NOTES
FOR
THE PRESENTATION
OF
FINAL-YEAR DISSERTATIONS
IN THE FACULTY OF
ENGINEERING
Robert Ghirlando
Faculty of Engineering
University of Malta
First published in October 1997
Revised January 2005
CONTENTS
Page
1. INTRODUCTION
2
2. THE REGULATIONS
2
3. DESCRIPTION OF STUDY UNIT
2
4. NUMBER OF CREDITS
3
5. EDUCATIONAL AIMS OF THE PROJECT
3
6. ASPECTS OF THE PROJECT
4
7. INDUSTRY BASED PROJECTS
4
8. PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND BUDGET
5
9. LOG-BOOK AND PHOTOGRAPHS
6
10. LITERATURE SURVEY
7
11. TESTING
7
12. CALIBRATION AND EXPERIMENTAL ERRORS
7
13. LAYOUT OF THE DISSERTATION
8
14. TITLE PAGE
13
15. NUMBER OF PAGES AND PAGE NUMBERING
13
16. SYNOPSIS
13
17. STYLE OF WRITING
14
18. TABLES AND FIGURES
14
19. UNITS AND SYMBOLS
15
20. REFERENCES
16
21. BIBLIOGRAPHY
18
22. PAGE FORMAT AND PRINTING QUALITY
19
23. NUMBER OF COPIES
19
24. SOFTWARE BASED PROJECTS
19
25. BINDING
19
26. SUBMISSION DATES
20
27. THE ORAL PRESENTATION
20
28. METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
21
29. INTERVIEW
23
30. EXHIBITION AND EXHIBITION BOOKLET
23
31. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
24
31. PLAGIARISM
24
Appendix A – References
25
Appendix B – Title Page
26
Appendix C – Lettering on Hard Cover
27
1
1. INTRODUCTION
The following notes have been prepared to help students in the Faculty of Engineering
with their final-year project, sometimes referred to as the Dissertation or Thesis
Project.
These guidelines were prepared by Prof. Robert Ghirlando, assisted by members of
the Academic Affairs Focus Group of the Faculty of Engineering.
2. THE REGULATIONS
The Regulations for the B.Eng. Course are laid down in the Bachelor of Engineering
(Honours) Degree Course Regulations, 2000.
These regulations are applicable to
courses starting in October 2000 or later. The following is the part of the regulations
that is relevant to final-year projects.
“During Year Four of the Course students shall be required to undertake an
engineering project approved by the Board of Studies, and shall submit the project
and a written report thereon to the Board of Examiners by not later than the end of
May.”
3. DESCRIPTION OF STUDY UNIT
The following is reproduced from the Course Catalogue, Faculty of Engineering,
University of Malta.
“ENR 4000 - Project
Credits: 16
Syllabus
Final year projects in Electrical/Mechanical Engineering are open-ended problems for
which the aims and objectives must be defined, a programme of work delineated and
then carried out in a structured way.
2
The type of work, design, experimental, simulation analysis, etc will depend on the
project specification and may concentrate on one area or be multidisciplined
according to the knowledge gained by the student during the previous years of the
course.
The project presentation and project report should demonstrate how well the student
has achieved the intentions behind the work in relation to the project specification.
Reference
Texts
Students are expected to consult the paper “Notes for the presentation of final year
dissertations in the Faculty of Engineering” by Prof. R. Ghirlando.”
4. NUMBER OF CREDITS
The project module is worth 16 credits.
5. EDUCATIONAL AIMS OF THE PROJECT
The following is a list of what students should learn from the project:
•
Self-sufficiency
•
Originality and creativity
•
Ability to think
•
Planning
•
Research skills
•
Ability to carry out experiments
•
Presentation and interpretation of data
•
Oral and written presentation skills
•
Directing others – interacting with others
•
Working safely
•
Carrying out literature search
3
•
Continuing on other people’s work
And possibly also:
•
Development and/or application of theory
•
Programming
•
Practical skills (e.g. machining, PCB etching, soldering, drafting, etc)
The dissertation should contain work of merit presented in satisfactory literary form
and should not be of unnecessary length.
