Course unit details:
Critical Review - Master of Public Health
| Unit code | POPH63150 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 30 |
| Unit level | FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree |
| Teaching period(s) | Full year |
| Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
The Critical Review enables students to conduct a detailed critical reflection and evidence based review relating to a public health question or topic. This option is particularly attractive to students wanting to benefit from completing more course units, followed by a smaller written piece of work, rather than a larger dissertation. Students will use their own topic of interest relating to a public health problem to develop their critical review, which will still be embedded within a research framework. They will have an allocated supervisor to guide and develop their academic work for the critical review. This provides opportunities for students to benefit from more experienced academics.
Pre/co-requisites
Students are able to use their own public health interests and questions, as a focus for their critical review. These ideas often arise as students work through any combination of taught units. Students have up to a full academic year to develop and submit their completed critical review. Full-time students will start working on this alongside their 10 taught units, and part-time students are recommended to start their critical review after completing at least 8 of the required 10 course units. This will reduce the workload on parttime students, enabling them to dedicate adequate time to the taught component of the programme, and then their critical review. There are five dates across the academic year for students to register the title of their critical review, following which they will be linked with an academic supervisor.
Aims
To produce an extended critical essay/report that focues on a public health question or problem
Learning outcomes
| Category of outcome | Students should be able to: |
| A. Knowledge and understanding | A1 Describe a specific context, setting and/or problem and establish a coherent research-related question that forms the foundation of the written critical review |
| B. Intellectual skills | B1 Construct a meaningful synthesis and critical interpretation of existing information |
| C. Practical skills | C1 Apply appropriate methodology to obtain the existing information to address the aims of the critical review C2 Use a justified methodology to synthesise the information obtained and summarise in a meaningful format |
| D. Transferable skills and personal qualities | D1 Demonstrate the ability to be a reflective and self-directed learner, to accomplish written academic work |
Syllabus
The critical review will adopt a suitable, transparent approach to identify relevant literature and critique the quality and relevance of this to help inform the original knowledge gap. This usually pays particular attention to the context/setting within which the original research question was based. Examples of how this might be actioned include focusing on a particular intervention; on the epidemiology; or on a geographical/locality context of a public health issue/problem.
Teaching and learning methods
Students will be expected to become self-directed learners, and take responsibility for their studies in relation to the critical review. The supervisor will guide and support their learning development, and be able to signpost students to resources and literature as particular questions/topics arise.
Employability skills
- Analytical skills
- Innovation/creativity
- Project management
- Problem solving
- Research
- Written communication
Assessment methods
This is a single piece of written work.
| Assessment Task | Length | Weighting within unit |
| Critical Review | Scientific abstract wtih upper word count of 300 words. maximum 5000 words (see the handbook for information about what is and is not included in the word count) | 100% |
Feedback methods
Over the period of study, students will receive feedback and suggestions as part of their supervision. Formal feedback will be given once the final mark has been approved through the University processes. It will include marks allocated to different learning objectives as on the marking template in the critical review handbook/resources and general feedback about the style and presentation.
Recommended reading
Students are guided to the My Learning Essentials offered through the University Library. These online resources include topics such as literature searching, writing skills, and others of relevance to the generic skills across a dissertation.
Study hours
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 300 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Andrew Jones | Unit coordinator |
| Roger Harrison | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes
If you have any questions about the content of this unit, please contact one of the course unit leaders, Roger Harrison (roger.harrison@manchester.ac.uk) or Andrew Jones (andrew.jones@manchester.ac.uk). If you have any other queries, please contact the PGT programme administrators via email on shs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk