CO-OP REPORT PREPARATION GUIDE

Approved by the Committee for Cooperative Education on September 2017

Updated September 2017

 Co-op Report Preparation Guide

[COMPANY NAME]

KAC 1052 COOPERATIVE PLACEMENT REPORT

[Your name]
[ID number]

Company
A report submitted to the Logo
Here
Department of Engineering
UCSI University

Edit your coop course code here.

Example, if you are a Chemical
Engineering student taking coop 2,
then your code should be KAC 1052.
Chemical coop 4 would be KAC1054

[Date]

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 Co-op Report Preparation Guide

1. Introduction

Co-operative education (“co-op”) is one of the requirements in obtaining an engineering bachelor’s

degree. Co-op is sometimes known as internship or industrial training. The main objective of this
program is to provide the students with vast exposure to a real industrial environment. In addition,
students should also be able to apply the skills that they have gained throughout their academic years.

The co-op program also serves a purpose of a shared social obligation for both the UCSI and the
organizations involved. The students will generally assist the companies in handling any related jobs
and tasks assigned to them. In essence, this program will also indirectly enable UCSI in identifying
the industries’ current needs, hence improving any weaknesses discovered. Upon completing the co-
op program, the students are required to submit a report detailing their experience and summarizing
their activities at the organizations.

The submission of your Cooperative Education Report (“Co-op Report”) is one of the last steps in the
program leading to the completion of your engineering degree. The report is a professional statement
of the results of the student’s internship work. The School of Engineering has established guidelines
for uniformity in the format of the manuscript. These guidelines were designed to ensure that all
papers were high in quality and consistent in the arrangement of the contents.

The Co-op Report must be a professionally finished work in format, style, spelling and appearance, as
the finished document reflects on both the student and the University. The format of the manuscript
should be consistent with the guidelines presented herein. Failure to follow these instructions may
result in either total rejection of your Co-op Report or complete revision of your report. Co-op Report
is a report that you should prepare upon completion of your co-operative studies. The report should
highlight the profile of the company that you are attached with and the nature of tasks and jobs
assigned to you while you were in the company.

The report should be written individually and submitted to your respective Department Co-op
Coordinator upon completion of your internship. It is not necessary for the student to submit the
hardcover of the report, unless it is specifically requested by the Co-op Coordinator. Nevertheless, the
students are expected to submit the comb-bind of the report and submit it to school in the stipulated
deadline.

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 Co-op Report Preparation Guide

2. Report Layout

Your report is divided into three components:

(a) Front matters;

(b) Body; and
(c) End matters.

The front matters section consists of materials that cover your report. The sequence of your front
matter section consists of, in the following order:

i. Cover Page
ii. Title Page
iii. Approval Page
iv. Declaration
v. Acknowledgement
vi. Executive Summary
vii. Table of Contents
viii. List of Figures
ix. List of Tables, and
x. List of Abbreviations

The body of your report consists of the chapters, and they are namely:

xi. Chapter 1 – Introduction

xii. Chapter 2 – Company Profile
xiii. Chapter 3 – Tasks, Duties and Responsibilities
xiv. Chapter 4 – Conclusion and Future Recommendations

The end matters section consists of the following items, in order, if any:

xv. Appendices

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 Co-op Report Preparation Guide

The overall structure of the report is further outlined as follows:

# Item (in order) Description

(a) Front cover The front cover of your report should be printed on colored paper. Each
course has its own color, and the colors are as follows:

Colour Description Program

Red Mechatronics Engineering
Orange Petroleum Engineering
Blue Mechanical Engineering
Yellow Chemical Engineering
Pink Civil Engineering
Purple Electrical and Electronics (EE)
Grey Communication and Electronics (CE)

Naturally, this is the first page in your report, but you DO NOT HAVE
TO SHOW THE PAGE NUMBER.
(b) Title Page This page intends to describe the purpose of the submission of your
report. It simple states that the report is submitted as a partial
requirement for the completion of your degree.

