Assessment Point 2

ASSESSMENT BRIEF AND MARKING RUBRIC

Module Code and Title: LJMU-7500-UCEPG Advanced Structural Design and Bridge Engineering
Assessment Point: Assessment Point 2
Submission Deadline: Week 8, Sunday 23:59 VLE (UTC) time
Assessment Task: Real Practical Design Study
Word Count: 2000 words +/- 10% (excluding references and appendices)
Weighting: 30% of overall module mark
Extenuating Circumstances
Where illness or other verifiable cause prevents timely submission of the summative assessments,
you are required to contact the Unicaf Extenuating Circumstances team in the first instance, via
extenuating.circumstances@unicaf.org, for further information on how to make an appropriate
request for consideration of your circumstances. It is important to note that any request must be
made to the mentioned team in advance of the originally stipulated deadlines, otherwise shall be
considered as late and will not be reviewed further unless valid independent evidence exists to
support that you could not have reasonably gotten in touch any sooner.

Academic misconduct, including plagiarism

Ensure that you are familiar with the relevant regulations regarding academic misconduct. By
submitting the assignment, you declare that it is your own work and that the material and sources of
information used, including internet sources, have been fully identified and properly acknowledged.
In addition, you confirm that the presented work has not been submitted for any other assessment.
You also acknowledge that the faculty reserves the right to investigate allegations of plagiarism and
other forms of academic misconduct, which, if proven and dependent on the severity level of the
offense, may result in a penalty that could affect your progress.

You can access the LJMU Academic Misconduct Policies by following the corresponding link
provided under the ‘Welcome’ section of the module on the VLE.

By submitting your work, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed with the above
statements.

LJMU-7500-UCEPG Advanced Structural Design and Bridge Engineering 1

General guidance
Your assignment should be word processed (handwritten assignments are not accepted), using
Times New Roman size 12 font, double spaced, with numbered pages and your student number
printed as a footer on every page.

Please note that this assignment is to be supported by academic research, so you should adhere to
the appropriate referencing guidance. Please note that your assignment will be submitted via
Turnitin. This allows us to monitor and deal with plagiarism. The majority of references should
come from primary sources (e.g. journal articles, conference papers, reports, etc.), although you can
also utilise area-specific textbooks. You must ensure that you use the Harvard style of referencing,
as per the guidelines provided by the Liverpool John Moores University.

The word limit stated for this assignment excludes the list of references at the end of the assignment
but includes all text in the main body of the assignment (including direct quotations, in-text
citations, footnotes, tables, diagrams, and graphs). Please be aware that exceeding the word limit
will affect the academic judgment of the piece of work and may result in the award of a lower mark.
Appendices are not considered a supplement and will not be assessed as part of the content of the
assignment. As such, they will not contribute to the grade awarded; however, it may be appropriate
to use an Appendices section for any material which is a useful reference for the reader. Please note
that appendices are not included in the word count. Please indicate the word count length at the end
of your assignment.

Marking and assessment

This assignment will be marked out of 100% and contributes to 30% of the total module mark.
The pass mark is 50%.

Submission deadline
Please note that your work should be uploaded by the stipulated submission deadline - failure to
do this will lead to your assignment being marked as though it was late or missing. Work submitted
after the submission deadline without a granted extension by the Unicaf Extenuating
Circumstances team or a deferral in accordance with the Extenuating Circumstances Policy will
not be accepted and will be recorded as 0%.

LJMU-7500-UCEPG Advanced Structural Design and Bridge Engineering 2

Submitting via Turnitin
Your assignment will be submitted via Turnitin. Please note that you are responsible for
ensuring you understand the process of uploading your assessment on the VLE before the
submission deadline. This includes submitting your work via Turnitin for similarity checks
and accepting the Turnitin terms and conditions.

As a first step, you are advised to upload your work as a draft and check the Turnitin similarity
indication well before the relevant deadline. This way, you can see whether further
amendments are needed to reduce similarity in case this is high. After editing your work, you
can proceed with the final submission by the deadline.

Any submitted work not accompanied by a Turnitin similarity report will not be accepted.
Please contact your tutor if you experience any issues with the use of Turnitin.

