NDEJJE UNIVERSITY

(Students should avoid using those artistic logos and logos with the University address)

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Partial Replacement of River Sand with Agricultural Wastes in the Manufacture of Roof
Tiles
(The title should not be more than 15 words. It should be descriptive and concise)

BY
Name Registration Number

A PROPOSAL SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF CIVIL ENGINEERING OF
NDEJJE UNIVERSITY

JANUARY 2019
 APPROVAL
We hereby submit this research proposal that was under taken by:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
…………………………….
And
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
……………………………..

AND IS BEING SUPERVISED BY

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Signature: ………………………………….
Date: ……………………………………….

Declaration
This must also be on a fresh page

LIST OF ACRONNYMS

(This must also be on a fresh page)

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VVVV: MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

VVVV: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

VVVV: SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

VVVV: QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

(Always use the TAB KEY once after every acronym)

 LIST OF FIGURES

The list of figures has to be automatically generated just like the table of contents and it must be
on a separate page. (Times new roman, 12, centered and Bolded) (Captions or labels on figures
have to be below the figure and must be automatically generated; the font type and size have got
to be maintained)

LIST OF TABLES

The list of tables has to be automatically generated just like the list of figures and it must be on a
separate page. (Times new roman, 12, centered and Bolded) (Captions or labels on figures have
to be above the table and must be automatically generated; the font type and size have got to be
maintained)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

This must be the first option among the three options under the table of contents icon.
(Remember all the contents in the table of contents have to be bold, times new roman and font
size 12, the word table of contents must be in the center)

General summary of the section above

Preliminary pages are always first immediately after the title page and are numbered in roman
numerals. These in summary include;
• approval page
• Declaration
• Copyright statement (OPTIONAL)
• Dedication (ONLY IN THE FINAL REPORT)
• Acknowledgement (ONLY IN THE FINAL REPORT)
• Abstract (only in the final report and must be a minimum of 75% of a page and a
maximum of one page)
• Table of Contents
• List of tables
• List of figures
• List of Acronyms
NOTE: Most of the sections in the general summary are critical for the final report but not
proposal.
 Chapter One: Introduction

(Must be in heading one, Bold, times new roman, 12 and centered)

1.1Background

Your background must be summarized to a maximum of one page. (Must be in heading two,
Bold, times new roman and 12)

1.2 problem statement

Your problem statement must be summarized to a maximum of ½ a page except in cases where
you have used photos in your problem statement. However, students should try as much as they
can to use pictures as we are more interested in them describing the problem at hand. (Must be in
heading two, Bold, times new roman and 12)

1.3 Objectives

(Must be in heading two, Bold, times new roman and 12)

1.3.1 Main Objective

(Must be in heading three, Bold, times new roman and 12) Normally, your main objective comes
from your title and can be expressed like: The main objective of this research is to

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

(Must be in heading three, Bold, times new roman and 12) all objectives must be Specific
SMART i.e. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and above all timely) Students must
have NOT more than three objective otherwise they are not achievable and are not timely
at the same time.

1.4 Research questions

(Must be in heading two, Bold, times new roman and 12)

Research questions are questions that your research must answer and thus they should be
generated from the objectives. For effectiveness, all students must have not more than four (4)
research questions

1.5 Significance of the study

(Must be in heading two, Bold, times new roman and 12)

Tell us in two well-spaced paragraphs with each paragraph not more than six lines of what your
research or study seeks to solve
1.6 Justification

Justify in brief why your research or study should be undertaken in not more than two paragraphs
of a maximum of six lines each.

(Must be in heading two, Bold, times new roman and 12)

1.7 Scope

(Must be in heading two, Bold, times new roman and 12)

The scope of your research simply refers to the boundaries of the research and we are more
interested in the physical boundaries and technical boundaries of your research. Physical
boundaries can be like the country, district, sub-county, firm, section of a road and so on and can
even be put in a table for people who are going to collect data from more than three firms or
locations. The technical scope comes from the objectives i.e. if you have been contracted to build
a structure, your technical scope may be to procure materials, supervise and pay workers, build
as per the plan to finishing and then finally commissioning the structure. Maintenance and
renovation are outside your scope of work

1.8 Conceptual Framework and theoretical framework

For a theoretical framework, students shall use paragraphs or just words to describe in brief the
inputs, process and research or project output. The theories shall also give a linkage between the
methods, tools and so on. Students can only use either the conceptual framework or the
theoretical framework but not both.

