School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Reg. No. 200604393R MEMORANDUM To: Final Year Project Students AY 2013-14 (Semester 2) 4 February 2014 STUDENT GUIDELINES FOR FINAL YEAR PROJECT INTRODUCTION The final year projects are now under-way. This set of guidelines is intended to provide you with the relevant information on project implementation and final report preparation. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION I trust that you have already discussed the scope and methodology of your project with your supervisor(s). Based on the discussion, you should prepare a written plan on how you plan to carry out the project. As the work progresses, if approved by the supervisor(s), the project plan may be modified as necessary. Let me first remind you that it is you who are responsible for the work, not your supervisor(s). You should think through your project strategy, plan and arrange for the necessary setting up of equipment and test apparatus, analyse the relevant factors, identify outside organizations which you want to contact for case studies or other general information, summarize the results obtained, and deduce conclusions. Your supervisor(s) will be around to assist you and to provide you with the necessary guidance. Therefore you should consult your supervisor(s) on a regular basis, especially during the critical moments of your project work. They will not do the work for you. In carrying out your project, you should exhibit initiative, develop an ability to extend ideas and expand on suggestions, and show a sense of responsibility. The current timetable for the final year envisages 10 hours per week for the project over two semesters. However, you are expected to spend additional time on the project appropriate to its importance in consideration of the award of honours. PROGRESS REPORT, FINAL REPORT AND PROJECT PRESENTATION During the course of the project, the students' progress will be closely monitored by the supervisor(s), through meetings and the submission of a progress report. The progress report must be submitted by the second week after the break in the first semester. At a minimum, it should include the objective of the study, scope of work, some literature review, methodology, and tentative plan. Preferably, some preliminary results of investigation and future plan should also be included in the report. A formal, typewritten final report is required from each project student. A copy of the guidelines for writing the final year project report is attached in Appendix A. Block N1, #1a-29, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 Telephone: +65 6791 1744 Telefax: +65 6791 0676 Internet: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/cee A School of the College of Engineering
Each student is required to submit two ring-bound copies of final report for examination by the supervisor(s) and the moderator (to be appointed later). In addition, an oral presentation by each student will be required. Both the supervisor(s) and the moderator will attend and assess the presentation. Other faculty members and students may also attend the presentation if they choose to do so. FINAL SUBMISSIONS After the oral presentation, students are required to make amendments (if required) to the final report and to submit a printed and bound copy of the report to your supervisor within two weeks after the end of oral presentation. In addition all students will need to submit electronically a full text report of the project in one pdf file via the Digital-Repository (DR)- NTU system. A student who fails to provide the above required submissions at the stipulated due date may be deemed to have failed the course. For outstanding project reports and selected projects, such as Industrial Sponsored Projects, the student will need to submit a hard bound copy of the report to the School of CEE. Students of these selected project titles will be notified by the School. PROJECT EXECUTION DATES The following dates * for Final Year Project are to be adhered to during the academic year 2013-2014: Project Plan/Strategy 16 Feb 2014 (5 th Week end, Sem 2 AY2013/14) Progress Report 30 March 2014 (10 th Week end, Sem 2 AY2013/14) Draft of Final Report 20 Oct 2014 (10 th Week begin, Sem 1 AY2014/15) Final Report 16 Nov 2014 (13 th Week end, Sem 1 AY2014/15) Oral Presentation 8 9 Dec 2013 (Week after examination, Sem 1, AY2014 15) Abstract to DR NTU 15 Dec 2014 Amended Final Report (PDF) to be submitted to 15 Dec 2014 DR NTU and supervisor ASSESSMENT Your final year project will be assessed continuously. How you plan and execute your project will form part of this assessment. This includes your initiative, your ability to extend ideas and expand on suggestions, and your sense of responsibility in making decisions during the implementation stage. Your ability to analyse, to relate previous works to the project and make use of references, and to make relevant discussions on the findings of your project will also contribute to the assessment. These elements should be reflected in your progress report, your draft of the final report and the final report. All three reports (progress, draft of final and final report) will be assessed individually and will contribute towards your final mark. It is important, therefore, that you do not neglect your progress report and the draft of the final report. It is also important that, in the preparation of these reports, you pay attention to layout, technical writing and neatness. Your oral presentation will contribute towards the final assessment. The period of oral presentation will be fixed by the School. The detailed schedule for individual's presentation will be announced in due course, around three weeks before the start of presentation. Unless a special approval has been obtained from the Office of Academic Services by the * Any changes in dates will be announced to you through E-mail or CEE webpage on http://www.cee.ntu.edu.sg/currentstudents/undergraduatestudents/pages/finalyearproject.aspx
student or a rescheduling is necessary as required by the School, no request for rescheduling outside the presentation period will be entertained. CONTACT WITH OUTSIDE ORGANIZATIONS Any written requests for information from outside organizations should first be approved by the supervisor(s). If it is necessary for the request to be channeled through the Chair's office, a short handwritten note from the supervisor to the Chair's office indicating approval, enclosed with the letter, will suffice. An example of the covering letter sent out from the Chair's office is attached as Appendix B. EXPENSES Consumable Materials In order to defray part of costs incurred in carrying out the final year project, each solo project has been allocated a fund of $500 towards the purchase of consumables required for the project. For dual projects, the allocated fund is $1,000 for each project. No request for additional budget will be entertained. As a general rule, all acquisitions of the materials should be channeled through the relevant laboratories, as determined by the supervisor, by filling out a special purchase requisition form for final year projects. The supervisor(s) for each project will monitor and approve each purchase and the total expenditure. Others As indicated above, the project fund of $500 