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Bachelor's Degree Final Project

Code: 101037
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Geology TFE 4

Contact lecturer

Name :
Maria Mercè Corbella Cordomi
Email :
merce.corbella@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

To be able to enrol in the Final Degree Project, you need to have passed at least two-thirds of the total credits of the study plan and all the first-year subjects, according to UAB's academic regulations (Student stay rules). For the Geology Degree, you need to have passed 160 ECTS. In any case, it's very important to have passed most of the second- and third-year Geology Degree subjects to be able to carry out a complete project.

Objectives

The aim of the course is to carry out a short research project (6 ECTS), either in pairs or individually, of an experimental or theoretical nature, mainly independently, on a Geology topic. In the project, the student needs to integrate and develop learned content, skills, competencies and abilities from other courses in the degree, and demonstrate that they have reached the necessary maturity and knowledge in Geology and can communicate it.
The project must be presented as a written report and an oral presentation.
This course has a transversal and global nature, so it’s best to enrol during the year you plan to finish the degree. The project requires about 150 hours of study (if you work on it over 5 months – from September to January or from February to June – that’s about 8 hours/week, if you work over 7 months – from November to June – that’s about 5 hours/week).

Learning outcomes

  • CM33 (Demonstrate proactivity, ability to plan, and autonomy to operate in a professional or academic setting.) Demonstrate proactivity, ability to plan, and autonomy to operate in a professional or academic setting.
  • CM34 (Organise appropriate tests to solve a basic research problem posed by an experienced researcher under his/her supervision.) Organise appropriate tests to solve a basic research problem posed by an experienced researcher under his/her supervision.
  • CM35 (Develop an original research project in the field of geology considering fundamental rights and duties and democratic values.) Develop an original research project in the field of geology considering fundamental rights and duties and democratic values.
  • KM41 (Differentiate the extent of the different disciplines of geology and their interrelationships in the context of an original research work.) Differentiate the extent of the different disciplines of geology and their interrelationships in the context of an original research work.
  • KM42 (Describe the main techniques and instruments to carry out original research in the field of geology.) Describe the main techniques and instruments to carry out original research in the field of geology.
  • SM39 (Use instruments and materials typical of geological techniques for the study and analysis of problems in the earth sciences.) Use instruments and materials typical of geological techniques for the study and analysis of problems in the earth sciences.
  • SM40 (Efficiently communicate the approach, development and results of a research work in geology, using scientific dissemination tools and adapting the message to different audiences.) Efficiently communicate the approach, development and results of a research work in geology, using scientific dissemination tools and adapting the message to different audiences.
  • SM41 (Critically assess the reliability of the data obtained by their own means or from different bibliographic sources of geological information.) Critically assess the reliability of the data obtained by their own means or from different bibliographic sources of geological information.

Contents

The Final Degree Project is conceived as an independent piece of work by the student, which can be carried out in pairs or individually under the guidance of a faculty member. The project is worth 6 credits, which corresponds to about 150 hours of work by the student. The topic for the final degree project can come from proposals by both faculty and students, either before or during September. Faculty from the Geology Department, and related fields, will be asked to submit topic proposals they can supervise, expecting between 3 and 10 topics from each area of Geology.


To formally propose a topic, you will need to fill out a specific form "Proposal of topics for the Geology TFG", which the course coordination will provide to everyone via email or through the Virtual Campus, or an alternative platform, and you will need to submit/upload it signed to the platform. On this form, you will also need to specify which semester the work will be presented (February or June; there are no presentations in September). The topic proposal should include a provisional title, the area of Geology in which the work fits, a summary of the work to be done, and some of the expected results. When the student is the one proposing the topic, they will need to find a faculty member to supervise the work.


Assignment of Final Degree Project topics:

Students need to get in touch with the teaching staff to finalise the topic, according to the proposed topics and/or the area of study. Once an agreement is reached, the student will upload the Proposal form signed by both parties to the CV or designated platform, no later than October. This signed form counts as the first progress check of the project. The signed form should include the deliverable material for the tutorial (data, written work, etc) that the student needs to present as the second progress check. If the student cannot find a supervising teacher for the proposed topic, the coordination team will assign another topic from those proposed by the staff.



The supervisor of a Final Year Project (FYP):

They are responsible for monitoring an FYP from the moment the topic is agreed with the student until it is presented orally. For supervising an FYP, the supervisor’s teaching load will include the corresponding credit. They must hold at least two tutorial sessions with the student, according to the Faculty of Science FYP Guide, and agree with the student on the schedule of tasks to be completed. The supervisor will assess the progress of the work during the second check-in, or intermediate follow-up, based on the completion of the planned tasks, and towards the end, once the full draft of the written report is received (third check-in). These check-ins will be indicated on the CV or platform as Pass/Fail. Also, according to the Faculty Guide, FYPs can be co-supervised by a maximum of two people. Each supervisor should not supervise more than two projects per course if there are other members in the same field who are not supervising projects.

