A comparison of the strategies for the control of healthcare associated infection in hospitals: the UK and the Arab Gulf States Abstract This will be about 200 words long and gives details of your objectives, method(s), key results and conclusions. Assessment criteria The structure of this first project is not as prescribed for the research project. Title Please edit the title of the paper if it has any mistakes Abstract and Introduction (10%) 1. Title – The title should give a clear indication of the problem or issue to be examined. 2. Aims – The topic should be introduced with an explanation of why it is worthy of study together with what you intend to achieve. Rather than identify one broad aim it is better to specify several discrete aims. The introduction should not only “set the scene” but also explain to the reader what to expect in the subsequent sections. This should include a methodology of how the review/work was carried out. Literature review (40%) A literature review is a critical and evaluative account of what has been published on the chosen topic. It should include: 1. an explanation of key terms e.g. safety culture 2. identification of relevant legislation, standards and guidance 3. identification and discussion of relevant research within the chosen topic 4. a proper Harvard citation to each source You must engage in the research literature as the basis of your review, otherwise the project will not be at the required level. Analysis of the issue in the context of the literature (40%) 1. Here the issue in respect of the chosen organisation is first described (it should have been briefly mention in the introduction) and then analysed and discussed with reference to the literature. 2. Some projects amount to simple narratives or catalogues of factual material. At the other extreme they express personal opinions with little or no hard information or examples to support them. Neither is acceptable. 3. Show that you have analysed and discussed the information rather than having merely described it. 4. Make reference to the literature identified in the literature review. Conclusions and Recommendations (10%) 1. Every project should lead to conclusions, positive or negative. The conclusions should be related directly to the title and aims of the investigation and be based on the information derived from the investigation. 2. It may be appropriate to make recommendations if for example the assignment requires you to assess management practice in a workplace. They may concern changes in policy, procedures, protocols, practices, equipment or training. They may indicate a range of options. Possibly you may recommend no change. Presentation and references 1. A bibliography is NOT required. 2. The project should have a clear structure which divides up the content into logical blocks and also links the blocks together in a logical manner, thereby enabling the readers to rapidly gain a clear over-view of the work. 3. The form to aim for is about midway between an English essay and a business report, avoiding the completely continuous text of the former, which can be difficult for the reader to assimilate but also avoiding the “bullet-point”, note form of the latter, which does not allow you to show the logical build-up of your argument. It is essential that you build-up a logical case from the Introduction through to the Recommendations and demonstrate it. 4. Charts, tables, graphs and other types of illustration should be used, where appropriate, to support points made in the text. Their significance should be explained. It is the writer’s job to do this: it is not the job of the readers to work it out for themselves. All charts etc should be explicitly referred to in the text. 5. Presentation of quantitative data, e.g. in tables or graphs, should be clear and accurate, with axes labelled. 6. You must write in good clear well-punctuated English. Avoid the use of colloquial expressions and slang. Avoid also the use of the First and Second Persons ie “I” ,”We” or “you”. It is often a good idea to get a friend to read your project to identify grammar and spelling errors – it is not your supervisor’s role to correct the English. References 1. If you have used a piece of someone else’s work, either as a direct quotation, in inverted commas, or by summarising it, this must be acknowledged. This is a reference. The same rule applies to any illustration which is not your own work. 2. References should be complete, presented in a consistent way and in the correct form and follow the Harvard System 3. In all projects it will be necessary to give references, since, in addition to and in support of the workplace investigation you should provide evidence of an analytical approach to relevant reading drawn from a range of sources. Indicating a source in the text There are two systems of indicating sources in the text. The first method often favoured in reports is to indicate the reference in the text by a number e.g. