🗣️ Project Pitch (10%)

2024/25 Winter Term

Author

Published

31 March 2025

Assessment Overview

Your group will present a 3-5 minute pitch of your final project idea using a GitHub Pages website as visual support. The focus is on project planning and team coordination rather than data analysis.

Key Requirements:

Presentation must use the GitHub Pages website as visual aid (as created in 🗣️ Week 10)
All team members must contribute to the presentation
Focus on project planning, not data analysis
Maximum 5 minutes presentation time

Presentation Requirements

To decide on the marks, we will be checking the following during your presentation:

Content Checklist

Clear statement of curiosity-driven exploratory question(s)
Justification of data source choice
Technical implementation plan
Work distribution strategy
Backup plans or risk mitigation strategies

GitHub Page Guidelines

(mandatory) Page must be live online and accessible during presentation. No ppt, canva, slideshare, etc allowed.
Either write things in the regular docs/index.md file, use a Jekyll theme or delete that one and add a docs/index.html file with a HTML version of your website.

HTML Conversion Tip

AI tools are good at creating stylised HTML files. Just provide it with your markdown file and ask it to create a stylised professional-looking HTML version of it with a style of your choice. If doing that, add this to your prompt: “Make sure that all the CSS is inline and that the HTML is valid” to make sure it will render correctly on GitHub Pages.
Keep text minimal. Focus on visual aids.
(optional) Consider including simple diagrams or flowcharts where helpful
(good practice) Ensure all team members are listed with their roles. Add photos (or avatars) of each team member. The default GitHub avatars are so sad :

Remote Participation Note

Students who cannot attend in person must provide a pre-recorded video presentation that integrates with the live presentation. Unless you have extenuating circumstances (as defined by LSE regulations), non-attendance will result in a -20 marks deduction.

LSE Academic Regulations

The LSE General Academic Regulations for Undergraduate Students state that:

“By registering with the School a student agrees to be entered for assessment on the courses they are taking, at the time and place set by the School and by the methods prescribed in the relevant degree and programme regulations and in the School Calendar Course Guides”

The last day of the academic term still counts as a valid day of teaching. Travel plans unfortunately do not meet the extenuating circumstances condition.

This policy is in place to reward students who remain until the last day of term. Please note that a -20 marks penalty on this component represents only -2 marks on your final course grade, so while we encourage attendance, the impact is relatively small in the grand scheme of things.

Assessment Process

Groups receive a single mark (all members get the same grade)
We take a relaxed approach to grading pitches - if you include all the key elements requested, you can expect to receive around 80/100
Feedback will be provided via Moodle within 1 week
Technical issues with GitHub Pages should be reported before presentation day

Reminder: This presentation is about demonstrating your team’s ability to work together and plan effectively. While technical expertise is important, we’re more interested in seeing how you’ll collaborate and manage the project as a group.

Marking Criteria (100 marks total)

We won’t be too harsh. It’s very likely that most groups will get ‘Very Good’ on most of the criteria. The key is to show that you’ve thought through your project idea and have a feasible plan for how to execute it (even though the plan can change).

Project Planning & Research Design (40 marks)

For detailed guidance on selecting appropriate data sources, please refer to our comprehensive guide: 🔍 Choosing Your Data Source

Marks	Level	Description
35-40	Outstanding ¹	Exceptional research question(s), thoroughly justified data source choice with clear understanding of complexity. Realistic and well-structured project timeline.
30-34	Very Good	Clear research direction, well-chosen data source with good justification. Sensible project scope and timeline.
25-29	Good	Sound concept and seemingly appropriate data source but the pitch lacked depth in some areas.
20-24	Satisfactory	Viable idea and plan for a project but uninspiring or too generic. Or, the project seems like something that could have been cooked up by ChatGPT a few minutes before the presentation.
<20	Limited	Unclear research direction or inappropriate data source choice. Timeline lacks detail.

Technical Feasibility (30 marks)

The deadline is 29 May 2025, 8pm. We need to feel comfortable that the project is feasible to complete in the time available. The project is not too simplistic or too complex.

Marks	Level	Description
25-30	Outstanding ²	Demonstrates comprehensive understanding of technical requirements, API limitations, and data processing needs. Clear backup plans identified.
20-24	Very Good	Shows strong understanding of technical aspects with realistic implementation strategy.
15-19	Good	Technical approach makes sense but lacks detail in key areas or has some questionable assumptions.
<15	Limited	Technical approach is vague, unrealistic, or shows fundamental misunderstandings of the tools.

Team Coordination & Presentation (30 marks)

The key is to show that you are a coordinated team. It must be clear that you are all working together and that you have a well-defined plan for executing the project.

Marks	Level	Description
25-30	Outstanding ³	Professional GitHub Page with clear visual aids. Excellent presentation delivery with balanced team participation. Clear and realistic work distribution plan.
20-24	Very Good	Well-designed GitHub Page, good presentation flow, and evidence of team coordination.
15-19	Good	Functional GitHub Page but presentation feels disjointed or some team members seem disconnected from the project.
<15	Limited	Basic GitHub Page with minimal effort. Presentation suggests poor coordination or lack of shared understanding.

Footnotes

‘Outstanding’ means that markers in the room were so gobsmacked by the quality of your pitch that they had to leave the room to compose themselves.↩︎
‘Outstanding’ means that well, you have essentially already completed a project that meets all the criteria by the time you get up to present!↩︎
‘Outstanding’ means that class teachers think your group could essentially be a TV show.↩︎