PROJECT HANDBOOK

EBTP4106 - BTM, BMMG, BPFM

XBTP4106 - BOSHM
SBES4106 - BESM

Bachelor of Technology Management with Honours

Bachelor of Manufacturing Management with Honours
Bachelor of Science of Project and Facility Management with
Honours
Bachelor of Occupational Health and Safety Management with
Honours
Bachelor of Environmental Sustainability Management with
Honours

CLUSTER OF APPLIED SCIENCES

Updated 12/2/2019

1
 CONTENTS

Page Number
Introduction 3
Requirements of Project 3
Learning Outcomes 3
Suggested Areas of Study 4
Monitoring Process and Project Evaluation for Proposal and Final 4
Report
Implementation of Project 5
Starting your Project 6
Format of the Report 8
Guidelines for Preparing Project Report 9
Submission of Final Report 11
Guidelines for Submission of Final Report 11
Format Checklist 12
Appendices
Appendix 1: Format of Front Cover 14
Appendix 2: Format of Title Page 15
Appendix 3: Format of Declaration 16
Appendix 4: Format of Abstract 17
Appendix 5: Format of Abstrak 18
Appendix 6: Format of Acknowledgement 19
Appendix 7: Format of Table of Contents 20
Appendix 8: Assessment Rubric for Final Project 21

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1.0 Introduction

It is well recognised that project paper is an important component of the first-degree

curriculum. Students are required to take the project paper towards or at the end of their
studies. Basically, a project paper aims to train students to conduct a small-scale
research activity. More importantly is to train students to search to establish a concrete
problem statement. The project also provides an avenue for students to improve their
presentation skills and gain experience in the discussion during the presentation of the
findings.

The course consists of 6 credit hours and it is a compulsory course.

1.1 Requirements of Project

1. Students must obtain a CGPA of 2.00 and above before registering for this course.
2. Students registering for the course must be at least in their 3rd Year of study and
above can register for the Project.
3. Students must complete the project within TWO consecutive semesters. The
proposal has to be submitted in the first semester of the project work to the
supervisor and the final complete report in the second semester. Students who fail
to submit the proposal and final report will be given grade F. Student should adhere
to the deadline scheduled by the administrator, Research and Project Management
Unit (RPMU).
4. To repeat, a student needs to register for the project in the following semester.

1.2 Learning Outcomes

Students should be able to:

1. Identify an appropriate and manageable scope of study.

2. Identify and apply a suitable research method to conduct the project/research.
3. Demonstrate ability to connect theories they have learned with practice.
4. Produce professional quality academic writing.

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2.0 Suggested Areas for Study

The scope of the first-degree project is program dependent. The project titles cover a
wide range of topics to meet the course objectives. Project topics can be proposed by
the students or the supervisors concerned.

Students can select any field for the project based on Table 1.

Table 1: Suggested Areas for Project Implementation

BOSHM BTM, BMMG, BPFM, BESM

1) OSH Management Systems
2) Safety and Health Programmes
3) OSH Improvement and Innovations
4) Occupational Health
5) Occupational Safety
1) Project Management
2) Quality Management
3) Safety and Health
4) Environmental Management / Studies
5) Production and Operation Management
6) Maintenance Management
7) Facility Management

3.0 Monitoring Process and Project Evaluation for Proposal and Final Report

In order to facilitate the monitoring of the project by the supervisor, a student will need to
communicate with his/her supervisor. This can be done through a face to face meeting,
communication through email or other online medium. Table 2 shows the marks
distribution for Proposal and Final Report.

Table 2: Marks distribution for Proposal and Final Report

Chapters %
Proposal
1. Introduction 10
2. Literature Review 15
3. Methodology 15
40
Final Report
4. Data Analysis and Findings 25
5. Discussion and Recommendation 25

Mechanics of Writing 10
 Writing style, language use and
grammatical accuracy
 Overall presentation
60
Total Marks 100

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4.0 Implementation of Project

1. Your supervisor can be a lecturer who has a PhD or Masters in the field that you
are interested to do your project in. Supervisors can be appointed among your
tutors or in certain cases, among lecturers from IPTA or IPTS.