It should also provide evidence of
acquaintance with the principles, theoretical background and application of the field
or area of engineering topic to which the project is related as well as knowledge of
general engineering.
6. ASPECTS OF THE PROJECT
The aspects covered by the Project would normally be one or more of the following:
Pure research
Design, build and test
System development
Technical analysis and development
Applied research
7. INDUSTRY BASED PROJECTS
There are great advantages in having industry-based projects. The main ones are that
they help to promote University-Industry linkages and they provide “real” problems
to students. They are also self-funding, in that Industry is asked to pay for any
hardware and software that may be required.
Tensions may arise in these projects due to the diverse interests of the students and
academic staff on the one side and Industry on the other. The student’s main concern
4
will be to complete the write-up of the dissertation in the allotted time, even at the
cost of not completing the project itself. On the other hand, Industry will want the
project to be not only completed within delivery dates that do not necessarily
correspond to the student’s timetable, but also fit in with the exigencies of the
production programme which could change drastically during the lifetime of the
project itself.
Hence it is imperative that a proper dialogue is set up between the student and
supervisor on one side and the manager from industry on the other side. It should be
clearly specified from the outset that this is a STUDENT project with its limitations
and it would help if Industry looked upon it as a grant to the University out of which
they may or may not get something. During the course of the project, in cases where
there may be a perceived conflict between the academic and industrial
objectives/requirements, the student must always seek and follow the advice of his/her
academic supervisor.
It is important that the student and supervisor follow the policy of the respective
departments on the matter.
8. PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND BUDGET
The project objectives and budget would normally have been prepared by the
academic member of staff who would also supervise the Project. Students who wish
to propose a project title or who have an idea for a project should find a member of
staff who would be willing to supervise the project. The proposal is then submitted
by the member of staff to the Board of Studies for approval.
Once the student has been assigned a project, the supervisor must be consulted to
ensure that the student understands the objectives of the project, and therefore where
the project is leading to, the deliverables of the project and the budget limitations. The
student should then proceed to prepare a project plan and programme (Gantt Chart)
which highlights the milestones of the project and will serve as a basis for the student
5
to monitor progress. The student should keep sight of these objectives to avoid
frustration and loss of direction.
The student should not only ensure that the project remains within budget but should
also NOT incur any expense without the prior approval of the supervisor and the head
of the respective department.
Students must produce receipts for all expenses
incurred. The student should check the approval procedure used in the department
where the project is being carried out and abide strictly by it.
Before purchasing any item such as motors, bearings, electronic components, PC
interface boards and other standard item, the student should check whether it is
possible to salvage such an item from obsolete projects.
Students may be asked to incur costs related to the project if adequate funds are not
allocated to the Faculty.
9. LOG-BOOK AND PHOTOGRAPHS
It is recommended that students keep a log-book or diary in which they keep a record
of the work that they do for the project. The first two pages of the log-book should
consist of the plan of work and the budget.
The log-book serves the following purposes:
i)
teaches the student the discipline of recording the work carried out;
ii)
teaches the student Time Management, since a log-book helps to see where
time is being wasted.
It is also recommended that students take photographs of any equipment or set-up that
they are building or using as they go along. It is not possible to take photos of
internal parts of equipment after that this has been assembled; nor is it possible to take
photos of past events!
6
10. LITERATURE SURVEY
The literature survey is an essential part of the study and should be given due
importance. This is not a regurgitating of whole passages from text-books which
serves simply to fill pages and pad the dissertation, but a critical review of the
literature on the subject with clear references to papers and relevant pages in books. It
will describe the work that has been done to date on the subject in hand as well as
discuss the most important results.
Cross-correlation of the findings of various
researchers is a useful result of a literature survey.
11. TESTING
Testing should be carried out in a planned and methodical way with a clear
understanding of what is required of the tests. These should be designed and carried
out according to a well thought out plan intended to produce results in the most
efficient and cost-effective way. By careful planning, it is possible to increase the
output from a test as well as decrease the need for expensive equipment and testing.
