Project Report Guidelines. 1

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Table of Contents

Project Report Guidelines ...................................................................................................... 1


Pre-Report Section.............................................................................................................. 1
Project Report Writing ....................................................................................................... 3
Post-Report Section ............................................................................................................ 6
Project Report Format ........................................................................................................... 7
Project Presentation Guidelines ........................................................................................... 8
Pre-Presentation Preparations ......................................................................................... 8
Presentation ...................................................................................................................... 11
Post Presentation.............................................................................................................. 12
Project Poster ........................................................................................................................ 13
Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 14

ii

Project Report Guidelines


There are some certain guidelines that senior students have to follow whenever
they want to take the initiative of writing their project reports, first of all they must
keep in mind that a report consists of three main parts and all of them are needed in
both Senior 1 and 2, which are:
1- Pre-Report Section.
2- Report Writing.
3- Post Report Section.

Pre-Report Section
This section contains the walkthrough that the reader uses to reach the core
of your project report. The main purpose of this section is to ease the accessibility of
the report content to the advisor, examiner and general viewers that's why keeping
it organized is what should be considered when writing it.
What should be written in this part should be as the following in order:

1- Cover Page (1 Page)


A cover pager will be provided by the faculty later in the semester and
all senior students are expected to follow the provided design for their
reports.

2- Acknowledgment (1/2 to 1 Page)


This section is dedicated to all of those that helped you in the writing
of the reports, be it faculty, family, company personnel or even friends.

3- Abstract (1/2 Page)


SDP 1: You are expected to provide a quick summary on what is your
project about, the abstract should include the problem, objectives, and
methodologies that you will be using.
SDP 2: Exactly like what was mentioned above, however you have to
add a glimpse on your project results.

4- Table of Contents (Number of pages depends on content)


The table of contents should be organized by Headings, Sub-Headings
and so on, giving the accurate number of pages to avoid confusion while
reading the report.

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5- List of Tables and Figures (Number of pages depends on content)


Throughout the report you would be expected to use a number of
figures and tables to help in further elaborating on the case you are
explaining, however there is a need to put out a list of all tables and figure
SEPARATLEY before the beginning of the report to make it easier to find each
figure or table location by the examiner.

6- List of Abbreviations (Number of pages depends on content)


You will be expected to use some terminologies in your report that
will be quite long and will just cause a hassle every time you repeat it, that is
why a list of all of the abbreviations should be provided straight from the
beginning to avoid the repetition of unnecessary long terms throughout the
report.
By following the six steps mentioned above, you should be able to write the
Pre-Report section in a good manner that will provide easiness for the instructor to
know what he is going to read.

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Project Report Writing


Now this is where the core of your project should be placed in, Expect to be
evaluated the most on what is going to be written in this section. Evaluation will be
based on the number of chapters that you are expected to write.
The main chapters that are needed in writing a Project Report are:

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Chapter 1: Introduction (SDP 1&2)


Chapter 2: Literature Review (SDP 1&2)
Chapter 3: Methodologies (SDP 1&2)
Chapter 4: Company Overview (SDP 1 and/or 2)
Chapter 5: Analysis & Results (SDP 2)
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations (SDP 1&2)

Chapter 1: Introduction (2 to 3 Pages)


This introductory chapter shall carry four main elements to write about, and
they are as the following:

a. Background (1/2 to 1 Page)


Give a small background on the concept that you are going to
write about in your report, for example if your report is talking about a
certain concept in Supply Chain, write briefly about supply chain and then
when did the concept first start in history.

b. Motivation (1/4 to 1/2 Page)


In a short paragraph, write down what motivated you into taking this
problem and focus on solving it and why this certain field.

c. Objectives (1/4 to 1/2 Page)


List down your main goals and what do you aim to achieve by the
end of your project, do know that these objectives should be completed
by the end of your project. (Example: Developing a system solving a
problem, etc )

d. Scope and Limitations (1/2 Page)


Scope of the project means where do you see your project in the
future, and what will it long term benefits be. While limitations focuses
on the weak spots of your project, "What do you think will hinder your
progression?" will it be lack of skills, lack of resources and so on.

