Final&Year&Project&Guidelines&(2017/2018)&

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School&Of&Mechanical&Engineering,&USM&
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Introduction&
The final year project provides an opportunity for the students to conduct in-depth work on a
substantial problem to show individual creativity and originality to apply appropriate
knowledge, skills and techniques taught throughout the degree programme, and to practice
investigative, problem-solving, management and other transferable skills. Some of the skills
cannot simply be taught in the lecture hall but only can be learned through practical experience
by working on a large project. This course will help the students to have the following
attributes:

PO2.! Identify, formulate and analyze complex engineering problems to an extent of obtaining
meaningful conclusions using principles of mathematics, science and engineering.
PO3.! Design solutions for complex engineering problems and design systems, components or
processes to within the prescribed specifications relevant to mechanical and manufacturing
engineering with appropriate considerations for public health and safety, society and
environmental impact.
PO4.! Investigate complex mechanical and manufacturing engineering problems using
research-based knowledge and research methods to provide justified conclusions.

PO8.! Apply ethical principles and commit to professional ethics and responsibilities and
norms of engineering practice.
PO9.! Communicate effectively both orally and in writing on complex engineering activities
with the engineering community and society.

PO11.! Recognize the need for, and is capable to undertake life-long learning in the broadest
context of knowledge and technological change.
PO12.! Apply knowledge and understanding of project management and finance to engineering
projects.

Project&Schedule&
The two-semester project will be one of the most important parts of the students’
undergraduate studies. The following recommended schedule is prepared for the students to
plan the work. Two fundamentally important parts of the project are the written documents and
the oral presentation. The students need to submit a research plan six (6) weeks after getting
the title of the project. At the end of the Semester I, the students will deliver an interim

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 report and interim viva. At the end of the Semester II, the students will produce a final
report and give a presentation.

Table 1: Timeline for the course

WEEK DATE ACTIVITIES REMARKS
Seminar room,
1 11.09.2017 – 17.09.2017 Coordinator - students meeting
SoME
2 18.09.2017 – 24.09.2017 FYP title selection (Student – title)
Seminar 1: Project Management and Seminar room,
3 25.09.2017 – 01.10.2017
Finance SoME

Seminar 2: How to Write a Research Seminar room,

4 02.10.2017 – 08.10.2017
Plan and Tackling a Literature Review SoME

Seminar room,
5 09.10.2017 – 15.10.2017 Seminar 3: Research Methodology
SoME

6 16.10.2017 – 22.10.2017 Mid-semester break

Workshop: Managing Citation and

7 23.10.2017 – 29.10.2017 CAD lab, SomE
Reference using Endnote
Submit to
8 30.10.2017 – 05.11.2017 Research Plan (R1)
supervisor
Submit to
14 11.12.2017 – 17.12.2017 Progress Report (R2)
supervisor
Internal (with
15 18.12.2017 – 24.12.2017 Interim Viva/Presentation (V1)
supervisor)
20 – 22 22.01.2018 – 11.02.2018 Inter semester break
Seminar 4: How to Write FYP Thesis Seminar room,
26 05.03.2018 – 11.03.2018
(Part 1) SoME
Seminar 5: How to Write FYP Thesis Seminar room,
27 12.03.2018 – 18.03.2018
(Part 2) SoME
Seminar room,
29 26.03.2018 – 01.04.2018 Seminar 6: Writing Technical Paper
SoME

30 02.04.2018 – 08.04.2018 Mid-semester break

Submit to SoME
37 21.05.2018 – 27.05.2018 Thesis submission (H1)
office
Supervisor and
39/40 04.06.2018 – 17.06.2018 Final viva/presentation (S1)
examiner
SoME = School of Mechanical Engineering

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Selecting&a&Project&
A list of Final Year Project will be published at e-learn few days before the selection date; for
students to see and do literature search about the interested topics. During FYP selection day,
students can choose up to ten projects in order of preferences. Mechanical and
manufacturing students are allowed to choose topics from different programme providing that
you have taken/currently taking/will take the relevant elective courses to support your
preferences. The link can be found here: https://goo.gl/forms/oLuMHMYZpNitVBZ43.

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Projects that are chosen by only one student as their first preference will be assigned straight
away to the respective students. If there is more than one student choosing a particular project
as their first preferences, then the selection will be based on students’ research interests, or/and
CGPA. After processing the first preferences of all students, the same method will be repeated
for all remaining unassigned students starting from their second preference and up to the tenth
preference.

Students are allowed to propose an industrial-based project; however, a proper research plan
and a letter of agreement from the respective company must be submitted to the FYP
coordinator. The student can propose a lecturer who is willing to be the supervisor of the
project. Please note that a lecturer within the School of Mechanical Engineering/Manufacturing
Engineering must be listed as the main supervisor of the project.