2. Once you have identified your supervisor, you can contact him/her by phone or
email. When the supervisor has agreed to supervise you, fill up the Project
Registration Form to be submitted to the administrator.

3. The attendance of the student in the first face to face meeting with the supervisor
is COMPULSORY.

4. Students must meet to discuss their projects with their supervisors at least TWO
times per semester. During any discussion, the student needs to bring along the
Log Book. The supervisor’s comments are to be recorded in the Log Book. At the
end of the meeting, the student must also get his supervisor’s signature as
evidence that the meeting was conducted. The log book has to be submitted
together with the final report.

5. The time, date and venue of the meetings to be selected must be conclusive to
the student.

6. Project title must be discussed and agreed upon by the supervisor. If the
students are unclear about the requirements of the project, they must consult the
supervisor again or the administrator.

7. Supervisor will assist and guide the student to prepare the Project Proposal and
Project Final Report according to the format given by RPMU.

8. Proposal submission deadline can be discussed between the supervisor and the
student and will need to be mutually agreed by both parties.

9. Submission within TWO semesters

For students who are able to complete within TWO semesters by following the
deadline of submission for that particular semester, the grade will be announced
in the same semester. If students fail to complete within the stipulated time (Total
of 2 semesters), grade F will be given and students need to re-register the overall
course/project.

10. To re-register for Final Project, please refer to the administrator.

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5.0 Starting your Project

STEP 1: Project Title and Problem Identification

Your choice of topic should be governed by

a. your interest
b. adequate resources/data of the project
c. time frame of project implementation (2 semesters)
d. area/topic chosen has previously been well researched by others (can check or refer
to the recent related online journals).

Research/project starts with a case or problem that requires a solution. This part is the
most crucial element. As a start of your project, you need to write your problem
statement. Problems of a research/project can be identified by

 reading newspaper, from television, radio on the current issues related to your chosen
field
 browsing through recent journals through OUM digital library, magazines or books
 having a discussion or communication with your employer, colleagues on issues
related to your work
 field observation.

Introduction gives a brief overview of the topics or subject area research that you have
chosen. It can include the problems with past research/project and the current research
aims to identify or solve the problems. You need to justify the importance of your
project/research in this part. In short, your introduction should have the following item
(Ahmad, 2001):
 Historical development and current importance
 Main purpose of the research

STEP 2: Literature Review

You can start your literature survey by browsing the online journal on your chosen topic.
Literature review contains cited articles or books related to your topic. The articles
should be arranged in such a way that you can build up your cases in a smooth manner
and connecting from one article to another. A literature review should demonstrate the
background theories of your topic, should identify the strengths and weaknesses of
previous research. You should be writing a critical evaluation of what other people have
done on the same area/topic that you have chosen.

STEP 3: Research Methodology

Research/project methodology focuses on the details of the instruments that are suitable
to be used for the data for the project. For example, you may want to use
questionnaires, observation or interviews depending on what type of research you have
chosen either quantitative or qualitative and also on the research is all about. Your
methodology should contain your research/project design.

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STEP 4: Data analysis and Findings

As you reach to this point of your project, usually you can start off by checking your data,
briefly describe the analyses used. For example, using statistical method such as
descriptive statistics, i.e. frequencies, means, standard deviation etc. Data presentation
can be in the form of graphs or tables and should be numbered accordingly. Your raw
data or any software output can be inserted in the appendices.

STEP 5: Discussion and Recommendation

This is an important section and it demonstrates your ability to integrate the results from
previous chapter. It should also include implication of the results and recommendations
for future work to be carried out where appropriate. Limitations of your study (small
sample size, limited number of companies or occupations etc.) can also be mentioned
here.

STEP 6: Writing your Abstract

An abstract is a self-contained, short summary describing the contents of the paper

which enables a reader to understand the result and the application of the study.
Components vary according to discipline; it should contain the scope, purpose,
methodology and results of the work.

