School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering

Final Year Project

Thesis Preparation Guide

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Table of Contents

1. The Purpose of the Thesis........................................................................................3

2. Thesis Structure........................................................................................................5

3. Title Page.................................................................................................................6

4. Project Summary......................................................................................................7

5. Preamble – Letter of Transmittal, Acknowledgements, Contents,

Publications and Nomenclature ...............................................................................7

6. Introduction and Literature Review.......................................................................10

7. “Process” - Experimental Method, Model Formulation, Design

Approach, Data Collection.....................................................................................13

8. Results and Discussion...........................................................................................16

9. Conclusions and Future Work................................................................................23

10. References and Appendices...................................................................................20

11. Format....................................................................................................................21

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1. The Purpose of the Thesis

The purpose of the thesis (or indeed any engineering report) is the communication of the

project’s motivations and findings to others. For engineering projects, the following

elements are usually of interest to the intended audience;

The project objectives, and the reasons for pursuing these particular objectives.

The background history and current state of the art in the area of interest.

The techniques, equipment and procedures used in accomplishing the project

objectives.

The findings of the investigation, whether they be experimental results, a new

design, a suggested change in operating practice, or a direction for further

research.

A discussion of the findings in the context of the original objectives, the

background history, and the previous state of the art.

A set of conclusions, and a discussion of the next steps that would be taken in

the continuation of the project or the implementation of its findings.

When formulating any report, it is important to understand both the nature of the

report’s audience, and the motivations that the audience might have in reading the

report. Audiences for engineering reports may include;

Other professional engineers

Academic researchers

Government organisations or parliamentary committees.

Corporate managers, who may or may not have engineering training

Potential investors/supporters

The general public

The motivations of the audience will vary widely, but may include;

Determining whether the reported findings have application in the audience’s

own projects.

Making a decision on whether to implement the findings or recommendations of

the project.

Evaluating whether the proposed design should be adopted.

Continuing or extending the work done by the initial project.

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Providing funding to develop or apply the findings of the report.

2. Thesis Structure

The recommended thesis structure provides a framework for ensuring that the project

content is communicated to the audience in a logical fashion. In general, a final year

project thesis will be composed of the following sections;

Title Page

Project Summary

Letter of Transmittal

Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

Publications (if applicable)

Nomenclature (optional)

Introduction (and Literature Review)

Process

Results & Discussion

Conclusions & Future Work

References

Appendices

Given the wide variety of investigations undertaken in this unit, the structure of the

main body of the thesis (comprising the Introduction, Process, Results and Discussion,

and Conclusions) may be adjusted to suit a particular investigation. It is preferable,

however, that creative energies are focused on the ideas presented in designs,

investigations, or experiments rather than on developing novel structures for the thesis.

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3 Title Page

The title page sets the tone for the presentation and professionalism of the entire report.

The elements should be arranged in a clear and orderly fashion, and typographical errors

on the title page should be regarded as completely unforgivable.

Remember – First impressions are critical!

The title page must include;

The project title.

The authors. For this report, this would include the lead author’s name and

student number, along with the name(s) of the project supervisor(s).

The organisational affiliation of all authors. For the most part, this will be the

“School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Australia”.

The date of submission

This information is standard on any professional report or manuscript, and is all that is

required on the cover page; a sample title page is included overleaf that demonstrates an

appropriate arrangement. Images are not required on the cover page, and should never

be included at the expense of the required information. It should also be remembered

that the markers (or, in the case of a professional report, subsequent readers) will

usually print the thesis in black and white due to the expense or unavailability of colour

printing. As a result, colour images may not appear as the author intends, and may in

fact detract from the appearance of the cover page.

Similarly, it has become common for students to somewhat randomly place a variety of

corporate, UWA, or school logos on the title page. This is not required, nor is it

recommended. Most organisations have very strict rules governing their visual identity,

which may extend to include the size, placement and presentation of the logo. UWA is

no exception, and in most instances students have not presented UWA logos in the

approved fashion. Outside organisations may also prohibit students using their logo on a

thesis, as it may incorrectly imply that it is an official corporate document. A logo

should only be placed on the cover page in exceptional circumstances, with the explicit

approval of the relevant organisation.

