Independent Research for Undergraduate Students

Can undergraduate students be expected to undertake independent research? What role, if any, can independent research play in undergraduate degrees? This paper attempts to answer these questions by presenting details on an undergraduate student seminar program that has been used in final year Operations Research studies at Swinburne for many years now. It also looks at a recent extension of this program which involves the students in preparing a paper on their chosen research topic. The paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the program.