TU213A / TU219A Civil Engineering (Sustainable Infrastructure)Project Handbook | TU Dublin

4. ASSESSMENT

4.1. Total Mark

Your final thesis mark will be based on a continuous assessment of your performance in your project work and on the quality of the various assessable submissions. A total of 30 ECTS credits are assigned to the project. Marks will be awarded for thesis structure, written and visual presentation, scope and coherence of literature review, methodological approach/rationale, knowledge and understanding, critical analysis, conclusions and ability to communicate and defend all aspects of the project during the interviews. The thesis defence will confirm a pass or fail of the thesis.

The following illustrates a typical breakdown of marks for each component:

• Interim Reviews (literature review – first interim report, oral presentation) (15%)
• Structure and quality of written material (15%)
• Understanding, design and execution of the project (35%)
• Conclusions, critical analysis and contribution to knowledge (35%)

4.2. Assessment Procedures & Marking Sheet 

Your thesis is marked by your supervisor and at least one other assessor. The marking sheet is in Appendix A. Your supervisor will confer with the other examiner to comment on your initiative and conduct during the project and highlight any extenuating circumstances, such as equipment failure or other factors outside your control that should be taken into consideration. Your oral presentations will be marked by all staff members who attend the presentation.

4.3. Assessment Criteria

Thesis assessors look for a substantial research effort, clearly expressed oral interviews, well-written reports showing competency and initiative.

The areas of interest to assessors include:

• Literature review; relationship between past work and present research.
• Logical development of theory, understanding of limitations of any assumptions and experimental apparatus.
• Clear, well-labelled diagrams, tables and equations.
• Logical approach to the project work and the thesis presentation.
• Clear referencing of previous work.
• Concise, clear discussion of results and recommendations.
• Comparison of experimental results with theory, where possible.
• Evidence of initiative (this may be indicated by the Supervisor).

Oral assessments will be held at the university in-person and carried out by the academic staff in attendance.

They will look for:

• logical presentation,
• clarity of speech and explanation,
• effective use of visual aids and
• depth of knowledge.

Expectations for thesis marks are explained below.

A thesis considered to be consistent with a mark > 70% will show evidence of excellence in terms of;

1. awareness of previous developments in the subject area;
2. clarity of expression of aims and outcomes of the project;
3. original theoretical development and/or experimental design;
4. use of rigorous or innovative methodology;
5. logic and insight in discussion of the results
6. standard of written English, organisation and format of the thesis.

The presentation will be highly professional and answers to questions will indicate a mastery of the subject. The oral presentation will be clear and audible, and make appropriate use of high quality visual aids.

A thesis considered to be consistent with marks 60% to 69% will show evidence of excellence in most of the above criteria, but may be weaker in some of the criteria. It will nonetheless be a sound piece of work once again exhibiting excellence in the areas of problem solving and reporting. The presentation will be highly professional and answers to questions will indicate a sound knowledge of the subject.

A thesis considered to be consistent with marks 50% to 59% may include some misconceptions or inconsistencies, but they should not affect the basic thrust of the thesis. The thesis should show a high standard of problem solving and reporting skills. The presentation should be highly professional and answers to questions indicative of a sound knowledge of the subject.

A thesis considered to be consistent with marks 40% to 49% will satisfy some of the above criteria but may have a narrow range of knowledge and theory, limited evidence of critical evaluation of practice and ethical issues, limited literature review and depth of analysis.

A thesis consistent with marks <40% will be deemed not to have met the assessment criteria.

5. GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT

A PowerPoint presentation is included in the module resources on Brightspace which explains the various stages of the project journey.

5.1. Literature Review

The purpose of the literature review is to study previous research which has been undertaken in the area of interest to you. Your project supervisor can be consulted when preparing a list of papers of key researchers in the area and also when compiling a list of key words on the research topic. Then proceed to the library to undertake the necessary search. 

The library staff will assist you if necessary. A literature survey is expected to critically analyse the research undertaken to date in the field of your project, in order to put your work into context. It is not simply a chronological review. You must evaluate each contribution to the subject in terms of its strengths and weaknesses. After reviewing the literature, you should be able to see the background to the project and where your contribution will be made. A literature review must be directly relevant to your topic and based on recent research. All students should read SECTION 8.0 for a detailed discussion of how to conduct a literature review.

