VETS6113: Semester 1, 2026

Units VETS6113 Semester 1 2026 [Normal day]

Unit outline_

VETS6113: Research and Enquiry 1

Semester 1, 2026 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

This unit will equip students with the competencies to become evidence-based practitioners. It will enable them to develop skills to formulate clinical and research questions and collate, evaluate, and synthesise evidence to answer them. Students will develop skills in the design and conduct clinical trials and observational studies to answer animal health and production questions. They will also learn how to analyse data from such studies, interpret the results, and present the findings in scientific publications. After completing the unit, students will be able to interpret and evaluate diagnostic test results and review published industry reports and journal articles to make informed and evidence-based decisions for their clients. In addition, they will become familiar with a framework for animal ethics in research and cultural competence for conducting animal health and welfare research. Risk assessments are regularly conducted for units that require the completion of compulsory learning activities that may expose students to zoonotic diseases. These assessments aim to identify appropriate risk mitigation controls, such as vaccination against vaccine- preventable zoonoses. Vaccination against Q fever (Coxiella burnetii) is an inherent requirement for students enrolling in this unit of study. Students must be vaccinated against Q fever before commencing the unit or no later than week two of the enrolled teaching session. Q fever vaccination is only available in Australia with the vaccination process taking three weeks to complete. Students must also submit a Q fever Vaccination Declaration upon enrolment. Students who fail to receive vaccination by the specified deadline and/or submit a Q fever Vaccination Declaration are precluded from practical learning activities and will not be able to satisfactorily complete relevant units of study and/or progress in their course more generally. Please refer to the University’s website https://www.sydney.edu.au/students/q-fever-vaccinations.html for more information on student vaccinations.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	School of Veterinary Science Academic Operations
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	No

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Charles Caraguel, charles.caraguel@sydney.edu.au

Assessment

The census date for this unit availability is 31 March 2026

Details
Criteria

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length	Use of AI
Written exam	Final Examination Short answer type questions	50%	Formal exam period	2 hours	AI prohibited
Outcomes assessed:
In-class quiz	In-class Quiz Canvas Quiz	10%	Multiple weeks	10 min each	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
Written work	Study design and evaluation Written report	40%	Week 08 Due date: 20 Apr 2026 at 23:59	2000 words	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
= hurdle task ?

Assessment summary

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

A pass grade (≥ 50%) for the final exam MUST be achieved and an overall ≥ 50% grade is required to receive a pass grade for this unit.

Final exam: If a second replacement exam is required, this exam may be delivered via an alternative assessment method, such as a viva voce (oral exam). The alternative assessment will meet the same learning outcomes as the original exam. The format of the alternative assessment will be determined by the unit coordinator.

All assessments are compulsory and must be submitted by 11:59 PM Australian Eastern Time, unless an approved special consideration application or an academic plan with an adjusted submission date has been granted.

Attendance and class requirements

DVM students are expected to be present for all scheduled classes and activities to achieve learning outcomes. This includes arriving on time and staying for the duration of each class. Students who fail to attend a minimum of 80% of classes (not including lectures) may not be eligible for reassessment.

The Sydney School of Veterinary Science has established attendance guidelines to ensure compliance with accreditation requirements.

The DVM Attendance Provision 2024 is available on the University of Sydney policy register.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2021 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

You can use generative AI tools for open assessments. Restrictions on AI use apply to secure, supervised assessments used to confirm if students have met specific learning outcomes.

Refer to the assessment table above to see if AI is allowed, for assessments in this unit and check Canvas for full instructions on assessment tasks and AI use.

If you use AI, you must always acknowledge it. Misusing AI may lead to a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy.

Visit the Current Students website for more information on AI in assessments, including details on how to acknowledge its use.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The University expects students to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

Our website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. This includes advice on how to avoid common breaches of academic integrity. Ensure that you have completed the Academic Honesty Education Module (AHEM) which is mandatory for all commencing coursework students

Penalties for serious breaches can significantly impact your studies and your career after graduation. It is important that you speak with your unit coordinator if you need help with completing assessments.

