Students in consultation with their supervisor will identify a research topic, which may be research-based problems from industry or specific interests to the individual student. Once assigned, supervisors can commence meetings with students and milestones can be agreed for the delivery of project components. The supervisor will continue to meet with the assigned student and record progress by maintaining a record of meetings. The student will critically review the relevant literature and use this to develop practical and appropriate methodologies which will be developed and applied throughout the project. The supervisor/mentor and student will identify and frame a scientific questions together which will become the focus of the project. Each student will collect, collate, review and present information from the literature on the defined topic of their project. If possible, the project planning and design module can form the basis for the 4th year Research Project (Environmental Bioscience Project 1 & 2 modules). If this happens, student supervision hours will be 'split' between EB3 semester 2 (0.5 hr per week) and EB4 semester 1 (0.5 hr per week), instead of the listed EB4 semester 1 (1 hr per week).

Weekly Tutorials are provided to the student groups to facilitate enhancing their experience and performance in the literature project. Topics covered include the following: An overview to the online sources available to DkIT students. This tutorial takes place in the library and outlines the books, journals and articles available through the electronic portals. Students are also given guidelines on using sciencedirect.com and pubmed.com. In addition, the college's eBrary is outlined. Harvard referencing: An overview of the college's preferred referencing system is provided in addition to a short tutorial on how the EndNote Web/Mendeley software can make referencing an easy task is performed. This tutorial takes place in the library. Evaluation of literature and its use in the Literature Review. Structuring a literature review, the importance of preparing and presenting a plan. Science writing skills - avoiding common pitfalls. Presentation skills - students are presented with guidelines on structuring a powerpoint presentation in addition to receiving advice on delivering a presentation to a group. Recommended electronic tools. For example, using Microsoft Word to prepare your table of contents, perform spelling/grammar checks as you work while also linking with referencing software. Plagiarism - an interactive overview of plagiarism and how it is identified through software such as 'Turnitin'.

Investigating heavy metal accumulation in Mytilus edulis; An investigation into groundwater quality in domestic wells in karst and shale regions; a biological study of subterranean fauna distribution; Biological recovery of contaminated waters: an in house wetlands trial; A study of ecosystem development in Integrated Constructed Wetlands in the treatment of urban and domestic wastewater discharges; Metal accumulation in macroinvertebrates in the Avoca Mining region; Microbiological analysis (E. coli, Total Coliforms and Cryptosporidium) of drinking water supplies. Metal accumulation in bryophytes in contaminated mine sites; Lichens as an indicator of air quality in urban areas; The impact of field margins on the biodiversity of streams.