1. UniKL MICET FYP IMPLEMENTATION
2014
Prepared by: UniKL MICET FYP COMMITTEE

2. Agenda Project Implementation Important Deadlines Project Assessment
Proposal
Project Planning & Execution
Data Presentation & Discussion
Research Ethics
Thesis Format

3. Project Implementation

4. Project Implementation
Over 1 semester (Diploma), 2 semester (Degree)
Selection of FYP Title and Supervisor
Project Proposal
Project Implementation (rest of semester)
To utilise semester break

5. Implementation Issues:
A lot of assignments, lab reports, mini-projects, site visits, quizzes and tests during semester;
Project Title not clear;
Project has >2 Objectives;
Supervisor not contactable;
Delays due to:
Broken Equipment,
Strong Demand for Equipment,
Missing Chemicals,
Limited Access to Research Journals,
Limited / no access to Company Data (Confidentiality),
Lab not open after working hours;
Be SMART get early START!

6. Important Dates

7. Important Dates (FYP 1) Week 1-14: Progress & Logbook (30%)
Consultation with Supervisor at least once a week
<Week 5: Submission of JHA & RA Form
Week 5-12: Proposal Presentation (35%)
Exact Date to be announced by Section FYP Coordinator.
<Week 15: Submission of Project Proposal Report (35%)

8. Important Dates (FYP 2) Week 1-14: Progress & Logbook (20%)
Consultation with Supervisor at least once a week
Week 14: Submission Final Draft to Supervisor and 2nd Examiner for Marking
Submission on Date of Presentation, some Supervisor may required earlier.
Week 15: Project Presentation (30%)
Exact Date to be announced by departmental FYP Coordinator;
<Week 18: Submission of Hardcopy corrected Thesis, CD, Poster, Clearance Form, and Library Form to Supervisor (50%)
Get Signature of Supervisor before printing the Hardcopy of corrected Thesis
Failure to submit signed Thesis to SV on Time will result in 30 % Mark Deduction.

9. Important Dates (FYP Diploma)
Week 1-14: Progress & Logbook (20%)
Consultation with Supervisor at least once a week
<Week 5: Submission of Proposal
<Week 5: Submission of JHA & RA Form
Week 14: Submission Final Draft to Supervisor and 2nd Examiner for Marking
Submission on Date of Presentation, some Supervisor may required earlier.
Week 15: Project Presentation (30%)
Exact Date to be announced by departmental FYP Coordinator;
<Week 18: Submission of Hardcopy corrected Thesis, CD, Clearance Form, and Library Form to Supervisor (50%)
Get Signature of Supervisor before printing the Hardcopy of corrected Thesis
Failure to submit signed Thesis to SV on Time will result in 30 % Mark Deduction.

10. Project Assessment

11. Project Assessment (FYP 1)
Progress Report: Log Book (30%)
Project Proposal Report (35%)
Proposal Presentation (35%)

12. Project Assessment (FYP 2)
Progress Report: Log Book (20%)
Project Presentation (30%)
Project Thesis (50%)

13. Project Assessment (Diploma)
Progress Report: Log Book (20%)
Project Presentation (30%)
Project Thesis (50%)

14. Proposal

15. Proposal First step in implementing a research project;
Indicator of your understanding of the research project;
Outlines the feasibility/viability of the research project.

16. Proposal Components Title Problem Statement Background Study
Objectives
Methodology

17. Proposal Title Represents what you actually plan to do
Sometimes useful to use catchy phrases or direct statement to make your title more interesting
Important when your proposal is being evaluated for some competition - funding, prize, scholarship
Be creative but most important, be precise and accurate

18. Example of Title Selection
“Measure O2, nitrite, nitrate, pH in Merbok area, use data and apply in mathematical model 5555 and use model to assess/predict ecosystem behaviour”

19. Possible Titles
Title 1: Water quality and mathematical model in environmental studies.
Title 2: Fluctuation of O2, nitrite, nitrate and pH in Merbok estuarine area and application of data in mathematical modelling for ecosystem prediction and assessment.
Title 3: Monthly fluctuation of crucial water parameters in the Merbok estuarine area and its application in bio-modelling

20. Exercise Modify following Titles so that they fulfill aforementioned Criteria:
Pollution Prevention Practices – A Case Study;
Properties of Biocomposites;
Food Contamination Monitoring
Fermentation of Sugar for Downstream Applications
Optimisation of Distillation Process

21. Exercise (Solution)
All titles are too general, we need to narrow down the topic.
How?:
1. Take each keyword and ask yourself what

22. Proposal: Problem Statement
A hypothesis?
A hunch?
Can be general / broad in nature.

23. Examples of Hypotheses
Leaving yoghurt outside the fridge for 2 days will make it look green and turn sour.
Presence of H2S in the car exhaust will reduce the catalytic conversion efficiency of Carbon Monoxide to Carbon Dioxide.
Saccharomyces cerevisae fermentation activity is inhibited at a certain ethanol concentration.