The supervising teacher will have to upload the assessment and final monitoring sheets to the CV or course platform according to the set schedule.


The TFG grading committees:

The committees will be made up of 2 staff members from the Geology degree, or related fields, who will assess the quality of the work done, the oral presentation and the answers to the questions asked. The grading will be based on the rubrics provided by the course coordinator.






Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Development of the research project 122 4.88 CM33, CM34, CM35, KM41, SM39, SM41
Meetings with the coordinator of the subject. 8 0.32 CM33, CM34, SM40, SM41
Preparation of the oral presentation. 5 0.2 KM42, SM40
Writing of the thesis 15 0.6 KM42, SM40
The student will carry out a personal and original research project guided by a member of the teaching staff. The project can be done in pairs or individually. The joint project must be extensive enough to comply with the course regulations. Once the research project is completed, the student will write a report and prepare an oral presentation to defend it in front of a panel of teachers. When choosing the topic and enrolling, the student must also decide whether to present the work in February or June, bearing in mind that it can only be presented once per session or academic year.
Most of the student's work will be in the form of independent work involving information gathering, conducting research, writing the paper, and preparing the oral presentation. The tutor and the student should agree on at least two meetings or tutorials during the course and decide on the pace and plan of the work to be done. Based on the progress of the work, the tutorial will assign Pass/Fail at the time of the 2nd and 3rd reviews. Students enrolled in the double degree in Environmental Sciences and Geology will need to submit a separate final project for each of the two degrees, even if it is a joint or common topic for both projects. In this case, the project will have two tutors (one from each degree) and both the written report and the oral presentation of the Geology final project must comply with the guidelines set out in this guide. The course coordinator provides information about the organisation of the course and the corresponding calendar through the course’s space on the Virtual Campus or an alternative platform.

Written report:
The report must be written in a maximum of 20 pages for individual work, or 30 pages for pair work, in the style of a scientific article and using the specific vocabulary of the field. These 20 pages must include the summaries of the work and the bibliography used. If necessary, annexes to the report may also be attached (non-essential material such as data tables, maps, glossary, etc.). It can be written in Catalan, Spanish, or English. Non-original content must be clearly referenced in the text. The work must include the following parts: 0-Cover page, with title, authorship and supervision of the work, course/date, "Department of Geology" and the UAB logo.
1-Index.
2-Summary, Resumen, Abstract (summaries in Catalan, Spanish, and English) of about 250 words. All three should fit on a single page (they should summarise the main results and their interpretation).
3-Introduction (importance and approach of the problem, prior knowledge of the topic) and objective of the work or initial hypothesis.
4-Materials and methodology (materials available, who obtained them, methods used by the students to solve the problem).
5-Results obtained (description of the acquired data, clearly distinguishing them from data from other studies or final year projects; do not interpret the data here).
6-Interpretation or discussion of the results (do not repeat data descriptions, only interpretations, evaluations, comparisons, etc.).
7-Conclusions (summary of the results and their interpretation).
8-Use and critical reflection of the AI used, if applicable (in which sections, which AI version, which prompts, etc.).
9-Bibliography (only all works cited in the text; must be standardised and presented according to usual criteria).
10-Annexes, if applicable (but important data/images should be included in the main body of the work).


Oral presentation:
The presentation of the Final Degree Project is the final oral exam of the subject, which will be held in front of a committee made up of 2 professors in an open session. Anyone attending the event should consider the importance and formality of this exam. The oral presentation of the project can be done in Catalan, Spanish, or English and will be accompanied by digital support. The project will be presented within a maximum of 10 minutes for individual projects, and 15 minutes if the project is done in pairs, after which the student will have to answer questions posed by the committee members for another 10 minutes (or 15 minutes if the project is in pairs). The questions will aim to determine whether the student has achieved the maturity and knowledge required for the Degree in Geology.

Use of artificial intelligence:
In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is allowed as part of the development of the work, as long as the final result reflects a significant contribution from the student in analysis and personal reflection. The student must clearly identify which parts have been generated using this technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final outcome of the activity. Not being transparent about the use of AI will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may result in a penalty on the activity grade, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.

