BIOEB506-25b Environmental Physiology Assignment - Literature Review and Oral Presentation Guidelines

Presentation Guidelines

Your goal is to prepare a relatively concise literature review of a topic in environmental physiology of plants or animals. It should be relevant to one of the course seminar topics, but not just a repeat of information and literature covered in that seminar. Make sure you have your chosen topic approved by Margaret, Mike or Nick BEFORE you begin. Your oral presentation should be on the same topic.

Your literature review should include the following elements:

• Length: 3000 – 5000 words excluding references.
• A general introduction, including a clear statement of the problem or topic being addressed, the importance of the topic, and the scope of the review (what will or will not be included).
• Historical background – consideration of earlier research and understanding of the topic. This may be considered separately or incorporated into the body of the review. Identify any central theories or competing hypotheses around which the research can be organised.
• A main body to your review with several headings relevant to your topic. You should review the most recent literature on each aspect, describe the current state of knowledge, any flaws, gaps or disagreements in the available information, and suggest areas that research should address next.
• A conclusion, summarising the current state of knowledge, and the most important areas that should be addressed next.
• We will be particularly looking for your ability to summarise the information in your own words, critically examine current understanding, and express your own opinion concerning the conclusions made by others and the direction that future research should take.
• Your report should include at least 20 references to the primary literature (journal articles, books and book chapters). Each statement should be accompanied by the relevant source of that information, i.e. unless a statement is your own opinion, then the source of the knowledge to which you refer must be cited.

General textbooks can be used sparingly. Avoid the use of websites except when necessary and only if the relevant information cannot be obtained from the primary literature. Any such references should be in addition to those from the primary literature.

• Your oral presentation may include up to 10 PowerPoint slides, will be 5 minutes long and will contain similar elements to those requested for the written assignment. Reference should be made to the central theories/hypotheses/ideas contained in the topic, and cite a small number of the key publications that you consider representative of major advances in our understanding of the topic. Each slide should summarise key points but not be overly complicated or too wordy. You should practice your talk and time it. Marks will be deducted for going overtime (20% deduction per minute).
• Your written assignment is worth 40% of your final mark, your presentation 10%. Grading schemes for each assignment are included below. Note the allocation of marks to each section and therefore the relative importance of those elements.
• An outstanding written assignment (A or A+) will contain all of the elements suggested above, be clearly written, neatly presented with few grammatical and typographical errors and will use appropriate and consistent reference formatting. There will be good coverage of a moderate range of recent literature, including highly cited articles on the topic. Diagrams, images or presentations of data summarised from the literature may be used sparingly to illustrate relevant points. The writing will clearly demonstrate a good understanding of the topic in general and the specific ideas being discussed, and provide clear reasoning for a particular viewpoint and recommendations for future research.
• Try this article for useful information on how to approach a literature review

Note the difference between a review and an annotated bibliography (you might start by reading and writing notes in the form of an annotated bibliography).  There are also useful tips on reading technique:

IMPORTANT NOTE on the use of Generative AI.

You may use generative AI to produce images for your talk.

You must not use generative AI to prepare your literature review, although you could use it to provide a basic framework to organise your thoughts for your review.

Your review must be your own work, written in your own words, and comprehensively referenced to original primary literature! Anything else constitutes plagiarism.

Literature Review Grading Scheme

Note that different journals use different referencing styles that differ in elements such as punctuation and the use of abbreviated versus full journal titles. You may choose to use any particular style that matches a relevant journal, but you must be consistent in the use of the same style throughout your reference list.

DO NOT use numbered references or an abbreviated reference list such as that used by journals like Nature. Each cited reference in your reference list must contain the authors’ names, date of publication, title of article, journal title and publication details (volume, page numbers or DOI).

Topic Presented:

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