The title page is the second page in your report, numbered as “ii”.

(c) Approval Page This page describes that the company supervisor has approved the
content and materials pertaining to company information that is
presented in your report. All reports should be verified first by your
company before submitting to the school. This page must be SIGNED
and STAMPED by the employer once verified the written content.

This page is the third page in your report, numbered as “iii”.

(d) Declaration In this page, students must declare that their work is original, and where
information, diagram or texts other than the students’ own work is
included in the report, it should be formally cited.

This page is the forth page in your report, numbered as “iv”.

(e) Acknowledgement In this section, students could acknowledge, dedicate and thank their
parents, company supervisor along with those who have helped them
throughout the co-op period.

This page is the fifth page in your report, numbered as “v”.

(f) Executive Summary An executive summary should summarize the whole report in less than
400 words, within ONE PAGE only.

Please ensure that your Executive Summary is concise, clear and

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(g) Table of Contents
(h) List of Figures
(i) List of Tables
(j) List of Abbreviations
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Co-op Report Preparation Guide
contains no grammatical errors.
Keep the summary concise, and write it in one single paragraph. The
summary should present the:
• purpose of the report
• basic company details (name & location)
• basic description of tasks
• highlights of the conclusion and recommendations
In writing your summary, do use connecting words (conjunctions) such
as “and”, “therefore”, “furthermore”, “first” etc.
This page is the sixth page in your report, numbered as “vi”.
The “Table of Contents” lists all main sections in your report and any
subsections with headings. Some key points to note:
• Ensure that each entry in the table of contents refers to the
correct page number.
• Connect each entry to its page number with a dotted line.
• Align the page numbers on the right side of your page.
• Note the use of lowercase Roman numerals (ii, iii, iv) for the
table of contents, list of figures and tables, and summary.
This page is the seventh page in your report, numbered as “vii”.
If you use figures or tables in your report, you must list them in the
preliminary pages of your report after Table of Contents page.
Each list identifies its components by number, title, and page number.
Do not list any tables or figures that appear in the appendices.
This page follows should be numbered as “viii”.
This section summarizes the number of tables in your report. When
preparing this section, please take note of the ordering, numbering, and
its corresponding page numbers in the body.
This page should be numbered as “ix”.
Throughout your report, you will be using lots of abbreviations such as
“UCSI”, “TQM”, “HR” etc. In order to accommodate your reader’s
understanding of your report, please list all abbreviations that you have
used in your report in this section. Arrange it in alphabetical orders.
This page follows the page after the “List of Abbreviations” and it
should be numbered as “x”.
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 Co-op Report Preparation Guide

(k) Body There should only be four chapters in your report. The chapters are:
• Chapter 1 : Introduction
• Chapter 2 : Company Profile
• Chapter 3 : Tasks, Duties and Responsibilities
• Chapter 4 : Conclusion and Recommendations

The page number for the chapters should be written in normal

numbering from 1, 2, 3 ... etc. The maximum acceptable number of
pages for chapters is 40.

(l) Appendices Where applicable, you may have the appendix section. The appendix
serves as an attachment where the students can append either large
documents, figures, tables or others which may not fit in the body of
the report.

The materials presented in the appendix section must be discussed in

the report. Irrelevant materials placed in the appendix section for the
purpose of thickening the report should be avoided.

Please note that students are required to obtain permission from the
company supervisor prior to attaching sensitive documents in their
reports.

Things to note:

- Approval and Declaration page MUST be signed and stamped by employer. The university holds
no responsibility over any leaked contents. The report and logbook submitted is classified and
will not be shown to others.

- For Table of Contents, List of Figures, Tables and Abbreviations, incorrect page numbering or
incomplete list is considered invalid.

- If you do not have any Figures, Tables and/or Abbreviations, declare in a page (before Chapter 1)
that you do not have any.

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3. What should be in the report?