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Project Title For Sample Title Page

John Q. Student

Student Number

School of Mechanical and Chemical EngineeringUniversity of Western Australia

Supervisor: Jessica Q. Supervisor

School of Mechanical and Chemical EngineeringUniversity of Western Australia

Co-Supervisor: Robert J. Otherguy

Other School or Company Inc.

Final Year Project Thesis

School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering

University of Western Australia

Submitted: November 1st, 2015

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4. Project Summary

The Project Summary (also known as the synopsis, or abstract) should provide a clear,

concise executive summary of the thesis. It should concisely identify the reasons for

undertaking the project, the objectives of the project, the approach(es) used to achieve

the objectives, and a summary of the key findings or recommendations. It should never

exceed one page; for this unit, a limit of 250 words should be observed (which should

be comfortably less than one page). It should be placed on a page of its own,

immediately following the title page.

In professional practice, for busy readers the Project Summary may be the only part of

the report that is read. It will serve as the “shop window” for the report – readers will

determine whether the rest of the report is relevant to their interests based on the

summary. The importance of first impressions should accordingly be remembered in its

preparation. In a professional environment, a poor Project Summary will inhibit the

chances of the recommendations or design being adopted; in a school environment, it

may leave the marker in a more critical (or negative) state of mind when they read the

rest of the thesis.

5. Preamble – Letter of Transmittal, Acknowledgements, Contents,

Publications and Nomenclature

The Project Summary is followed by a series of items that convey essential information

about the project and the thesis document. The first is the Letter of Transmittal, which is

a required element. An example letter is included at the end of this section; it should be

retyped for inclusion in the thesis, changing the appropriate details. At the time of

writing, Professor John Dell serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, and the

Letter of Transmittal is to be addressed accordingly.

A page listing Acknowledgements may (and in most cases, should) be included next.

On this page, individuals or organisations that have provided significant assistance in

the completion of the project should be acknowledged. It is particularly important that

anyone who has contributed results or data to the project is acknowledged. When a

thesis is submitted, it is assumed to represent the student’s work, and it is the student’s

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contribution that is being assessed – for that reason, it is important to identify any

contributions that should be attributed to third parties.

A Table of Contents must be provided next. The purpose of the Table is to make it easy

for readers to find particular sections of the thesis; a good Table of Contents enhances

the presentation of the thesis, while a scruffy or (worse) incorrect table will detract from

the reader’s overall impression. The Table of Contents in this document provides an

example of a suitable format. Listings should be limited to sections (such as the

Introduction, or Experimental Method) and sub-sections (major topic headings within

the sections); it would not be usual to include sub-sub-sections in the Table of Contents.

The remaining elements of the preamble are optional, or, in many cases, not applicable.

If the project has generated manuscripts that have been accepted or submitted to

journals or conferences (other than the School’s Final Year Technology Conference) for

publication, then a list of these publications should be provided. Only those manuscripts

that have actually been submitted should be listed; “projected” submissions must not be

listed.

A “Nomenclature” section may be included that provides a list of the symbols used in

the thesis and their meaning. This may be useful if the thesis introduces a large number

of symbols, but should be regarded as optional; even if a Nomenclature page is

provided, many (most) readers would prefer important symbols to also be defined in the

text when they first appear.

Students should note that while none of these elements appear directly in the thesis

marking guides, they do contribute to the overall presentation of the thesis, and

shortcomings may be reflected in the presentation mark. Importantly, their presence at

the front of the thesis means that their appearance will contribute to the reader’s early

impression of the thesis, and thus may affect their state of mind as they go on to review

the main body of the thesis. For these reasons, it is important that care be exercised in

the presentation and review of these elements.

