EAT 461/2:

FINAL YEAR PROJECT 1

HOW TO
WRITE FYP
PROPOSAL

AIN NIHLA
KAMARUDZAMAN
 What is a research
proposal?
• A research proposal is your plan
– It describes your study in detail:
• What you plan to do
• Why you want to do it
• How you are going to do it..

• To convince people that your research is

important, has not been done before, is
worthwhile and is feasible.
 What is a research
proposal?

• A research proposal of FYP is

used for:
– receiving feedback from the
examiners
– approvals to proceed by the FYP
panels
 Research Proposal
Marks Distribution
Supervisor
Proposal Report (20%)
(40%)

Examiner 1
Research (20%)
Proposal
(50%) Examiner 1
(5%)
Mid-Viva 1
(10%)
Examiner 2
(5%)
 CONTENTS OF FYP
PROPOSAL
STRUCTURE AND FORMAT
• Report organization
• Sentence structure
• Suitable aiding figure and table
* Add at the end,
PROPOSAL CONTENTS • List of Chemicals
• List of Equipments
• Introduction/Background of Study
• Literature review *Attach
• Problem statements Hazard Identification, Risk
• Objectives Assessment and Risk Control
• Scope of the study (HIRARC) and Control of
• Research methodology Substance Hazardous to Health
• Significance of the study (COSHH) form
• Research activities and Gantt Chart
• References and Citations
 1. The Title

• WHAT IS A GOOD TITLE?

– The title should describe what is being
evaluated and how it is being evaluated.
– Avoid long titles.
– Try to keep your title to 12 words or less.
– Avoid unclear titles.
– If possible, think of an informative but
catchy title.
 2. Introduction

• In the Introduction – you should have a “hook” to gain

the readers’ attention.
• Briefly explain the background or scenario or issues
related to the study.
• Begins with a general statement of the problem area.
• Should explain why you want to conduct the research
• Briefly show that you have reviewed some literature
• Provide some current information on the topic to be
focused on
• Provide definitions of key concepts (This is optional)
Example: Starting An Introduction

• ‘Polylactide (PLA) has received much

attention in recent years due to its
biodegradable properties, which offer
important economic benefits.’ the writer
establishes the importance of this research
topic.
• ‘PLA is a polymer obtained from corn and
is produced by the polymerisation of
lactide.’ the writer provides general
background information for the reader.
• ‘PLA has many possible uses in the biomedical field and
has also been investigated as a potential engineering
material (xx et al., 2010).’ the writer does the same as in
Sentences 1 and 2, but in a more specific/detailed way,
using research references to support both the background
facts and the claim for significance.
• ‘However, it has been found to be too weak under impact
to be used commercially (xx, 2014).’ the writer describes
the general problem area or the current research focus of
the field.
• ‘One way to toughen polymers is to incorporate a layer of
rubber particles (xx, 2010).’ the writer provides a transition
between the general problem area and the literature
review.
 3. Literature review

• This will be a brief overview, not a

comprehensive review of the literature like the
one that you will present in your thesis.
• Review relevant previous studies - related to
ongoing projects.
• Review the concept/ techniques/ methods/
equipment or technology that will be taken in
implementing the project/ study.
• Cite other researchers’ work to support your
study
 Literature review

• Many references have to be made in this chapter.

• References can be taken either from books, conference
papers, journal articles, magazines, thesis and/ or the
internet (good quality references: current - less than 5
years, high-impact, refereed journal).
• Using keywords, search articles using computer database
(e.g. ScienceDirect, Engineering village, SpringerLink e-
journals, etc.)
• All references must be clearly recorded in the text and
specified in the reference list at the end of the report.
 Example of citation

– During dry period, snail will cover its body in mud and
also in water with low oxygen content (Wilmol
and Amaret, 2003).
Wilmol, C., Amaret, B. (2003). Isolation and Characterization of Pathogens
Attacking Pomacea Canalicuta, Journal of Nature, 422, 245-256.