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6.0 Format of the Report

The report must be prepared to a professional standard. Below is the brief description of
the items:

 Front Cover (refer to Appendix 1)

 Title Page (refer to Appendix 2)
 Declaration (Refer to Appendix 3)
 Abstract (Refer to Appendix 4)
 Abstrak (Refer to Appendix 5)
 Acknowledgement ((Refer to Appendix 6)
 Table of Contents (Refer to Appendix 7)
Listing all the chapters, sub-topics and page number
 List of tables
 List of figures
 List of abbreviations

 Chapter 1: Introduction (page 1 starts here)

 Chapter 2: Literature Review

 Chapter 3: Research/Project Methodology

** Proposal Submission
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
This chapter can be broken down into more than a chapter depending on your
length of results and discussion.

 Chapter 5: Discussions and Recommendation

 Bibliography / Reference
Information obtained from books or journals must be referred to in the text by a
reference number.
It is recommended to use APA (American Psychological Association) citation
style. Check link https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

 Appendices
Data, charts, diagrams or illustrations that is relevant to the report that was not
inserted into the body of the report.

** Final Report Submission (Chapter 1 to 5)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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7.0 Guidelines for preparing Project Report

It is very important for students to follow carefully the guidelines for preparing the report.

The following items are to be observed in preparing the project report:

a. Preliminary section
Consists of the title page, table of contents, list of tables and figures,
acknowledgements, declaration and the abstract.
All pages in the preliminary section are to be numbered at the centre of the
bottom margin using lower-case Roman numerals (ii, iii, iv, etc.).
The title page should not be numbered.

b. Number of pages:
Contents of a minimum of 50 pages.
Page 1 should start from Chapter 1 : Introduction and ends on the last page of
Chapter 5 : Discussion and Recommendation.
Bibliography / Reference and Appendix are not counted in the final number of pages.

c. Page set up:

Set the page margins with an offset of 1 inch (or 2.5 cm) from the top, bottom, left and
right. All text, figures and tables must be within this area.

d. Paper size:
Use only A4 size white paper. The report should be printed on one side of the paper.

e. Font type:
Times New Roman, size 12

f. Line spacing:
1.5 spacing between lines and triple spacing between paragraphs.

g. Front cover:
Soft binding with plastic cover on front and back.

h. Numbering format for headings:

The sections and sub-section in the report must follow the numbering format below:
1.0 Main heading
1.1 Secondary heading
1.1.1 Third grade heading…..and etc.

i. Illustrations:
Label all charts, graphs and tables.

j. References:
The source of information or references should be placed at the end of the report in
numbered order. Please use the APA writing style for your references.

9
Preliminary Section

TITLE PAGE
DECLARATION
ABSTRACT
ABSTRAK
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Body of Research Report

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Background
1.2 Problem Statement
1.3 Research Objectives
1.4 Research Questions / Hypotheses (if applicable)
1.5 Significance of the Research
1.6 Definitions of Terms

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

(Theoretical Framework to review and documented relevant past/current research in order to give
context of what already been done in the existing body of knowledge. Conceptual Framework to
highlight the researcher plan or what need to be done in order to address the problem/gap)

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Data Collection Method
3.3 Data Analysis Method

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

(Description of statistical analyses in relation to research questions/hypotheses/objectives and
presentation of relevant tables and figures)

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary of Main Findings
5.2 Discussion & Implications
5.3 Limitations of the Study
5.4 Directions for Future Research

Supporting Materials

REFERENCES
APPENDICES

Project Report Layout

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8.0 Submission of Final Report

Student must submit their final report to the supervisor according to the scheduled date
given by RPMU. Late submission would result in grade F and not eligible for
convocation.

9.0 Guidelines for submission of Final Report

Student must submit to the supervisor only.

a. ONE copy of printed report with soft binding with plastic cover on front and back to
the supervisor.
b. Soft copy of the final report to the supervisor via e-mail or other file transfer medium
c. Log book

Supervisor will email all documents and the evaluation report to OUM.