5.2. Project Plan

Once you have been given approval for your project, you should agree a provisional project plan with your supervisor. Key tasks should be identified together with any critical paths where success is dependent on either information or third party resources. This project plan should be revised by you with appropriate input from your supervisor throughout the project.

5.3. Interim Report (First Deliverable) 

The purpose of this typed report is to demonstrate significant progress in the project and to show that the student is on the right track for successfully completing the project in the time allocated. It should include a fully developed project, including methodology and draft literature review.

It shall also include progress made and information gathered to date together with a list of data, surveys, materials, instrumentation and equipment necessary to complete the project. While this is a formal submission requirement, it is expected that the student will submit informal review reports to their supervisor on an on-going basis throughout the first semester.

Suggested layout of Interim Report

The interim report could be structured with the following headings:

1. Introduction (with clear Aim and Objective)
2. Literature Review (Draft)
3. Methodology
4. Data Sources
5. Preliminary Findings
6. Tasks & Programme to Completion
7. References

Introduction

A general outline of the topic with reference to any background information, history, previous work, and general background to theory. The motivation for the work should be given and clear aims and objectives listed.

Literature Review

This should be a draft of your final literature review. It should include an in depth review of relevant academic and industry literature in the subject area.

This should show that the student has a broad grasp of the current status in the area of interest and is able to present information from disparate sources in a coherent manner which is relevant to the issues being addressed.

Methodology

The methodology should be clearly defined at the first interim report stage:

• What theories/approaches will you use to address your objectives?
• Why adopt this methodology rather than other approaches?

Data Sources & Preliminary Findings

• What data is necessary for the chosen methodology?
• If secondary, where will you obtain the data and how appropriate is it?
• If primary, how will you collect this data and how will you design your survey/experiment to ensure robustness (e.g. statistical significance)?
• Report preliminary findings if appropriate.

Tasks and Programme to Completion

• Describe the tasks required to complete the thesis.
• Describe the timing of these tasks using a Gantt chart.

References 

This is a list of literature surveyed to date (a Bibliography is fine for the interim report). References should follow the Harvard System. Refer to TU Dublin Library online for guidance along with the short guide to the Harvard System in this module on Brightspace.

5.3.1. Interim Report Submission 

This report must be typed. MS and PDF versions to be uploaded to Brightspace and emailed to your supervisor by the submission deadline. Lengths of reports vary but are expected to be a minimum of 10 pages due to inclusion of a draft literature review. 

5.4. Final Thesis 

Two copies of the Final Thesis is to be submitted in ring-bound soft cover format to the project supervisor. A PDF and MS Word version should also be uploaded to Brightspace and an e-mail sent to your Supervisor confirming the online submission. The Final Thesis should comply with the following requirements.

5.4.1. Title & Declaration

The title page should comprise the following:

• The title
• The full name of the author and TU Dublin programme
• The date and address (TUDublin – City Campus)
• The declaration is included in Section 2.0 (page 4) earlier.

5.4.2. Text 

The text should be in clear English, in the third person and avoid colloquialisms. Spelling should follow the first spelling in the latest edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Capital letters should only be used for proper nouns. Abbreviations should conform to the latest edition of BS 350 Part 1 and symbols should be in accordance with the latest edition of the relevant industry guidelines. A notation defining all symbols used should be provided. 

Mathematical equations should be clear and easily understood. Each equation should be numbered and appear on a separate line in the text. Only relevant equations should be shown in the main body of the text - any development of an equation should appear in an appendix. SI units should be used throughout.

5.4.3. Tables 

Information, which is additional yet essential to the understanding of the text – and which cannot be better presented graphically – should be presented as tables. Tables should be simple with brief column headlines (including all units) and as few rows and columns as possible. The tables should be numbered consecutively and referred to in the text (e.g. Table 1). 

5.4.4. Illustrations 

Line drawings, sketches and photographs should be included wherever possible to enhance the understanding of the text. Each illustration should be clearly captioned, referred to in the text and numbered consecutively (e.g. Fig. 1).

