Experimental Projects & Published Work Literature Review – Arts & Humanities Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Task 

Abstract
It should summarise the work and encourage the reader to want to read the whole report. The length of the abstract will depend on the extent of the work reported, but it is usually only one or two paragraphs and it must fit on one page. A good way to decide what to write in an abstract is to think of it as a series of concise answers to a series of general questions about the purpose and outcome of the project.

Typical questions:

•  What is the purpose of the work?
•  What methods/equipment/skills did you use for your project/experiment?
•  What were the main findings and conclusions reached as a result of your project/experiment? If you have designed or redesigned a product, system or   component
•  how well does your solution work – what is its best feature?
•  Did your work lead you to make any recommendations for future actions?

Introduction
In this section you explain the rationale for undertaking the work reported on, including what you have been asked (or chosen) to do, the reasons for doing it and the background to the study. It should be written in an explanatory style, avoiding opinion or judgement.
State what the report is about – what is the question you are trying to answer? You are usually asked to analyse and improve current products, systems or components – what are they? If it is a brief for a specific reader (e.g. a feasibility report on a system for a client), say who they are. 

Describe your starting point and the background to the subject, for instance:

• what research has already been done (if you have been asked to include a Literature/Background Survey later in the report, you only need a brief outline of previous research in the Introduction)
• what are the relevant themes and issues; why are you being asked to investigate it now?

Explain how you are going to go about responding to the brief. If you are going to test a hypothesis with your work, include this at the end of your introduction. Include a brief outline of your method, equipment and techniques used. State the limits of the project, for example:
“the proposed design “
“Laboratory tests of the product/system are presented”

Literature/Background/Context Review
This is a review of published work – books, journals, authoritative websites1 , sometimes conference papers, market surveys, etc., reporting work that has been done on the topic of your report. It should only include studies that have direct relevance to the work you are reporting, and which the reader can access themselves if they want to read them in full.
A literature review should be written like an essay, with an introduction and main discussion grouped in themes and a conclusion.
Write about each theme/trend as a separate paragraph, giving a critical summary of how each piece of work you are referencing is relevant to your work.
Conclude with how the review has informed your work (themes you will be developing, techniques and recommendations you will adopt, gaps you will be filling etc.).

Method
You need to write your Method section in such a way that others could replicate the work you have done. you need to write in a very factual and informative style.

You need to state clearly how you carried out your investigation/design/build/test. Explain how and why you chose certain methods (design model/experimental procedure/materials/etc.), and how you applied techniques and used equipment/software/materials. If there were external partners in your work, e.g. live project clients, employers, participants in your research, etc., who were they?

How were they involved? Make a clear distinction between primary and secondary sources of data, off-the-shelf and built components, third party code vs. code you have written yourself, etc. Provide the make and model of all equipment used, and aim to justify your choice of methods by citing
relevant literature, i.e. published on related topics.

Consider presenting flow/block diagrams, images of work in progress, etc., if you think they will help the reader to follow your workflow, but ensure that the images that you are using are high quality.

Write this section concisely but thoroughly – describe what you did, including everything that is relevant.

Develop the relevant theory, for experimental projects this will most likely be short, and in theoretical work this will be longer and perhaps from first principles. However, if large portions of the theory can be found from other sources, write to this effect and reference.

Describe the experimental details, thoroughly and with the aid of a figure if appropriate. Often it is easier to introduce a figure and then ‘talk’ the reader through the experimental arrangement with reference to that figure. Always include a figure caption, and do not include figures that are not referred to in the text.

Describe in detail the essential features of the measurements, for example introduce the equipment (make and model), how equipment was calibrated, and synchronised. Where possible measurement errors / uncertainties should be included.
Do not give lists of instructions, or force your writing into a chronological order. Write in the past tense, with a passive voice.
It is possible to write in separate subsections, e.g. 2.1 Theory, 2.2 Experimentation and further subdivided if several techniques have been used. Remember clarity is key to the report.

Discussion
This is probably the longest section and worth spending time on. It brings everything together, showing how your findings respond to the brief you explained in your introduction and the previous research you surveyed in your literature survey. It should be written in a discursive style, meaning
you need to discuss not only what your findings show but why they show this, using evidence from previous research to back up your explanations. You should refer to published literature when discussing and comparing your work.
This section must present the outcome of critical analysis of your results. this is where you must demonstrate your understanding of what you have done. You should also note the main limitations of your approach, and highlight opportunities for further work.