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Sample Letter of Transmittal

John Q. Student27 Residential StreetCrawley, WA, 6009

XXnd October, 20XX

Winthrop Professor John DellDeanFaculty of Engineering, Computing and MathematicsUniversity of Western Australia35 Stirling HighwayCrawley, WA, 6009

Dear Professor Dell

I am pleased to submit this thesis, entitled “Thesis Title Here”, as part of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering.

Yours Sincerely

John Q. StudentStudent Number

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6 Introduction and Literature Review

The purpose of the introduction is to describe the issue that is being addressed, define

the specific objectives of the project, describe the reasons for pursuing those objectives,

and place the objectives in the context of the past history of the field and the current

state of the art.

The introduction should accordingly start by defining the specific issue being addressed

by the project. In most cases, it will be appropriate to incorporate schematic diagrams,

graphs or tables illustrating the nature of the issue for the reader (remembering that the

issue may be new to the reader).

In defining the issue, the implications of the issue for any interested parties, such as a

company, the scientific community, government organisations, or affected members of

the public, should be discussed. Many projects set out to enhance the engineering and

academic communities’ understanding of an issue, which will help guide future

research, policy formulation or planning. For operational problems in a plant, the

project may address environmental, health and safety issues, potential production losses,

or maintenance requirements. For a design problem, the project may investigate

improvements that enable a product to either compete more effectively or enter a new

market. For projects dealing with organisational practices, the objectives may relate to

the efficiency or effectiveness of operations.

Once the issue and its implications have been defined, the next element of the

introduction is the literature review, which may be described as a discussion of the

background history and the current state of the art. The emphasis of the literature review

will vary depending on the nature of the project. For research investigations, this review

may deal almost entirely with the academic literature. For design projects, existing

approaches or designs for the issue of interest would be discussed, along with any

relevant codes or standards, along with relevant academic literature. For investigations

of engineering practice, current operating practices and standards would be discussed.

For projects that involve particular organisations, the past history of the issue within

that organisation should be explored. All references must be properly cited, using the

Harvard citation format.

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It is important to remember to carefully review the literature, as opposed to simply

surveying the literature. A good literature review provides a critical analysis of the

material that is being cited, grouping together similar papers, highlighting unique

contributions, and discussing their relevance to the current project, thereby providing a

coherent summary of the (relevant) state of the art. In contrast, a literature survey

simply sequentially lists paper, devoting a paragraph or sentence to each with no real

indication as to their relative importance or relevance. Both may cover the same range

of papers, but a properly constructed review demonstrates greater insight on the part of

the author, and is recognised accordingly in the thesis marking scheme.

In constructing the literature review (or, indeed, any part of the thesis), it is important to

clearly understand practices regarded as plagiarism. Examples of plagiarism include:

failure to reference source material or unpublished work of other people;

copying graphics without quoting the original work and attributing the work to its

rightful author;

copying extensive tracts of text verbatim from reference material, even if the

source is properly cited. Occasionally it may be appropriate to reproduce verbatim

text, placing the text in quotation marks and citing the source. However, the extent

of such reproduction should almost never exceed one to two sentences, and you

should check with your supervisor on the appropriateness of the reproduction.

Verbatim reproduction of multiple paragraphs is never acceptable.

one or more students cooperating to complete a project and then handing in

identical submissions;

one student copying any part of another person's project.

The Harvard style has been adopted for citing sources in final year project.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated in final year project theses, and will be prosecuted

according to the policies of the faculty and university. Plagiarised figures are

usually extremely easy for markers to identify, with quick image searches on

Google providing documentary proof. Students are advised that software (such as

“Turnitin”) may also be employed to check for and document plagiarism in the

text, though it should be noted that instances of plagiarism are usually

immediately obvious to experienced readers.

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Once the state of the art has been described, the next step is to describe the specific

objectives of the current project, placing them in the context of the pre-existing state of

the art and the interests of affected organisations or parties. The manner in which these

objectives will advance the state of the art should be described. If the project is laying

the groundwork for continuing studies, this should be stated, and the ultimate goals of

any continuing investigations should be described (it is quite common for final year

projects to be a part of larger investigations involving several students and academic

staff).