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 FORMAT CHECKLIST

No. Item
Front cover with Title, Name of Student, Name of University & Year of Submission
1.  Title – not more than 16 words, arranged in inverted triangle shape
 Font – Arial Narrow 18
(Refer to Appendix 1)

Title page with Title, Name of Student, Purpose Statement, Name of University and
2. Year of Submission
 Lettering – Arial Narrow Font 14
(Refer to Appendix 2 )

Declaration Page
3.  Heading: Times New Roman Font 14
 Text: Times New Roman Font 12
 Roman numeral ii starts here.
(Refer to Appendix 3)

Abstract
4.  Heading: Times New Roman Font 14
 Text: Times New Roman Font 12
 Abstract in one paragraph, single spacing, not more than 250 words
 Translated version of abstract with the translated title. above the word “ABSTRACT”
(English Translation) or “ABSTRAK” (Malay Translation)
(Refer to Appendices 4 & 5)

Acknowledgements
5.  Heading: Times New Roman Font 14
 Text : Times New Roman Font 12
 Double spacing, not more than 1 page.
(Refer to Appendix 6)

Table of Contents
6.  Heading: Times New Roman Font 14
 Text : Font Times New Roman 12
(Refer to Appendix 7)

Margin
7.
 First page of each chapter

Top – 5 cm/2 inches

Right – 2.5 cm/1 inch
Left – 2.5 cm/1 inch
Bottom – 2.5 cm/1 inch

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No. Item

 Text in subsequent pages

Top – 2.5 cm/1 inch

Right – 2.5 cm/1 inch
Left – 2.5 cm/1 inch
Bottom – 2.5 cm/1 inch

Line spacing:
1.5 spacing between lines and triple spacing between paragraphs.

Internal organisation of text follows the format below.

8.
Chapter 1

Chapter Heading Level 1

1.1 Main heading 1 Level 2

1.1.1 Sub-heading 1
1.1.2 Sub-heading 2 Level 3
1.1.3 _____________

1.2 Main heading 2

1.2.1 ____________
1.2.2 ____________

1.3 Main heading 3

1.3.1 ____________
1.3.2 ____________

9. Table & Figure Labels

 Table – Left aligned, Title above table

 Figure/Graph – Centre aligned, Title below figure/graph

10. References precede the appendices and in APA writing style

11. Appendices
 Pages numbered
 Label – Right aligned, capitalized, Font Times New Roman 12
 Title – Centre, title case, Times New Roman 12

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 APPENDIX 1

FORMAT OF FRONT COVER

DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED
LIBRARY APPLICATION
(Arial Narrow, size 18, Upper Case)

HUMAYRA BINTI MUHAMMAD

(Arial Narrow, size 18, Upper Case)

OPEN UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

2015
(Arial Narrow, size 18, Upper Case)

*Do not indicate the box on the Front Cover

14
 APPENDIX 2
FORMAT OF TITLE PAGE

DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED
LIBRARY APPLICATION
(Arial Narrow, size 14, Upper Case)

HUMAYRA BINTI MUHAMMAD

(Arial Narrow, size 14, Upper Case)

A Final Year Project submitted in fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of
Bachelor of Occupational Safety and Health with Honours

Open University Malaysia

2015
(Arial Narrow, size 14, Lower Case)

*Do not indicate the box on the Title Page

15
 APPENDIX 3

FORMAT OF DECLARATION

DECLARATION
(Times New Roman, size 14, Upper Case)

Name:

Matric Number:

I hereby declare that this final year project is the result of my own work, except for
quotations and summaries which have been duly acknowledged.
(Times New Roman, size 12, Lower Case)

Signature: Date:

ii

*Do not indicate the box on the Declaration

16
 APPENDIX 4

FORMAT OF ABSTRACT

DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED
LIBRARY APPLICATION
(Times New Roman, size 14, Upper Case)