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e. Constraint

Chapter 2: Literature Review (approx. 10 to 15 Pages)


In this chapter, you will be expected to summarize previous articles regarding
the same topic that you are approaching done by researchers, this will help in
knowing how frequent was this problem taken into consideration, and if it was
resolved or not.
Accessing previous articles also helps in identifying the void of the
researches, hence will give you the opportunity to continue where they have left, or
start something based on something existing.
What you are expected to write in this chapter is the introduction to the
topic, definition, Advantages and disadvantages, Principles, Issues etc

Chapter 3: Methodologies (approx. 2-3 pages)


Briefly explain what are the industrial engineering tools and techniques you
would be using in your project and a quick description on how you will be using
these tools to assist you in your work.

Chapter 4: Company Overview (Pages depend on content) (OPTIONAL)


If your work needs to be implemented inside of a company, then it is
necessary to include a chapter about the company, writing an introduction about it,
what is their Vision and Mission, showing their organizational charts and give any
further additional information.
If your project was a research project and does not need implementation
anywhere, then there is no need to include this chapter.

Chapter 5: Analysis and Results (approx. 5 to 10 pages)


After developing the solution to the problem, you are required to use the
data that you have collected from your tests and researches and start analyzing
them to present your results in a well orderly manner.

Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations


SDP 1: for senior 1 students, you should conclude your report by summarizing what
you have done overall in the project so far and then recommend what should the
next steps be to solve the problem.

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Finally, you have to give out an "Action Plan" that will point out what are
your future steps in completing this project in Senior Design Project 2.

SDP 2: For senior 2 students, you will conclude by summarizing out your whole
work in a paragraph, after that you are to dedicate a paragraph with
recommendations on what can the next person who would want to work on a similar
project do to furthermore improve results on such topic, you can benefit from your
own limitations in writing this part.

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Post-Report Section
After finishing from writing the whole report, comes the post-report section, this is
where senior students are expected to write in the following:

1- References:
In the references, you must follow the Harvard Referencing systems, and in
the appendices of this guideline, you will find a set of examples of different ways
to cite different sources.
Always make sure that your references are in an alphabetic order.

2- Appendices:
Finally comes the appendices, this is where you shall attach in materials used
inside of your report however could not be placed inside the actual report, for
example tables, statistics, software images, manuals, etc
Appendices must have a table of contents for their own and numbered
accordingly to ease its accessibility to the reader.

If you have successfully followed all of the mentioned steps above, you shall have
written the appropriate Senior Design Project Report and effectively worked your
way to the high grade.

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Project Report Format


This is a crucial part that every senior student has to take good care of and be
very cautious, when writing the report your advisor(s) and examiner(s) will expect
that you will follow a certain format and if you didn't then grades would be deducted
from your report, The format is classified as the following.

1- Font Size
Throughout the report, your font size and type must be 12-Point, Times New
Roman, Justified.

2- Chapter Headings
First-Order Heading: Text should be Times New Roman, 14-Point, Bolded,
Capitalized, Flush Left, Paragraph Spacing After -12 Points with 1.5 line spacing.
(Example: CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION)
Second-Order Heading: Text should be Times New Roman, 14-Point,
Bolded, Capitalized, Flush Left, Paragraph Spacing After -12 Points with 1.5 line
spacing.
(Example: 1.2 Background)
Third-Order Heading: Text should be Times New Roman, 14-Point,
Unbolded, Capitalized, Flush Left, Paragraph Spacing After -12 Points with 1.5
line spacing.
(Example: 1.1.1 Summary)

3- Line Spacing
Adjust the line spacing to 1.5 through your report

4- Paper Size and Margins


Use A4 papers and the margins should be changed to Top: 3 cm (1.18") Left:
3 cm (1.18") Bottom: 3 cm (1.18") Right: 2.5 cm (0.99")

5- Footnotes
If you have to use any type of footnotes, then you have to place them at the
bottom of the page with a Times New Roman Font in 8-point size, single spaced

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Project Presentation Guidelines


After finishing and submitting your Project Report comes the most interesting
and challenging part which is presenting your work to the faculty and students.
Stress accumulates greatly in this phase of the Senior Design Project,
however all can be avoided if you can follow some techniques that will help in
relieving yourself and your group mate on the day of the presentation, so looking at
the three main sections:
1- Pre-Presentation Preparations
2- Presentation
3- Post Presentation

Pre-Presentation Preparations
Now that you have successfully submitted your report, you will have to sit
down and prepare for the presentation that would be a couple of days away from
report submission day.
Some of the key slides that you must always mention in your presentation
include:

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Title Slide (SDP 1&2)


Project Outline (SDP 1&2)
Problem Description (SDP 1&2)
Literature Review (SDP 1&2)
Methodologies (SDP 1&2)
Analysis and Results (SDP 2)
Conclusions and Recommendations (SDP 1&2)
Ending Slide + Q/A (SDP 1&2)

Title Slide (1 slide)


The title slide must include a set of elements to be put in, such as The IEM
logo, project title, Names of students, Supervisor(s), Examiner(s) and finally the date
of examination.