– Sam et al., (1991) demonstrated the possibility to use

scanning electron microscopy,…… to ascertain the
authenticity of EBN.
Sam, C.T., Tan, P.H. & Lim, C.H. (1991) Establishing the Authenticity of
Edible Bird’s Nest. ISFM Medicine Scientific Review, 225 - 236
12
 4. Problem Statements

• Research study is done to solve a problem.

So it is very important for you to explain;
• What is the current situation?
• What is wrong with the current
situation?
• What action need to be done?
• You need to convince the reader that the
problem to be solved, do exist and should be
settled.
 Problem statement – Example
What is the Several physical-chemical treatment technologies are used to treat the
current landfill leachate.
situation
For example; chemical precipitation, ion exchange, SBR, adsorption
etc.

What is Physical-chemical process for landfill leachate treatment have some

wrong with limitation;
the current
situation • High operation and maintenance cost
• Produces toxic sludge
• Labours and services are required even after landfill site closure.
• Require extensive pre-treatment process

What need • Constructed wetland will be developed as an alternative method to treat

to be done landfill leachate since constructed wetland has low cost of construction
and maintenance.
• Due to its high rate of the biological activities, the constructed wetland
can transform pollutants into harmless by-products and essential
nutrients.
 5. The Objectives

The objectives of the proposed study should be;

• Short, clear and straight forward
• Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant,
Timely (SMART)
• Must be within the priority areas/topic
• Avoid too many objectives (3 objectives are
enough for FYP)
• If there is more than one objective - the
objectives can be presented in the appropriate
order of importance
 Examples of Keywords:
Result Oriented
• To explore
– is to attempt to develop an initial, rough description
or, possibly, an understanding of some phenomenon

• To describe
– Is to provide a more detailed account, or the precise
measurement and reporting of the characteristics of
some phenomenon, including patterns of relationship
between its component

• To explain
– Is to establish the elements, factors or mechanisms
which are responsible for producing the state or
regularities in the phenomenon.
 Example of Keywords:
Result Oriented
• To predict
– is to use some established understanding or
explanation of a phenomenon to postulate certain
outcomes under particular conditions

• To evaluate
– is to monitor some process or program in order to
assess whether it has achieved its desired outcomes

• To understand
– is to establish reasons for particular action, the occurrence
on an event or the course of a action
 Example 1

The objectives of the study are:

1. To investigate the performance of the

constructed wetland system in treating landfill
leachate.
2. To evaluate the effect of the constructed
wetland system on leachate quality in terms
of suspended solid, turbidity, ammonia
nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, orthophosphate
and heavy metal content.
3. To quantify the amount of heavy metal taken off
by roots and leaves of the constructed wetland
plants.
 Example 2

The aims of this research are to identify the critical

success factors to IBS implementation and develop a
framework which guides transformation of contractors from
conventional to IBS. To achieve this aim, the following
objectives have been derived:

1. To investigate the state of IBS uptake in Malaysia,

as well as the drivers, barriers, policies and
chronology of adoption.

2. To determine and document the critical

success factors to IBS using literature
reviews and case studies.
 Example 3

There are three objectives of this study, which include;

1. To identify the damage of beam-column joint

under vertical cyclic loading based on visual
observation from experimental work.
2. To model the damage and probability of
occurrence using fragility curve.
3. To assess beam-column joint using the
probability function and cumulative density
function (CDF) in terms of percentage.
 6. Scope of The Study