5.4.5. References 

Sources of information and originators of work or ideas referred to in the text must be properly acknowledged. In-text citations should provide the authors’ names and year of publication; e.g. (Slattery, 2009). A full reference should be given at the end of the thesis conforming to the Harvard Style. Refer to later sections of this handbook for more detailed guidelines on compiling references. 

5.4.6. Appendices 

Detailed data sets, results, development of equations, supplementary or additional information should be presented in appendices on separate pages after the bibliography. 

5.4.7. Suggested layout of Final Thesis

This is a suggested layout only and the most appropriate layout for your work should be agreed with your supervisor.

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Acknowledgements
• Contents List
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Abbreviations
• Glossary of Terms
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Methodology
• Results and Discussion
• Conclusions
• Recommendations for Further Research
• References
• Appendices

5.4.8. Suggested Thesis Presentation

A suggested font, text size, line spacing and margins are given below:

• single-sided A4 paper;
• 12 point font;
• Arial or Garamond fonts preferable;
• 1.5 line spacing and justified;
• a margin of at least 3.5cm on the left side of the page for both text and diagrams to allow for binding;
• with other margins of at least 2.5cm;
• explanatory footnotes should stand at the foot of the relevant pages and the bibliography should follow the text and any appendices;
• Recommendation of one illustration per 500 words;
• Pages should be numbered.

5.5. Final Thesis Interview 

• Students will be interviewed on their Final Thesis. The interview will take approximately 50-60 minutes and will include a short oral presentation (10 minutes) by the student followed by questions from the interview panel. Students should use their final thesis during this time to display and defend various aspects of their final report.

5.5.1. Submission

PowerPoint Presentations to be uploaded to Brightspace by the deadlines noted in Table 1 (i.e. by 9am on the Monday of presentation week).

Suggested Presentation Format:
a) Title.
b) Motivation & Objectives
c) Methodology.
d) Results.
e) Discussion and conclusions.

5.5.2. Presentation Delivery

Timing of the talk is very important. The only way to gauge the length of your talk during preparation is to rehearse, and rehearse and rehearse. Rehearsing will also allow you to get the words right and also to become familiar with the use of your visual aids; you will then approach the actual day with more confidence. Despite this preparation, nervousness on the day can cause you to speak faster or slower than expected and it is usually a good idea to have some additional material which can be added or some material marked for possible removal towards the end. Keep track of the time during your talk. The Chairperson will cut your talk short if you run over time. 

The presentation should be logically constructed and present information at the appropriate level. Please try to provide the audience with enough background and explanation for them to follow your talk. You should try to speak well (also dress well) and present your ideas clearly and simply.

6. DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS AND ANALYAIS OF RESULTS

An example from structural engineering experiments is used here in order to demonstrate the process of undertaken experiments as part of the project. Please note that laboratory time MUST BE BOOKED for the discussion, preparation and testing of the project samples.

6.1. Objective of Experiment 

Experiments are expensive and time-consuming so you only do one if you are going to find out something you didn’t know before (or verify what someone else has found out). You must have some objective. In other words, you do the test to answer some (research) question. In structures this question might be:

• Does a particular theoretical model match the actual behaviour of the structure? Or
• Which of two or more different theoretical models most accurately predicts the actual behaviour?

Both of these will involve comparing the experimental measurements with the predictions made by the theoretical model(s).

• What is the effect of modifying or strengthening a structural element in some way (e.g. cutting hole in a member, welding on steel plates etc.)
• What is the experimental value of some material property of interest (such as the Modulus of Elasticity or the Tensile Strength)?
• Can we predict the behaviour of a large structure or part of a structure by testing a smaller model?

6.2. Design of Experiment 

Once you have decided what question you want to answer you must design the experiment in such a way that your measurements will give you enough information to answer this question. Also, you should only take measurements that will help in answering this question. For example, there is no point in measuring strain in ten different locations if you are not going to use this data later in your analysis.

