Research Methods formative assignment brief.

• Pick a topic of interest to you related to your subject area e.g.
  • Impact of climate change on water availability for agricultural production
  • Use of novel food products for improving maternal nutrition
  • How a country can improve the food safety of exported produce
• Summarise key ideas on your topic from 3 peer-reviewed journal articles
  • Highlight similarities and differences of the authors’ views/methods
  • Summarise methodological approaches in each article
    • 600 words +/-10% (text only, excluding references)
  • List references using the Harvard Referencing System
  • Upload file via Moodle 
• Full brief details and annotated example are provided on Moodle
• You will receive feedback online, via Turnitin, to guide you in undertaking your Literature Review assignment
• This is one of the most important pieces of work you will submit Summary:

Pick a topic of interest related to your MSc subject area, possibly an area you want to investigate for your research project/dissertation, then identify 3 recently-published peer-reviewed journal articles which address this topic.

You may wish to discuss your choice of topic with your programme leader.

Task:

The task is to identify 3 pieces of academic research, published in academic journals, on a specific topic (related to your degree subject) and to highlight similarities and differences in the findings and the research methodology used. You will need to list these 3 articles in your references, using the Harvard referencing system. You don’t need to refer to any other papers or references.

i) include a title which describes your topic;

ii) in a short introductory paragraph introduce your topic, explain why is it important and summarise the coverage of the three recent papers;

iii) then summarise the methodological research approaches referred to in each article highlighting similarities and differences;

iv) write a short conclusion on the significance of key points raised;

v) list the three references in full at the end using the Harvard Referencing System;

vi) Don’t add your name – we mark anonymously;

vii) upload to Turnitin via link for your programme above by 23rd October. The filename should be your student ID number.

Word limit: 600 words (text only, excluding references).

Your document should be typed in Calibri size  11 font with double line spacing. Please give the text word count at the bottom of the document.

This is a practice assignment on which you’ll receive feedback to help you with your marked written assignment (Mini literature review). 

 This assignment is not optional and counts towards your attendance.