– Describes the extent of the study

– Actual place where the study will only be conduct (if
your project do a case study).
– Duration of the conduct of the study.
– Inclusions of the study (only specific aspect of the
study or topic).
– Limit of the no. of respondents
– Area limit
– What are the limitation of your study?
General aims and approach to the
study, techniques/methods,
variables or parameters,
Example:
analyte/sample, equipment for
analysis, limits/boundaries Scope of Study
This project involves regeneration of modified clay brick (CB) used for adsorption of Cr (VI).
This study is to be conducted using a column technique. A known quantity of crushed
activated clay brick activated with 0.1 M NaOH will be placed inside the column with bed
depth of 20 cm. The concentration of the working solution, i.e. chromium (VI) synthetic
sample will be approximately 20 mg/L. The Cr (VI) concentration contained in the effluents
will be analysed using Hach 2800 DR Spectrophotometer. Regeneration will be conducted in
a similar way to the adsorption process, but hydrochloric acid (HCl) will be used as the
working solution instead of Cr (VI) solution. The concentration of HCl solution will be varied
to 1, 2, 4 and 6 M to achieve the first objective of research. To investigate the influence of
bed height, a known quantity of spent clay brick from Cr (VI) adsorption step will be placed
in the column. To achieve the second objective, the adsorbent bed height will be varied to
10, 20 and 30 cm. Finally, to achieve the third objective, the influence of adding another
desorption agent, i.e. hot (boiling) water will be done before passing HCl at 15 mL/min in
the desorption step. After desorption step, the clay brick will be subjected to second
adsorption to evaluate the regeneration efficiency.
RELIABLE AND
REPRODUCIBLE
METHODS 7. Research Methodology

• Describe how the project will be

implemented to achieve the objectives

• Proposal should include the details of all

processes to be adopted in the study

• Discuss the rationale for your selection of

research techniques, materials, equipment,
locations, testing procedures, data collection,
proposed data analyses, etc. (DON’T
FORGET TO CITE!)
 Example

Design:
• Is it a questionnaire study or a laboratory experiment?
What kind of design do you choose?
Subjects or participants:
• Who will take part in your study? What kind of sampling
procedure do you use?
Instrument:
• What kind of measuring instruments or questionnaires do
you use? Why do you choose them? Are they valid and
reliable?
Procedure:
• How do you plan to carry out your study? What
activities are involved? How long does it take?
 Research Methodology

• In this chapter, the expected results of

the project/study needs to be explained.

• This chapter also contains a flowchart,

diagram and activities planned to be
carried to achieve the objectives and
refers to Gantt Chart (Appendix)
COMPULSORY
 Example of experimental
flowchart
Step 1: Step 6: Step 7:
Setting up the instruments Calculation & plotting Repetition of Step 1 to 7 with
(Pump volumetric rate, graph of ln [(C*AL - CAL1) different variables (air
DO probe, diffuser, etc) / (C*AL - flow rates, diffuser’s hole
CAL2) ] against time (min) size, salinity)

Step 5:
Step 2: Step 8:
Recording the DO
Addition of water 5 L to Repetition of Step 1 to
concentration for every 30 7 with multiple
a 10 L water tank. seconds variables.

Step 3: Step 9: Designing the

Removal of O2 from Step 4: aeration system.
water using sodium Addition of O2 by air
sulphite solution. pump 24
 Example of experimental
Planting Crop
flowchart
Harvesting UPSTREAM
PROCESS

Determination of Crop Performance

& Productivity (Boundary
Limits Determination)

Extraction of Active
Compound

Analysis of The Active

Compound
DOWNSTREAM
PROCESS
Scaling up Calculation for
Manufacturing Plant

Designing of a Prototype
Plant using Software
25
 Example of experimental
flowchart
MEASUREMENT OF ANTHOCYANIN QUANTITY
- Method chosen: spectrophotometer
- At neutral pH, anthocyanin shows maximum absorption.
- One in UV region (approximately 240 nm) and two in
visible region (approximately 415 and 520 nm)

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC
- Measurement of the intensity of colour

FINAL STAGE
- Data analysis from spectrophotometer value on intensity of colour
- Conclusion and justification of the experiments
26
 8. Significance of The
Study

• What is your contribution to others or to the

field of study by doing the research?
• How your research can help current
situation?
• Outline the findings, evidence or conclusions
that you expected to gain.
 Significance of The
Study