Prior to embarking on extensive testing, the possibility of carrying some relatively
inexpensive preliminary / screen tests to indicate range of parameter which may yield
interesting results, must not be overlooked.
12. CALIBRATION AND EXPERIMENTAL ERROR
It is essential for students to realise that instruments and measuring equipment need to
be calibrated. The frequency and method of calibration depend on the instrument and
accuracy required. It is a waste of time to try to obtain results to a higher degree of
accuracy than is really necessary or than the measuring equipment is capable of
producing and an even bigger waste of time to obtain results of dubious or insufficient
accuracy. Students should therefore discuss this issue with their supervisors and
record in their dissertation the calibration of the instruments used in the tests carried
out during the project.
7
Another feature of testing that should be given its due importance by the student and
which is complementary to calibration is experimental error.
Students should
appreciate that their test results are only accurate to within a plus/minus tolerance.
They should not only be capable of calculating, or at least estimating, the errors but
should also state them in the relevant sections of the dissertation. Clearly, when these
errors appear too large, the student should analyse the testing procedure to find ways
of reducing them.
13. LAYOUT OF THE DISSERTATION
The following is a model format of the layout of the dissertation. Due to the different
nature of the topics being investigated, some projects may require a different format
to the one presented here. Note that a dissertation need not necessarily contain all the
titles listed below. The format should be selected according to the nature of the
project. This is generally the first step in writing the dissertation, as it serves as the
plan of the write-up, and should be discussed with the supervisor. It is also wise for
the student to show the final draft to the supervisor before sending it for binding.
•
Title page (first page, see Appendix B)
•
Copyright page (second page)
•
Abstract (third page)
•
Acknowledgements (fourth page)
•
Table of contents
•
List of figures (with the number of the page in which they are located)
•
List of Tables (with the number of the page in which they are located)
•
List of Abbreviations and Notation (used)
•
Introduction (context of project and objectives)
•
Theory
•
Equipment (and design of equipment)/circuit design/software design
•
Methods of Testing (procedure)
•
Tests and Test Results
•
Discussion of results
8
i)
•
Conclusion
•
Suggestions for further work
•
References and bibliography
•
Appendices
Copyright page
The copyright page should include the following text:
“COPYRIGHT NOTICE
1) Copyright in text of this dissertation rests with the Author. Copies (by any
process) either in full, or of extracts may be made only in accordance with
regulations held by the Library of the University of Malta.
Details may be
obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made.
Further copies (by any process) made in accordance with such instructions may
only be made with the permission (in writing) of the Author.
2) Ownership of the right over any original intellectual property which may be
contained in or derived from this dissertation is vested in the University of Malta
and may not be made available for use by third parties without the written
permission of the University, which will prescribe the terms and conditions of any
such agreement.
ii)
Abstract
This should be limited to 1 A4 page and should contain a synthesis of the most
important aspects of the project.
It should have a brief introductory sentence,
followed by the aims of the project. The main results and conclusions should then be
briefly outlined.
iii)
Acknowledgements
This should contain a brief mention of any persons whom the student wishes to
acknowledge and thank. It should be brief and in any case not longer than a page.
iv)
Table of Contents
All chapter headings and major sub-headings appearing in the text should be listed,
together with their corresponding page number.
The table of contents should look
9
orderly and should display a logical development of the project; this helps the reader
to gain a general overview of the project. Sub-headings of sub-headings should
therefore be avoided.
Chapter headings and sub-headings should be numbered
sequentially and in a uniform style.
v)
Lists of Figures, Tables and Plates
All figures, tables and photographs should be listed together with their corresponding
page number.
vi)
List of Abbreviations and Notation
If a dissertation contains abbreviations and scientific and mathematical symbols, a list
of them should be included in it. The system of prefixes and suffixes used, if any,
should also be listed.
vii)
Introduction and objectives
This should always be the first chapter of the dissertation. The introduction should
serve the purpose of introducing the topic of the project to the reader. It should be
general and in a somewhat simple format. There is no need, however, to assume that
the reader is completely ignorant of engineering. The student should aim his writing
to the level of a person with a good knowledge of general engineering principles.