Course calendar:
July-September: Collection of topics proposed by the teaching staff and by the students. There must be between 3 and 10 topics from each area.
September-October: the list of topics proposed by the teaching staff will be published.
- For students who present the TFG in February:
October: First student-tutor meeting to start the TFG (1st follow-up: submission by the student to the CV of the Topic Proposal agreement and work guidelines, signed by both parties).
December-January: 2nd follow-up: assessment of Pass/Fail by the tutoring team. Intervention by the course coordinator in case of negative follow-up by the tutor staff or negative process by the student.
January: Submission by the student of the draft written report to the tutor and 3rd follow-up: assessment of Pass/Fail by the tutoring team.
February: Submission by the student of the final written report of the project through the Virtual Campus or an alternative platform, and on paper, if deemed necessary.
Submission to the platform by the tutor of the tracking and assessment sheet of the student's work.
Oral presentation of the research work in front of the committee on the date set in the Geology Degree exam schedule. The student must submit a digital copy of the support presentation via Virtual Campus the day before the presentations.
Submission to the platform by the evaluating teacher of the evaluation sheet of the student's work and presentation.
- For students presenting the final project in June:
November: Deadline for the first student-tutor meeting to start the final project (1st follow-up: submission by the student to the CV of the agreement on the Topic Proposal and work guidelines, signed by both parties).
March: 2nd follow-up: assessment of Pass/Fail by the tutor. Intervention by the course coordinator in case of a negative follow-up by the tutor or a negative process by the student.
June: Submission by the student of the draft written report to the tutor and 3rd follow-up: assessment of Pass/Fail by the tutor.
Submission by the student of the final written report of the work through the Virtual Campus or alternative platform, and on paper if deemed necessary.
Submission by the tutor of the tracking and assessment sheet of the work on the platform.
July: Oral presentation of the research project in front of the committee on the date set in the Geology Degree exam calendar. The student must submit a digital copy of the supporting presentation via Virtual Campus or an alternative platform the day before.
Submission on the platform by the evaluating professors of the evaluation sheet for the work and the student's presentation.



Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Follow-up report by the tutor 10% 0 0 CM33, CM34, CM35, SM39
Assessment of the oral presentation and the answers made by the evaluators 35% 0 0 CM33, CM35, KM41, KM42, SM40, SM41
Assessment of written memory made by the tutor 15% 0 0 KM41, SM40, SM41
Assessment of the written memory made by the evaluators 40% 0 0 CM35, KM41, KM42, SM40, SM41

Results will be considered, but also the students’ progress during the completion of the final degree project. The tutor will assess progress through monitoring reports. The quality of the work will be partly assessed by the tutor (evaluation of the written report) and partly by the committee (evaluation of both the written report and the oral presentation). The tutor will provide an intermediate report and a final report on the students’ progress and monitoring. The tutor must have agreed with the student (and it must be written on the signed Proposal sheet) on the minimum amount of work to be done and shown to them before the intermediate monitoring date (2nd monitoring: beginning of January if submitting in February, mid-March if submitting in June). The 3rd monitoring will be evaluated once the complete draft of the written report has been received. Missing the 3rd monitoring will mean not being able to submit the project on the Faculty's assigned date.

Based on the assessment of the written reports and oral presentations, the evaluation panels will judge the content, methodology, level of difficulty, quality of the work done, and the transversal skills acquired, as well as the presentation and defence carried out. The members of the panel will grade the written work and the oral defence separately. To ensure the assessment criteria are consistent, both the supervising teacher and the commission will fill out the tracking and evaluation rubrics prepared by the subject coordination, indicating the degree of achievement for each point.

The grade percentages for each part in the final mark will be: 10% for the progress reports and 15% for the assessment of the written report by the tutor teachers; 40% the average assessment of the written report and 35% the average assessment of the presentation and response to questions by the commission members. Based on the grades given by the tutor teachers and evaluation committees, the TFG coordination will calculate the final subject grades, taking into account the diversity of the panels, and will publish them on the subject's Virtual Campus or alternative platform. In addition, it will be in charge of assigning Honours, if applicable, based on the tribunal's proposals, and closing the record.

If after the public presentation any of the parts assessed by the supervising lecturer or committees receives a poor rating (below 3 out of 10), the final grade will be a Fail, regardless of the ratings of the other parts. If the evaluation committee and the coordination team considers that the Report or the oral presentation has correctable issues, a 10-day period will be given for the student to fix the errors. The committee will issue the final grade once the corrections made by the student have been evaluated. The final grade of Fail does not allow resubmitting the work within the same academic year, and the student will have to re-enrol in the TFG the following year. Any student has the right to review the TFG grade by requesting it from the coordination. The grade will be Not Assessable if the student does not submit the written work to the tutor or the panel within the assigned period.

This subject doesn't have a single assessment system.

Bibliography

The tutor of the project will suggest a basic bibliography to the student based on the proposed topic.

The student should be able to expand this bibliography and carry out their own search independently.

Software

There is no specific software.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TFG) Treball de fi de grau 1 Catalan Undefined morning-mixed