To illustrate experimental design, consider an example. Suppose you are doing an experiment to verify the Shear Capacity formula for a steel beam: Fv,rd = Avfy/√3 (not a great research question as this formula is already backed up by lots of experimental data but we can use it as an example). In your test you would design your experimental test to ensure:

• the beam fails in shear and not in any other failure mode (moment, local buckling, lateral buckling etc.). If the beam does not fail in shear then the experiment has not been successful. Steps might include:
  o making the span short and applying a point load close to support,
  o putting a stiffener under the load to ensure there is no local crushing
  o providing lateral restraint at supports and at the load point
  o that sufficient measurements are taken to determine accurately the shear force in the region of interest during the test (e.g. measure accurately the location and value of the applied load)
  o there is a failure criterion to enable you to decide when shear failure occurs
  so that you know when to stop the test (e.g. when strain measurements show that yielding has occurred)

6.3. Experimental Measurements

The purpose of the experiment is to gather experimental data which can then be analysed to answer the research question. Often we cannot measure directly the thing we are interested in so we have to measure it indirectly. For example, for a member in pure tension you could get an experimental axial force by:

1. measuring the axial strain (using a strain gauge) along he member
2. multiplying the strain by the Modulus of Elasticity E (for linear elastic material) to get the experimental axial stress.
3. multiplying the stress by the cross-sectional area of the member to get the axial force Each step may introduce some uncertainty (e.g. accurate value of E may not be known).

6.4. Analysis of Experimental Data

Clearly, it is not sufficient just to gather a lot of data. You must analyse the data in a way that helps you to answer your research question. For the experiment considered in Section 2 above, your analysis might include:

• Using the load cell readout at failure and the load position measurements to determine the experimental shear force at failure
• Determining reasonably accurate values for any material properties that you need to calculate the theoretical shear capacity (in this case Av and fy). This may involve one or more materials tests where a small sample of the material used in the experiment is tested
• Comparing theoretical prediction to experimental result and drawing some conclusions.

6.5. Computer Modelling 

The use of suitable engineering software to support experimental work is encouraged. The range of software tools includes spreadsheets, simple 2D structural analysis (e.g. LinPro, Prokon) for beams, frames and trusses, and more elaborate finite element analysis (e.g. Ansys, Lusas). 

Students should be aware that it can take a substantial effort to learn how to use some of the more complex tools, and they should have a clear view of what they hope to achieve through the use of the software. As the computer software is based on the same theoretical models that the student may be using, it should be possible to get a close match between the two. 

For example, Macaulay’s method for deflection of beams and frames should produce exactly the same answer as the software, although this may require adjusting member properties in the software to ignore axial deformation in a frame”.

6.6. Uncertainty

No experiment will give you a perfect match between theory and experiment. This does not necessarily mean that the theoretical model is wrong (though proving a theory wrong is in itself very useful).

There will always be some error arising from uncertainty in measurements, uncertainty in values assumed for material properties, limitations of the equipment, simplifying assumptions made by the theoretical model etc. that might explain the difference between measured values and theoretical predictions. 

If possible, you should try to quantify the uncertainty so that you can decide if it is within an acceptable range.

6.7. Conclusions

You must draw some conclusions from your experiment. Even if the results are inconclusive you must state this clearly. Your conclusion might be:

• the theoretical model is fully or partially in agreement with the experimental behaviour accurately
• the theoretical model does not match the experimental behaviour
• the experimental results are inconclusive and further testing is required

If you have made a mistake in the design or execution of the experiment you must acknowledge this. Making one or two mistakes does not mean that you will fail the relevant assignment/project.

You must be honest when reporting your results, even if the experiment is unsuccessful!

Your honesty will be rewarded, particularly if you show that you have learned from your mistakes. If you are not honest then you will be sending future researchers in the wrong direction.

7. HEALTH & SAFETY ISSUES

Students are expected to exercise due care and diligence in manufacturing and testing of test pieces, and must take all necessary steps to safeguard the health and safety of themselves, their fellow students, staff, and any other person involved.

In particular students must exercise due care and diligence in:

• Field/Traffic surveys
• Moving and lifting heavy loads

Each student’s attention is drawn to the following:

• Hazards should be assessed with your supervisor and the need for risk assessments identified.
• A risk assessment must be carried out in collaboration with your supervisor All students must obey Health and Safety notices displayed in the Laboratories. Laboratory access is restricted to registered students of the college.

7.1. Laboratories/Project Fabrication

The following laboratories are available to students for their project:

• E-Block, Room 607 Loading Rig, Fabrication Area and Testing Lab
• Room 171 Concrete Testing Laboratory & Loading rig
• Room 191 Materials Testing Laboratory
• Room 193 Soils Laboratory
• Room 495 Stress Analysis Laboratory

8. CARRYING OUT A LITERATURE REVIEW

Note: this document is adapted from “Undertaking a literature review: a step by step approach, Cronin, P, Ryan, F,Coughlan, British Journal of Nursing, 2008, Vol 17, No..1”.

