Sustainable Maritime Operations Access Course Assessment

Question 1
Literature Research
You are asked to demonstrate basic skills on academic research, finding and retrieving publicly available peer reviewed articles.
SMOAC is not part of the SMO program proper. As so, you are not yet registered as a University of Plymouth student, not having full access to the University of Plymouth online library (Primo). However, you have at your disposal other publicly available research tools, like Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/).
• Perform a search in Google Scholar, to find articles on environmental impact of seafloor mining.
• Filter your results to show only articles, published after 2020 (inclusive).
• Capture the image of your screen (see technical note) like the one included below, showing the first results obtained and the search filter applied (note that the searching keywords and filter on this image are not the same you are asked to apply). Copy the image obtained to your coursework, as being your answer to Q1.
• At the right of the results page, the presence of a PDF or HTML link, means that a full copy of the article is publicly available.
• From the results obtained, access and download three peer reviewed articles of your choice (these will be used on question 2 of the assessment).

Technical Note: you can capture an image of your browser window by:
• Windows computers:
o Using the Snitch & Sketch App, standard in Windows or
o Capture the window into the clipboard [Alt] + [Prt Sc] and then paste the copied image into your Word document with [Ctrl] + [V]
• Mac computers
o Built-in snipping tool [Shift] + [Command] + [5]; paste the captured image into your Word document with [Command] + [V]

Question 2
Annotated Bibliography
Word count: 200 words for each article (excluding references).
The ‘Study Help’ section of the TLP contains several guides on academic writing and referencing, as well as links to external resources that provide guidance on how to write an Annotated Bibliography. You should familiarise with these guides first.
Your task is to write an Annotated Bibliography of the three articles downloaded in question 1. You should start the annotated bibliography for each of the articles with the full reference of the article. The referencing style used at MLA College and the University of Plymouth is the Harvard style of referencing, which you should use, not only for this task but for all coursework submitted to the College and the University. Below is an example of the reference of the first article listed in the figure included in question 1.

Davila, A.F. and Schulze-Makuch, D., 2016. The last possible outposts for life on Mars. Astrobiology, 16(2), pp.159-168. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2015.1380.

Note that we have included the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) of the article at the end of the reference. Peer reviewed articles available online always have a DOI, which are indicated in the article’s page. DOIs are permanent links, so there is no need of adding the access date (which is required if you are referencing, for example, a web page, which might change in the future).
(Hint: you can obtain the correct Harvard reference by clicking the citation button (“) as shown in the figure below.

Critical Analysis

There are different technologies to harvest sustainable energy from the oceans. Construct a table where, for each of the technologies considered, you attribute a score (e.g., 1, 2, 3…) that reflects the level of:
• technology maturity
• cost
• innovation over the past 5 years
• potential scale of the market for deployment
Next, write a short essay that critically discusses the data included in the table. You will need to conduct some research of your own in support of your answer.

Question 4
Report Analysis

As part of your duties, you are tasked to present information on possible energy saving propulsion devices for a gas carrier ship already in service with your company. Using information in Section 2 of the ABS guide (included in the TLP), select and discuss three different device types which might be fully or partially compatible with each other for use on the ship. Include information on potential benefits, savings, and improvements in efficiency plus any possible penalties / disadvantages.

Also, select and explain one device type that is incompatible with a gas carrier ship design.

You may like to conduct some research of your own in support of your answer.

Law of the Sea

With the use of diagrams, explain why the maritime boundaries of disputed island territories are particularly challenging to determine under the Law of the Sea Convention.

Question 6
Essay

Explain the difference between maritime operations and land operations, considering the aspects of physical attributes, legal considerations, technical elements, and commercial aspects. Additionally, analyse the unique factors that facilitate the categorization and subdivision of maritime operations. Support your explanations with relevant examples.

Question 7
Reflective essay

Write a reflective essay which describes your experience on this course, and what you hope to get out of this study program. Reflect on any concerns you may have. These might include things like finding time for studying, remote study, resources for study, not having studied for a while or the level of expectation. Evaluate your own performance, and consider what you might have done differently, or what you might do differently in future, should you successfully obtain a place on the SMO program.