NOTE: PLAGIARISM CAN BE DETECTED

Your report is limited to four chapters so as to avoid verbosity and promoting conciseness. The
following are the breakdown and structure of the chapters that should be included in the report:

CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction
§ In this section, you should describe the rationale behind co-op education.
§ State other universities throughout the world which also adopt the practice of having a co-op
during academic studies at tertiary institution.
§ In your own words, describe the advantages and disadvantages (if any) of doing coop during
your engineering study.

1.1 Objectives
§ State the objectives of co-op (maximum of 3 objectives).
§ Begin your objective with the word “To”.

1.2 Scope and Limitations

§ In this section, you are to tell the scope of your co-op i.e. where are you doing your co-op?
What is the company name? Nature of the job: engineering, administrative, science, etc.
§ In the limitation section, you should state on where the location of company, the nature of
work, and correlation of the work with your engineering background. For example, you limit
your co-op within the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur only, or within one department only, etc.

1.3 Significance
§ State the significance/importance of your co-op. In what way have the co-op benefits you?
What have you gained by doing your co-op? What rewards are offered to you? Personal or
monetary satisfaction?
§ Provide your opinion on these questions/statements:
(i) UCSI Engineering degree implements 8 long semesters, in line with the MCA
requirements. Two short semesters are implemented whereby students can take Year I
and II courses only, therefore year III and IV students are required to do co-op. Is
having two (2) co-op programs throughout engineering course beneficial to the
student? If no, state the activities or programs that you would recommend to while
away the September-December semester.
(ii) Co-op for Engineering faculty is a graded course, meaning that the grades obtained
contribute to CGPA. Would you agree to maintain this, or change coop to a non-grade
course with just a Pass and Fail? Public universities are implementing non-grade co-op
course.

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 Co-op Report Preparation Guide

CHAPTER 2 : COMPANY PROFILE

NOTE: PLAGIARISM CAN BE DETECTED

o This section should describe the company that you are attached with. The information about
the company can be obtained from the website. However, it is to be noted that sensitive and
confidential information may not be included in your report. It is your duty to obtain
permission and approval from the management of the company prior to inserting the
information in the report.

2.0 Company Background

• Summarize, within one page (approximately 400 words) the background and brief history of
the company. This information can usually be found on company’s website, therefore
plagiarism will affect your marks.

2.1 Location of the company

• State the location and address of the company.
• Include a map showing the direction of the company. If the company has a worldwide office,
then include them in your report.

2.2 Main Products and Services

• State the main product of the company.
• State the services in which the company provides.

2.3 Company achievement and improvement

• Provide your own opinion on the following:
(i) What makes your company different than other companies competing in the same
industrial background?
(ii) What is the key to the success of the company?
(iii) As someone who worked in the company for 3-4 months, suggest how your company
can expand locally, globally, or expand better than its competitors.
• State the department(s) that you were placed in during your internship. State the nature of
work and the importance of your department to the company.
• Provide your opinion as to how the work efficiency of your department can be improved in
assisting the company’s name to be better known.

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 Co-op Report Preparation Guide

CHAPTER 3 : TASKS, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

o This section should describe the nature of job and tasks assigned to you while you are having
your internship in the company.
o You should include either 1 or both of the following:
(i) A Gantt chart showing your progress and activities done and completed while you
were attached with the company.
(ii) A pie-chart which shows the nature of task(s) assigned to you, for example
‘administrative work’ or ‘mechanical work’ or electrical work’.

o In your report, you should describe at least three (3) major tasks and duties that have been
assigned to you.

3.0 Tasks Assigned & Completed

§ State the nature and significance of the tasks/projects – is it more towards chemical,
petroleum, electrical or mechanical or programming?
§ Describe the nature of each task/project assigned: the process, policies, regulations and the
procedures.
§ When describing the tasks that you have completed, include the following:
(i) Description of the task that you have completed.
(ii) Relevant pictures showing the project that you have successfully completed.
(iii) Relevant diagrams. For example, laboratory equipments, the wiring diagram, oil rig
equipments/handling, electrical circuits, the mechanical design of the project, etc.

