ENV11116 Principles of Wildlife Management Assessment Brief 2025-26 | Edinburgh Napier University

ENV11116 Size and/or Time Limits for Assessment

The annotated bibliography is based on annotations of seven articles. You are allowed 200 words per article (7 x 200 = 1,400 words), plus a maximum of 300 words to provide an additional summary at the beginning of the bibliography, so the maximum is 1,700 words in the main document. Within the 7 annotations, you can divide the 1,400 words as you see fit, so one article can have more than 200 words, but that means at least one other article will have to have fewer. The word count does not include titles, names of each reference, reference list at end of bibliography, or appendices. 

Please note, at least two of the articles must come from the year of the deadline or the two years preceding that (so if the deadline is 2025, they must come from 2023-2025).

In addition, at the end of the document you should include as appendices: 
-a Literature Search Plan you completed before doing your search – a standard template will be provided. 
a grid showing which of your seven articles cited any others of your seven articles (an example of this will be given to you)

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module you will be able to:

1. Illustrate mechanisms by which wildlife populations change.
2. Critically assess the concept of wildlife meta-populations.
3. Justify how and why species are monitored and/or captured for wildlife population management.
4. Critically evaluate the application of information theory, maximum likelihood estimation and generalised linear modelling in studying wildlife populations.

Purpose and Rationale

This assessment is designed to (a) give you a deeper theoretical foundation for one aspect of the module, (b) encourage you to read the scientific literature widely and follow developments in theory and practice through the literature, as will be necessary in your dissertation and future career, (c) develop your skills in gathering, summarizing, collating and critically assessing information in the literature, as will be required to be a highly competent wildlife biology professional.

Requirements for the Assessment

This assessment is designed to (a) give you a deeper theoretical foundation for one aspect of the module, (b) encourage you to read the scientific literature widely and follow developments in theory and practice through the literature, as will be necessary in your dissertation and future career, (c) develop your skills in gathering, summarizing, collating and critically assessing information in the literature, as will be required to be a highly competent wildlife biology professional.

Requirements for the Assessment 

You are required to write an annotated bibliography for a particular topic related to wildlife management and monitoring. A range of topic titles will be given on the module’s Moodle site and you must pick a single topic from them. 

Based on your choice, you are required to find a selection of articles that provides an overview of that topic including, but not exclusive to:
-    its methodology and theory
-    overarching concepts and specific case-studies
-    early developments and current practice
-    consensus or disagreement in theory or methodology

You should locate literature via database searches (e.g. Web of Science) or and can supplement that via tracing citations linking to and from articles. Literature should only come from scientific peer-reviewed journals. ‘Grey literature’ is not accepted. If in doubt, check the publication’s website to check whether it is peer-reviewed. As well as original studies, review papers and opinion articles are fine, as long as they are from a peer-reviewed source. Whole books are not allowed, and book chapters are only allowed if they are from edited books where each chapter is by different, named author(s) and You are required to write an annotated bibliography for a particular topic related to wildlife management and monitoring. A range of topic titles will be given on the module’s Moodle site and you must pick a single topic from them. 

Based on your choice, you are required to find a selection of articles that provides an overview of that topic including, but not exclusive to:
-    its methodology and theory
-    overarching concepts and specific case-studies
-    early developments and current practice
-    consensus or disagreement in theory or methodology

You should locate literature via database searches (e.g. Web of Science) or and can supplement that via tracing citations linking to and from articles. Literature should only come from scientific peer-reviewed journals. ‘Grey literature’ is not accepted. If in doubt, check the publication’s website to check whether it is peer-reviewed. As well as original studies, review papers and opinion articles are fine, as long as they are from a peer-reviewed source. Whole books are not allowed, and book chapters are only allowed if they are from edited books where each chapter is by different, named author(s) and the book has separate named editor(s) (note that these have to be cited in a specific way, so see the referencing guidelines for these). However, you can only include one chapter per edited book. 

You should search and read as widely as possible, and then compile a bibliography of seven articles that, if read, would give a good overview of that topic. Do not simply select the first seven articles you come across – you must select articles that make significant contributions to your topic, or provide examples of significant methods or theories.

For each article in the bibliography, you should explain and describe the main contribution of that article to understanding the topic. The hypothetical aim of your annotated bibliography is that it would form suggested reading for anyone wishing to get a good understanding of that topic, with annotations to help them understand the articles and how they relate to each other. 

You should, where appropriate, compare, contrast and discuss links between the articles you feature, using appropriately formatted citations to do so (note: we will place additional emphasis on this element of the assessment when grading). You should also demonstrate critical assessment/appraisal of articles’ findings, based on your developing understanding of that topic (i.e. reflect on the article in light of the overall topic, not just what was known at the year of publication of the paper). 

You must not simply summarise or rephrase the abstracts of the article you have read. You need to present your own view of the contribution and importance of the article.

The structure and format should be in line with the ‘Instructions for Authors’ document provided on the module’s Moodle page.

Your writing style should be scientific and follow general scientific conventions in terms of, for example, naming of species, correct use of units, precision of explanation, and consistency. Your writing style should reflect the fact that you are reading widely and thus being exposed to published scientific writing. Inconsistent and imprecise language will cause you to lose marks. 

Support
Support for academic skills and additional guidance is available on My Napier: https://my.napier.ac.uk/your-studies/improve-your-academic-and-study-skills

Deadline for Submission

Sunday 26th October 2025 – 23:59h

Your attention is drawn to the penalties for late submissions:  All coursework, both at first attempt and reassessment, submitted after the agreed deadline will be marked at a maximum of 50 per cent. Coursework submitted over five working days after the agreed deadline will be given a mark of zero per cent, although formative feedback will be offered to the student where requested, as per Academic Regulations Sections B and C.

Submission Method

Submission will be via a Turnitin portal on the module’s Moodle page. 

For every assessment, complete and Assessment Declaration Cover Sheet which must confirm that the submission is your own and has not been submitted for another assessment and a statement about any (or no) use of Gen AI. Follow the instructions on Moodle.

You are advised to keep your own copy of the final assessment with your dated backups detailed above.

Feedback

Feedback will be given via Turnitin. The marker will give an assessment of the extent to which you have met each assessment criteria (below), and provide any appropriate comments. If you have any difficulty in understanding the feedback you are given, then please contact the module leader. 

Note that the Assessment Policy (5.3) and Academic Regulations (A7.9) specify that students are entitled to feedback on coursework within fifteen working days (typically three full weeks) from date of submission.

ENV11116 Assessment Regulations & Academic Conduct

All assessments at Edinburgh Napier University are subject to the University’s Academic Regulations, Academic Integrity Regulations, Student Community Code. Students are expected to adhere to the Student Community Code and maintain acceptable standards of academic practice, as set out in the Academic Integrity Regulations. 

Marking Criteria

The marking criteria are laid out in a separate rubric. You will be assessed based on the following:
-Summary at start of annotated bibliography
-Annotations themselves 
-Selection of articles to annotated
-Linkages made between articles and communicating development of topic over time
-Scientific writing style
-Meeting all criteria in “Instructions for authors” document
-Literature Search Plan
-Citation grid
-Whether all articles are from peer reviewed sources

As per the values outlined in our Community Code, you should make every effort to ensure your work is prepared for and communicated professionally in terms of spelling, style and grammar. Referencing is not marked in this assessment but you are expected to demonstrate your Academic Integrity by acknowledging any sources which have informed, directed or shaped your work, and that your submission is representative of your own work and learning.  As accurate referencing is good academic practice, supporting your academic development and preparing you for future assessments, you may receive feedback on referencing to help you with this.