At this stage, it is often worthwhile, and indeed important, to assess the benefits that

would accrue to interested entities from the successful achievement of the objectives.

Examples of this include:

Assessing the positive financial consequences of achieving the objectives (or,

conversely, the negative consequences of failing to address the issue).

Estimating the impact on an entity’s Key Performance Measures.

Addressing the manner in which the project findings affect environmental,

health and safety issues.

Determining whether an entity’s resources may be more efficiently or effectively

deployed

This aspect is often neglected in final year project reports, but it forms an essential

element of reports delivered in professional practice. Any final year report would be

enhanced by the inclusion of such a discussion.

For longer reports, it is common to include a brief description of the structure and

contents of the different sections of the report at the end of the introduction. This may

be considered for final year projects theses, especially if an unconventional structure is

adopted, but is not required. Students may opt to separate the introduction and the

literature review into separate chapters – the decision as to whether adopt such a format

would depend entirely on whether the format causes the thesis to “flow” in a more

logical fashion. The marking scheme would not assess any penalty for such a decision –

but it should be remembered that the reader’s overall impression plays an important part

in determining the marks they assign, and the choice should be made according to

which format will give the best flow, and thus the best impression.

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7. “Process” - Experimental Method, Model Formulation, Design Approach,

Data Collection

This section describes the “process” by which the project objectives are being achieved.

The nature of this process will vary according to the type of project – select a title for

this section that is appropriate for the project. The guiding principle for this section is

that it should provide all the information necessary for subsequent workers to repeat

the work.

Elements of this section for different types of investigation could include the following

(note that more than one may apply for any given investigation);

Experimental Investigations

Diagrams and descriptions of experimental apparatus.

Specimen designs, preparation and/or sources

Descriptions of experimental procedures, including references to relevant test

standards

Descriptions of the methods used to calculate key parameters from the raw data

For example, to describe a tensile test a drawing of the specimens showing the specimen

dimensions should be provided, along with a description of the manner in which the

specimens were fabricated and prepared for testing (including any heat treatment), the

relevant ASTM standard, gripping arrangements, loading rate, and the method used to

measure displacement (and thence strain). The method used to calculate the elastic

modulus, yield strength. Ultimate tensile strength and/or failure strain from the

experimental record should also be described.

Modelling Investigations

A description of any software tools used and/or created.

A description and diagram of the model configuration.

Descriptions of the model input options selected (boundary conditions,

constitutive behaviours etc)

A discussion of the process by which the final model configuration was

determined (for example, discussing the tests undertaken to ensure that the

model has converged towards the true solution).

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A description of any model validation tests (in some cases, this may appear in

the results and discussion section)

Design Investigations

A description of the constraints imposed on the design (particular materials, cost

limits, etc)

A discussion of the criteria that will be used to make design choices and evaluate

the success of the final design.

Descriptions of any design tools or procedures employed (such as software).

A discussion of the relevant code sections or requirements (this may be included

in the criteria or constraints).

A description of any experiments undertaken to evaluate the constructed design

(following the guidelines provided above for experimental procedures).

Engineering Practice Investigations

A description of data collection methods (surveys, interviews, lists of questions).

A description of the principal information sources.

A description of the any relevant codes or standards,

A description of the tools to be used in formulating any new approaches.

A discussion of the criteria that will be used to make decisions and evaluate the

success of any recommended procedure.

For projects that are predominantly literature reviews, this section may perhaps not be

necessary (there’s no real need to discuss the use of standard literature databases, unless

a novel approach was adopted).

Illustrations

Markers have observed that the quality of equipment and model illustrations provided

has declined markedly in recent years. This is in large part due to over-reliance by

students on digital photographs of experimental rigs and designs, and screen prints of

model configurations. In most cases, a photograph of a test rig by itself is completely

and utterly worthless. A carefully drawn set of schematic diagrams or engineering

drawings, showing the important dimensions and labelled appropriately, conveys much

more information to the reader than a photograph. Furthermore, when printed in black

and white, as theses very often are for marking, colour photographs often become

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unintelligible. There are occasions when photographs of rigs should be included provide

useful and important information regarding the scale of equipment or specimens, but

schematic diagrams or engineering drawings of the test rig, model or specimens

must ALWAYS be provided. Failure to do so is simple laziness.