3.1 Identification of Problems and Solutions

§ Describe the relevant technical problems that you encountered during your co-op. For
example, the problems could be a machine or equipment faulty.
§ Furthermore, you should also describe or propose solutions to remedy and rectify the
problems. Passing the problem to your supervisor to be solved is not a solution.
§ A minimum of three (3) problems should be identified, along with its solutions.

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3.2 Safety & Health awareness

§ Describe minimum of three (3) key points of the safety rules and regulations of the company.
There are also safety rules to working in an office environment.
§ Discuss two (2) issues encountered and/or observed, and provide your recommendations or
suggestions regarding the problem. The issues may not necessarily be issues that have been
reported; it can be issues that you observe could potentially be dangerous to the employees,
guests, and environment. Examples to office safety issue include tangled wires along office
floor, sitting posture, etc.

CHAPTER 4 : CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RECOMMENDATION

o Conclusions and recommendations are statements derived from the main body ’s
investigation.
o Include in the recommendations any comments that you feel might assist in future activities.
These future activities are probably not your responsibility and you should attempt to give
the reader the benefit of your experience from working on the problem.
o Just like the summary, conclusions should be brief (preferably one page), but complete and
understandable. You may use lists, but easy-to-read sentences are best. Each paragraph
should deal with only one aspect of the study.
o Conclusions may only be drawn if they are supported fully by the analyses described in the
body of your report. Three or more conclusions are expected.
o Try to write your conclusions in positive manner so as to avoid harsh language.
o Recommendations should be organized in the same manner as conclusion. They are
essentially speculative, but they should follow logically from your conclusions.
o Recommendations should be specific, measurable, and attainable.
o Organize your Chapter 4 as follows:

4.0 Conclusion
• Conclude your report by stating your major accomplishments, knowledge and skills gained
during your attachment with the company.

4.1 Recommendations
• State a minimum of five (5) relevant recommendations that could be made to various parties
i.e. the university, future candidates and/or the company. You may choose to provide
recommendations to any or all parties mentioned.
• Please write your recommendation in the most diplomatic manner. Do not use abusive
language in recommending a suggestion.
• For university recommendation, it must be relevant to the university ’s policy.

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 Co-op Report Preparation Guide

§ Appendices

o Appendices may be included if necessary and relevant to the point of discussion. However, it
is to be noted that should the students wish to include sensitive and confidential information
such technical drawing of a product, quotation of materials or other information that is
deemed to be confidential; then the students are required to obtain prior permission and
approval from the management of the company that the student is attached with.
o Not all reports have or need an appendix. Appendices can be considered stand-alone
documents, and thus could have their own table of contents. The appendix should contain
any information that substantiates the report, but that is not required for a comprehensive
understanding of your work. The appendix may contain bulky data such as lengthy tables,
computer printouts, descriptions of processes or operations, analytical procedures, or maps.
Assign consecutive letters or numbers along with names to each, for example: "Appendix A -
- Detailed Street Calculations," "Appendix B -- Bearing Plate Calculations," or "Appendix 1
-- Site Maps."

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4. Formatting

The following formatting should be used when writing your report:

4.1 Font type

Students are advised to use professional fonts for their report. To make it standard for the whole
school, all students are to use the font “Times New Roman” for the body of the report. The main
heading will be “Times New Roman” as well.

4.2 Font size

The size of the font should be reasonable so that your report can be read easily. Typically, for
your report, the size of the heading should be 13 and the size of your text should be 12.

4.3 Justification and Hyphenation

The text in your report should be aligned so as to improve the appearance and legibility of the
text. Justify your text.

4.4 Pagination
All pages should be numbered, with the exception of the front cover. Use lowercase Roman
numerals for pages other than the chapters and use Arabic numerals (e.g. 1, 2, …) for pages that
are in the chapter.

The page numbers that are displayed must be aligned to the left at the bottom of each page, within
the bottom margin. It is to be noted that no words, punctuation, or diacritics of any kind
accompany the page number. Your page number should be “4”, not “-4-” or “4.” or “Page 4”.