This chapter lays down the foundations on which the dissertation will be built and
puts the whole work of the student in its proper context. If a project is a continuation
of another previous one, this should be clearly stated in this chapter.
The chapter should end with a clear statement of the objectives of the project.
Nothing can be clearer than stating them in point form. It is important for the reader
to understand what the student was trying to achieve in the project. Only the main
objectives of the project should be mentioned and judging by the time-frame of a
final-year project, these should be limited to two or three at the most.
viii) Literature Survey
See para 10.
10
viii)
Theory or Theoretical Background
If the project requires a detailed description of the theory behind the project, or
involves some long derivations of a mathematical nature, it might be useful to put this
in a separate chapter. Sometimes it is possible to include this in the Literature Survey
(or Review), or the Literature Survey can be included in the chapter on theory. This
all depends on the nature of the topic and it is up to the author (with the advice of the
supervisor) to decide which is the more appropriate.
ix)
Equipment or Design of Equipment
If the project involved a series of tests using standard equipment, then this chapter
will simply list the equipment used including make, type and serial number. It is also
acceptable, in this case, to list the equipment in another chapter, such as the one on
Methods of Testing.
If the project involved the development of some specific
equipment or an auxiliary piece of equipment which has been used significantly in the
project, then the chapters should include a detailed description of the equipment with
accompanying drawings and photographs. If the project is about the design and
construction of a specific piece of equipment, then this chapter is always required;
indeed, in this case, it may be necessary to split the description over two or more
chapters.
x)
Methods of Testing or Experimental Procedure
The methodology used in carrying out the experiments should be presented here in
detail. This chapter has to be written in such a way that anyone wishing to repeat the
tests has all the information necessary to do so. Any standards used should always be
clearly stated and figures and flowcharts showing methods and procedures are
generally plentiful here. This chapter should be written in a logical format rather than
a chronological one.
xi)
Tests and Test Results
The results of experiments or tests carried out should be presented here in an orderly
and logical way. Tables and graphs should be well captioned as references to these
will be made often.
When presenting results in this way do not discuss them but
explain where they came from. Sometimes it is desirable to present results and
discuss them immediately as they are presented. In this case, it should be clearly
11
indicated that this chapter includes the “discussion” part and should therefore be
called “Results and Discussion”.
xii)
Discussion of Results
This chapter is a very important part of the dissertation and will be one that the
Examiners, especially the External Examiner, will read with much attention. All the
results that were generated through the tests and experiments will be discussed here.
The discussion should be objective and to the point. The rules of technical writing
should be followed scrupulously. Comparison between the student’s results and those
published elsewhere should be made in this chapter, as should constructive criticism
of previous work. If testing yielded negative results, they should also be presented
and discussed and possible reasons and explanations for their being negative should
be put forward. Very often, negative results can be as valuable as positive ones.
xiii) Conclusions and Suggestions for Further Work
All the conclusions that the student can draw from the work carried out should be
listed in this chapter. The most important come first. Parts of the discussion (from
the previous chapter) should not be repeated in the conclusions, which should be
presented concisely and in a straight-forward manner. This chapter is in fact very
often rather short. Based on conclusions, the student should suggest what further
work can be done in the future, i.e. what can be built on what he has done. There is
no need for the student to say that that is what he would have liked to do had there
been more time; that is taken for granted.
xiv)
References and Bibliography
See paras 20 and 21.
xv)
Appendices
Any work that is of importance to the dissertation but does not fit in the main text
may be placed as an appendix at the end.
This could be a lengthy derivation, a
calculation showing how certain values were obtained, or a more detailed explanation
of a concept or idea, etc.
12
14 TITLE PAGE
The format of the first page (title page) of the dissertation should be laid out as shown
in Appendix B. Please note that the student must consult the supervisor to specify the
Department name.
15 NUMBER OF PAGES AND PAGE NUMBERING
The overall length of the dissertation should not exceed 100 pages maximum
inclusive of diagrams, graphs, abstract, appendices, references and computer program
listings. Only where absolutely necessary and with the permission of the supervisor,
the overall length may exceed 100 pages and then again preferably not more than 120
pages.
