Guidelines for Final Report Writing

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This part contains information about the assignment in general.

2.0 FORMAT GUIDELINES OF THE REPORT

Format refers to the overall appearance of the report. Its structure must contain the following features to maintain the INTEGRITY and facilitate the reading of the text:

2.1 Page Numbering

Page numbers should be placed at the top right corner of the page. Number the pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) in the text. The page which is numbered with “1” should starts from INTRODUCTION.

2.2 Spacing and Typing

The report must be typed 1.5 LINE-SPACING on quality A4 papers. Text must be typed on single sided paper only using a font size of twelve (12) points of Times-Roman typeface.

2.3 Paragraphing

Indentation is necessary when starting a new paragraph. Separation of paragraphs is effected through 1 line (1.5 line-spacing).

3.0 ORDER OF SECTIONS OF THE REPORT

The contents of the report are ordered according to the following sections:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction2.0 Question One to Ten of assignment One3.0 Conclusion4.0 References (refer to part 3.1 for further information)

I

5.0 Appendix (refer to part 3.2 for further information)

3.1 References

All references used in carrying out the project and in producing the report must be numbered in square bracket, for example, [4]. References are generally grouped under the following categories:

3.1.1 Books

Single author

Hager, W.W. 1988, Applied numerical linear algebra. London: Prentice-Hall International.

Joint authors

Wortman, L.A., Sidebottom, T.O. 1984. The C programming tutor. London: Prentice Hall International.

New edition and reprint

Swokowski, E.W., Olinick, M., Pence, D., Cole, J.A. 1994. Calculus. 6th Ed. Boston: PWS Publishing Company.

Luqman bin Salleh. 1999. Superconducting magnets. Reprint. Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Rakyat Malaysia.

Publication identified by title

Encyclopedia of polymer science and engineering. C1985-1989. 2nd Ed. New York: Wiley

Cobuild English learner’s dictionary 1994. Intern. Ed. London: HarperCollins Publishers.

Edited publication

Dongarra, J, Madsen K. & Wasniewski J. (Eds). 1995. Applied parallel computing. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

II

Multiple volume

Shoestring, A.W., Bootlace, B.M 1996. Calculus. Vol. 1. Ironbridge: Crony Publishing House.

Shoestring, A.W., Bootlace, B.M 1997. Calculus. Vol. 2 & 3. Ironbridge: Crony Publishing House.

Translation

Fraleigh, J.B. 1988. Kursus pertama aljabar niskala.. Trans. Abu Osman Md. Tap & Abdul Razak Salleh. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

Monograph

Stephanopoulos, G. 1987. Knowledge-based systems in process engineering: an overview. Series of Monographs on AI in Chemical Engineering. Cambridge, MIT Press

Chapter in a book

Halin, H.J. & Strebel R. 1995. Transient response of a two-phase half-wave rectifier. In Gander W. & Hrebicek J. (Eds.). Solving problems in scientific computing using Maple and MATLAB. 2nd Ed.: 285-297. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

3.1.2 Academic papers in journals

Single author

Brandt, A. 1977. Multilevel adaptive solution to boundary value problems. Math. of Computation 31: 333-390.

Joint authors

Yang, Y., Hughes, T., Spiller, D.M., Beduz, C., Penny, M., Scurlock, R.G., Haldar, P., Sokolowski, R.S. 1996. Measurements of self-field AC losses in PbBi2223 tapes with different core/sheath configurations. Supercond. Sci. Technol. 9: 801-804

III

3.1.3 Academic papers in proceedings

Mohd Azree Idris, Ibrahim Hussein & Mohd Zamri Yusoff.. 1998. Employing digital video technology on the internet/intranet in capturing knowledge. Proc. ICIMU’98: SB 8-1–SB 8-7.

Brown, R. & Higgins, P.J. 1978. On the connection between the second relative homotopy groups of some related spaces. Proc. London Math. Soc. 36(3): 193-212.

3.1.4 Articles in magazines

Mohd Azree Idris. 1999. Virtual classroom: a focus on interactive and collaborative learning. Berita UNITEN 3: 4.