8.1. Carrying out a Literature Review - Step by Step Approach

“A literature review is central to the research process and can help refine a research question through determining inconsistencies in a body of knowledge. Similarly, it can help inspire new research innovations and ideas while creating greater understanding about a topic. It can enable a novice researcher to gain insight into suitable designs for a future study, as well as providing information on data collection and analysis tools. Whether the approach is qualitative or quantitative will often dictate when and how it is carried out. Various types of literature reviews may be used depending on the reasons for carrying out the review and the overall aims and objectives of the research. Writing a review of the literature is a skill that needs to be learned.” (Cronin et. al, 2008).

8.2. What is a Literature Review? 

A literature review is an objective, thorough summary and critical analysis of the relevant available research and non-research literature on the topic being studied. A literature review gathers information about a particular subject from many sources. These include academic journals, textbooks, international standards and guidelines and relevant websites. It is well written and should contain no personal biases. It should contain a clear search and selection strategy. Good structuring is essential to enhance the flow and readability of the review. Accurate use of terminology is important and jargon should be kept to a minimum. 

Referencing should be accurate throughout. Before a student starts a literature review process one must understand clearly the specific purpose of the review. This will vary depending on the research topic. For the purposes of this course we will restrict our discussion to two principle types of literature reviews.

8.3. Types of Literature Review 

8.3.1. General Literature Review 

This type of review is useful in gathering together a volume of literature in a specific subject area and summarizing it. Its primary purpose is to provide the reader with a comprehensive background for understanding current knowledge and highlighting the significance of new research. Often in this type of literature review the student has not defined the exact research question to be addressed within their particular study. Therefore, this initial process can inspire research ideas by identifying gaps or inconsistencies in a body of knowledge, thus helping the researcher to determine or define research questions or hypotheses. 

This initial process will also help the student to gain a thorough understanding of the scientific and engineering principles underlying the research area. In professional practice this type of literature review is often carried out for the following objectives;

• To update current personal knowledge and practice on a topic
• To evaluate current practices within the industry
• To develop and update guidelines for practice in the office
• To develop work-related policies and identify new opportunities

8.3.2. Systematic Literature Review 

Systematic reviews are used to answer well-focused questions about the research topic. Unlike general literature reviews, the purpose of a systematic review is to provide as complete a list as possible of all the published and unpublished studies relating to a particular subject area. Systematic reviews use explicit and rigorous criteria to identify, critically evaluate and synthesize all the literature on a particular topic. 

In order for the reader to assess the reliability and validity of the review, the reviewer needs to present the precise criteria used to:

• Formulate the research question,
• Set inclusion or exclusion criteria,
• Select and access the literature,
• Assess the quality of the literature included in the review,
• Analyse and disseminate the findings.

8.4. The Process

The literature review process can be simplified into the following key stages as summarized in Figure 1.

These stages can be further simplified into the following steps:

Searching the Literature

• Selecting a review topic
• Searching the literature using a variety of sources (online and off-line)
• Compiling a catalogue of relevant sourced documents

Analysing and synthesizing the literature

• Previewing the literature
• Reading selected literature
• Analysing the information
• Preparing a summary table of the information

Writing the review

• Introduction
• Main body
• Conclusions
• References

8.4.1. Selecting a Review Topic 

Selecting a review topic can be a daunting task for students. A common error is to select a review title that is all encompassing. Although this may be a useful initial strategy for determining how much literature is available, general searches often generate a considerable amount of data making a review infeasible. Therefore, it is advisable to refine the initial research topic further so that the final amount of information generated is manageable. Identifying what exactly is of interest and why can help refine the topic. Talking to industry professionals working in the subject area can also help to identify what areas of the subject the reviewer is interested in and may help indicate how much information exists on the topic. Having sufficient literature widely available on the subject matter is also important, particularly when the review is an academic assignment. Often students can find themselves choosing topics in which the design information is either patented or industry sensitive and not released to the general public. 