In a similarly lazy practise, it has regrettably become fashionable for students to “lift”

schematic illustrations directly from texts, papers, other students’ theses, or web sites

instead of drawing their own diagrams. This commonly results in the inclusion of poor

resolution images, images that do not include all the necessary information, or images

that do not accurately reflect the test rig used for the project. Furthermore, if a student

fails to cite the source of the reproduced image, they are guilty of plagiarism and may

be penalised accordingly.

It is important to draw original illustrations, to ensure that relevant and accurate

information is included.

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8 Results & Discussion

This section should provide the results of the investigation, and discuss their

implications in the context of the original objectives, the background history, and the

pre-existing state of the art. The guiding principle for this section is that it should

describe what has been done, and demonstrate how well the findings are understood.

For experimental and modelling studies, the “results” are easy to identify. For design

studies, the final design, and the expected or measured performance of that design will

represent the “results”. For a literature review project, the findings of the review will

form the “results”; in many cases, the review is undertaken to identify directions for

further research, and these directions should be regarded as results.

Depending on the volume of raw data, it may not be appropriate to present all of the raw

data in the body of the report – it is usual to only provide characteristic elements of the

raw data in the main body of the report if they are important to the discussion, and to

provide the remainder in an appendix. The results should rather present all relevant

“analysed” data, in graphical or tabular form (as appropriate). In many instances, it will

be appropriate to present “comparative” results – these may be results comparing the

behaviour under different sets of conditions, or comparisons of performance under the

recommended new approach with former approaches, for example. As much as

possible, a format should be selected that permits the results being compared to appear

on a single page – it is very difficult for the reader to compare images on multiple

pages, or to reconcile tables on different pages.

Important figures, especially graphs, must be presented in the main text if they are to be

important subjects in the discussion. For example, if 10 stress-strain plots have been

collected, a single representative, composite, or average plot should be presented in the

main text, with the remaining individual plots relegated to the appendix. There is

nothing a reader dislikes more than having to hunt in the appendix for figures that

illustrate the discussion. Many students have made poor choices in recent years by

relegating all graphs and figures to the appendix, simply to avoid exceeding page limits,

and it has reduced the marks awarded to their theses.

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The purpose of the discussion is to place the results in context, and demonstrate the

student’s understanding of the implications of the results. The following elements may

be present, depending on the nature of the project;

Compare the findings with any original expectations.

How did the original hypothesis hold up?

How has the hypothesis evolved based on the results?

Does the proposed design meet the original objectives?

Compare the findings with the pre-existing state of the art.

How has the investigation added to the body of knowledge in the field?

How do the results compare with the results of previous investigations?

How does the new design or procedure improve on existing approaches?

Compare the proposed approach with alternatives.

For design and engineering practice investigations, it is important to discuss the

alternative approaches that were considered, and the reasons for selecting the

final approach.

Were other modelling tools available? Why were they not adopted? Do they

offer any possible advantages for future investigations?

Discuss the limitations of the current project.

Do the current experimental rigs or software impose limits on the extent to

which the objectives could be explored (or on the application of findings?

What could be done better? Which assumptions should be challenged?

What does the new design fail to achieve?

Which aspects of practice require further investigation?

Describe any remaining issues or suggested future work.

It is important that limitations be discussed openly, and not be regarded as negative – it

is very important to understand the limitations of a technique, in order to properly apply

results. In many cases, a recognition of the limitations demonstrates the improved

understanding developed as a result of an investigation.