• The general body of research to which my

study will add is:
• The people who will benefit most from this
research are:
• The findings from this study will help them
(how?)
• Other benefits of the study include:
 Example:
Significance of Study
The outcome of the adsorbent regeneration study is expected to
contribute to enhance knowledge in regeneration process, which
is a practical way of reusing spent adsorbent and hence reduce
the cost of Cr (VI) removal process for potential practical
application. The optimisation of clay brick regeneration will
enhance the effectiveness of spent clay brick regeneration
process so that the clay brick can be used repeatedly for Cr (VI)
removal from aqueous solution at optimum conditions. This will
thus increase the clay brick commercialisation potential. This
project also creates an opportunity for construction company to
recycling the demolition wastes for heavy metal removal.
 9. Research Activities
and Gantt Chart
You are required to provide a plan/schedule of research
activities, timeline or milestone chart (Gantt Chart) for your
proposal
These milestones can serve a number of essential
functions:
 Help examiners understand how you plan to stage and
conduct your project tasks (and in the process, reassure them
that you actually do have a detailed action plan).
 Provide evidence that you have a plan to finish the work in the
time allotted.
 Provide an easy-to-find list of the main tasks you need to
accomplish in order to achieve your objectives.
 Example: Gantt Chart

• The time frame of the study

• When and what you are going to do in
these two semester
 *A good flow chart will have
several list of experimental
activities required to achieve
objectives/milestones (M)
Example of Gantt Chart
YEAR SEM 1 SEM 2
MONTH SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY
WEEK 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 5 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
LITERATURE
REVIEW AND
RESEARCH
DEVELOPMENT
SAMPLE
PREPARATION M1
& CHARACTER-
ISATION
OPTIMIZATION
OF
EXPERIMENTAL
PARAMETERS M2
USING RSM

MODEL
DEVELOPMENT M3

PERFORM-
ANCE STUDY M4

DATA ANALYSIS

THESIS
WRITING
 Example: Milestone
• Include around 4 main activities/achievements of
objectives at a certain stage of study and expected date of
completion
Expected
No Milestone
Date of Completion
1 Sample preparation and Characterisation 30th Nov 2015
2 Optimisation of Experimental Parameters 15th Jan 2016
3 Development of Model for Optimisation 30th Jan 2016
Experimental Performance Study and 15th Feb 2016
4
Comparison
 10. References
and Citations
• All pieces of literature referred should be
listed at the end of the FYP proposal
• The standard methods of reporting
references should be followed – APA
Referencing and Citation guideline.
• All references that appear in the list of
references must be cited in the text (MUST
BE USED!)
 Referencing Style
(APA Style)
1. Book : Author Sur Name(s), Author Name Initial(s). (Year). Title, Edition number, Publisher,
Location: Example:
Holmlund, C. (1969). Fried, Avionic Navigation Systems, 1st edition, New York: John Wiley
and Sons, Inc. USA
2. Conference Proceedings : Author Sur Name(s), Author Name Initial(s). (Year). Article
title, Name of conference, Location of conference, Pages. Example:
Dore, S.D. & Kershenbaum, L.S. (1994). Application of geometric nonlinear control in the
process industries – a case study, Proc. IFAC Symposium, ADCHEM ‘94, Kyoto, Japan, 501-
506.
3. Journal Paper : Author Sur Name(s), Author Name Initial(s). (Year). Article title,
Name of journal, Volume number, Pages. Example :
Finkelstein, M. (2006). Microfluids: Cliks and Chips, Journal of Nature, 422, 245-256.
4. Electronic sources:
 Web pages- Author(s) or Company, (Year). Title, URL, date found. Example :
Vice President (1999). University of Calgary Research Policies and Procedures
Handbook. Retrieved from: http://www.ovpr.uga.edu/rpph/rph_misn.html. Accessed on
23 February 1999.
Note: Read the FYP referencing guide.
 Tenses for Proposal Report
– General Guidelines
“Choose proper tenses”
• Introduction – present tense
• Literature – past tense
• Objectives/Scope of
Study/Methods/Significance of Study –
future tense
• Expected results – future tense
• Findings – present tense
 Last but not least,
please prepare your
Proposal Presentation!
 And finally….

Any
questions?

36