ABSTRACT

(Times New Roman, size 12, Lower Case)

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Keywords:
(Not more than 5 words/phrases)

*Single spacing
*One page only

iii

*Do not indicate the box on the Abstract

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 APPENDIX 5

FORMAT OF ABSTRAK

PEMBANGUNAN APLIKASI PERPUSTAKAAN SECARA WEB

(Times New Roman, size 14, Upper Case)

ABSTRAK

(Times New Roman, size 12, Lower Case)

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Kata Kunci:
(Tidak melebihi 5 perkataan/rangkai kata)

*Single spacing
*One page only

iv

*Do not indicate the box on the Abstrak

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 APPENDIX 6

FORMAT OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
(Times New Roman, size 14, Upper Case)

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and appreciation

to my supervisor, XXXXXXXXXXXXX guidance, patience and invaluable
advice throughout this project.

I also would like to express my appreciation to my family and friends for their
endless support whenever I face problems. Without the mentioned parties, it is
impossible for me to complete this project report successfully.
(Times New Roman, size 12, Lower Case)

THANK YOU.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (STUDENT NAME)

1 Feb, 2017 (DATE, YEAR OF COMPLETION)

*Do not indicate the box on the Acknowledgement

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 APPENDIX 7
FORMAT TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Times New Roman, size 14, Upper Case)

TITLE PAGE (Times New Roman, size 12, Lower Case)

DECLARATION ii
ABSTRACT iii
ABSTRAK iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
LIST OF TABLES vii
LIST OF FIGURES viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Problem Statement 1
1.3 Objectives of the Study 2
1.4 Research Questions and Hypotheses 3
1.5 Significance of the Study 5
1.6 Scope of the Study 7
1.7 Definitions of Terms 9

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Previous Studies
2.1.1 Project success criteria
2.2 Methodological Issues
2.3 Conceptual Framework

… continued…

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary of Main Findings
5.2 Discussion
5.3 Implications
5.4 Limitations of the Study
5.5 Directions for Future Research
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
A Title 100
B Title 105
vi

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 Appendix 8
Assessment Rubric for Final Project

Dimension Allocation of Marks

(A) 1 2–4
Project
Introduction,  Very brief project introduction.
Background and  Background information
Problem Statement somewhat relevant but does not
provide a clear lead-in to the
research problem.
 Problem statement not
articulated clearly and hardly
supported/justified by theory
and/or past research.
 Good project introduction.
 Background information is
relevant and provides a clear
lead-in to research problem.
 Problem statement articulated
clearly but only fairly.
Supported/justified by theory
and/or past research.
5
 Good project introduction with
supportive evidence and
substance.
 Background information is very
relevant and provides a very
clear lead-in to the research
problem.
 Problem statement articulated
very clearly & well.
Supported/justified by theory
and/or past research.

(B) 1 2-4 5
 Research Objectives and  Research Objectives and  Research Objectives and
Research Questions/hypotheses are not Questions/hypotheses are Questions/hypotheses are highly
Objectives and focused. focused. focused.
Questions/  Hardly provide any direction for  Provide some direction for  Provide very clear direction for
hypotheses measuring relationship between measuring relationship between measuring relationship between
variables. variables. variables.
 Hardly any alignment between  Some degree of alignment  Total alignment between
research objectives, questions between research objectives, research objectives, questions
and/or hypotheses. questions and/or research and/or hypotheses.
hypotheses.