The conceptual framework is a diagrammatic expression that combines your research objectives,
methods and tools and also has a loop or loops to some starting point or earlier points in the flow.

Students must also provide three paragraphs (NOT BULLETS) on the input, process and output
of the research.

It can even be a theoretical framework of the research. Under theoretical framework, you do not
need a drawing but the three paragraphs on the input, process and output must feature.

(Must be in heading two, Bold, times new roman and 12)

An example of a conceptual framework is been illustrated below.

 Chapter Two: Literature Review
This section deals with the analysis of existing literature on the subject with the objective of
revealing contributions, weaknesses and gaps.
The Literature Review should be according to the themes of the study and should reflect the
objectives, Hypotheses, methods and research questions.
Citations should be in accordance with approved format.
Other sections or headings such as:
2.1 introduction and other subsequent sections must be written and edited just like in Chapter
One
NOTE:
 The faculty recommends that all students use IEEE style for citations and referencing
 Some departments may recommend other referencing styles but IEEE is the standard.
 Also, students must understand that using a standard referencing style generates an
automatic page of references just like the table of contents.

Chapter Three: Methodology

This is a detailed description of selected methodology and should be presented in unambiguous
terms. The section comprises:
 Research or project design - which describes the nature and pattern the research followed
e.g. whether it is historical, descriptive survey, experimental or quasi experimental and
location (optional), etc.
 Tools and equipment used to accomplish the project. A full description of each should be
detailed.
 Research approaches – Qualitative or quantitative
 Description of the geographical area and where population of the study exists;
 Description of the population from which samples have been selected.
 Data collection methods; including instruments and procedures used in the research or
project described.
 Data quality control, which refers to reliability and validity of instruments.
 Measurements, which refer to the formulae or scales in the study.
 Data analysis, which involves organization and interpretation of the data generated. Note:
Both raw data and the analyzed form be kept both electronically and hardcopy for further
reference later. Follow the following steps in preparing data for analysis: (i) receive the
raw data sources (ii) Create electronic data base from the raw data sources (iii) Clean/Edit
the database (iv) Correct and clarify the raw data sources (v) Finalize database (vi) Create
data files from the data bases.
NOTE:
Other sections or headings such as:
  3.1 Introduction and other subsequent sections must be written and edited just like in
Chapter One and two.
 All the sections listed in chapter three above may not apply to every research but surely
most will appear in a way. The supervisor shall demand from the students or researchers
particular sections depending on the research type.
 A standard proposal has STRICTLY THREE CHAPTERS. I.E chapters one, two and
three “STRICTLY”
 The last section of the proposal is the Appendices. Normally over 98% of proposals will
have three two or three appendices as listed below.
 Appendix I: Work plan
 Appendix II: Budget (The budget should never ever have the word
miscellaneous otherwise that is no budget at all)
 Appendix III: Questionnaire where applicable
Note:
 All these appendices must be in “HEADING ONE” and must appear in the table of
contents
 Each of the appendices must “ STRICKTILY” be on a separate page

Chapter Four: Results and Discussion.

 This covers the results got per the method used and a thorough discussion on them.
 For those with very many results, Chapter Four can be only results and discussion can be Chapter
five.

Chapter Five: Conclusions and Recommendations

 Conclusions must come before recommendations and must be bankable in the sense.
 Recommendations must be effective just like objectives are SMART

References
This is a list of all works cited in the project and should be written according to the approved
format. The approved format is IEEE Referencing Style. References come at the end of the text.
The list starts on a fresh page. The sub-section is not numbered in the way other sections and
subsections are numbered. The title is in capital letters. All citations made in the text must appear
in the reference list: All references must be written using the style adopted for the study.

