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Module No. ENGM034Module title. Environmental Health
RESIT Course work assignment
Introduction A systematic review of the literature is a formalised approach for locating, evaluating, and reviewing the published literature to address a specific research question without bias. It is a technique that is widely used in medical research, and now in environmental health research, where it is often associated with a particular statistical process called a meta-analysis. The systematic review identifies publications relevant to the topic using defined criteria; the meta-analysis takes the data from these publications and pools them to produce statistical outputs that have a greater “strength” than the outputs from each of the publications on their own. Questions that might be addressed by this technique are “The effects of sewerage on diarrhoea and enteric infections”; “The effect of nitrate in water on rates of cancer in the elderly”; “the diagnostic accuracy of the H2S test compared to standard indicator bacteria tests for faecal contamination of water”. The Cochrane Collaboration – an institute set up to formalise the preparation and publication of systematic reviews and meta-analysis – has a vast library of publications produced by these techniques as well as instructions on how reviews should be done. (http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/view/0/index.html)
Instructions As this is a resit assignment, you MUST choose a DIFFERENT topic to the one you used as a first attempt. I want you to apply the principles involved in a systematic review in completing this coursework. I have outlined the steps below. The percentage mark for each step is shown in the brackets. 1. Select a topic (10%). I have made a few suggestions in the following section, but you can also write upon a topic of your own choosing. You will need to frame the topic in the form of a specific question that will allow you to focus your review. 2. Select a suitable and widely accessible journal for your topic (10%). Most journals will accept review articles. As you work on your review you will find that some journals publish articles relevant to your topic more than others. Select one of these journals and find the instructions for authors. These will tell you how to structure your
Page 2 of 3 essay, the length, the maximum number of figures and tables and the format for the references. Tabulate these instructions under the title of your assignment. NOTE: your essay should be between 1500 and 2000 words (exclusive of the 300 word (maximum) abstract), irrespective of the recommendations in the journal. 3. Identify and record suitable search engines for your topic (5%). Authors will also list the search engines/databases that they searched to find the literature they used in their review. I would like you to list five suitable search engines and databases; however, for the purpose of this assignment use only ONE major search engine. 4. List the terms you use to search for relevant literature (15%). Authors of systematic reviews publish the list of terms that they use to search for relevant literature. These terms can be used individually, or in a number of different combinations using Boolean logic1. Make a note of the different combinations you have used and the number of articles each search retrieved. 5. Select the references for your review (10%). Your searches are likely to yield a reasonably large number of references. For your essay, you should select NO MORE than 30 and NO FEWER than 15 key references from your search results. Authors apply defined quality criteria for selecting the articles that they use to carry out the systematic review. I do not want you to apply sophisticated quality criteria for your essay, but I do want you to write one short paragraph to explain how you selected your references. 6. Write your review (50%). Write your review in the style that is required by the journal you selected in Step 1.
Suggested topics 1. Aluminium in drinking water.
2. Nitrates in drinking water.
3. Community-Led Total Sanitation on the prevalence of open defecation.
4. Faecal indicator bacteria in marine bathing water.
5. Mycobacterium Avium Complex (MAC) in water.
Summary The section below gives additional requirements for completion of your essay. Read the instructions carefully.
1 See, for example http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Boolean.pdf for a brief
explanation of Boolean search strategies.
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The essay should be in your own words and a maximum length of 2000 words, excluding references. Tables, figures, and diagrams can be used and will not add to the word limit.
If you use tables a figures to present data, try to avoid presenting the same data in two formats. Choose the most appropriate style for the data you are presenting.
Information downloaded directly from the internet and other copied published information must be presented in quotation marks “……”, otherwise it will be considered to be plagiarised and students will be penalised according to university regulations. Use Turnitin to check your work before submission to see if it might be considered to be plagiarising. Turnitin is available on SurreyLearn.
In preparing and presenting your essay you should give clear evidence of critical assessment of the literature.
A full list of references must be included at the end of the assignment and crossreferenced to those in the body of the essay.
Marks will be awarded for successfully completing each of the steps in the instructions above (see percentage located next to each step). The essay itself will contribute 50% of the marks. These marks will be allocated according to the quality and accuracy of the information presented; clarity of presentation; the strength and justification of the arguments; quality of the references used; compliance with the journal’s style of presentation; and use of English.
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