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Project Outline (1 slide)


Give a quick glimpse on what you are going to talk about on the day of the
presentation listing out the headings only of each main slide.

Problem Description (1 slide)


For SDP 1&2 students, this slide is important because it will be the point of
start for your project presentation, and in this slide you must clearly explain the
problem and your objectives.

Literature Review (1-3 slides)


For SDP 1 students, it's good to take around 2-3 slides on explaining the
concept that you have been researching about talking about previous researches,
progress and void if exists in previous literatures.
For SDP 2 students, its wiser to spend preferably one slide explaining what is
the concept, because you need the time for the other materials in the presentation,
since you've already explained this in the SDP 1 presentation.

Methodologies (Depending on number of methods and figures)


For SDP 1 students, speak about what is the method, how are you going to
use it, and give a description on its different uses or past uses.
For SDP 2 students, give the definition of the methodologies that you are
going to be using without further elaboration on its previous uses and researches.

Analysis and Results (Preferably in 2 slides)


Apply in the data that was collected in your research (surveys, observations
etc) into your model and analyze them.
Show your final results in a separate slide and fully explain what each value
corresponds to and what is the benefit of it.

Conclusions and Recommendations (1-2 slides)


For SDP 1 students, conclude your project by summarizing your problem,
objectives, literature and what methodologies you will be using. Recommendations
will include your plans of future work and what are you going to do in SDP 2.
For SDP 2 students, conclude your project by summarizing the problem,
objectives and whether you have met them or not, methodologies, development
and results. Recommendations include what are the points of improvement for your
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project and what do you suggest for future work. Speaking about the limitations is a
plus as well because it will help in avoiding some certain possible questions.

Last Slide + Q&A (1 Slide)


This slide basically contains a Thank you for all listeners and if anyone has a
question. It is in inappropriate to conclude your presentation with the black window
at the end of each presentation slides.

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Presentation
After preparing the slides comes the presentation day, where senior students
must present their work in front of their advisor(s), examiner(s) and audience. SDP 1
presentation is a private presentation, while the SDP 2 presentation is a public one.
What you will be expected to present in your presentation will be the following for:

SDP 1

Problem Description.
Previous Literature.
Methodologies.
Conclusion.
Recommendations and Plan of Action.

SDP 2

Problem Description.
Very quick summary of definitions in literature.
Methodologies.
Analysis and Results.
Conclusion.
Recommendations.

Always be brief in everything you explain, never look nervous or show the
signs of nervousness and most importantly never leave any point unexplained and
always stick to the topic because that usually opens rooms for questions that are out
of the seniors hands.
If you have doubts of any point to mention in your presentation, visit your
advisor and ask for guidance, it is also wise to discuss the presentation with your
advisor prior to standing and giving the presentation to your examiners.

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Post Presentation
Now that you have finally finished your presentation, comes the part that
some seniors wish it didn't, the questions and answers time, you will be asked first of
all by your examiner(s), followed your advisor, faculty and finally the audience.
The only to avoid tough questions in this stage is to not leaving any point
hanging either in the report and/or the presentation because that is what opens
room for questions, and when answering the question, dont answer the question
with a question or an irrelevant answer because it only shows that you either do not
know the answer or just trying to avoid answering it.
Some common questions asked in both SDP 1&2 are:

Why did you choose this topic specifically?

If you had more time for your project, what could have you accomplished?

If you could go back, would you choose this topic again or change it?

Why did you use this concept and not another one?

How did you get the values for this results?

How can these results benefit the organization/company etc?

Can these results be improved even more?

When all of the questions are answered and you are done with your senior
design project, for SDP 1 congratulations you are half way through, manage your
time well and make sure you set a good plan, as for SDP 2 a big congratulations for
getting to where you are at, you have successfully accomplished and finished the
Senior Design Project and now entitled for graduation.

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Project Poster
SDP 2 students only are required to prepare a poster of their work and
present on either the day of the presentation or when submitting the final corrected
draft.
Posters should include the following elements:

Abstract. (includes problem definition)


Objectives.
Analysis and Results.
Conclusion.

A sample poster is included in the appendices.

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Appendices

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