Slatin, J.M. & Sharir, Y. 1996. multimedia in cyberspace: teaching with virtual reality. Syllabus 10(3): 10

3.1.5 Articles in newspapers

Name of author provided

Betts, H. 1999. Education - do we ask too much? The Times, 7 May: 25

Name of author not provided

Facing the challenge of change. 1992. Old Straits Times, 20 March, 27 March.

3.1.6 News/features in newspapers

News/feature with name of author provided

Adam Musa & Luqman Hakim. 1998. Minisoft’s Telepadu coup fuels telecoms frenzy. Daily Mirror, 10 February: 1

IV

News/feature with name of author not provided

Teachers are being flooded with e-mail from students, 1999. New Star, 10 January: 2

Letters to the editor

Lim, K.C. 1999. Call for the establishment of an independent commission of enquiry should be supported. Letter to editor. Old Straits Times, 7 May: 23

3.1.7 General reference in the newspapers

New Star. 1998. 28 December.

Old Straits Times. 1989. 7 & 20 September

3.1.8 Films, videos and slides

Film

The world turned upside down. 1985. Film. Canada: National Film Board

Video

Alternative energy. 1998. Video. Indiana: Grant Wood AEA Mediagraphy.

Slide

Energy generation and storage. n.d. Slide. Singapore: Toppan Company.

3.1.9 InternetSelected encyclopedias and major reference works in polymer science and technology at Stanford university. 1998. Internet: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/swain/polymer/encyc.html

V

Date of extraction: 20th July 2002

3.1.10 Maps

Geological map of Peninsular Malaysia. 1985. 8th

Ed. 2 sheets. Scale 1 : 500,000. Kuala Lumpur. Geological Survey of Malaysia.

Mineral distribution map of Peninsular Malaysia. 1988. 8th Ed. 2 sheets. 112 x 76 cm. Scale 1 : 500,000. Kuala Lumpur. Geological Survey of Malaysia.

3.1.11 Unpublished materials

Thesis

Bajura, M.A. 1997. Merging real and virtual environments with video see-through head-mounted displays. Ph.D. dissertation. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mohd. Y. Zamri 1997. An improved treatment of two-dimensional two-phase flows of steam by a runge-kutta method. Ph.D. thesis. University of Birmingham.

Original manuscript

Thomas, D. c1951. Poems on his birthday. Lilly Library, Duke University.

Working papers and conference abstracts

Bashir Mohd Bali Mohd. 1999. Research and development in manufacturing systems. Working paper in Seminar on R&D Awareness at UNITEN. Universiti Tenaga Nasional, 24 March.

Bently, B. & Binder, R.V. 1998. The dynamic information flow testing of objects: when path testing meets object-oriented testing. Paper abstract in QWE’98, 9-13 November.

VI

3.1.12 Technical reports

Strazdins, P. 1998. Optimal load balancing techniques for block-cyclic decompositions for matrix factorization. Technical Report TR-CS-98-10, Department of Computer Science, Australian National University.

Bala, R. & Jason L.W. 1997. ASEAN awareness among New Zealand businesses. Discussion paper 1/97, College of Business Management, Universiti Tenaga Nasional.

3.1.13 Working papers, reports and minutes of

meetings

Unit of Research Management. 1998. Duties, responsibilities and accountability of APRI project leaders. Working paper in Third Meeting of Deans of Faculties of Universities. Universiti Rakyat Malaysia, Bangi, 1-2 April.

Report by Unit of Management and Administration. 1998. Third Meeting of Deans of Faculties of Universities. Universiti Rakyat Malaysia, Bangi, 1-2 April.

Minutes of the Fourth Meeting of Deans of Faculties of Universities. 1999. Johor Baru, 10-11 May.

3.1.14 Interview

Omar Onn. 1997. Trane Crane Air Conditioning Sdn Bhd, Perai Jaya, Pulau Pinang. Interview, 13 September.

See Error: Reference source not found for an example of a reference list.

