ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

Department of Mechanical and vehicle Engineering

FINAL-YEAR PROJECT REPORT WRITING GUIDELINE

Key
Concepts

The final year report is an important undertaking and should use the structural guidelines
outlined below. This Guideline has been developed for various reasons. One is to assist students
in their attempt to submit a professionally made Senior Paper on a high level of perfection. And
the other is to introduce standardization and to maintain a certain minimum level of quality, both
on the Senior Paper as well as the practical activities.

READ THIS GUIDE CAREFULLY AND THOROUGHLY! Ignoring requirements set in this
paper may lead to rejection of your Senior Paper!

The Senior Project at the end of your studies may give you the chance to prove and to improve
your capabilities:

Consolidating the various courses you had taken to solve a problem

Application of skills, knowledge and abilities gained during the 5-year-degree program
Improving practical skill, deepening your scientific knowledge
Merging theoretical knowledge with practical skill & relevance
Combining practical skill with scientific approach

Expected Content
Layout

Cover Page Introduction/Background

Title Page Literature Review
Approval Sheet Problem Statement
Abstract Objective/Aim of the study
Acknowledgment Methodology
List of Contents Results and Discussion
List of Tables Conclusion and Recommendation
List of Figures Appendixes

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Department of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering
Nomenclature References and Bibliography

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Department of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering
Components of the
Layout

The basic components of a final year project report are the same in many engineering fields.
These components are listed above based on their flow order and can be regarded as steps in
project report preparation. The organization of the contents of a project may vary somewhat with
the nature of the activity conducted on the project.

Generally, the components will be described in this section in the order in which they most
logically appear in a final project report.

Cover
page

The cover page should contain elements including Name of the University, School and
Department, Title of the Senior Project, and Submission date to easy identify by merely looking
at the outside of the manuscript. There should be no need to look inside.

For this reason, at least the following elements should be clearly seen on the cover page:

The name of the of the University, School and Department (in words)
The University logo
Title of the Project
The month and year of submission

Note that the Cove page should not show a page number.
ADAMA SCINCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

School of Engineering and Information Technologies

Department of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering (14 font size)

[Title of the Project] (14 font size)

Month, Year (12 font size)

Title
Page

The title page contains all the important information about the project. There are various
classical ways for presenting this information but the common feature is that it must be simple
and clear. The page identifies the information including Title of the project, Degree that it
contributes towards, Names of students, Advisor(s) name(s) and other.

The title page must contain the following information:

The name of the of the University, School and Department (in words)
Title of the Project
Degree that it contributes towards
Names of the students
Advisor(s) name(s)
City and Year
ADAMA SCINCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Information Technologies
Department of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering (14 font size)

[Title of the Project] (12 font size)

Project Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of (12 font

size)

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (12 font size)

IN (12 font size)

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (12 font size)

By (12 font size)

[Students Names] (ID no.) (12 font size)

Advisor: [Name(s) of advisor(s)] 12 font size)

[City]

(12 font size) [Year]

Approval
Sheet

After the completion of the project, the advisor(s) and the department examination committee
should give approval about the project. Thus in project report preparation an approval sheet will
be prepared to get approval signature from the concerned bodies.

This page will have the following format:

ADAMA SCINCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

School of Engineering and Information Technologies

Department of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering

APPROVAL SHEET

Approval Board

Department Head Signature Date

Project Advisor(s) Signature Date

Abstra
ct
The abstract is a one page brief summary of the project report. It should allow the reader who is
unfamiliar with the work to gain a swift and accurate impression of what the project is about,
how it arose and what has been achieved. To that end, it needs to show what new contribution
your work will make.

The Abstract should summarize the major findings and information inside the project. At the end
of the abstract page a key words which defines the abstract statement more should be specified. It
can be one or two words, but not more than this.

Acknowledgm
ent

Student(s) will mention (acknowledge) organizations, projects related to the topic of the project
in which he/she has taken part, and peoples who all helps them to accomplish what they have. It
is normal to thank those who have given help and support (typically your supervisor). Keep
acknowledgements short and business-like.

