ESC-40003 - Literature Synthesis
Coordinator: Stuart Egan Room: WSF29 Tel: +44 1782 7 33174
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 7
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 733615

Programme/Approved Electives for 2023/24

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this module.

Barred Combinations

Not applicable.

Description for 2023/24

Students will explore the "cutting-edge" research literature on a selected geoscience topic, critically evaluating these articles in terms of their strengths, weaknesses and significance for the discipline. This module will be based on several workshops covering computer aided literature searching, reference management and web authoring techniques, as well as independent research. By the end of the module students will have further developed their research skills, have acquired in depth knowledge of a selected geoscience topic at the forefront of the discipline, will have acquired the necessary skills to design and produce a web site to a professional standard and will have further developed their scientific communication skills.

Aims
To carry out a detailed literature survey on a specific geoscience topic and to present the results from this exercise via an oral presentation, report and a project web site.

Talis Aspire Reading List
Any reading lists will be provided by the start of the course.
http://lists.lib.keele.ac.uk/modules/esc-40003/lists

Intended Learning Outcomes

extract, collate and critically evaluate information presented in scientific papers on a specific topic using library facilities and IT techniques (e.g. accessing online literature databases).: 1,2
communicate scientific information effectively via an oral presentation and report.: 1,2,3
author a set of self-contained web pages in order to provide an overview of a geoscience topic based on a review of publications at the forefront of the discipline.: 1

Study hours

- 18 hours scheduled synchronous class activity
- 12 hours structured engagement with online resources and directed research
- 54 hours for development of web site
- 42 hours for research and completion of literature review report
- 24 hours for preparation of oral presentation

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Computer Task weighted 45%
LITERATURE SYNTHESIS WEB SITE
Carry out a detailed literature review on a specific geoscience topic and present the results from this exercise via a web site.

2: Report weighted 35%
LITERATURE SYNTHESIS REPORT
Report of 1500 - 2000 words providing a summary of literature synthesis topic. A section of the report should be devoted to describing the development of the literature synthesis web site (e.g. description of web authoring tools used, structure of web site, etc.).

3: Oral Presentation weighted 20%
ORAL PRESENTATION
Oral presentation to demonstrate the content of the literature synthesis web site as well as explaining some of the Web authoring techniques used. The presentation/demonstration should last for 10 minutes maximum, including approximately 2 minutes for questions.