is intended mainly for the purchase of consumables such as cement, reinforcing bars, strain gauges, etc. It is not possible to list all the items that will be approved. Obviously the requirements are different for each discipline. For example, it is expected that the cost of postage will be reimbursed if required for mailing questionnaires for, say, a transportation survey project. As another example, the costs for the purchase and development of films for a project that employs time-lapse photography will also be reimbursed. Reimbursement for the purchase and development of films or special papers will be limited to those needed for recording of experimental or field test results only. Expenses incurred by students for typing, drafting and printing of their reports will not be reimbursed. Neither will the costs of copying technical papers. You are expected to purchase your own floppy disks/cds for your project use and retention. However, the School may issue floppy disks/cds for your use if the softwares developed by you are returned to the School for teaching and research use. TRANSPORTATION In general, transportation costs incurred by students in getting to places outside the campus for the project work will not be reimbursed. You are expected to use public transport for these purposes. The University vehicles may be used to assist in moving equipment, collecting samples, or trips to remote sites, provided that the requests are made by your supervisor(s) and endorsed by the Chair at least 5 days in advance. Digital Repository (DR-NTU) SUBMISSION Follow the guidelines for DR-NTU submission in the following website http://repository.ntu.edu.sg/drntu/procedure.htm
GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THE FINAL YEAR PROJECT REPORT Appendix A 1. The report should be type-written in English in one-and-a-half line spacing using Tmes New Roman Font 11. The expected length of the main body (items h, i and j) of the report should be around 6,000 words, and no more than 40 pages. However, for reports which do not meet these guidelines, the supervisors will determine whether they should be accepted on a case-by-case basis. The Standard International System of Units (SI) should be used. 2. The contents of the report should include the following and be presented in the order indicated: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) a title page on white paper (see the attached example) a summary of not more than one page an acknowledgement page to give recognition of any advisory or financial assistance received in the course of the work on which the report is based. a table of contents (see the attached example) a list of tables (if any) a list of figures (if any) a list of symbols (if any) an introductory chapter the text chapters references appendices (if any) 3. Each reference, be it from a journal, text book or conference proceedings, should be listed alphabetically and in the manner as shown below: Appan, A., Alsagoff, F. and Tan, K.W., 1988. A Feasibility Study on the Utilisation of Surface Runoff from a Small Paved Catchment as a Supplementary Source for Non-portable Use. Proceedings of the 6th World Water Congress, Ottawa, Vol. 1, pp 172A7. Broms, B.B., 1984. Expander Bodies as Ground Anchors. Ground Engineering. Vol. 18, No 7, pp. 19-23. Chen, C.N. and Wong, T.S.W., 1987. Comparison of Kinematic Wave and Rational Methods for Site Drainage Design. Proceedings of Technical Session D. XXII IAHR Congress and the 4th International Conference in Urban Storm Drainage, Lausanne, Switzerland, pp. 264-269. Choa, V., 1987. Instrumentation and In-situ Testing in Hydraulic Fill Projects. Proceedings of the 8th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. Kyoto, Vol. 1, pp. 15-26.
Fan, H.S.L., 1988. Microwave Landing System Impact on Runway Capacity. Journal of Transportation Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 114, No 5, Sept, pp. 607-621. Koo, T.K., 1988. Graphic Database Exchange: Direct Translator vs Universal Translators. The Cartographic Journal. British Society of Cartography, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 104-108. Low, B.K., 1985. Analysis of the Behaviour of Reinforced Embankments on Weak Foundations. PhD Thesis, University of California, Berkeley. MacGinley, T.J. and Ang, T.C., 1987. Structural Steelwork: Design to Limit State Theory. Butterworth. Peck, R.B., Hanson, W.E. and Thornburn, T.H., 1974. Foundation Engineering. 2 nd ed, Wiley, New York. Tay, J.H., 1987. Bricks Manufactured from Sludge. Journal of Environmental Engineering. American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 113, No 2, pp. 278-283. 4. White A-4 size bond paper of at least 80 g weight per square metre should be used. 5. One-and-a-half-line spacing should be used for the text of the report. 6. The margin on the left hand side must be about 3.5 cm while the right hand margins should be around 2.5 cm. On the top and bottom sides, a margin of 3 cm is recommended. 7. Students should prepare both hard copy and soft copy (diskette) of the project report. A hard copy (could be ring-bound or hard-bound) of the report should be submitted to your supervisor. The soft copy may be submitted to your project supervisor if so required. 8. For selected reports, a dark blue hard cover may be required by the School. Samples of the cover, inside front page and the spine are attached.
Sample cover Page YOUR FINAL YEAR PROJECT TITLE STUDENT'S NAME SCHOOL OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2014
Sample First Page YOUR FINAL YEAR PROJECT TITLE Submitted by Student's Name School of Civil and Environmental Engineering College of Engineering Nanyang Technological university A Final Year Project presented to the Nanyang Technological University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Engineering 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE SUMMARY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ii iii iv LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF SYMBOLS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.2 Purpose and scope CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF THEORY AND PREVIOUS WORK 2.1 2.2 CHAPTER 3...... CHAPTER X CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS REFERENCES APPENDIX A APPENDIX B APPENDIX C
Appendix B School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Reg. No. 200604393R Date (i.e. 21 January 2014) Ref : CEE/C6.43 Dear Sir This is to confirm that the following is a final year student of <your degree program> of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, undertaking a project on "............................". Name of Student NRIC No.................... The faculty supervising this project is............ This project is part of the final year curriculum leading to the <your degree program>. In order to carry out their project, certain information/data are required from your organisation, as indicated in the attached request from the students. Any assistance which your organisation may render the students will be greatly appreciated. Yours sincerely Professor Fung Tat Ching Associate Chair (Academics) Enc Block N1, #1a-29, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 Telephone: +65 6791 1744 Tel: +65 6791 0676 Internet: http://www.ntu.edu.sg A School of the College of Engineering