List of Contents /Table of

Contents

This should give a complete list of what the report contains starting with the abstract page. The
cover page and title page is not included in the contents list. Pages including abstract,
acknowledgment, list of tables, list of figures and nomenclature should be given page number
with Roman numbering (i, ii, iii, iv, ). This helps the reader to easily identify the main body
of the report with the other topics. But the main chapters of the project work will have Arabic
numbering system (1, 2, 3, 4,.) and the subsections under each chapter will follow a logical
sequence order by separating with decimal points. For more reference about the Heading, Font
sizing and style of chapters and the sub-sections refer General Format and Content Guideline
starting from page 19. (Also see example provided at page 22)
List of
Tables
If the project report contains figures a list of these should be provided. This indicates the pages in
which the various tables are to be found in the report. The titles appearing here should be exactly
the same as those in the main body. The list should give the table number, the title of the table or
figure and the page number.

Example:

Table 1.1: Title of the table....16

Table 1.2: Title of the table.17
.
.
Table 2.1: Title of the table...26
Table 2.2: Title of the table....27
.

List of
Figures

This indicates the pages in which the various figures/diagrams to be found in the main text. The
titles appearing here should be exactly the same as those in the figure title.

Example:

Figure 1.1: This is the name of the

figure..........................................................................16
Figure 1.2: This is the name of the figure..........................................................................17
.....
......
Figure 2.1: This is the name of the figure..........................................................................26
Figure 2.2: This is the name of the figure.................................................................. .........2
Note been:

If only a few tables and figures are present, they may be treated on one page.
Each table and figure inserted in the report should be explained and analyzed explicitly.
Figures and tables that are not essential to the smooth reading/understanding, but which
still are of significant interest should be put in main Appendices.

Figure Caption: For the figure write the name of the figure below the figure as shown below.

Figure 1.1: This is the name of the figure (Time new Romans, 12 font size)

Figures, diagrams and charts must be in the perfect shape/size placing at the center of the
page (also its text), should not be elongated in length or height, and must not be distorted
in any way.

Table Caption: If it is table, put its title (caption) above the table.

Table 2.1: Title of the table (Time new Romans, 12 font size)

Name of Raw Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4

Raw 1 X11 X12 X13 X14

Raw 2 X21 X22 X23 X24

Raw 3 X31 X32 X33 X34

Raw 4 X41 X42 X43 X44

Table should be aligned at the left of the page (also its text) and should have the same
table style as shown in example above.
Nomenclatu
re
A nomenclature is a list which provides the reader a chance to quickly look up the abbreviations
and denotations used in the report. Every abbreviations and notations used during explanation in
the main report must be defined in the nomenclature section, not in the main body. It may be an
equation or a repeated word must be included in nomenclature, the main report should be free
from any word definition and abbreviations.

Example:

LHV Low Heating Value

HHV High Heating Value
WBT Water boiling test
CSA Central Statistical Agency
EREDPC Ethiopian Rural Energy Development & Promotion Centre
ASTM American Standards of Testing Materials
ASAE American Society of Agricultural Engineers
ASABE American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers

Introducti
on

Introduction is the part of a project report that provides readers with the background information
for the project. Its purpose is to establish a framework for the project, so that readers can
understand how it is related to other projects. This is a statement of something sufficiently
interesting to motivate your reader to read the rest of the proposal. The introduction should cite
those who had the idea or ideas first, and should also cite those who have done the most recent
and relevant work. This reading could be outlined in either a References Section or a
Bibliography Section. You should then go on to explain why more work is necessary (your
work).
The introduction also should address the following points:

Sufficient background information about the project to allow the reader understands the
context and significance of the project.
Explaining the nature and application of the project.
Explain the scope of the project work, what will and will not be included.
Proper acknowledgement of the previous work on which you are building.
All cited work should be directly relevant to the goals of the project.

Literature
Review

A literature review is a description of the literature relevant to a particular field of topic. It gives
an overview of what has been said and done, what questions are being asked, and what methods
and methodologies are appropriate and useful. As such, it is not in itself primary research, but
rather it reports on other findings and topics related with your title.

NB: Here all idea related to the topic you working on should be included in their order of
significance. All data you have which is a relevant to the topic must be organized and explained
under this chapter.

The range of your reference may include the following media:

books (text books, reference books);

articles from journals, whether print or electronic
newspaper
historical records;
commercial reports and statistical information;
government reports and statistical information;
theses and dissertations;
other types of information which may be relevant to your topic
Problem
Statement
Most projects, whether design or production of a prototype or both, must considered as a
response to a problem. A problem might be defined as the issue that exists in the literature,
theory, or practice that leads to a need for the study. The prospective researcher should think on
what caused the need to do the research (problem identification).

