Your first task is to work with your academic mentor to establish a project brief & plan.  The project brief will:

1. Clearly identify the topic that you will be working on

2. Explain the purpose for the study and its broader context

3. Identify some specific aims, objectives or questions that you plan to investigate

4. Discuss the specific research activities that need to be undertaken to achieve your goals within the agreed timeframe.  

5. Identify the nature of the product to be prepared and if you plan to present your work to external stakeholders

Assessment criteria:

(i)  Clarity of scope and achievability in the timeframe

(ii) Clear sequence of steps to achieve the projected outcomes

This assignment has two components: a literature review and a discussion of methods and approaches. The combined word length for the two sections of this assignment is 2000 words. Please ensure that you have discussed the literature and methods for your project with your academic mentor.

Literature review (approximately 1000-1200 words). Once the project has been identified, you are required to identify the relevant academic research as well as current policy and any legislation and governance issues which may apply. The purpose of the literature review is to clearly articulate the issues that are central to the problem under investigation, particularly as it relates to environmental and planning practice and to the planning profession generally. 

Discussion of methods & approaches (approximately 800-1000 words) It is also important for you to consider methodological issues in the context of the project.  In the previous assignment, you will have already considered your data needs for the project.  This section should describe and justify the methodological approaches taken (desktop survey; site analysis; interviews with stakeholders, etc) and consider strategies for analysing the data.

Students will be provided with a marking rubric and an emphasis will be placed on writing skills.  Please check iLearn for supporting material.

This assessment task should be written in an academic style and must incorporate appropriate references from academic sources (other 'grey literature' sources from government and industry can also be included). 

Assessment criteria:

(i) Critical analysis of issues identified in the literature

(ii) Demonstrated integrative thinking and problem solving

(iii) Identification and discussion of an appropriate methodological approach

(iv) Clarity of expression and quality of writing skills

In this task you will write a descriptive outline of your final report.  The word limit for this task is 800 words.  The descriptive outline will include the following:

1. An updated paragraph explaining the purpose of the project (200 words)
2. Revised aims, objectives or questions (100 words)
3. A draft table of contents that clearly identify the structure of your report (500 words)*. 

The draft table of contents is the most substantive part of this task. It will clearly identify different sections of your report and provide a brief synopsis (2-3 sentences) describing what each section is about.  The purpose of this task is to get you thinking about the final product, the overall structure, and the logical ordering of information.  

*Although most students choose the final research output to be in the form of a written report, in some instances, students opt for a different type of final research output (GIS map, design project, etc).  If this applies to you, you will need to work with your academic mentor to adapt this part of the assignment into a 500 word draft synopsis of the final research output of the project.

Assessment criteria

(i) Careful consideration the purpose of the project and the audience it is being produced for

(ii) Clear communication and a logical approach to organising information and ideas in written form

(iii) Evidence of sufficient progress toward the individual research task due in Week 12

The final product will vary from project to project and may take the form of a report, a submission, a proposal, an assessment, a review or such other product as set out in the Brief.  Included in your final project should be a revised literature review and method discussion (based on feedback from assignment 2).

The word limit is 4000 for this assignment and should also include your revised literature review (max 2000 words), an executive summary/abstract, all diagrams, maps, tables etc and references.

Assessment criteria:

(i) Consistency with the agreed work plan, including the revised agreed work plan if revision has been necessary

(ii) Written expression including readability, fluency, grammar, structure and succinctness

(iii) Clarity of presentation of the purpose of the project, tasks undertaken and results achieved.

(iv) Professional presentation of the final output/report

(v) Meticulous referencing