RESP5001: INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICE ASSIGNMENT 3R

Java Python RESP5001: INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL

PRACTICE

CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

ASSIGNMENT 3 BRIEF

This assignment will present a critical review of the literature on a research question devised by you within the broad topic areas provided below and will be a question of interest to you as an environmental scientist.

The review will demonstrate an ability to identify and develop a research question (as an environmental manager/scientist would); to analyse, critically evaluate and integrate relevant information; and to present the results of this investigation in a well-written and logical report. In planning your critical review, take into consideration the criteria we noted when discussing what editors expect of an excellent review for journal publication. This assignment is relevant to Aims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. The review is worth 50% of the marks for the unit and is due in Week 9.

Topic: Create a research question within one of the following two general topic areas:

(1) soil erosion and ecotourism

(2) water security and mining

Note: Your research question must include both components of Topic (1) or Topic (2).

The review will be presented in two parts:

1. Demonstration of the preliminary work undertaken in devising your research topic and report

2. Writing of a 2,000 word report

Demonstration of the preliminary work undertaken in devising your research topic and report

In order to demonstrate your understanding of the research topic and your ownership of the ideas that you will present, you are required to submit the following:

• A mind-map of your chosen topic clearly showing how this has helped in generating your research question (you will work on this in your Week 5 tutorial)

• Any prompts that you used in any AI tools that helped you develop your report (see Use of AI Tools section below)

Writing of a 2,000 word report

The 2,000 word report should commence with an Abstract. The report’s Introduction will include a brief statement and/or diagram indicating the interdisciplinary nature of the review (that is, how the review integrates or draws on different aspects or component disciplines within environmental science). The Introduction will also act as a Background paragraph which not only points to the integrative nature of your research question but also situates this question within its broader context in the research literature. The following section headings following the Introduction will be determined largely by the nature of your question and the way in which you address it. You should also include a Future research section or paragraph which will identify aspects of the research question that have not been addressed in the literature or which you consider require further investigation. The final heading should be titled Conclusion. You do not need to add a Methodology section. As part of your review, you will also use at least four references from the years 2022-2024.

The format of the review will follow instructions to authors provided by the Journal of Environmental Management. Detailed Instructions to Authors for this journal can be found at: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622871/authorinstructions

Take note of Article structure, Abstract, Key words, Tables, and especially References (other information is not relevant to your review). These instructions should be followed when writing your critical literature review.

The review may include figures (i.e. graphs, diagrams, maps, RESP5001: INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICE ASSIGNMENT 3R and images) and will refer to a minimum of 15 articles/books, excluding web material. The reference list, tables, figures and Appendix (if used) do not count towards the word limit.

Note: Journals usually require authors to submit separate files for all figures and tables, which means that these files appear together at the end of a submitted paper. For the purpose of your 2000-word submission, tables/figures etc. should appear in the relevant positions within the text (as they would in a published paper or technical/consultancy report).

IMPORTANT GENERAL NOTE ON THE CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

The interdisciplinary requirement for the review does not involve just providing a summary of information you have collected previously in different courses – attention must be directed specifically towards the research question that you are addressing, and in particular, it is not permissible to ‘re-cycle’ part or all of previous assignment work into a review-style. format. Reference/database searches, the research question, and the evaluation and integration of information collected, must relate only to this review assignment. If you are in doubt about this requirement for ‘uniqueness’ (which relates to all work assessed at the University of Sydney, not just this review assignment – i.e. you are not permitted to submit the same work for assessment in two different units unless specifically requested to do so), discuss it with me but also make sure that you read and follow guidelines relating to Academic Honesty.

USE OF AI TOOLS

You are permitted to use generative AI to help you with this assignment - this use must be acknowledged. For example:

- You may use AI tools to brainstorm ideas for completing your assignment.

- You may use AI tools to help you draft an outline of your report.

- You may use AI tools to directly suggest readability improvements to your text but only in terms of grammar and expression.

- You may use AI tools to find and summarise research articles. You then need to incorporate the scholarship yourself into your submission.

Use of generative artificial intelligence must be appropriately acknowledged. You can do this by inserting a note at the end of your submission where you need to describe the AI tool(s) that you used, what you used it to do, what prompt(s) you provided, and how the output of the artificial intelligence was used or adapted by you. This additional description does not add to your word count.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR ASSIGNMENT 3

• The research question has been devised by you

• The research question has not been addressed in existing literature reviews or in other units studied

• The question poses an important issue and is of appropriate scope

• Sufficient literature is reviewed to provide a clear basis for investigation of the question

• Literature referenced is relevant and important for the research question

• Critical evaluation of peer-reviewed and cited literature is presented

• Any methodology proposed for future investigation is appropriate for the question

• Well-structured, logical presentation supported by evidence from the literature

• Inclusion of both analysis and synthesis of relevant literature

• At least four references from the years 2022-2024

• As per university policy, you may use AI tools to help you in your research but the review you submit cannot be generated from an AI tool.

In summary – quality of question; quality of literature search; quality of logic and writing; quality of evaluation and integration of relevant literature