Page numbering should be on every page throughout the dissertation document, no
matter whether the page is full of text, tables or figures.
16 SYNOPSIS
The Synopsis is a brief report outlining the work carried out during the project. The
main purpose of the Synopsis is to enable the External Examiner and the Assessors to
obtain a good overall picture of the Dissertation without having to read it. The
Assessors allocate their mark based upon the Synopsis and the oral presentation. They
will not read the dissertation. The External Examiner reads the synopses before
coming to Malta, so that on arrival, the examiner can quickly glimpse through each
dissertation, reading carefully only those passages that are required to form a correct
opinion of the worth of the dissertation. The Synopsis should not be longer than 10
pages.
13
17. STYLE OF WRITING
The style should be objective, formal and impersonal.
Abbreviations, with the
exception of those that are in common English usage, should be spelt out in full when
used for the first time.
Symbols for units and chemical formulae are not
abbreviations and should not be used as such. Most abbreviations have capital letters,
but some of the more commonly used ones have lower-case letters with full points,
such as: d.c. , b.m.e.p., e.m.f., r.m.s., i.d., o.d. The abbreviation “%” can be used in
tables but “per cent” is preferred in the main body of the text.
Words used in an unusual sense may be enclosed within single quotation marks when
first mentioned.
Sentences should not start with a number expressed in figures or with an abbreviation.
These should be written in full.
Politically incorrect, sexist and racist language is not permitted. For instance, the
following is not favoured: “The role played by the machine operator in this task is of
prime importance. He ensures that….” Making use of the third person and s/he
should help avoid this.
No fancy inscriptions shall be tolerated, such as “The end – may they live in peace”
(actual quotation from a student dissertation).
18 TABLES AND FIGURES
In any one dissertation, tables and figures should either be presented in the text or at
the end of each chapter. A dissertation should not have a mixture of both styles.
If laid horizontally on the page (landscape style), they must be printed with the top
towards the spine and not vice-versa.
14
Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are
mentioned in the text, and all should be captioned appropriately. Titles of tables are
printed above the tables while captions of figures are placed below the figures.
Figures and tables copied from other sources should be acknowledged by quoting the
source as a reference.
All figures and tables must be referenced at least once in the text. They should never
be placed on a page earlier than the reference to them.
All axes of graphs must be labeled with the name of the variable and the units in
which that variable is being expressed, unless of course it is a dimensionless variable.
19 UNITS AND SYMBOLS
Units should be consistent and SI.
The symbol for a physical quantity should be a single letter of the Latin or Greek
alphabet. An exception to this rule has been made for certain dimensionless groups
for which the internationally agreed symbols consist of two letters, the first a capital
and the second lower-case.
Such two-letter symbols should be enclosed in
parenthesis, at least in equations where ambiguities might otherwise arise.
For
example:
Nu = 0.023(Re)0.8(Pr)0.4
Symbols may be modified by subscripts and superscripts.
It is recommended that
normally only one symbol should be chosen for any one physical quantity and if
necessary, be amplified by subscript (or superscript). Subscripts to subscripts (and
superscripts to superscripts) should be avoided.
To facilitate the reading of long numbers, the digits should be grouped in threes about
the decimal point but no commas should be used. When the decimal point is placed
15
before the first digit of a number, a zero should always be placed before the decimal
point. Numbers should be rounded up to the nearest number of places that make
sense, i.e. that are within the accuracy of the measurement or calculation in question.
The multiplication sign between numbers should not be an ‘x’, but the appropriate
“times” symbol in the word/text processing software being used. The same applies to
the minus sign which should not simply be a hyphen.
20 REFERENCES
The dissertation must include a numbered list of references and an optional
bibliography list. These are to be included just before the Appendices, as explained in
para 13.
References to published work should be listed either in the order in which they are
mentioned in the text, or in alphabetical order. It is important however that only one
system is used in any one dissertation, i.e. whichever system is chosen must then be
adhered to.