24. Proposal Objectives
These are statements qualifying what you wish to achieve in the project in relation to your problem statement.
Can use specific phrases such as ‘to measure’, `to compare’, ‘to assay’, ‘to isolate’, ‘to determine’ etc.
Very closely related to the actual experiments you are planning to do.

25. Proposal Objectives: Example
Hypothesis 1:
To determine the organo-leptic properties of natural yoghurt at 4 and 25°C over a 5 day period;
To monitor the total microbial concentration of natural yoghurt at 4 and 25°C over a 5 day period;
To carry out a statistical analysis to test the validity of the hypothesis;

26. Proposal Objectives: Example
Hypothesis 2:
To measure the car exhaust gas concentration of H2S, CO and CO2 before and after the catalyst;
To carry out a statistical analysis to test the validity of the hypothesis;

27. Proposal Objectives: Example
Hypothesis 3:
To monitor the fermentation activity of S. cerevisae in defined growth medium at 25°C in the presence of various ethanol concentrations;
To carry out a statistical analysis to test the validity of the hypothesis;

28. Methods & Materials
Describe precisely how the experiments are to be done.
Proper citations – record author(s), year, journal title, volume, page numbers.
Are the experiments ‘DO-ABLE’ here in our laboratories? Discuss with your supervisor!
List chemical requirements and place order early!

29. Everyday Example Preparation of D.I.Y. Cake: Ingredients (Chemicals)
3 eggs
150 g sugar
300 g flour
125 g butter
50 mL milk
3 tbsp. oil
½ tsp Vanilla essence
1 pack Custard powder
Chicken?
Duck?
Ostrich?
Turtle?

30. Everyday Example Preparation of D.I.Y. Cake: Ingredients (Chemicals)
3 medium-sized chicken eggs
150 g fine-grained white sugar
300 g self-raising sieved wheat flour
125 g salted butter
50 mL full-cream cow milk
3 tbl refined sunflower oil
½ tsp Vanilla essence
50 g Custard powder (Vanilla flavour)

31. Everyday Example Preparation of D.I.Y. Cake: Cooking Ware (Materials)
Bowl
Whisker
Tablespoon
Grease paper
Spring form
Sieve
Oven

32. Everyday Example Preparation of D.I.Y. Cake: Procedure (Methods)
Take 3 egg yolk and manually mix with 150 g of sugar;
Add 125 g of butter (room-temperature) to the egg yolk – sugar mix and homogenise manually;
Add the sieved flour and form a dough; …

33. PROJECT PLANNING & EXECUTION

34. PROJECT PLANNING & EXECUTION
Prepare a time-line for the project – Gantt chart - must take into account holidays, exams, writing-up, submission dates.
Very little time..so preparation must be meticulous – there may not be time for repeat experiments.
Experiments must be so designed such that results can be presented either graphically or tabulated and amenable for statistical analyses.

35. Example Gantt Chart W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 … Proposal writing
Ordering chemicals
Experiment 1
Submit Chapter 1 to Supervisor
Hari Raya

36. Documentation
All experimental procedures, raw and processed data are to be recorded in a hard-cover LABORATORY BOOK.
The lab book is the property of your lab and is to be left with supervisor after completion of project!
All raw data must be processed as soon as possible (e.g. transfer to Excel).

37. Documentation (cont’d)
Thesis writing should start on Day 10 of project – thesis writing is both laborious and time consuming!
Format of theses – similar to past years
Completed sections can be submitted to supervisor for corrections / comments as and when they are ready; do not leave it to the last day!
Remember to BACKUP your work (pen drive, CD)!