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 1- 5
(C)  The number of empirical studies
Literature Review being reviewed is inadequate.
 Articles reviewed are out dated
and hardly relevant to the focus
of the study.
 Hardly any critical analyses of
theory and/or past research
 The review indicates little
understanding of the research
topic.
(D) 1- 5
Methodology  Somewhat appropriate research
design that is capable of
addressing only some of the
research questions.
 Rather vague description of the
research sample, sampling
techniques and data collection
procedures.
 Justifications for the use of the
methodology are not presented
and discussed.
6 – 10
 The number of empirical studies
being reviewed is adequate.
 Articles reviewed are relevant to
the focus of the study but
somewhat out dated.
 Some critical analyses of theory
and/or past research.
 The review indicates fairly good
understanding of the research
topic.
6 – 10
 Appropriate research design that
capable of addressing most of
the research questions.
 Clear description of the research
sample, sampling techniques,
data collection procedures and
methods of data analysis.
 Justifications for the use of the
methodology are presented but
not adequately discussed.
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11 – 15
 The number of empirical studies
being reviewed is more than
adequate.
 Articles reviewed are current
and very relevant to the focus of
the study.
 Ample evidence of critical
analyses of theory and past
research.
 The review indicates very good
understanding of the research
topic.
11 – 15
 Very appropriate research
design that is capable of
addressing all the research
questions.
 Very clear description of the
research sample, sampling
techniques, data collection
procedures and methods of data
analysis.
 Justifications for the use of the
methodology are presented and
adequately discussed.
 (E) 1–8
Data Analysis &  Results are somewhat
Results inaccurate or incompletely
presented.
 Data analyses are appropriate
but inadequate to address all
the research questions.
(F) 1–8
Findings &  The discussion may be
Discussion incomplete or partially/not
clearly connected to the results.
The connection with other
sections is vague.
 The findings presented are
mere repetitions of the results
without appropriate
interpretation.
 Implications, recommendations
and directions for future
research are not drawn from the
research findings.
 Limitations of the study are
irrelevant.
9 – 17
 Results are presented correctly
but the interpretation, though
accurate, is brief.
 Data analyses are appropriate
but only adequate to some of
the research questions.
9 - 17
 The discussion interprets the
findings and is connected with
other sections of the report such
as the background, problem
statement, research questions,
instruments and results.
 The findings are either
superficially discussed or not
discussed in relation to theory
and findings of past studies
cited in literature review.
 Implications, recommendations
and directions for future
research are drawn from the
research findings.
 Limitations of the study are
relevant and adequately
described.
23
18 – 25
 Results are presented correctly
with accurate and detailed
interpretation.
 Data analyses are appropriate,
extensive and sophisticated,
and are adequate to address all
the research questions.
18 - 25
 The discussion soundly
interprets the findings and is
carefully connected with other
sections of the report such as
the background, problem
statement, research questions,
instruments and results.
 The findings are judiciously
discussed in relation to theory
and findings of past studies
cited in literature review.
 Implications, recommendations
and directions for future
research are carefully drawn
from the research findings.
 Limitations of the study are
relevant and extensively
described.
 (G) 1 2–4 5
Writing Style,  Writing style and language use are  Writing style and language use  Writing style the standard
Language Use not apt for academic writing. are apt for academic writing. language use are very apt for
& grammatical  Many grammatical errors that impede  Some grammatical errors that academic writing.
accuracy communication. impede communication.  Hardly any grammatical errors
that impede communication.

(H) 1 2-4
Overall
Presentation  The abstract is missing, incomplete or
inaccurate.
 The presentation format including the
graphics is at a minimum level of
acceptability, though at times messy
and confusing.
 Citations are rather incomplete or
inaccurate and provide little avenue to  Most sources are cited in a
check the validity of the information
gathered.
 Organisation of the chapters are
lacks in logical sequencing and ideas
are not clearly developed.
 The abstract summarizes the
study by mere lifting key
sentences from the final project
report.
 The presentation format
including the graphics is
acceptable.
proper format to enable
accuracy checking.
 Chapters are somewhat loosely
organised but the main sections
still stand out. Ideas are clearly
stated but at times not clearly
developed.
5
 The abstract concisely
summarizes the study.
 The presentation format
including the graphics
demonstrates author’s
attention to detail, neatness
and care.
 All sources are cited accurately
to demonstrate the credibility of
the information presented.
 Chapters are well organised
with logical sequencing. Ideas
are clearly developed with
adequate support.

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