The problem statement describes the context for the study and it also identifies the general
analysis approach. Effective problem statements answer the question Why does this research
need to be conducted. If a researcher is unable to answer this question clearly, then
the statement of problem will come off ambiguous and diffuse. The most frequent dilemma
among students is their seemingly aimless project for a problem significant enough to
pursue and discrete enough to handle. A well articulated statement of problem establishes the
foundation for everything to follow in the project. Formulate a problem statement in your
specific area of project.

Objectives/Aim of the
study

An objective may be thought of as either a way toward achieving a solution; an end state to be
achieved in relation to the problem. The objectives of a project work summarize what is to be
achieved by the study. Objectives should be closely related to of the problem. After statement of
the primary objective, secondary objectives may be mentioned.

Objectives should be:

simple (not complex),

specific (not vague),
stated in advance (not after the project work is done), and
stated using action verb that are specific enough to be measured.

Commonly, project objectives are classified into General objective and Specific
objectives. The general and specific objectives are logically connected to each other and the
specific objectives are commonly considered as smaller portions of the general objective. It is
important to ascertain that the general objective is closely related to the statement of the problem.
General objective

General statements specifying the desired outcomes of the project

What exactly will be studied?

Specific objectives

Specific statements summarize the project activities and including description of the
outcomes and their assessment in measurable terms. An effective way to set
objectives is to follow the well known acronym SMART. A SMART objective is
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time scaled.

It identifies in greater detail the specific aims of the project work, often breaking down
what is to be accomplished into project, often breaking down what is to be accomplished
into smaller logical components.
Specific objectives should systematically address the various aspects of the problem as
defined under Statement of the Problem and the key factors that are cause the problem.

They should specify what you will do in your project, where and for what purpose.

Why should project objectives be developed?

The formulation of objectives will help you to:

Focus the project area (narrowing it down to essentials);

Avoid the collection of data which are not strictly necessary for understanding and
solving the problem you have identified; and
Organize the project in clearly defined parts or phases.

Methodolo
gy

The methods or procedures section is really the heart of the project work. And it is the main
body of the project work. You must decide exactly how you are going to achieve your stated
objectives: i.e., what data you need in order to address your problem you have selected and how
you are going to collect and process this data. The method is use to achieve the objective of the
project that will accomplish a perfect result.
The activities should be described with as much detail as possible, and the continuity between
them should be apparent. Indicate the methodological steps you will take to answer every
question, to test every hypothesis or address the objectives you set.

In methodology includes description of your materials, procedure, theory, calculations,

technique and the cost analysis the project (if necessary). It shows in detail the general project
plan.

It also contains the following contents:

Description of study area

Description of study design
Methods of data collection
Description of the expected outcome and explanatory variables

Study design

The study type may dictate certain project designs. More commonly, the study objectives can be
achieved through a number of alternative designs. Students have to select the most appropriate
and most feasible design.

The type of research design chosen depends on:

the type of problem;

the knowledge already available about the problem; and
the resources available for the study.

In the case of a theoretical project, the method of solution must be clearly explained. In the case
of an experimental investigation, the parameters for analysis must be clearly identified and
presented.

Financial Estimation (if any)

The total cost analysis of the project work will be compiled in this chapter with individual
subsection. The analysis made here are detail. Every project work that expends any cost should
be included with a detail cost break down. The cost should consider the available market through
the completion of the project.
Result and
Discussion
A summary of results found after the design analysis must be presented. Each result found in the
design step should be presented clearly with simple representation. Graphs, charts and tables
may used to present the results.

After showing every result from the design, interpretation of the result will follow with
justifications. It shows how the result is related with design idea and what it means. Every result
must be interpreted so as to mean something in the design. Graphical and chart presentation
should be made along with each result analysis wherever necessary along with some table.

Conclusion and
Recommendation

The final conclusion and recommendations are put together to form this chapter. This section
should bring together all the results and objectives to give an overview of the key findings and
outcomes.

Your conclusion is your chance to have the last word on the subject. The conclusion allows you
to have the final word on the issues you have raised in your paper, to summarize your thoughts
and to demonstrate the importance of your ideas. It is also your opportunity to make a good final
impression and to end on a positive note.