All references listed must be mentioned in the text. Where material not mentioned in
the text is to be listed, it should appear in a separate section “Bibliography” in
alphabetical order of authors’ surnames.
Care should be taken to ensure that
references are accurate and complete with the title of the paper in addition to the
source. References should not be given in footnotes. Personal communications
should not be included in the list of references but may be mentioned in the text.
The format for references is based upon the IEEE standards. This uses a number in
square brackets within the text to refer to specific references. E.g. “The system was
tested by using the Tesla Test [4]. Smith and Brown [3] discuss the variety of errors
associated with this test. Other researchers have addressed the same problem using
different points of view [1], [5], [10]-[15]. ”
16
Mention of a reference in the text should be without initials or titles of the author,
thus, for example: “Smith and Brown [3] discuss…..”
Extended extracts from printed publications, including previous dissertations, is not
allowed, even if referenced.
Avoid use of the word “reference” in front of the number, except if it is at the start of
a sentence. E.g. “Reference [4] suggests…” is acceptable, but the following is not:
“If one compares the results of reference [3] with …”
The IEEE format for the list of references, which typically includes different types of
publications is given in the following examples:
(i) Books:
[1] A. B. See, Engineering Science. New York, Wiley, 2001, pp. 12-25.
(ii) Reference to a chapter in a book consisting of a collection of contributions by
various authors:
[2] D. E. Eff, “The design of artificial machines,” in Discussions on Intelligent
Machines, 3rd ed., vol. 1, T. Eddy, Ed. London, Wiley, 1999, pp. 20-45.
(iii) Thesis or dissertation:
[3] B. B. Borg, “Design and implementation of a chemical reactor,” B.Eng.
dissertation, University of Malta, Malta, 1990.
(iv) Papers in journals and periodicals:
[4] P. J. Harris, “On the origins of technology”, ASME Transactions on
Mechasystems, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 101-108, Jan. 2003.
(v) Articles in published conference proceedings:
[5] I. M. Stern, U. R. Knot and B. S. Goode, “A new method of stress analysis applied
to a cantilever structure”, in Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on
Structures, 1995, pp. 123-129.
17
(vi) On-line electronic sources:
Use internet citations only where absolutely necessary. If a paper has appeared in
print (say in a journal) as well as on the internet, then use the details of the printed
version for your reference. The reason for this is that on-line references are typically
removed or placed at different web addresses in a relatively short time.
If your reference source appears as an on-line electronic document only, then it is
advisable to include it in a CDROM attached to the dissertation, provided that the
copyright regulations for the document permit this. The format for listing on-line
references is as follows:
For on-line books or articles:
[6] P. Gale. (2002, April 15). A History of Electronic Books. [Online]. Available:
http://www.abc.com
For a web page:
[7] S. Tugali and P. Masade. (1996, May), The robotics web page. [Online].
Available: http://rob.tu.edu/~robbie
These guidelines are based on the IEEE web publication [3].
21 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bibliography and References are two different things.
Bibliography is a list of books that were read and consulted to obtain general
knowledge about the subject matter.
On the other hand, references relate to specific items of information that were found
in the literature and used in the preparation of the dissertation. Hence, a whole book
cannot normally be a reference; it is more likely to be listed in the bibliography. The
reference would be a specific page or number of pages in a book, which contain
information relevant to the particular point being made in the student’s write-up.
18
22 PAGE FORMAT AND PRINTING QUALITY
Text should be printed in fine quality mode. It should be printed with a font size of
12pts, Times New Roman, in one-and-a-half line spacing. These notes have been
printed in Times New Roman, 12 pts, one-and-a-half line spacing.
Page margins should be minimum 25mm all round, and 37mm on the left-hand side to
allow for binding.
23 NUMBER OF COPIES
Every student should have three copies of the dissertation hard-bound. One is the
official copy to be presented to the Head of Department to satisfy regulations. The
second copy is for the supervisor and the third copy is for the student. In the case of
projects sponsored by Industry, a fourth copy is required to be presented to the firm
that sponsored the project. In cases where there is more than one supervisor, the
student must hand a hard-bound copy to each of the supervisors.
