MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Independence-Freedom-Happiness

Hochiminh City, ………….., 2020

GRADUATION PROJECT GUIDE

FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

1. PURPOSES AND REQUIREMENTS OF GRADUATION PROJECT

1.1. Purposes

 To further develop the ability to give an independent, systematic and clear treatment of a
certain topic.

 To train the ability to independently identify and analyze relevant problems, including
making theoretic and empiric analyses.

 To solve a practical problem by a systematic use of an appropriate choice of theories and

research methodologies.

 To train the ability to independently acquire and handle academic knowledge through
independent studies of relevant literature and practices.

1.2. Requirements

1.2.1. To students

The prime responsibility of the student is to manage his/her project and to maintain regular
supervisory contacts with his/her Instructor. Student should realise that the responsibility for the
work submitted is entirely his/hers. The students should:

 Apply themselves to the assigned research responsibilities, demonstrate a positive attitude,

and conduct accordingly befitting the program of Faculty of Business Administration.

 Use experience to expand their knowledge of the research area as related to business aspects.

 Agree with the Instructor on a schedule of meetings, and adhere to it.

 Take the initiative to keep contact with the Instructor to ensure progress of his/her work.

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  Keep records of supervisory contacts and meetings with the Instructor and outcomes of the
discussion.

 Take the initiative to discuss any problem arising from his/her thesis with his/her Instructor,
such that they are resolved as early as possible.

 Submit deliverable(s) as specified in their respective project guides.

 Abide by all regulations in force, in particular, ‘Regulations on Anti Plagiarism’

1.2.2. To instructors

The primary function of an Instructor is to provide to the student an overall guidance of the project
and to suggest corrective measures when the student’s performance is not satisfactory. The
Instructor will:

 Assist the student in clarifying topics.

 Direct the student to relevant areas of information and literature sources.

 Guide students on appropriate research methodologies, tools and techniques.

 Regularly meet the student at least 5 times, and keep records of same.

 Inform student when his/her work is below standard and/or when progress is not adequate.

 Read and comment on draft of project, and advise student where changes are required, if
any, to reach desired standard

2. SCOPE OF PROJECT

2.1. Topic selection

Students choose the topic themselves for their project; however, it has to be within the academic
frames of the faculty. When determining the topic, students can:

 Let yourself be inspired by something you find interesting

 Look for potential challenges and conflicts

 Look at changes (before/now)

 Or perhaps to make comparisons

It might be an assistance to discuss ideas for topic(s) with the Instructor. Before the deadline for
the topic registration, students need to formulate a title, which is typically only a draft of the topic

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and does not have to be the final one. The Instructor is responsible for approval of students’ project
statement later in the process.

2.2. Process of developing project

Explore and Formulate a Literature review Analyze actual

define topic detailed outline and research situation/issues related
of the thesis methodologies to the chosen topic

Possible solutions to the

research topic

 It is important that students choose a topic that is of interest to them and that is within their
research capabilities. Besides, students will select the topic in consultation with the
instructor, and work on that topic through the project course.

 After defining the research topic, students will formulate a detailed outline and conduct data
collection related to the chosen topic.

 Conduct theoretical research, synthesize and explore the theoretical basis of the chosen
topic.

 Apply theories, explain and analyze the actual situation/issues related to the research topic.

 Based on the actual situation analyses, possible solutions are proposed to improve or
address the defined issues.

Noticed: The literature review, analyses of actual situation/issues and roposed solutions need
to be associated and consistent with each other.

During the process of developing project, students will regularly contact with the instructor to
properly define the research problem as well as ensure that all independent researches are related to
the chosen topic. Moreover, the instructor also helps students research more effectively.

All basic methods such as synproject, comparation, qualitative and quantitative analysis, statistics,
probability, logical inference, etc. can be applied to conduct the project.

3. PROJECT PROCEDURE

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3.1. Stage 1: Preparation (4 weeks)

Schedule Students’ tasks Instructor’s tasks

Before Documentary studies and research

Oritentation orientation
Session (2 weeks)

Orientation  Ask questions and discuss with  Direct students to be aware of

Session the instructor about research requirements and the process of
methodologies and research developing the project.
area of interest.  Suggest considerable fields of
 Register for research area. research to students.

Note:

1. After 2 weeks of Orientation Session, the faculty will inform students of the
instructor's name and necessary information to contact with the instructor.

2. Guidelines for contacting: Students actively contact with the constructor and agree
with the instructor on a schedule and room of meetings.

3.2. Stage 2: Execution (12 weeks)

Schedule Students’ tasks Instructor’s tasks

1st week Contact with the instructor to define project Direct students to choose the
topic and overall outline of the project. project topic that is of interest to
them and that is within their
research capabilities.

2nd week Data collection and documentary studies Revise the overall outline and
instruct students in writing detailed
outline.

3rd week Submit the detailed outline of the project Revise the detailed outline

4th week Keep on data collection

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From 5th to 9th Write a project draft and discuss with the Show students how to write project
week instructor to be assisted draft

10th week Submit the project draft Revise the draft

11th week Complete the final project

12th week Submit the final project at HUTECH

Institute of International Education

3.3. Stage 3: Evaluation (3 weeks)

Schedule Tasks

1st week Staffs of Institute get hard copy of project from students and coordinate with
heads of department who are responsible to assign project reviewers.