Project&Deliverables&
SEMESTER I (2017/2018)

a)! Research Plan

o! A research plan should be submitted six (6) weeks after the student get the title. The
plan should contains;
!! A description of the problem statement
!! A critical literature review, and
!! Project Gantt chart
b)! Interim report and presentation
o! Towards the end of Semester I, every students need to submit a fifteen to twenty
page progress report detailing what has been achieved during the semester. The
supervisor will award a mark based on the report and progress during the semester.
This will gauge the student progress in the semester, and will give an idea to the
supervisor about the completion of the work.

SEMESTER II (2017/2018)

a)! Final report

o! Towards the end of Semester II, every student will be required to submit two (2)
copies of a Final Year Project thesis of typical length 30 – 60 pages (excluding
Appendices) that will be marked by the supervisor and an examiner usually selected
from the school. The thesis must be bound using staples and black sticky tape.
Mechanical Engineering students should use blue A4 cards on the front and back
covers of the thesis, whereas Manufacturing Engineering students should use red
A4 cards. The transparent sheets must be attached on the front and back covers of the
thesis.
b)! Formal presentation
o! The students need to do fifteen (15) minutes PowerPoint presentation followed by
five (5) minutes of Q&A. The presentation session normally takes place during the
second/third week of exams.

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Contents&of&the&Reports&
Interim report

This is only a guideline to assist the students in preparing the document. There is a great
diversity in the types of projects undertaken by the students, and that may influence the
weighting or emphasis given to the various chapter of the report.

i.! Title page

ii.! Table of contents
iii.! Introduction
•! Brief overview of the overall structure of the project,
•! Problem statement
•! Outline the scope of the project.
iv.! Research background
•! Describe what you have discovered in your literature search or market survey. Does
this problem or one similar to it exist anywhere else? Who is working on it? How
have others solved it?
•! Critically evaluate the pros and cons of the major approaches taken by previous
workers.
v.! Proposed solution
•! Outline in detail the approach to solving the problem. Describe the proposed solution
methods and the progress that have achieved.
vi.! Implementation plan
•! Layout the project implementation plan for the next semester. Discuss the project’s
target and milestone dates.
vii.! Conclusion
viii.! References

Final&report&

Students (with a consent of a respective supervisor) can choose to write the final report either
in thesis or journal-paper format.

a. Instructions for preparing the final report in thesis format

The thesis should be written in such that to be both “narrative” (telling story of the project) and
an “argument” (providing a logical justification of the steps that have undertaken to solve the
problem). The thesis should be typed using Times New Roman font (size 12) with 1.5 spacing
on one side of A4 sized paper. Allow 1.5 in. (38 mm) margin on the left and 1.0 in. (25 mm)
margin elsewhere. Any typographical errors must be carefully corrected. The recommended
structure of the thesis is given below.

i.! Front page (sample is given in Appendices). It should normally include:

•! The title of the thesis

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 •! The name of the student
•! The name of the project supervisor
•! The qualification for which the project report is a part
•! The name of the school and institution
•! The date of completion of the project
ii.! Declaration
iii.! Acknowledgement
iv.! Table of contents
v.! List of Figures
vi.! List of Tables
vii.! List of Abbreviations
viii.! Abstract (BM)
•! Write this section last to give an overview of what has been achieved. In about 300
words, it should give enough information about the main features of the project,
problem that is solved and how it is being solved.
ix.! Abstract (BI)
x.! Chapter One: Introduction
•! Brief overview of the overall structure of the project,
•! The aims(s) or goal(s) of the project
•! State the problem statement
•! Outline the scope of the project.
xi.! Chapter Two: Literature Review
•! It should explain
i.! Why the project is being addressed?
ii.! Indicate awareness of other work relevant to the problem
iii.! Show clearly that the problem has not been solved by anyone else
•! This section may describe;
i.! Any theory associated with the problem area
ii.! Existing solutions relevant to the problem
iii.! Methods and tools that the solution may be based on
xii.! Chapter Three: Research Methodology
•! Describe the methods in detail. An overview diagram of the solutions should be
placed in the body of the report. This may help a reader get a sense for the overall
structure of the solution.
xiii.! Chapter Four: Results and Discussion
•! Describe the process that went through in completing the project. Highlight any
major variations from the original plans.
xiv.! Chapter Five: Conclusion and Future Work
•! Describe what has been accomplished. What work still need to be done and how can
it be improved and/or enhanced?
xv.! References
xvi.! Appendices

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 •! This could be extensive technical details or mathematical proofs, derivations of
formulae, formal specifications etc. which would seriously obstruct the flow of ideas
if put anywhere in the main body of the report.