24 SOFTWARE BASED PROJECTS
In the case of software based projects, students must also deliver on CD the complete
set of all programs used and/or developed together with a user manual explaining the
operation of the software. These should be delivered to the supervisor separately
from the hard bound copy of the dissertation.
25 BINDING
The dissertation should be bound in BLACK coloured Tablerene Bookcloth covered
front and back millboards appropriate to A4 paper size (293mm x 206mm). All pages
19
are to be sewn and glued. A left hand margin of about 37mm must be left when
typing the dissertation to allow for binding.
The surname and initials, short version of title, degree and year (e.g. BORG J.A.,
short version of title, B.Eng.(Hons.), 1988) should be printed in 6mm upright gilt
lettering on the spine of the dissertation, reading from top to bottom of the spine.
The surname is to begin 37mm from top and the year is to end at 50mm from bottom.
The title of the dissertation should be printed in the middle of the front board using
6mm high BLOCK CAPITAL lettering. See Appendix C.
It is advisable that a draft of the dissertation, including Title page, Abstract and
Acknowledgements be shown to the supervisor before binding.
26 SUBMISSION DATES
The latest dates for submitting the Synopsis and the “regulation” bound copy of the
dissertation is communicated by the Faculty Office from year to year, but is normally
the end of April for the Synopsis and the end of May for the dissertation.
27 THE ORAL PRESENTATION
Every student is expected to make an oral presentation of the project sometime during
late June. The presentation is assessed by the student’s supervisor, a reader and three
assessors. The mark for the presentation forms part of the final mark for the project.
The audience for the talks normally consists of students and staff.
The length of the talk is twenty minutes, fifteen minutes for the actual talk and five
minutes for questions. It is important that students learn to keep to the allotted time.
To do this, it may be necessary to leave out some material. It is better to say more
about less, than to say less about more. Also if running out of time, the student should
avoid the temptation of speeding up the presentation to squeeze in everything s/he
planned to say. Rather, the student should continue at the right pace, cut short some
20
of the presentation concentrating only on the most important items. The student
should plan the talk and allow sufficient time for discussion of results and
conclusions.
Some form of visual aids, such as PowerPoint presentation or slides for the overhead
projector are essential.
They liven up the presentation and make it more interesting.
The number of slides to show should be considered carefully. It is not necessary to
have all the results on the slides; there may not be enough time to show everything.
Lettering on these slides has to be very large, not less than 10mm high, otherwise they
cannot be read. In fact it is better to err on the larger size than on the smaller size.
The student should avoid placing too much information on one slide and more over to
jump from one slide to another without the necessary reference / explanation.
Students should learn not to panic or become nervous during the talk. This does not
help delivery; it may even create mental blocks. On the contrary, they should make it
a point to control their nerves, relax and keep their cool. If a feeling of nervousness
starts creeping in, it is wise to stop or slow down for a few seconds to regain
composure. Adequate preparation and rehearsing in front of a friendly audience helps
build confidence and experience.
Students should avoid talking in Maltenglish, i.e. a mixture of Maltese and English.
The presentation is to be made only and wholly in English.
As regards the actual talk, students should introduce the topic very briefly and then go
straight to what work they have done and what results they have obtained. They
should avoid giving a lecture on the subject of their dissertation.
28 METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Marks are given by the Supervisor, a Reader and three Assessors. The Supervisor
will have a good idea of the progress of the project during the year from the
consultations with the student. The frequency of these consultations will depend on
the need of the student for advice and guidance. It is however wise for the student to
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keep the Supervisor constantly informed of the progress of the project even when the
student feels that progress is good and that there is no need to consult the Supervisor.
The Reader’s understanding of the project will come almost entirely from reading the
dissertation, although the presentation will also form part of the Reader’s mark. The
student may also wish to have one / two meeting with the Reader during which s/he
may wish to keep the Reader informed on the project.
The three Assessors will not read the dissertation. They will be provided with the
Synopsis and attend the oral presentation. Their mark will be based on their
understanding of the quality of the student’s work from the Synopsis as well as the
presentation. The overall Assessors’ mark is calculated as the average of the three
individual assessor marks.