Learning Outcomes of the Assessment

LO1: Critically evaluate the use of common structural materials in large structures.
LO2: Evaluate a range of structural theories and methods of analysis and their relevance to large
structures, according to current codes of practice.
LO3: Perform advanced structural analysis and design of steel, composite, prestressed concrete,
tensile cables, bridge deck structures/elements, and apply knowledge to the design in varying
environments.

LJMU-7500-UCEPG Advanced Structural Design and Bridge Engineering 3

Assessment guidelines

Produce a 2000-word +/- 10% (excluding references and appendices) a real practical design study
for either (a) a steel truss or (b) a cable-stayed or a suspension bridge of your choice, where
you:

(1) Provide a comprehensive discussion the essential site data available, construction
materials, and the phases involved in the design process of the bridge. It is recommended
that the discussion of the site data and materials is accompanied by a summary table of
the data. A visual representation (e.g. flowchart) of the design phases can also be included
to complement the respective discussion.

(2) Based on the data and discussion presented in point (1) above, critically comment on the
appropriateness of the particular bridge design, materials used, and the design phases
implemented.

(3) Discuss the final structural result of the constructed bridge and provide any
advantages/innovations that emerged from the design, any design flaws (if applicable),
whether the bridge is still operating and its (expected) service life, whether it collapsed
etc.

Suggestion: If you decide to use a bridge design with proven flaws for your study, you could either
select a bridge that collapsed due to deficient design or unexpected overloading, such as the
Tacoma Narrows Bridge, or a bridge that was damaged during construction or service life, such
as Zambezi river bridge in Mozambique and Chirajara bridge in Colombia. However, you could
also use a bridge that it is still in use, such as Santa Cruz Bridge in Madeira. The above examples
are not mandatory, you could of course select any relevant bridge around the world, but make sure
that there are available design data.

LJMU-7500-UCEPG Advanced Structural Design and Bridge Engineering 4

Your assignment should be structured as follows
Section/aspect Content to cover Marks available
Introduction Provision of an essential background to the key 10
construction materials, site data, and the phases
involved in the design process of the bridge
selected to be studied.
Explanation what factors influence the design of
a bridge and the selection of materials, to justify
the methods followed.
Clear definition the objectives of the assignment.
Main Body: (1) Clear analysis of the aspects, data, phases 70
Critical Analysis and and methods used during the design of the
Discussion bridge selected to be studied and its key
structural materials. Use of examples and
recorded observations to justify your
analysis.
(2) Critical discussion on the appropriateness of
the particular bridge design, considering the
available data, materials used and the design
phases implemented.
(3) Critical discussion on the final structural
result of the constructed bridge by also
providing advantages, innovations that
emerged from the design, any design flaws,
and other information (whether the bridge is
still operating and its (expected) service
life, whether it collapsed etc.)
Conclusion Effective summary of the critical points 10
addressed in the assignment, and the most
important findings of the discussion.

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 Layout and A high-quality presentation that conforms to 10
Referencing principles of academic writing and contains
(list of references can minimal errors in sentence construction,
take as many pages grammar, and punctuation.
as necessary/not The assignment should follow appropriate
included in the 2000- academic conventions regarding in-text citations
word count) and references using Harvard referencing system
Total: 2000 words 100

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LJMU Level 7 Grading Criteria

What does my Grade Mean? (Postgraduate Scale)

Please note that the individual passing mark for Liverpool John Moores University (postgraduate
modules) is 50%.

Mark Performanc
rang e Grading criteria
e characterist
ic
● Exemplary attainment of all learning outcomes
90-100 Exception ● Demonstrates an outstanding synthesis of varied theoretical
al Pass positions in the analysis of key issues in the subjectarea
● Wide-ranging emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at
the forefrontof the discipline
● Offers an exhaustiveexplorationof the literature and evidence-base
● The material covered is accurate and relevant
● The argument is highly sophisticated
● The standard of writing is refined
● No errors in the use of the specified referencing system
● Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.

