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

• Conclusion

• Suggestions for further work

• References and bibliography

• Appendices

i) 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.

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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

TOTAL 100 100

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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