Visit the Current Students website for more information on AI in assessments, including details on how to acknowledge its use.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy reflects the University’s commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	What is EBVM?	Lecture (1 hr)
	Clinical decision process (background vs foreground knowledge)	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Who, what, when, where? An introduction to epidemiology	Lecture (1 hr)
	Prevalence and incidence calculations	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 02	Structuring a foreground clinical question	Lecture (1 hr)
	Asking an answerable clinical question	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Descriptive studies	Lecture (1 hr)
	APCOVE modules	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 03	Sourcing veterinary literature	Lecture (1 hr)
	Searching the scientific literature & managing search results	Tutorial (2 hr)
	What is ‘inferring causation’?	Lecture (1 hr)
	Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs)	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 04	Outputs of aetiology studies	Lecture (1 hr)
	Translating the findings of an aetiology study	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Experimental analytic studies	Lecture (1 hr)
	Appraise an RCT	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 05	Outputs of treatment studies	Lecture (1 hr)
	Translating the findings of a treatment study	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Observational analytic studies Part 1	Lecture (1 hr)
	Appraise a cohort study	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 06	Outputs of prognosis studies	Lecture (1 hr)
	Translating the findings of a prognostic study	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Observational analytic studies Part 2	Lecture (1 hr)
	Appraise a case-control or cross-sectional study	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 07	Outputs of diagnosis studies	Lecture (1 hr)
	Translating the findings of a diagnostic study	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Recognising the design of a study	Lecture (1 hr)
	Study design challenge	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 08	Reasoning scientifically	Lecture (1 hr)
	Interpreting a primary scientific study	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Unethical research and how not to do it!	Lecture (1 hr)
	Ethical appraisal of historical case studies	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 09	Sourcing health data	Lecture (1 hr)
	Handling and formatting health data	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Working with animal subjects in research	Lecture (1 hr)
	Common ground between animal rights proponents and animal use proponents	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 10	Exploring and describing health data	Lecture (1 hr)
	Describing a dataset	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Working with human subjects in research	Lecture (1 hr)
	Which ethics approval do you need - animal, human or both?	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 11	Quantifying imprecision when measuring a binary health outcome	Lecture (1 hr)
	Analysing and interpreting binary outcomes comparison	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Toolkit of cultural competence for community-based veterinary research	Lecture (1 hr)
	Impact of the cultural significance/human-animal bond on veterinary research planning and implementation	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 12	Designing animal research proposals focusing on mapping and designing culturally competent engagement strategies for stakeholders	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Quantifying imprecision when measuring a continuous health outcome	Lecture (1 hr)
	Analysing and interpreting coutinuous outcomes comparison	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Mapping and engagement strategies with stakeholders in veterinary research	Lecture (1 hr)
	Designing animal research proposals focusing on mapping and designing culturally competent engagement strategies for stakeholders	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 13	Quantifying imprecision when measuring other scale health outcomes	Lecture (1 hr)
	Interpreting discrete and time-to-event health outcomes comparison	Tutorial (2 hr)
	Practice Exam discussion	Tutorial (1 hr)
	Review session	Tutorial (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

The Sydney School of Veterinary Science has established attendance guidelines to ensure compliance with accreditation requirements.

The DVM Attendance Provision 2024 is available on the University of Sydney policy register.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Detailed information on any required readings may be found on Canvas.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Comprehensively retrieve scientific evidence relevant to a veterinary knowledge gap.
LO2. Evaluate the suitability of a primary study design according to its aim and to current ethical, cultural, and statistical standards.
LO3. Interpret the validity and uncertainty of primary study outputs and their potential value.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Australasian Veterinary Boards Council (D1Cs) -

Competency code	Taught, Practiced or Assessed	Competency standard
16		Assess and advise, at individual and population levels, on clinical and production factors such as the physical condition, welfare, nutritional status, performance and associated management factors of an animal/ group of animals.
17		Apply principles of population medicine and epidemiological skills to investigate veterinary problems.
28		Work effectively as a member of a professional/ inter-professional team, fully recognising the contribution of each professional while promoting equity and inclusion.
30		Act professionally and ethically, compliant with legal and regulatory requirements of the relevant veterinary statutory body.
33		Engage in self-directed learning, continuing professional development and career planning, acknowledging the need for self- care in the context of maintaining competency.
39		Critically review and evaluate evidence from traditional and digital resources, aligned to evidence-based veterinary practice.
40		Contribute as appropriate to the advancement and dissemination of veterinary knowledge to improve the quality of animal care and public health.
5		Select appropriate diagnostic tests and techniques, including diagnostic imaging. Safely apply diagnostic techniques and safely collect, preserve and transport samples as applicable. Interpret results of diagnostics, accounting for their limitations.
8		Utilise traditional and digital technologies and information sources to inform patient care and manage health data.

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

According to the 75% of the students responding (89/119) to the 2025 Unit of Study Survey, the first delivery of this newly designed unit was overall well received by the students with a mean rating of 4.23/5 with agreement fraction (proportion of respondents that selected agree or strongly agree) of 85% (USS questions 1 to 6). In summary, the students appreciated the organisation and engaging delivery as well as the clear and transparent assessment expectations. Based on student feedback further refinements to the content and tutorial are considered. We are looking to optimise and further refine timetabling.

Additional information

Work, health and safety

Risk assessments are regularly conducted for units that require the completion of compulsory learning activities that may expose students to zoonotic diseases. These assessments aim to identify appropriate risk mitigation controls, such as vaccination against vaccine- preventable zoonoses.

Vaccination against Q fever (Coxiella burnetii) is an inherent requirement for students enrolling in this unit of study. Students must be vaccinated against Q fever before commencing the unit or no later than the first day of the enrolled teaching session. Q fever vaccination is only available in Australia with the vaccination process taking three weeks to complete.

Students must also submit a Q fever Vaccination Declaration upon enrolment.

Students who fail to receive vaccination by the specified deadline and/or submit a Q fever Vaccination Declaration are precluded from practical learning activities and will not be able to satisfactorily complete relevant units of study and/or progress in their course more generally.

Please refer to the University’s website here for more information on student vaccinations.

Disclaimer

Important: the University of Sydney regularly reviews units of study and reserves the right to change the units of study available annually. To stay up to date on available study options, including unit of study details and availability, refer to the relevant handbook.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Work, health and safety

Disclaimer

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