● Excellentattainment of all learning outcomes, with some, met to an

80-89 Outstandi exemplary standard
● Demonstrates a comprehensive synthesis of varied theoretical positions in
ng Pass
the analysis of key issues in the subject area. Wide-ranging emphasis on
knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of the discipline
● Extends far beyond expected levels of engagement with the
literature and evidence- base
● The material covered is accurate and relevant
● The argument is generally very astute
● The standard of writing is refined
● No errors in the use of the specified referencing system
● Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.

● Excellent attainment of all learning outcomes

70-79 Excelle ● Demonstrates a thorough synthesis of varied theoretical
nt pass positions in the analysis of key issues in the subjectarea
● Strong emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront
of the discipline
● Thoroughuse ofthe literatureand evidence-base
● The material covered is accurate and relevant
● Theargumentis persuasiveandthereareveryperceptiveelements
● The standard of writing is refined
● No errors in the use of the specified referencing system
● Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.

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 ● Good attainment of all learning outcomes
60-69 Good Pass ● Demonstrates detailed synthesis of varied theoretical positions
in the analysis of key issues in thesubjectarea
● Good emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront
of the discipline
● Good consideration of the literature and evidence-
based that develops from recommended readings
● The material covered is accurate and relevant
● The argument is persuasive
● The standard of writing is refined
● No errors in the use of the specified referencing system
● Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.

● Adequate attainment of all learning outcomes

50-59 Pass ● Demonstrates a limited, but sufficient, synthesis of varied
theoretical positions in the analysis of key issues in the
subject area
● Some emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront
of the discipline
● Sufficient consideration of the literature and evidence-based,
but little consideration beyond recommended readings
● The material covered is mostly accurate and relevant
● The argument is straightforward and relatively clear
● The standard of writing is well clear and readable, with some
sophisticated phrasing
● No errors in the use of the specified referencing system
● Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.

● Meetsmost, but not all learning outcomes

40-49 Needs ● Demonstrateslimitedsynthesisofvariedtheoreticalpositionsinthe
some analysisof key issues in the subject area
● Less than expected emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are
improveme at the forefrontof the discipline
nt ● Basic consideration of the literature and evidence-
based, but restricted to recommended readings
● Some inaccuracies or irrelevant materials that suggest
confusion and misunderstanding
● Theargumentis relativelyclear, althoughsomeelementsaredifficult
to understand
● Thestandard of writing is wellclear andreadable, butoverly simplistic
● Minor errors in the use of the specifiedreferencing system, but
meets key principles
● Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.

● Approximately half the learning outcomesare met

30-39 Needs ● Demonstrates very little synthesis of varied theoretical
major positions in the analysis of key issues in thesubjectarea
● Little emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of the
improveme discipline
nt ● Minor consideration of the literatureandevidence-based, with
inadequate use of recommended reading and no exploration
outside that
● Some materials are accurate, but the amount of inaccurate
or irrelevant materials indicates an insufficient
understanding of key concepts
● The argument is poorly defined and defended
● The standard of writing is mostly clear and readable
● Someerrors in the use of the specifiedreferencing system, but
meets key principles
● Generally, well presented and organised, but does not always
conform to conventions of academic presentation.

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 ● Most learning outcomes are not met
20-29 Needs ● Demonstrates no synthesis of varied theoretical positions in
significan the analysis of key issues in the subject area
● Little or no emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront
t revision of the discipline
● Superficial consideration of the literature and evidence-base
● There are major inaccuracies or significant amounts of irrelevant material
● The argument is very weak
● The standard of writing is reasonable and there are very
few areas of confusion and/or errors in spelling/grammar
● Attempts to use of the specified referencing system. Meets key
principles, but there are systematic errors
● Good presentation that may include some organisational
errors and/or tendency not to conform to conventions of
academic presentation.

● Does not meet any learning outcomes

0-19 Needs ● Demonstrates misunderstanding of varied theoretical positions
substantia in the analysis of key issues in the subject area
● No emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of
l work the discipline
● No engagement with the literature and evidence-base
● The material covered is inaccurate or irrelevant
● The argument is incoherent
● Standard of writing is acceptable. The structure is reasonable, but
there are some areas of confusion and/or some errors in
spelling/grammar
● Attempts to use the specified referencing system, but there are
significant errors
● Acceptable presentation that may include some organisational errors
and a tendency not to conform to conventions of academic
presentation.

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