2nd week Staffs of Institute coordinate with heads of department to establish Board of
Examiners.

3rd week The final project grade will be announced by staffs of Institute.

4. PROJECT STRUCTURE:

The project should be presented including those steps below:

*Cover page (example)

*Sub-cover page (example)

*Acknowledgement page (example)

*Comments of the supervisor page (example)

*Comments of the instructor page (example)

*Table of Content page (example)

*Table of Special terms and Shortcut words page (example)

*Table of Charts and Tables page (example)

*Table of Figures page (example)

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 * INTRODUCTION:
1. Main reason for choosing the topic:
2. Purpose of the research:
3. The research’s scope:
4. Research methodologies:
5. The main contents of project:

CHAPTER 1: THE ARGUEMENTS OF THE RESEARCH TOPIC

The content includes:

1. Systematizing concisely the scientific theories related to the topic (key concepts is
directly related to the subject, studied theories, legal documents, norms, criteria
reviews, etc.)

2. Note : This section is not allowed to copy verbatim the document, student must capture
the idea, then re-write by his/her own style. At the same time, student must follow
exactly the regulations in quoting and using of the references.

Summary of chapter 1

CHAPTER 2: ANALYZING THE REAL SITUATION RELATED TO THE CHOSEN

TOPIC

The content includes:

2.1. Company background :

2.1.1 Brief history of the company

2.1.2 Role and goal of the company

2.1.3 Organization structure

2.1.4 Business analysis in the last three years (or 4 quarters)

This section is limited in 07 pages

2.2. Analyzing the real situation in the organization/enterprise

Analyzing the real situation in the organization/enterprise by using the arguement was given in the
chapter 1

Summary of chapter 2

CHATER 3: SOLUTION - SUGGESTION

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The content includes:

3.1. The organization/ enterprise’s operating direction

3.2 Solutions

+ Foundations of solution

+ Conditions to implement the solutions

+ The results from carrying out the solutions

3.3 Further suggestions

CONCLUSION

Summarize the results of the research.

This section is limited in 02 pages.

REFERENCES

APPENDIX (if any)

The prescribed length of the project :

The main content of the graduation report (from "Introduction" to "Conclusion" is limited to
between 50 and 60 pages (excluding the appendix)

5. PAGE LAYOUT:

5.1. Page format

- Size: A4

- Left margin: 3.5 cm; Right, Top, and Bottom margin: 2.5 cm

- Font: Times New Roman, font size 13

- Line Space: 1.2-1.5

- Insert a line break after ending a paragraph

5.2. Page number

- Use lower-case Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv…) from Cover page to Table of Contents
page

- Use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4…) from Introduction to References

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5.3. Structure of chapters/sections

The body of each chapter will normally be spit into sections and sub-sections each of wwhich
should have a heading. In technical reports and books the most common form of identification for
headings and sub-headings and is the so called leagal or decimal notation. For example:
CHAPTER 1…………..
1.1……..
1.1.1……….
1.1.2 ………
1.2. ……
CHAPTER 2………….
2.1…………
2.1.1……..
2.1.2 …..
It is seldom necessary to have more than three levels of heading. If you need further sub-division it
is preferable not to number the sub-division. Simply give it an un-numbered heading.

5.4. Figures, photographs and tables

Figures, photographs and tables should be in numerical order e.g. Figure 2.2, Table 2.1 etc. where
the first number indicates the chapter number and the second number indicates the figure/table
number.

6. CITING GUIDES

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the
social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA
manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations,
endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association, (6th ed., 2nd printing).

 Referencing an idea

The leading medical cause of Aboriginal mortality is due to circulatory system disease. Other
important causes of death include diseases of the respiratory system and injury or poisoning
(Anderson, 1999; Saggers & Gray, 1999; Thomson, 1995).

OR

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Anderson (1999), Thomson (1995), and Saggers and Gray (1999) all state that the leading cause of
Aboriginal mortality is due to circulatory system disease, and that other important causes of death
include diseases of the respiratory system and injury or poisoning.

 Referencing a quotation

Indeed, one researcher commented that “technological innovations have saved or extended the
lives of many patients” (Lumby, 2001, p. 44).

 Citing a source within a source

Where your source quotes or refers to another source, for example Unsworth refers to previous
work by Halliday on linguistics, the citation might read thus:

(Halliday, 1987, cited in Unsworth, 2004, p. 15)

Only Unsworth will appear in the Reference list at the end of your assignment.

Notes:

- APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using
signal phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998)
has found...

- If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or
making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference
to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference.

- All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

- Students are required to avoid plagiarism.

7. REFERENCING GUIDES

Your reference list should be ordered alphabetically by author and then chronologically by year of
publication. The APA 6th style requires the references to be indented as illustrated below in the
examples.

For instances of multiple articles with the same authors and years of publication, please see the
complete guide. If you have the DOI for the journal article, you should include it in the reference,
otherwise, it is not necessary.

