Research Paper

74342

This course will enable you to research a topic in an area relevant to your study. It aims to advance your skills in research and writing, and give you specialist, in-depth knowledge of a research topic that you have a special interest in.

Availability

Our distance learning courses are offered throughout the year to help you fit study around your work and life commitments.
Courses are offered up to 12 times per year depending on demand and availability of academic staff.
Exact start dates are in the course information pages and in our Enrolment dates page:

Enrolment dates

Cost

Course costs can be found on all course pages. The fees may increase annually.
Qualification cost – to give you an idea of how much a qualification may cost in total over the duration of your studies, an approximate cost is provided for many of our qualifications. This is based on the required number of courses to complete the qualification and the average cost of those courses. It does not include annual administration fees, text books and course materials or external exam fees, and is subject to annual course fee increases.

Credits

Courses are assigned credits depending on how much time and effort is needed to complete their learning outcomes. In general, each credit represents approximately 10 hours of study time.

Delivery method

Online – The course materials for online courses are delivered in an online format and all assignments are submitted online.
Mixed – These courses are delivered using a mix of online and paper based course materials. This may include receiving paper course materials, submitting assignments online, or being required to participate in online forums and learning activities.
Print Only - The course will be delivered using paper based courses materials, and assignments may need to be submitted in hard copy rather than online. This will depend on the course.

Whether courses are delivered online, on paper or a mixture of both, there may also be components such as workshops, noho marae, work experience and practicum to participate in. To find out what your course involves check the course information page.

EFTS

EFTS stands for equivalent full-time student. An EFTS is the study time required for each course and is used by the Tertiary Education Commission to decide if a course is part-time or full-time.

One year of full-time study is generally between 0.8 and 1.2 EFTS.

Level

You can tell how hard a course or qualification is by the level it is set at:

Levels 1-4 are about the same as secondary school and basic trades training.
Levels 5-7 are the same as university study.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites are courses that must be completed before another course can be studied.
Co-requisites are courses that can be studied at the same time as another course.

If a course has a specific prerequisite or co-requisite course, it will be listed on the course page under the title 'Prerequisites'. If no courses are listed, check the entry and other requirements under the qualification you are studying for. Some courses require you to have studied at a particular level prior to enrolling.

Student loans

Not all qualifications or students are eligible for student loans. You will need to meet criteria such as studying a minimum number of credits over a specific study period. It is up to you to apply for a student loan via StudyLink - Open Polytechnic does not do this for you.

Information about student loans and eligibility

StudyLink website

Teaching weeks

Teaching weeks is the number of weeks that we teach a course. This differs from the enrolment period, which is based on the course start and end dates.

For example, a 20-week enrolment period will have 16 teaching weeks, followed by four weeks to accommodate marking, any extensions and reassessments, or exams.

Workload

The workload estimate given on a course page is calculated like this:

Number of credits x 10, divided by the number of teaching weeks for the course. The hours will be rounded up to nearest whole number.

Please note, this is a guide only. You may need more or less time for study, and you may also need to do more hours during assessment due dates or exams times.

Level
7
Credits
20
Cost

$840 NZ Domestic

$2,611 NZ International
EFTS
0.1667
Delivery type

Online only
Teaching weeks 16 weeks
Workload Approximately 13 hours per week
Prerequisites
- 60 Credits or more at Level 6 and Above.
If you need to discuss prerequisites for this course
contact us

This course will introduce you to the experience of working with an academic supervisor. You will also develop skills in assimilating academic peer review of your work. You will develop your research proposal, undertake literature review and apply an appropriate methodology to analyse and evaluate and communicate your research findings in an essay, report, or other format agreed upon by the supervisor in conjunction with the Degree Leader. You will also critically evaluate your research experience of the research process as part of your learning.

Admission requirements

For your enrolment to be approved:

you must have successfully completed at least 60 credits at Level 6.
you also need to get your research topic approved by the Degree Leader before the course begins

Research topic approval

To get your research topic approved you need to contact the Degree Leader to discuss your proposed research topic at least one month before the course officially begins. Once your research topic is approved by the Degree Leader, they will appoint an academic supervisor from your major subject area.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with the course leader.

What you will learn

When you successfully complete this course you will be able to:

identify key issues within the area of the major subject, and formulate research questions capable of addressing those issues
select and justify appropriate and ethically sound methodologies for undertaking research
analyse and evaluate relevant literature and data
demonstrate personal reflection on and evaluation of the learning process.

You will also present research findings in an appropriate format that demonstrates:

critical thinking
logical development of argument
independent judgement
clear conclusions
mastery of referencing and bibliographic conventions appropriate to their research material.

The course encompasses:

identifying an area of interest for investigation
ethical, methodological and theoretical issues relating to research
formulating a research question and hypothesis
research planning and writing to a timeline
searching the literature for relevant materials
gathering, analysing and evaluating data
using appropriate methodologies
presenting findings, analysis and conclusions
reflecting on the research experience.

The course materials will give you instruction in research skills and methods to help guide you through the research process.

Assessment

This course is 100% internally assessed.

Textbooks

No textbooks are needed for this course.

Computer and internet requirements

To complete this course you will need access to a laptop or desktop computer, reliable broadband internet connection and a data plan able to support online learning such as streaming of videos (including YouTube), downloading content, and writing and submitting online assessments. If you are unsure if your current computer or internet access allows you to complete your online learning with us, please contact us before applying to enrol.

Learn more about our online learning and study tools.

How to enrol

Before enrolling in this course you need to:

choose the qualification you will study the course under
check the order that courses in the qualification should be studied in the Qualification Structure table. This is in the Choose courses and apply tab on the qualification page.

Work towards

You can do this course as part of these qualifications:

Certificate of Proficiency

Course Only (Certificate of Proficiency) (OP7304)

Bachelor's Degree

Graduate Diploma

Course availability over the next 12 months

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

2026

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun