Research Project Success by The following guidance is imported from the module handbook regarding how to put together your final project.
Report preparation
The project report should be in the form of a scientific paper, word-processed and bound securely. This should be presented on one side of A4 paper with a 38 mm margin to the left and 25 mm margins on the other sides. A clear 12 point typeface (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial) and 1.5 or double spacing is preferred. Pages should be numbered consecutively on the bottom edge.
It is suggested that the report contains the following sections:
Title page: Title of project, name of student, name of supervisor(s)
Declaration page: The following declaration page MUST be included and signed by you.
‘I confirm that any contribution of results from others that are presented in this report have been acknowledged and that otherwise this report is entirely my own work’
Abstract: A single-page summarising the aims and achievements of the project - see writing an abstract guidance
Introduction: This should contain a review of the relevant background to the project followed by a section that sets out the aims and objectives and the hypothesis to be tested. Be sure to appropriately cite relevant work (key papers and recent relevant publications). Some parts of your Phase 1 work may be appropriate to use in this section. There is no problem reusing aspects*, but information in your Phase I report will almost certainly need some re-writing. The introduction should be focused for your specific project, ‘setting the scene’. The introduction is likely to be shorter (roughly 25 % of the report). You need to take into consideration feedback on your Phase I report and update with recent publications, if appropriate. (*Direct use of your own material in the Phase I report will not be considered as plagiarism).
Materials and methods: These should be described in more detail than in a published paper, sufficient for a scientist (not directly in the field) to discern what has been done. It should be possible to reproduce your results based on information in Materials and methods and results. However, methods should still be concisely written, not verbose.
Results: This section is important, reporting what you have done and achieved. Your results should be presented using clearly labelled tables, graphs, figures and diagrams, with comprehensive figure legends (or footnotes for tables) and include valid detailed analysis. Include statistical analysis, where appropriate. Logic behind the sequence of your experiments and outcome of experiments should be clear from the text in results. In the written description of results and interpretation of your data remember to refer to the Figs and tables, as appropriate, and describe your findings. It is often clearer to use subsections with explanatory headings in results. For large amounts of original data summarised in the results section, full original data may be included in an appendix, if appropriate.
Discussion: In the discussion it is important to highlight the significance of key results and to discuss conclusions in light of current knowledge of the field of work. What conclusions can you draw from your results? Do they support your hypothesis? What is their relevance to other published results in the field? What direction might the study take to confirm or extend your work?
(Results and Discussion sections may be combined if this is more suitable, in which case you would include a short conclusion at the end).
Acknowledgements.
References: These should be complete (including titles of papers) and should be formatted consistently in the Harvard style or a style of a journal of your choice (state which journal). Remember that only references you have read yourself should be included in the reference list. Use web-citations sparingly.
Appendices (if necessary). Additional relevant data may be included in appendices. This should be referred to in the main text, and if appropriate also summarised in main text. This will normally be at the end of the report and submitted electronically as part of the single pdf. If substantial amounts of relevant data is contained in the appendices (too large for the submitted pdf), this may be provided directly to your supervisor.
The Study Advice team have written guide to research projects & dissertations - it includes information and help on;