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Similarly, it is important that the discussion address any arbitrary choices made during

the course of a project. In most projects, it will be necessary to take some arbitrary

choices in order to make progress. These choices should be identified, and alternative

approaches should be considered in the discussion. Once again, this should not be

viewed negatively – demonstrating an awareness of such choices is a way of displaying

the depth to which an issue has been understood, and may provide motivation or

directions for future studies.

Remember – all statements and arguments in the report must be supported, either by

results, or information available in the literature. This is especially important in the

Discussion section. Avoid “hand waving”!

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9. Conclusions & Future Work

Conclusions should state concisely the most important findings of the project. This will

include;

A summary of the key arguments developed in the discussion

An assessment of whether or not the project objectives have been achieved (and

if not, why not)

A description of future work arising from the project (unresolved issues, or steps

for implementation).

While the conclusions section will generally brief, care should be taken in writing this

section. Remember, it will be the last thing that the audience reads, so it will be the last

thing on their mind before they make a decision on the future of the project (in

professional practice), or on the mark (right now)!

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10. References and Appendices

The reference list is an important “road map” for anyone following up on the project –

and for final year students, may prove to be extremely useful if they continue on with

similar work, either in their professional career or in postgraduate research. The Harvard

citation format is to be used when citing references in the main text, and in compiling

and presenting the reference list. A PDF outlining the required format is available at the

unit website.

Appendices may be provided as appropriate, especially to provide original data that do

not necessarily fit conveniently into the main text. Material typically included in

appendices may include;

Raw experimental data

Contour plots from modelling software

Raw images (ie images prior to processing or filtering)

Software (codes) used to compute results.

Literature or results from previous studies.

It is worth reiterating that important figures, especially graphs, must be placed in the

main text if they are to be important subjects in the discussion. For example, if 10

stress-strain plots are available, a single representative, composite, or average plot

should be presented in the main text, with the remaining individual plots relegated to the

appendix. There is nothing a reader dislikes more than having to hunt in the appendix

for figures that illustrate the discussion. Many students have made poor choices in

recent years by relegating all graphs and figures to the appendix, simply to avoid

exceeding page limits, and it has reduced the marks awarded to their theses.

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11. Report Format

General Considerations

In general, this document may serve as a template for the thesis. There are no page

limits on the thesis – but remember that theses are read, not measured. As a guide, 50

pages has been considered the upper limit for the main body of a final year project

thesis (ie excluding the preamble references and appendices). This is not a hard limit,

and no penalties are currently assigned for exceeding this limit. Indeed, if the main body

is one or two pages over the limit it will probably not even be noticed. This is an

important point to consider when relegating material to appendices – don’t make the

mistake of moving important details of the experimental procedure or key results figures

to the appendix just for the sake of “saving” 2-3 pages. If it’s important, the reader will

have to go to the appendix anyway, which will annoy them, and the thesis will still be

perceived as having that extra length.

That having been said, it is important to consider the marker’s state of mind when they

mark the thesis. They will be busy, as they will have many theses to grade, as well as

facing the grading of any exams they are associated with. They will be expecting theses

around 50 pages in length, and are likely to be unimpressed if the thesis is significantly

longer than that. This may place them in a more critical frame of mind as they approach

the thesis, so if the page limit is exceeded, it is important that it occurs because

additional material that is important and of high quality is being presented. If the thesis

is long because it is padded with unnecessary or repetitive material, the marker will

form a negative impression, which will likely detract from their mark.

The thesis text should be expressed in the usual scientific fashion – 3rd person,

impersonal. There should be no need to use “I”, “we”, or “you” in a technical report.

Where necessary, individuals may be identified directly by name (as if citing a

reference).

The report will be submitted online in “pdf” form, in order to eliminate (as much as

possible) formatting problems. It is essential that the pdf be carefully checked before

submission. The markers will see the pdf version, and any translation errors may affect

their mark.

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Font

The font is to be 12 point: Times or Times New Roman are suggested. Larger font sizes

may be used on the title page if desired, as shown in the example provided in section 3.

Margins and Page Numbering

A 4 cm left hand margin and a 2 cm top, bottom and right hand margins are to be used.