Your conclusion includes a brief summary of the paper's main points, but don't simply repeat
things. Propose a course of action and a solution to the issue.

For the PROJECT work, provide recommendations on the activities or other steps that may be
taken to further develop, disseminate or to exploit the results. Where this project DOES NOT
fully solve or address all issues and more research and/or actions are required provide
recommendations for next steps.

Please note: for smaller projects the results, discussion and conclusion could be
combined into one section.
Appendix
es
Appendices or Annex are useful for presenting raw data, questionnaire forms, theoretical
background or any material that is necessary for the reader but does not fit appropriately in the
main body of the report. Each appendix should be given a number and a title, included in
your list of contents, and referred to in the text.

Example:

The Estimate is based on the Schedule of Rates (Refer Appendix 2) .......

Generally, appendices should contain relatively standard derivations and perhaps lists of
parameter values, which would interfere with the continuity of the main body of the document.
In particular, the appendix section should not contain:

All the figures corresponding to the main document. Ideally these should appear
alongside the appropriate text, or else after the references in a separate section.
Photocopies of data sheets, or other easily-accessible material.
Any material which is crucial to the continuity or flow of the `story' in the main technical
sections.

As with the main document sections, the appendices should reference all material which is not
the authors original work. All appendices should be numbered consecutively, for example
Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc., in order to allow cross referencing from the text.

Example: Appendices writing Sample

Reference and
Bibliography

References usually come at the end of a project report and should contain only those works cited
within the text. So, use the term 'References' to cover works cited, and 'Additional Bibliography'
to refer to works read as general background. Reference citations in the text should be in
brackets giving the author(s) surname(s) and year of publication. If the name of the author occurs
in the text, the year should be in brackets.

Here: You can use the Endnote Online software to automatically format your bibliographies
and references lists in the correct way for your required style.

A Bibliography is any list of references at the end of a report, whether cited or not. It includes
texts you made use of, not only texts you referred to in your paper, but your own additional
background reading, and any other articles you think the reader might need as background
reading. A bibliographic entry is a 'reference' which offers readers a standard set of information
that will enable them to find the cited source in a library or any other sources.

Both References & Bibliographies must be in alphabetical order; and each entry must be laid out
in a strictly ordered sequence.
References and Bibliography is needed:

To enable someone reading the document to find the material you have referred to or
consulted
To demonstrate your width of reading and knowledge about a subject
To support and/or develop points made in the text, and
To avoid accusations of plagiarism: using somebody else's work without acknowledging
the fact.
General Format and Content Guideline

Paper

The entire report must be submitted on A4 size paper. Drawings often need larger size papers but
should be properly folded to A4 size and included in the appendix.

Printing

The report should be printed on one side of each page only. The print quality should be dark and
clear.

Margins

The margins of the pages shall be set to:

Left margin 2.0cm.

Top, bottom and right margins 1.5cm.

Justification

Right and left margins should be justified (giving a straight edge to the text on both sides).

Font size

Use a Times New Roman font, font size 12 for the main body of the document.

Headings and Legends

Section and subsection headings should be emboldened. Major Headings should be printed in
font size 14. Legends (these are the figure and table identifications) should be emboldened and
centered, but not enlarged.

HEADING 1 TIMES NEW ROMAN 14 BOLD All CAPITALS

Heading 2 Times New Roman 12 Bold Title Case

Heading 3 Times new roman 12 bold sentence case

Pagination (Page numbering)

The report must carry sequential pagination throughout, including appendices. The page number
should be on the top right margin of each page. The title page is counted in the numbering, but
bears no page number.

Page Breaks

Try to ensure that these occur in sensible places. There is no need to take a new page for each
main section heading but you should do so for new chapters. Never let a page break separate the
last line of a paragraph. Try to ensure that, if possible, enumerated lists (a, b, c, etc) are not split
across pages.

Header

A header should be placed at the top of each page apart from the title page. In addition to the
page number, the document header should include the title of the project and calendar year.

Paragraphs

These should be blocked (no indentation on the first line) and separated by a single blank line
(this blank line is double-spaced).

Citations

Care to acknowledge the work of others is of paramount importance. Use of work of others
without attribution is tantamount to stealing.