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (6)…and then to list the full references in numerical order in the reference list. The system for academic work (which you are asked to adopt) is to write the author’s name and date in the text, rather than the use of numbers. This is called the Harvard Style. For example: Early work on the ergonomics of wooden seats (Wilson, 1921) made a clear distinction… This supports the findings of Smith and Jones (1968)… Gilbert et al (1932) developed this theme… If a reference was written by two authors, write both names in the text: where there are three or more authors write ‘et al’. For example: Earlier work in the field (Bloggs 1981;Body et al, 1982; and Bloggs & Nurd, 1982) had indicated that… However, all of the names should be written out in full in the list of references at the back of your report. If the author has more than one relevant publication in one year then label them as follows: Other investigations (Bloggs, 1981a and 1981b)… Be particularly careful that you use year references such as the above consistently through the text, e.g. that the Health & Safety Executive (1992a) reference on page 21 is the same document when you refer to it on page 121, and should not be 1992b. All legislation should be referenced. e.g. Health and Safety at Work etc Act (1974), HMSO, London. All case law should be referenced. Key guidance source: www.citethemrightonline.com (Athens username and password required List of references The reference list should include all sources of information (including for diagrams, etc) that have been used. References should be presented in alphabetical order – based on the surname – and where there are several works by the same author these should be arranged in date order (oldest first). 12 There is a large number of preferred referencing styles in use, there are hardly two publishers using exactly the same style despite the availability of so called international standards. For the purposes of your assignments and project the following should be used: (i) Reference to a periodical: Bloggs F. (1981a) Hydrodynamic transients in water seal traps. 1. Royal Soc., 125, 729-852 Body, A.J., Legs, B. & Arms, C.J. (1992) Loss of head in corporate systems. Journal of Water Engineering, 111(4), 111- 112 If you do not know the standard abbreviation for a journal title do not make it up. Either consult relevant indexes or spell-out all your journal title in full. (ii) Reference to a book: Cox, S.J. & Tait, N.R.S. (1991) Reliability, Safety & Risk Management: An Integrated Approach. Butterworth/Heinernann Ltd, Oxford, Uk. Health & Safety Executive (1989a) Quantified Risk Assessment: Its Input to Decision-Making. HMSO, London. (iii) Reference to a contribution in a book: Pitblado, R.M. & Nalpanis, P. (1989) Quantitative assessment of major hazard installations: 2, Computer programming. In Lees, F.P. & Ang M.L. (eds) Safety Cases.Butterworths, London, p.179-189. (iv) Direct quotation taken from a book or a figure or diagram taken from a book. Petts, J. & Eduljee, G. (1994) Environmental Impact Assessment for Waste Treatment & Disposal Facilities. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, UK, p.77. (v) Reference to an unpublished book or report: Kode, M. A. (1990) Education Without Coursework. Unpublished MSc Thesis, Centre for Hazard and Risk Management, Loughbourgh University, UK. (vi) Reference obtained from a conversation or personal letter: Health, J.A. (1994) (Emeritus Professor of Safety Engineering. Loughborough University), Personal Communication. (vii) Information from lecture notes (indicates laziness in many cases – try to find original or published source) Cheyne, A. (1994) Notes on Literature and Referencing. Unpublished Lecture Notes Research Methods Module, Loughborough University, England Further points: • Note the use of italics, bold, and punctuation in the above. • Ensure that the author’s name in the reference list exactly matches the name given in your text, and is in exactly the same style, i.e. do not use abbreviations in one place that are not used in the other. • Ensure that all references are included. • Do not use titles (Prof. Dr. etc) Do not use many direct quotations. If you do use a direct quotation – because the word are famous, well written, or particularly instructive – be sure that it is clearly indicated, within inverted commas, or indented, or both. • It can be helpful to include a separate Bibliography in addition to your reference list. A bibliography is a list of sources of information that are not used as references, but were used as background reading. It is unlikely that a bibliography would be very long. Evaluation ? Good projects have the following: Readily understood and clearly expressed purpose ? Skilful use of relevant literature in particular academic literature ? Skilful use of student’s own insights ? Sound methodological design, clearly presented and justified ? Sound data collection techniques ? Carefully discussed conclusions which refer back to the foundations laid down earlier ? Rigorous discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the study and the approach taken ? Good referencing ? Clear expression, brevity, and good presentation Bad Projects Are likely to fall down because they: X Are purely descriptive, with little attempt at analysis or discussion X Attempt to mask lack of quality with complex but meaningless jargon X Try to hide lack of substance by the use of excessive “padding” material
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