Page numbers must be included in the footer.

Line Spacing & Paragraph Format

1.5 line spacing should be used throughout. Paragraphs should be separated by a single

line (as in this document). Text should be left aligned or justified. Paragraphs should not

be indented.

Headings

Section – 12 point Bold; Subsection - 12 point underline; Subsections - 12 point italic

Graphs & Figures

Diagrams, graphs and pictures should be included to enhance the paper, but when

embedded in files can cause problems when being translated between applications and

computer platforms. Where possible, use diagrams stored in a fixed picture format such

as .eps (an enhanced version of PostScript which is the language used to drive most

laser printers), tiff (for all images), .gif (for line diagrams) or .jpeg. Ensure that a high

enough resolution is used to ensure that the image is of high quality.

One way to avoid translation problems, especially in excel graphs or manually drawn

diagrams, is to paste the graph (or diagram) into a powerpoint presentation, and then to

save that presentation as “tiff” images. The resulting image files can be inserted into the

document and cropped or resized (use the insert/picture/from file option), and are very

stable. Inserting images or diagrams from files is preferred – it is much easier to handle

from a formatting standpoint than an image that is inserted amongst or over the text.

Align figures in the center of the page, and ensure that all figures have a caption, as

illustrated in the example below.

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Figure 1: Example figure caption (schematic illustration of a nanoindentation model).

Figures may be submitted in colour, but it is recommended that figures be submitted

black and white. The thesis will be distributed in pdf form, and the individual printing

the document may not (in fact, often does not) have access to a colour printer – and

colour figures and photographs rarely show up well when printed in black and white.

This may become important if markers encounter difficulty in interpreting the figures;

the markers will be busy, so make it as easy for them as is possible! For complex

contour plots, most software packages will generate the contours in greyscale format,

which will print well in black and white.

As was noted in the Process section, Markers have observed that the quality of

equipment and model illustrations provided has declined markedly. This is in large part

due to over-reliance by students on digital photographs of experimental rigs and

designs. In most cases, a photograph of a test rig by itself is completely and utterly

worthless. A carefully drawn schematic diagram or engineering drawing, showing the

important dimensions and labelled appropriately, conveys much more information to the

reader than a photograph. Furthermore, when printed in black and white, as theses very

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often are for marking, colour photographs often become unintelligible. There are

occasions when photographs of rigs should be included provide useful and important

information regarding the scale of equipment or specimens, but schematic diagrams or

engineering drawings of the test rig, model or specimens must ALWAYS be

provided. Failure to do so is simple laziness.

In a similarly lazy practise, it has regrettably become fashionable for students to “lift”

schematic illustrations directly from texts, papers, other students’ theses, or web sites

rather than drawing their own diagrams. This commonly results in the inclusion of poor

resolution images, images that do not include all the necessary information, or images

that do not accurately reflect the test rig used for the project. Furthermore, if a student

fails to cite the source of the reproduced image, they are guilty of plagiarism and may

be penalised accordingly. It is important to draw original illustrations, to ensure

that relevant and accurate information is included.

The only exception to this arises in cases where data is being reproduced from previous

studies; even then, it is important to recognise that any such data MUST be properly

attributed (and referenced), and, in the case of material reproduced from texts or journal

papers, that the permission of the copyright holder to reproduce the material has been

secured if it is planned to proceed to publication. In general, however, avoid including

figures in the thesis that are not original.

Tables

Tables should be numbered and provided with captions, as illustrated below.

Material Indenter Peak Load (mN) Particle Area (µm2)

Average Std Dev

SiC (Duralcan) Spherical 5 µm 100 161.82 41.88

MicralTM (ComralTM) Spherical 10 µm 200 494.62 130.43

Table 1: Sample table caption (Average exposed surface areas of indented

reinforcement particles, as determined by analysis of SEM images.).

Equations

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Where equations enhance the discussion, they should be provided. The equation itself

should be centred using a centre tab, and all equations must be numbered, with the

number being right justified, as illustrated below;

(1.1)

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