All figures and tables should be numbered in order and the numbering should follow the
chapter (not the sub-chapter), e.g. Figure 2.1, Figure 2.2, Table 2.1 (in Chapter Two). Each
figure and table must have a caption. The font size for the captions must be set at 11 (not
italic).

b. Instructions for preparing the final report in journal-paper format

The research article should be written in English. The length of research article (journal-paper
format) is 20 to 30 pages (excluding Appendices).

The research article (journal-paper format) should be structured as follows:

i.! Front Page

ii.! Declaration
iii.! Acknowledgement
iv.! Table of Contents
v.! List of Tables
vi.! List of Figures
vii.! Nomenclature/Symbols
viii.! Abstrak (BM)
ix.! Abstract (BI)
x.! Content/paper format

Notes: Follow the format/instruction of the journal paper except for line spacing (double
spacing) and column number (1 column). The abstrak/abstract should not be more than one-
page long.

Two hardcopies of the final report should be submitted to SoME office. The submission due
date is given in the section at the beginning of this document. A soft copy of the final report
(with correction, if any) and related files such as CAD files, simulation results, pictures from
mechanical testing, computer source codes and PowerPoint presentation should be submitted
on CD after the viva.

Grading&and&Assessment&
All the addressed POs for this course will be evaluated based on four assessment components
during the first semester, and three assessment components during the second semester.
Overall mark from the assessment that carried out in Semester I contributes 20% from the

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 overall mark, and 75% is based on the work in Semester II. The remaining 5% will come
from student’s project notebook. The following table describes the components of the marks:

Table 2: Distribution of the marks

Marks distribution
Assessed Program
Semester Assessments (%)
Outcomes Supervisor Examiner
I & II Project Notebook (A1) PO8, PO11, PO12 5 -
Research Plan (R1) PO2 7 -
I Progress Report (R2) PO2 7 -
Interim Viva / Presentation (V1) PO2 6 -
Thesis/technical paper (H1) PO2,PO3,PO4,PO9 27.5 27.5
II
Presentation (S1) PO9 10 10

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Additional&Information&
i.! The student is expected to spend approximately 1 day per week on the project.
ii.! Every student will be expected to meet the supervisor either 30 minutes or 1 hour every
fortnight. The student is responsible to contact the supervisor and arrange the meeting.
In fact, two-hour slot every week has been allocated in the timetable for this purpose
(Tuesday: 4 – 6pm for mechanical engineering students, and Friday: 3 – 5pm for
manufacturing engineering students).
iii.! While working on the project, every student must keep a project notebook and record
all relevant information. Typically such information will include:
a.! notes from meetings with the supervisor or technical experts,
b.! diary of all project-related activities,
c.! references such as books, magazines, websites with full bibliography details,
d.! and so on.

The notebook must be verified and signed by the supervisor. Please keep the book for
assessment purposes at the end of Semester I and II.

Further&Information&
If you have queried then please contact the FYP coordinator 2017/2018:

Dr. Mohamad Ikhwan Zaini Ridzwan,

Room: 2.18, SoME
Email: mikhwanr@usm.my
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Appendix:&&

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&SAMPLE&OF&FRONT&PAGE&OF&THE&FINAL&REPORT&

LASER INSPECTION OF PAPER ROUGHNESS

16&point&bold&
UPPER&CASE&for&the& 12&point&bold&
title& By: UPPER&CASE&&
TAN YING HOOI

(Matrix no.: 70772)

12&point&bold&
Supervisor: LOWER&CASE&&
Assoc. Prof. Mani Maran Ratnam

March 2006

This dissertation is submitted to

Universiti Sains Malaysia
As partial fulfillment of the requirement to graduate with honors degree in
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (MECHANICAL ENGINEERING)

School of Mechanical Engineering

Engineering Campus
Universiti Sains Malaysia

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RESEARCH&PLAN&
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Name of Student

Matric. No.

Contact No. (HP)

Email Address

Program

Name of Supervisor

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Project Title:

Research Plan (You need to write in complete sentences and paragraphs)

1. Introduction

2. Project Background (300 – 500 words)

3. Problem Statement (50 -100 words)

4. Literature Review

5. Objectives (30 -50 words)

6. Scope of Work (50 – 100 words)

7. Gantt chart

Project Requirements:

Software : __________________________________________________

Hardware : __________________________________________________

Type of Project:

[ ] Experimental
[ ] Simulation/Programming
[ ] Design/Fabrication
[ ] Analytical
[ ] Others (Please state): ____________________________________

7. References

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PROJECT&NOTEBOOK&
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Name!of!Student!&!Matric.!No! !
Semester/Session! !
Task:! !
Work!Week! !
Lecturer/Supervisor! !
Meeting!No.! !
Date!of!Meeting! !
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INSTRUCTION:&List&down&the&task(s)&and&itemize&the&contents&of&your&discussion&
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Signed!by!Academic!Supervisor! :!_______________________!!
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