 Book

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location:
Publisher.
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Lumby, J. (2001). Who cares? The changing health care system. Sydney, Australia: Allen &
Unwin.

 Book chapter

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B.
Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.

McKenzie, H., Boughton, M., Hayes, L., & Forsyth, S. (2008). Explaining the complexities and
value of nursing practice and knowledge. In I. Morley & M. Crouch (Eds.), Knowledge as value:
Illumination through critical prisms (pp. 209-224). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi.

 Journal article

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume
number(issue number), pages. http://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy

Boughton, M., & Halliday, L. (2008). A challenge to the menopause stereotype: Young Australian
women's reflections of 'being diagnosed' as menopausal. Australian Journal of Health and Social
Care in the Community, 16(6), 565-572. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2008.00777

 Webpage with author

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Webpage. Retrieved from
http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Welch, N. (2000, February 21). Toward an understanding of the determinants of rural health.
Retrieved from http://www.ruralhealth.org.au/welch.htm

 Webpage with no author

Title of article. (Year, Month Day) Title of webpage. Retrieved from

http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

ANCI national competency standards for the registered nurse and the enrolled nurse. (2000).
Retrieved from http://www.anci.org.au/competencystandards.htm

 Newspaper article

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of newspaper, pp.10-20. Retrieved from
http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Bagnall, D. (1998, January 27). Private schools: Why they are out in front. The Bulletin, pp. 12-15.

 Government publication

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The Health Targets and Implementation (Health for All) Committee. (1988). Health for all
Australians. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Publishing Service.

 Company and Industry Reports

Magner, L. (2016). IBIS World industry report OD5381. Coffee shops in Australia. Retrieved from
IBIS World database.

Note: References are listed fully in alphabetical order (and year of publication) according to the
last name of the first author.

Sample Reference List

REFERENCES

Boughton, M., & Halliday, L. (2008). A challenge to the menopause stereotype: Young Australian
women's reflections of 'being diagnosed' as menopausal. Australian Journal of Health and Social
Care in the Community, 16(6), 565-572. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2008.00777

Lumby, J. (2001). Who cares? The changing health care system. Sydney, Australia: Allen &
Unwin.

Welch, N. (2000, February 21). Toward an understanding of the determinants of rural health.
Retrieved from http://www.ruralhealth.org.au/welch.htm

8. INFORMATION ON APPENDICES

Appendices may be provided to include further details of results, mathematical derivations, certain
illustrative parts of program code, user documentation, log of project milestones. In particular, if
there are technical details of the work done that might be useful to others who wish to build on this
work, but that are not sufficiently important to the Project as a whole to justify being discussed in
the main body of the project, then they should be included as appendices. The sequence of
appendices should be given using capital letters of the alphabet (A, B, C, D…).

9. Evaluation Criteria of Graduation Project

- Theroretical and practical implications of the project

- Methodology, skills and references

- Research results and applications

- Layout and presentation

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GRADUATION PROJECT MARKING SCHEME
Criterion Performance Marks
Available

Work Maintain regular contact with your supervisor to follow work 1

attitude schedule.
Implement an effecting performance management process of
collecting materials and data, analyzing data, and writing the
graduation project.
Understand the expections of progress in the program, including
formal requirements and deadlines.

Project In general, clear and logical presentation, articulate prose, project 1

content set out in well-structured and attractive format, no spelling or
grammartical errors, clear and labeled graphs and charts, and
maximum 50-60 pages of content.

Literature Review: excellent review, concise critical review, set 2

into context of project, identifying gaps in knowledge.

Summary of the facts: a brief profile of the agency, company or 3

organization and deep analysis of a specialized field (consistent
with the graduation project title).

Recommendations: appropriate recommendations and suggestions 2

related to the literature review and the summary of the facts.

Introduction and Conclusion: Introduction demonstrates an 1

excellent grasp of the ojectives, rationale, methodology and a clear
outline of scope and/or findings of the project. Well-defined
concluding section which recapitulates the important points made
in the body of the project and provides further research.

Total marks 10

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10. OTHER GUIDELINES ON WRITING A GRADUATION PROJECT
- Excellent use of relevant evidence with citations, thoughtfully selected, from a variety of
source.
- There are two types of plagiarism, which could occur within all modes of assessment:
 Direct copying of text or images from a book, article, essay, computer program,
handout, project, wed page or other sources without proper acknowledgement.
 With a similarity indext about 50%, a mark of zero (0) should be awarded for the
assessment in which the plagiarism was found to occur.
Notes: Work attitude will be evaluated on the comments of the supervisor evaluation report.
- Students who take part in an oral examination must be agreed by both the supervisor and the
second examiner.
- The project is in 3 copies with a hardcover.

11. GRADUATION PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

- Do not copy and paste directly from someone else’s work without providing citations.

- Quote the accurate sources used in the report.

- Intern at the actual organisation.

- Strictly follow the regulations of the supervisor, the institute, the university and the
organisation during the internship.

Vice Director of Institute

(Đã ký)

ThS. Nguyễn Lan Hương

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