The External Examiner does not contribute to the marking of the project, but
expresses his/her views on the student’s project during the Board of Examiners
meeting and these comments are taken into consideration during the honours
classification grading. It is to be appreciated that the External Examiner is normally
rather short on time, and cannot possibly read all the dissertations in detail. Hence the
importance of the Synopsis and the Interview.
The Supervisor’s and Reader’s distribution of marks per project are generally as
follows:
Reader
Supervisor
Oral Presentation
10
10
Research/Theoretical Approach
35
35
Results
40
40
Reporting
15
15
100
100
TOTAL
In cases of joint supervisors and/or readers, marks will be distributed among the
supervisors/readers as the case may be.
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The Assessor’s distribution of marks is generally as follows:
Explanation of relevance and purpose of work
5
Relation of work to existing knowledge
5
Description and soundness of procedure
10
Understanding of the physics of the problem
10
Result validation and analysis
10
Presentation of material
5
Answers to questions
5
The final dissertation mark is based upon the Supervisor’s, the Reader’s and the
average of the Assessors’ marks, weighted as follows:
35% by the Supervisor(s)
35% by the Reader(s)
20 % by the Assessors
10% for Student Activity, graded by the Supervisor
29 INTERVIEW
The student may be interviewed by the External Examiner, next to the project
hardware and/or software.
The student may be interviewed not only on the
dissertation and the work involved but also on the student’s knowledge of general
engineering theory learnt during the four years at University.
30 EXHIBITION AND EXHIBITION BOOKLET
What started off as an aid for the External Examiners to view final-year projects has
turned into an annual exhibition open to the public. Soon after the end of their final
examinations, students are given a few days in which to organise their project
hardware and software and turn it into an exhibit for the benefit of the External
Examiner and for the public.
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For this exhibition, the Faculty publishes an exhibition booklet, which is in effect a
catalogue of exhibits. Every final-year student is expected to submit a one-page (A4)
write-up of his/her project. This book serves not only as a guide for the many visitors
that tour the exhibition but is also a souvenir for students themselves and a
promotional aid for the Faculty. Students are also asked to prepare an A1 colour
printed poster summarizing results and conclusions. Specific instruction may be
obtained from the Faculty Office. This poster will be used during the exhibition.
31 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
These refer to patent rights, copyrights, etc. It is normal practice in Universities and
places of work in general that any rights arising from work carried out in the
organisation belong in the first instance to it. It is also common practice that the
originators of the work would participate in any royalties arising out of these rights.
This means that in our case, any intellectual property rights belong, in the first
instance to the University with the student and the academic member of staff having
the right to participate in any royalties derived from these rights. The student is
advised to consult the Intellectual Property Policy of the University and the
Intellectual Property Policy of the Faculty of Engineering.
32. PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism refers to the act of copying other people’s work and presenting it as one’s
own.
This is nothing short than THEFT of intellectual property, and is to be
condemned in the strongest terms possible.
Students caught plagiarizing other
people’s work will be severely penalized, and this may lead to failing the subject.
More information on plagiarism may be found in [4].
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Appendix A – References
[1] BEng Course Catalogue, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta.
[2] Guide to the Preparation of Papers, 1988, Institution of Mechanical Engineers,
London
[3] IEEE. (2003, January). Information for Authors. [Online]. Available:
http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs/pubs/transactions/auinfo03.pdf
[4] iParadigms (2003), What is plagiarism> [Online].
Available:http://www.plagiarism.org/research_site/e_what_is_plagiarism.html
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Appendix B – Title Page
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
Faculty of Engineering
Department (specify the Department)
FINAL YEAR PROJECT
B.ENG. (Hons)
Title Name
by
Name of Author
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
Of the requirements of the award of
Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) of the University of Malta
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Appendix C – Lettering on Hard Cover
FRONT COVER:
TITLE (100 letters maximum)
STUDENT NAME AND SURNAME
B.Eng.(Hons.)
month and year
SPINE:
Name
Short version of title in the middle
Month & year
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