previous term. The number of projects will depend on the number of enroled students and available teachers. The topics of the projects will be in line with the learning outcomes of the degree in Biology, as well as with its competences and skills.

Methodologies / tests	Competencies	Ordinary class hours	Student’s personal work hours	Total hours
Introductory activities	B6 C1 C3 C6	1	0	1
Research (Research project)	B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B8 B9 B10 B12 B13 C1 C2 C4 C5 C7	39	39	78
Critical bibliographical	B1 B3 B6 B8 B10 B13 C1 C2 C3 C6	1	15	16
Summary	B1 B2 B3 B4 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B12 B13 C1 C2 C8	0	40	40
Oral presentation	B3 B6 B7 B8 B10 B11 B12 B13 C1 C2 C3 C4	1	8	9

Personalized attention		6	0	6

(*)The information in the planning table is for guidance only and does not take into account the heterogeneity of the students.

Methodologies	Description
Introductory activities	Initial activities of the final dissertation. The student will be introduced to the structure and topic of their project. They will be given specific instructions on methodology and information sources.
Research (Research project)	The student will identify and analyse the research question or problem on which the project is based. They will have to establish the right procedures to solve the questions/problems, as well as analyse the obtained results and draw the right conclusions. The precise methods applied by the student will largely depend on the type of final dissertation the student is writing, within the several possibilities contemplated for the Biology Degree under the regulations of the Faculty of Science.
Critical bibliographical	The student will obtain and critically use the most relevant bibliographic information for the topic of their final dissertation.
Summary	The student will summarize the main results and conclusions of their project in a report written following the regulations established by the University of A Coruña and the Faculty of Sciences (see step 7, assessment, in this teaching guide). These regulations are available in http://ciencias.udc.es/organizacion-docente
Oral presentation	The defense of the final dissertation will be open to the public. The student will present their results during a maximum period of 15 minutes (the recommended duration of the defense is 10 minutes), followed by a discussion with the members of the evaluation committee.

Methodologies	Competencies	Description	Qualification
Oral presentation	B3 B6 B7 B8 B10 B11 B12 B13 C1 C2 C3 C4	In theis assessment, the members of the evaluation committee will consider the quality of the written report and the oral presentation, as well as different competencies included in the final dissertation rubric.	70
Summary	B1 B2 B3 B4 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B12 B13 C1 C2 C8	The supervisor or supervisors will assess the quality and contents of the written report, as well as the different competencies included in the final dissertation rubric.	30

Assessment comments
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS All information related to the submission of the Final Dissertation report is included in Annex IV of the Final Dissertation regulations (Degree in Biology). The assessment of the Final Dissertation is the responsability of the evaluation committee. After the Final Dissertation has been submitted and presented, the evaluation committee will assess the student's work, always taking into account the previous evaluation done by the supervisor/s. The evaluation committee's assessment criteria will be published before the Final Dissertation report is presented. The grade of the Final Dissertation will be the arithmetic mean of the marks given by each member of the evaluation committee. Students whose grade in the Final Dissertation is 9 or above are elegible for a distinction (Matrícula de Honra), always depending on the evaluation committee's criteria. Students who fail their Final Dissertation will receive a document produced by the evaluation committee with its recommendations for the improvement of the report. A copy of said document will also be submitted to the supervisor/s of the work. Students can appeal their Final Dissertation grades following the process described in the UDC assessment regulations (article 31, Normativa de Avaliación, Revisión e Reclamación das Cualificacións dos Estudos de Grao e Mestrado Universitario). Enrollment allows the student to submit and present their Final Dissertation report in the two opportunities included in each term, always according to the UDC regulations. Students who fail to pass their Final Dissertation (or absent themselves) in the two opportunities included in each term will have to re-enroll. They will not need to choose a different topic for their Final Dissertation, as long as there is agreement between the student and the supervisor/s and the student requests it. FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FINAL (WRITTEN) REPORT The final report of the Final Dissertation must be signed by the supervisor or supervisors. It is important to consider, though, that this will never be a substitute for the official authorisation of the defense signed in the "secretaría virtual" by the supervisor/s. The final report must include, at least, a summary with key words, an introduction to the topic, a section or chapter setting out the aims of the project, a section describing the materials, methods and experimental procedures (if any), a description of the obtained results, a discussion or critical analysis of the results, the conclusions of the project (if any) and the bibliographic references used. In addition to all this, at least the summary and the conclusions should be written in english (as well as in galician and/or spanish). -The format of the report will also be evaluated, and it must conform to the following basic requirements: 1. Maximum 25 pages, not including the cover, the supervisor signature page, the summary and the index. 2. Margins not below 2 cm (top, bottom, left and right) 3. Body text: Arial (or equivalent), 12 points / Captions and headings in figures and tables: not less than 10 points 4. Single to 1,5 lines spacing 5. Annexes (graphics/tables/extra figures) may be added if necessary -The supervisor or supervisors will decide whether they want to use plagiarism detection software or not, although the use of turnitin is strongly recommended. The reports not analysed using turnitin can be presented, although they will not be included in the institutional repository of the University of A Coruña (RUC) REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ORAL PRESENTATION 1. The student will present the aims, methodology, contents and conclusions (if any) of their project in a maximum time of 15 minutes (10 minutes is strongly recommended). The evaluation committee will inform the student of the available time at the beginning of the defence. 2. After the project is presented by the student, they will discuss their results with the evaluation committee. Members of the committee will make all the comments and questions they consider relevant. A maximum time of 5 minutes per member of the committee is strongly recommended. The discussion of the Final Dissertation should not last for more than 20 minutes.

Basic
	The supervisor or supervisors will introduce the student to the most relevant and suitable bibliographic sources for the Final Dissertation project.
Complementary

Other comments
The student needs to pass courses representing 234 ECTS credits before being able to defend their final dissertation.