The body of the report should be more than twenty-five (25) pages, and maximum of 40 pages
excluding front and back matters. The restriction on length should not be thought to minimize the
importance of the report; rather it is to encourage conciseness of expression and selective
presentation of results.

4.5 Line Spacing

Line spacing is essential in making the text in your report to be readable as well as legible. In
your report, use double spacing throughout except in footnotes, indented quotations set off from
the text, bibliography entries of more than one line, and materials such as captions or tables and
appendices of data.

4.6 Style of Writing

• Person
The report should be written in the third person point of view rather than the first or second
person. Avoid using the phrase “I” or “you” in your report. The following table provides an
example:

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Correct Incorrect
The reader will observe that … I found that…
Figure 3 shows that … You will note that …

• Shortened Expression
Contractions such as “didn’t”, “can’t” and “wasn’t” are considered as informal English while
complete constructions such as “did not”, “could not” and was not” are characteristics of
formal English. Students should also be careful with the use of inappropriate English words
such as “awesome”, “so”, etc. Marks may be deducted in grammar for the use of these
abbreviations and improper English for report writing.

Furthermore, clipped words such as “gym”, “exams”, “lab” and so forth are highly
discouraged in writing a co-op report.

• Capitalization
Capitalize the first word in the title and proper nouns.

• Numbers
When numbers are used, they normally appear in numerals. Consider the following
guidelines:

o Numbers below ten are written in words.

o Number ten and above appear as numerals.
o Fractions or decimal values are written as numerals.
o Numbers which begin a sentence must be spelled out when use in the text.

4.7 Finishing
All reports that are submitted to the departments need to be fully bound by using a comb-bound.
The students must also attach a plastic cover on both sides of the report. The report must be
bound by using the prescribed colors – in accordance with your department – for ease of
identification.

5. Using Units, Abbreviations, Numbers and Symbols

5.1 Units
1. All units must be expressed in SI systems.
2. The number and the unit must be separated by a space. For example, we write 4 cm, not 4cm.
3. The unit is to be written after a number, and it should be abbreviated.
4. There is no period after a unit except if it ends the sentence.
5. The units are never written in plural form. For example, we write 4 cm, not 4 cms.

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5.2 Abbreviations
1. In a graph or table, use abbreviations where possible. For example, write January as Jan.
2. Abbreviated names are separated by a space. For instance, we write Graham Edward Fuller as
G.E. Fuller not G.E.Fuller.
3. Abbreviations other than names are written in capital letters and not separated by periods. For
example, we abbreviate United Nations as UN, not U.N.

5.2 Numbers
1. Usually, we write percentage in words. For example, we normally write 15 percent. However,
where needed, we can also use the percent symbol %. However, the use of the percent symbol
must be consistent in your writings.
2. A zero must preceeded before a decimal point. For example, we write 0.1 but not .1.
3. A four digit numbers are written close to one another and not separated by a space. For
instance, the correct form is 9999 not 9 999. However, numbers that are more than four digits
are separated by a space. For example, we write ten thousand as 10 000, not 10000.
4. A date is written without a comma and we usually write it as 15 February 1987.
5. The range of year is written in the following manner: 1891–1920.

5.3 Chemical Units

1. Follow the IUPAC for writing chemical symbols.
2. The names of chemical elements are usually spelt out in full. For example, we say hydrogen
gas, not H2 gas.
3. Chemical bonds can be written by using a dash. For example, CH 3-CO-CI.
4. Ionic elements or compounds can be written as Cu 2+ not Cu++.

5.4 Engineering Symbols

1. SI units are highly encouraged to be used, however, other units are also allowed. The key is
to be consistent in using your units throughout your report.
2. All equations must be numbered, and the numbering follows the chapter number.
3. Use lowercase letter for common words, but use uppercase latter for specific names. For
instance, we write Ohm’s law but not Ohm’s Law.

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