The timescale available to complete the review is also important. Academic exercises usually have short deadlines, so having enough literature is key, from the perspective of being able to do the review and submit it on time. Attempting to change the topic close to the deadline for submission is usually a recipe for disaster so select an area that will hold your interest and ensure that there is enough data to meet your needs. Literature reviews that are part of academic coursework usually have strictly enforced word limits and it is important to adhere to that limit. Topics that are too broad will result in reviews that are either too long or too superficial. As a rule of thumb, it is better to start with a general topic and through the initial stages of the review process use the information collated to refine the focus of the study. 

Alternatively, depending on the availability of information the student may find themselves broadening the scope of the review as you progress. The literature review process is a dynamic process and is much like a detective searching clues that lead to either dead ends or reveal themselves as paths to further searches. 

8.4.2. Searching the Literature 

The most important learning outcome in carrying out an initial literature review is learning how to search the available sources in an efficient structured way in order to generate the appropriate and related information sources.

A systematic approach is necessary in order to generate a review that will be beneficial in informing practice and defining the research topic. Computer databases offer access to vast quantities of information, which can be retrieved through the library website (https://tudublin.ie/library/). There are numerous electronic databases, many of which deal with specific fields of information. 

It is important therefore to identify which databases are relevant to the topic. Existing literature reviews and systematic reviews can be important sources of data and allow the student to gain an immediate insight into the work undertaken within the research topic. They also offer the bibliographic references for those works that can be accessed. Manual searches of journals that are specifically related to the topic of interest or those that are likely to cover the topic can also be performed. This can be a slow but often rewarding way of sourcing articles. In general a maximum time frame of 5–10 years is usually placed on the age of the works to be included. This is usually determined by the amount of available information. 

Seminal or influential works are the exception to this rule. Keyword searches are the most common method of identifying literature. Another strategy is combining keywords using commands called ‘Boolean operators’. The most common Boolean operators are ‘AND – look for articles that include all the identified keywords’, ‘OR – look for articles that include any of the identified keywords’ and ‘NOTexclude articles that contain this specific keyword’

8.4.3. Type of Source

When undertaking a literature search an important question in determining whether a publication should be included in your review is defining the type of source. The four main types of sources are outlined in Table 3.

Generally, journals are regarded as being more up-to-date than books as sources of information. Books can be dated due to the length of time it takes for publication. However, this does not mean they should be excluded as they are an acceptable and valuable source of information. In conducting the literature search it is important to keep a record of the keywords and methods used in searching the literature as these will need to be identified later when describing how the search was conducted. Another consideration is how much time to allocate to the search, as the searching and identifying of data are early steps in the process and reviews conducted as part of academic assignments have limited timeframes.

8.4.4. Compiling a catalogue of relevant sourced documents 

It is important that a detailed catalogue of all of the relevant sourced material is maintained. Use of database such as Mandaley and Endnote can assist in this process. It may also be of benefit to undertake an initial classification and grouping of the articles by type of source.

8.4.5. Analysing the Literature 

At this point of the process, what has been determined as appropriate literature will have been gathered. While the focus of the literature may vary depending on the overall purpose, there are several useful strategies for the analysis and synthesis stages that will help the construction and writing of the review. One simple method is referred to as the Preview, Question, Read, Summarize (PQRS) system. This approach not only keeps you focused and consistent but ultimately facilitates easy identification and retrieval of material particularly if a large number of publications are being reviewed.

8.4.6. Preview 

Initially, it is advisable to undertake a first read of the articles that have been collected to get a sense of what they are about. Most published articles contain a summary or abstract at the beginning of the paper, which will assist with this process and enable the decision as to whether it is worthy of further reading or inclusion. Once the initial overview has been completed it is necessary to return to the articles to undertake a more systematic and critical review of the content.

8.4.7. Question, Read, Summarize 

In this stage, questions are asked of each publication, followed by a detailed read and then the information from each publication is summarised. Although it may be laborious at times, each article should be read while trying to answer the questions in the grid. It is useful to use a tabular systems as shown to summarise the information collated. Generally you are concerned with the title of the article, the author, the purpose and methodology used in a research study, and findings and outcomes. It is also useful to incorporate comments or key thoughts on your response to the article after it has been reviewed. For the purpose of good record keeping, it is suggested that the source and full reference are also included. It can be very frustrating trying to locate reference or a key point among a plethora of articles at a later stage. As it is likely that not all of the articles will be primary sources, you should adapt your summary system to accommodate other sources, such as systematic reviews or textbooks and standards/guidelines. Table 4 below gives an example of the type of system commonly adopted. This table can be revised to suit the particular research being undertaken.