Example of references

[1] C. V. Nayar and J. H. Bundell, “Output Power Controller for a Wind Driven Induction
Generator”, IEEE Trans. on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. AES-23, No. 3, May 1987,
pp. 388-401.

[2] P. S. Panickar, S. M. Islam, and C. V. Nayar, “A New Quasi-Optimal Control Algorithm for
a Wind-Diesel Hybrid System”, Wind Engineering, Vol. 22, No. 3, 1998, pp. 159-169.
[3] M. T. Tiles, Title of the Book, Prentice-Hall, 1999, p. 99.

NOTE:
 References must be automatic just like the table of contents thus they should not be
just typed.
 For the proposal, each final year group should have a minimum of ten (10)
references
 In the final report, each group should have a minimum of 15 references. The
supervisor will ascertain the authenticity of these references prior to awarding a
final mark

Other Appendices
 Explanatory Notes
These include research/project approval letters, maps, and lists of areas visited.
 Instruments/Tools
These are details of tools used in the research/project e.g. Equipment, questionnaire, interview
schedule, scales and tests etc.
Note: Appendices start on a fresh page. Each piece of appendix is numbered and given a proper
title e.g.

Appendix 1: Questionnaire…….

IMPORTANT NOTES:

i. The standard Font name is TIMES NEW ROMANS and the standard font size for
everything in the proposal or report is 12 apart from only and only the cover page where
different font sizes can be used and on figures and table headings where the font size and
name are specified in the notices below.
ii. Each and every chapter must begin on a fresh page.
iii. Each and every chapter and heading such as 1.2, 2.1,2.2.1 must be bold and must appear
bold in the table of contents
iv. The proposal must be a minimum of 13 pages and a maximum of 20 pages without
the following sections (approval page, Declaration, Table of Contents, List of tables,
List of figures, List of Acronyms and appendices)
v. No student should attempt attending a proposal presentation unless they meet the
condition in (IV above) else they will automatically be suspended for next year.
vi. Not everything in this document has to be in your report but pick out those that apply to
your project.
vii. Always mind about the grammar that is tense and spelling.
viii. All figures and tables must be in the center of the page
ix. Use the following notation for numbering figures:
Fig. <Chapter number>.<figure number in that chapter>: <Figure title> Example: Fig.1.10: A
three phase transformer. The above example represents the 10th figure in chapter 1.
(a) Font size of figure numbers and their corresponding titles must be smaller than the rest
of the text but the same as any other words in figure labels. To be specific, use font size
12 for your text and font size 10 for figures.
(b) Table titles must be put on top of the tables and NOT at the bottom as the case is for
figures.
(a) Use the following notation for numbering tables
 Table <chapter number>.<table number in that chapter>: <Table title> Example: Table
2.9: List of specialized tools used. The above example represents the 9th table in chapter
2.
(b) Font size of table numbers and their corresponding titles must be smaller than the rest of
the text but the same size as the rest of the table content. To be specific, use font size 10
for table titles and their corresponding contents.
x. The document of the report must be justified.
xi. Be sure to proof read your reports before submitting for examination. Any errors, spelling
mistakes and grammar, will lead to loss of marks.
xii. Avoid use of jargons (if used, explanation must be provided) and all abbreviations and
acronyms used should be listed and explained under the section of list of acronyms.
xiii. Print three (3) copies and use hard cover binding and submit two copies to your supervisor for
marking.
xiv. Naming of figures and tables Arial 12 pt bold
xv. Proposal presentations should not exceed 10 slides whereas final presentations must not
exceed 15 slides
xvi. Final presentations shall take a minimum of 45 minutes per group and a maximum of 1
hour per group.
xvii. Only 8 groups shall be allowed to present per panel per day so as to reinforce the quality
of final year projects and to cultivate total individual student contribution.
xviii. For projects and researches where models or products were made or developed,
students will have to present them to the panel and at some point conduct certain tests in
front of the panel so as to validate the results presented and to ascertain student input
and comprehension.
xix. Proposal and final presentation marks shall be awarded on an individual NOT group
basis

End