Type: Literature Review
Learning Objectives Assessed: 1, 2, 4
Due Date: 23/8/2024
Weight: 30%
1500±500 words (not including references, subtitles etc).
Task Description:
One of the main skills required to conduct research is the critique of current and past literature within the context of the topic and discipline area that you are working in.
This requires the ability to read, comprehend, analyse and place in context refereed and non-refereed material in the literature of your field of expertise.
The purpose of this assessment exercise is to develop your critical assessment skills within biogeography.
You are to select a peer-reviewed paper, which is directly relevant to biogeography. To do this you should go to a database of peer reviewed literature such as “Scopus” or “Web of Science” which you can find on the Library website.
Alternatively you may look for a paper in a journal that is relevant to this course for example “The Holocene” or “Journal of Quaternary Science” for example. You can check with course staff to see if the paper is appropriate.
Your response must include:
- Your interpretation of the aim of paper and your judgement of if the aim is adequately explained;
- A summary of the methodology used;
- A critical assessment of the methodology used. This could include: do the techniques used adequately address the aim of the paper, were there other techniques that would have been preferable or complimentary, were the number of analyses or dating appropriate etc;
- An assessment of if the paper has cited the most appropriate literature to the topic.
- Your assessment of how well the methods and data support the results and conclusions of the paper;
- An indication of how the paper could have been improved, in relation to the methods or content of the paper.
Remember that these papers have all be through peer review by other scientists, However, that does not necessarily make them perfect. Your analysis should be objective and critical and refer to studies that support your arguments wherever possible. When referring to studies (including the one that you review) in-text, refer to them by the first authors’ family name and the year it was published. i.e. “the aim of Krull et al., 2004 was to …”.