Referencing the text

Proper referencing in the text facilitates the author and the reader to know the source of information and to find it from the list of

VII

references given at the end of the report. The following system of referencing is adopted:

Single author

Mohd Zaki [6] stresses the importance of learning …

… as was investigated by Abu Bakar [8]…

In Chin [10] the differential equation is …

John [12] proves that …In the study of the existence of mood in music [10]…

Mohd Zaki [12] stresses the … Mohd Zaki justifies the need for …

Joint authors( 2 persons )

… Jack and Richard [6] defined entropy as …

… the new method proves to more accurate than existing methods [9].

Joint authors ( more than 2 persons: write the name of first author followed by “et al.” )

Gupta et al. [8] prove that … … the manufacture of a product is contained in the CAD database [12].

Multi-references

(two or more references which are written together and separated by a comma )

…. visualisation is the medium for ……….. data [10,11,12].

VIII

3.2 Appendices

The appendix normally contains the program codes, questionnaires or surveys given to the users, supporting diagrams or sketches, which are not the main component of the research.

If there is more than one appendix in a report, then it has to be properly and systematically numbered as Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C and so on.

IX

SAMPLE: REFERENCES

( left margin 38 mm,right margin 25 mm )

X

30 mm

REFERENCES

(2 double lines spacing)

[1] Blatner, D., “Spacing out with your type; leading and kerning”, MacWorld, vol. 14, pp. 158 (2), 1997.

[2] P. Michelman, P. Allen, “Compliant manipulation with a dextrous robot hand”, in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, vol. 3, pp. 711-716, 1993.

[3] Darken R. P. and Peterson B. 2001. Handwriting and Representation.URL: http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/561810.htmlLast Date of extraction: 8/8/2006

[4] ……..

25 mm

SAMPLE: FIGURES NUMBERING

XI

Figure 2.1: Segmentation on letters 'a', 'c' and 'n'

Character segmentation basically divides a character into segments that consist of straight lines and curves. By doing so, we are basically dividing a character into components that can be drawn by a robotic arm. For example, character 'n' is segmented into three segments. The first and third segments are straight lines, while the second segment is a curve. Figure 2.1 shows the segmentation of three different characters, 'a', 'c' and 'n'. As can be seen, different characters can have different number of segments.

30 mm

25 mm

38 mm 25 mm

SAMPLE: TABLES NUMBERING (PORTRAIT FORM)

(Left margin 38 mm, right margin 25 mm)

( left margin 38 mm, right margin 25 mm )

XII

30 mm

TABLE 3.1 Example of a Segment Table

Character Segment_no Segment_typea 1 Linea 2 Curve

The second table is called the segment table. It contains information regarding types of segment for each segment in the character. An example is shown in Table 3.1 above.... … … … … … … ….. .. … ….……..……………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

SAMPLE: TABLE numbering (LANDSCAPE FORM)

(Left margin 38 mm, right margin 25 mm)

XIII

38

mm

TAB

LE

3.6

Ran

ge f

or E

ach

Zon

e B

lock

x

25

mm

30

mm

2

5 m

m

Zon

e N

umeb

er

B

lock

Num

ber

X

-axi

s ra

nge

Z-a

xis

rang

e

Blo

ck 1

(

-30.

0) –

20.

0

9

.0 –

56.

0

Z

one

1B

lock

2

(-3

0.0)

– 3

0.0

56.0

– 4

0.0

Blo

ck 3

(

-20.

0) –

30.

0

40

.0 –

28.

0

Blo

ck 1

14.0

– 3

0.0

(-2

.0)

– (-

16.0

)

Z

one

2B

lock

2

16

.0 –

30.

0 (

-16.

0) –

(-2

4.0)

Blo

ck 1

(-2

2.0)

– (

-14.

0) (

-2.0

) –

(-10

.0)

Zon

e 3

Blo

ck 2

(-

54.0

) –

14.0

(-1

0.0)

– (

-16.

0)B

lock

3

(-54

.0)

– 16

.0 (

-16.

0) –

(-2

4.0)

XIV