38. Data Presentation & Discussion

39. Data Presentation & Discussion
Purpose: Generate new Knowledge and enhance our Understanding
Source:

40. Data Presentation & Discussion
Data can be qualitative or quantitative;
Qualitative data:
Is subjective, rich, and in-depth information
normally presented in the form of words;
derived from 1) interviews and 2) other sources - observations, life histories and journals (paper review) and documents of all kinds including newspapers.
Example: Taste (sweet, sour, bitter, salty)

41. Example of quantitative Data
20min, 0min, 10min, 50min, 40min, 30min;
298K, 299K, 299K, 298K, 298K
16mg/L, 1mg/L, 8mg/L, 4mg/L, 1mg/L, 2mg/L;
15mg/L, 0.7mg/L, 6mg/L, 5mg/L, 1.1 mg/L, 2.5mg/L;
17mg/L, 1.3 mg/L, 7 mg/L, 3mg/L, 0.8 mg/L, 1.5 mg/L.

42. Information Information = Arranged, organised Data. Time [s] Temp. [K]
Conc. 1
[mg/L]
Conc. 2
Conc. 3
298 1
0.7
1.3 10
299
1.1
0.8 20 2
2.5
1.5 30 4 5 3 40 8 6 7 50 16 15 17
Information = Arranged, organised Data.

43. Knowledge
Time [min]
Temp. [K]
Average Conc.
[mg/L]
StDev
298 1
0.3 10
299
1.0
0.15 20 2
0.5 30 4 40 7 50 16
Knowledge = Processed Information;
Average and standard deviation were calculated from arranged data;

44. Knowledge (cont’d)
Concentration of ... increases exponentially at 298K;
Reaction is first order;
Rate constant, k = mg/(L·min).

45. Understanding Understanding = Ability to explain Knowledge;
Example: The increase in microbial concentration is first order because microorganisms produce daughter cells every 10 min.

46. Wisdom Wisdom = Apply Knowledge the right Way.
Example (The Right Way):
Fermenter operator understands that ethanol concentration of 15 % kills the yeast culture. Hence ethanol concentration is monitored and controlled to remain <15 %.
Example (The Unethical Way):
Colleague has a grudge against of fermenter operator and decides to sabotage. Colleague also understands toxic effect of ethanol and decides to turn off monitoring system so that ethanol concentration spirals out of control and inhibits yeast culture.

47. Presentation of Information
Table
Line graph
Bar chart
Pie chart
Figure from software/instrument used
Please take Note!
Whatever diagram you use, an associated commentary is essential.
Do not leave it to the reader (especially supervisor and internal examiner) to work out what the diagram shows.

48. Presentation of Information
Table
Make comparisons between quantities which are totals and/or have sub-divisions, at the same point in time
Show data that is time series, nominal or ordinal

49. Presentation of Information
Table (Example)
Source: K. Openshaw / Biomass and Bioenergy 19 (2000) 1-15.

50. Presentation of Information
Line Graph
Source: As. J. Energy Env. 2009, 10(04),

51. Presentation of Information
Line Graph
Source: Agricultural Wastes 4 (1982)

52. Presentation of Information
Bar chart
Make comparisons between quantities which are totals and/or have sub-divisions, at the same point in time
Show data that is time series, nominal or ordinal
Bar charts are inappropriate for large data sets with many bars and numerical data.

53. Presentation of Information
Bar chart (Example)
Source: M. Franz et al. / Carbon 38 (2000) 1807 –1819

54. Presentation of Information
Bar chart (Example)
Source: Renewable Energy World, Vol. 14(4), p. 8.

55. Presentation of Information
Bar chart (Example)
Source: Renewable Energy World, Vol. 14(4), p. 47.

56. Presentation of Information
Pie chart
show the percentage parts of the whole; they are the circular version of a percentage component bar chart;
highlight a particular component using an exploded or dynamic pie chart, where a slice of the pie is extracted.

57. Presentation of Information
Pie chart (Example)
Figure 3. Breakdown of residential electricity consumption in Malaysia. Refrigerators and air con’s top the list followed by washing machines, fans, rice cooker, irons etc.
Source: Energy Policy, Vol. 35(2), pp. 1050–1063.

58. Research Ethics

59. Research Ethics DO NOT CHEAT!
Present the data you obtained experimentally and not what you think it should be!
DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!
‘Cut-n-paste’ is not an acceptable practice!
If you have to use certain phrases from a particular source, credit must be given to original author(s)

60. Thesis Format

61. FYP Guidelines & Materials
Available online at:
E-Learning:

62. Good Luck & Do your Best