An important first step in the appraisal of a review is to determine its original purpose and perspective. In this way it will be possible to determine appropriate evaluation questions. Evaluating non-research and non-review publications can be complex. These publications can extend from papers claiming to address issues of theoretical importance to practice, research or education, personal opinion or editorials, case studies and reports from clinical practice, to name but a few. 

As with the other types of sources, a key factor is to determine the purpose of the paper and evaluate the claims to significance that are being made. Quality and credibility encompassed issues related to the journal, the processes of peer review, the standing of the author(s) and the claims being made. In addition, content is judged for its accuracy and its coherence with what is already known on the subject. 

The final stage of appraisal is to write a short summary of each article and may include key thoughts, comments, strengths and weaknesses of the publication. It should be written in your own words to facilitate your understanding of the material. It also forms a good basis for the writing of the review.

8.5. Writing the Literature Review 

Once the appraisal of the literature is completed consideration must be given to how the review will be structured and written. The key to a good academic paper is the ability to present the findings in such a way that it demonstrates your knowledge in a clear and consistent way. There should be a logical flow to your review chapter.

8.5.1. Framing the Review

It may be useful for the writer, having reviewed the literature and collated the documents to now define the approach in writing the review.

There are a number of approaches;

o Dividing the literature into themes or categories
 In this approach distinct themes from the literature are discussed. This is the most popular approach and allows integration of both theory and practice.
o Presenting the literature chronologically
 Literature divided into time periods. This can be a useful approach when discussing the development of a research topic over time.
o Exploring the theoretical and methodological literature
 Useful when the body of literature is largely theoretical with little or no empirical or design. This approach can be useful in identifying the need for qualitative studies.
o Examining theory, research studies and practice in separate sections
 When the topic has distinct theory, research and practical design literature this approach can be useful for the reader to understand the topic. This approach needs to be critical as it can often end up being a description rather than a critical review.

In all writing there is a basic but crucial structure to follow. For example, take any of the Sunday papers, particularly articles on current affairs, for ex from Sunday times, observer etc. Read one of the articles. Then take a blank sheet of paper and write what you think are the main points discussed and any conclusions. You will see that the writer has a structure which draws the reader into his/her argument and informs and persuades the reader as to the validity of the story content. Facts and figures are revealed along the way which either support the main concept or dismantle the theory depending on the writer’s perspective. It is a subtle but very effective style which leaves the reader informed but also persuaded to the argument. Sometimes the writer presents both sides of the argument and allows the reader to make their own mind up. 

Sometimes the purpose is purely information, designed to inform the reader of issues, scientific facts etc. Primarily, the written report should include an introduction, body and conclusion. The length of literature reviews vary and word limits and assignment criteria must be considered in the overall construction. If it is a standalone review, an abstract may also be necessary. An abstract is a short summary of the findings of the review and is normally undertaken last. Write in chunks, you don’t need 2 hrs to write, use your time effectively. 

If you have a clear plan you can write chunks in ten – fifteen minutes at a time. Move on if you encounter difficulty with any section or topic.

8.5.2. Style

Consider the following when writing:

o Sentences
 Avoid complicated sentence structures.
 Keep it short and keep it simple and clear.
o Paragraphs
 Short paragraphs
 One major theme per paragraph
 Paragraph advances ideas / argument / story
 Logical transition / movement / flow
o Reader Signposts
 Headings and subheadings

Presenting Information from reference papers / journals / texts

o Summarising
 Looking carefully at the original source and extracting the main points.
 Consists mostly of paraphrasing.
 Summary must be true to original source, return to original after writing and check.
o Analysing
 What does the information mean, how does it relate to other facts ideas you have read?
o Synthesising
 Consider multiple sources, is there a trend
 Critical analysis of each source

If we apply these types of concepts to an academic thesis we would adopt the following type of structure.

 Introduction
 Main Body
 Conclusions