Where a sizeable chunk (around 30 words or more) is quoted from the work of another author,
the quotation should be blocked and indented 10mm from the left and right margin. It
should also be separated from the preceding and following text by a blank line. When
quoting direct from a source it is essential to provide a full reference, including page number,
so that readers can locate the passage if they so desire (Author, date, page number or a unique
number). This authors name would appear in the references. If the quotation omits some material
between the sources start and end points, this is indicated by dots.
A further way to cite from another authors work is to refer to it, but not quote from it. The
next sentence gives an example. According to Chan (1999) the use of formal methods has
little to offer.

Line Spacing

The text of the document should be 1.5 spaced.

Content Sectioning

Sections and subsections are used to organize the document into cohesive chunks for the reader.
Give them meaningful headings. Never subdivide beyond three levels e.g. 3.1.1.2 is too much.

Below is an example of the numbering system:

1. Introduction
1.1
1.2
1.3
2. Literature Survey
2.1

2.2
2.2.1
A.
B.
2.3

2.4
3. Force Analysis
4.
.

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Department of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering
Adama Science and Technology University Page | 22
Tables and figures

These should each be sequentially (and separately) numbered throughout the document. Tables
should be left aligned and figures should be centered. Both should be labeled with identification
number and title. If necessary to fit the contents of a table on one page, 10-point font size may
be used; alternatively the page may be printed in landscape mode.

Appendixes

These should be sequentially numbered starting with Appendix 1. Pagination continues form the
main body of the document through the appendices.

References

All reference should be listed at the end of the document as quoted throughout the text; for
proper referencing, you can use the following format and should be consistent throughout. Use
font size 12 for all references. The title of the book, article, or paper should be in Italic font style.
References can be given in the following format.

Book
Author(s) (year of publication), Book title, Publisher, city,
Country.

E.g: John A. Duffie, William A.Beckman (1980), Solar Engineering of

Thermal
Process, Jhon wiley & Sons, New York, USA.

Article
Author(s), Article Title, Name of the Journal, Vol. #, No.#, year of published

E.g: A. Chaurey, T.C Kandpal (2010), A techno economic comparison of rural

electrification based on Solar home systems and PV micro grids; Energy Policy, vol.38,
issue 6; June 2010.

Personal communication
Name of person who provided the information quoted, the persons employer
(company,
organization) and position, form of communication, date(s) of communication.

E.g: Belachew Abebe (2012), Personal communication with Belachew Abebe,

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Department of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering
Environmental Coordinator at Addis Ababa Environmental Protection Agency,
September 10, 2012.

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Department of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering
 Web page
Author(s) (year of publication), Publication title and address (i.e. book, journal, report
or conference title, relevant page numbers-as quoted), webpage URL (as applicable,
including date of issuing/modified as well as accessing the article on the web page).

E.g: George Yaw Obeng, Hans Dieter Evers (2009), Solar PV rural electrification
and energy poverty; available on,
http://mpra.ub.unimuenchen.de/17136/1/MPRApaper17136.pdf, posted on September
2009, viewed on April 2012.

Acronyms

When using an acronym for the first time, always precede it with the expanded version. In case
acronyms are used to avoid repetition of long technical terms, e.g. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
(VAWT).

Colloquialisms

These are chatty, idiomatic or slang expressions that are appropriate in informal conversion but
have no place in your report. A related point is that in academic and technical writing the use of
the first person I is avoided as much as possible. In similar way, avoid referring to the reader as
you.

Grammar

Do be careful to write in full sentences and to proof read the document to ensure not only that the
text is grammatically sound, but also that it means exactly what was intended.

Jargon

Try to strike a good balance between use of jargon and appropriate use of technical terms. There
is no merit in using so much obscure terminology that the document is virtually unreadable, but
on the other hand, failure to use key words properly can lead to unnecessary wordiness and tends
to give an unprofessional impression. It is important to be consistent in the use of terms, to
define them if necessary and to use the same term for the same concept throughout.
Spelling

There should be no excuse for spelling mistakes in a word processed document. Spelling errors
create a bad impression. Always use a spell checker; they are invaluable for picking up
typographical errors as well as genuine spelling mistakes. Note, however, that spelling checkers
cannot detect cases where the wrong word happens to be a real word e.g. from form. So a
careful proof read is necessary.

Equations

All equations must be properly written using Microsoft Equation Editor or other software. Any
equation should not be presented as a picture from other sources in the main body. When any
equation and formula inserted in the project report, it should be rewritten by Microsoft equation
editor by your own.