OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES AND GENERAL GUIDANCE
1. INTRODUCTION
Module Title: Final Year Project
Module Code: CEN311
Department: Civil Engineering
Module Coordinator: Lei Fan
This document provides an overview of some important aspects of your final year project (FYP) work. You
will be given more detailed support and guidance throughout the year; from your project coordinator,
supervisor and the Language Centre; through regular meetings, lectures etc. You should study this
document carefully, raise any questions with your supervisor, and check your email daily for further
information.
2. NATURE, AMOUNT AND TIMING OF PROJECT WORK
This is a 10 credit module, i.e. 5 credits per semester, and therefore represents at least 300 hours of
student learning in total for the whole academic year. This is equivalent to at least 5 hours project work for
each week of semesters 1 and 2, but your effort is unlikely to be spread evenly. Availability of equipment,
workshop services, technical support, nature of the project etc. will influence your work patterns. Students
also tend to spend many more hours preparing for the two formal assessment stages.
You should meet with your supervisor for typically one hour every week in the early stages of the project.
However; meeting hours, frequency etc. should be arranged with your supervisor regularly. Additional
lectures will provide you with all the support and guidance you will need to complete your project
successfully. Apart from project meetings and lectures you will spend your project time working
independently: performing background research and reading; working in the laboratory, in the field or
computer modelling; and preparing for your assessments.
3. STAGES OF ASSESSMENT
Sequence Timing (tentative) % of Final Mark
Interim presentation The end of SEM1 15
Final Report The end of SEM2 70
Final Presentation The end of SEM2 15
Note:
1. Exact timing and presentation schedule will be distributed to all staff and students at least one
week before the event day.
2. Other requirements such as the type and length of the presentation, pages of the report and
format of the report will be available to student in due time.
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Submission of Reports: The final stage requires the submission of the formal report. You should
submit 2 hard copies of the report to the Secretary, Civil Engineering,
where it will be date stamped. The report should be spiral/thermal bound
and must begin with the standard cover sheet (template will be provided).
Simultaneously you should upload the e-copy of the report to LMO.
Submission of Presentations/Posters:
The e-copy of your presentation (PPT) or poster should also be uploaded to
LMO before the event day
Lateness Penalties: Standard University lateness penalties will apply to all submissions unless
special arrangements are agreed in writing by both supervisor and marker.
All late submissions due to mitigating circumstances must be recorded with
Secretary, Civil Engineering Departmental Office in the normal way.
4. RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SUPERVISOR
It is important that from the very beginning you strike up a professional working relationship with your
Supervisor.
Your Supervisor is responsible for setting up your project and giving you a comprehensive initial briefing
(including health and safety). After that, you should take the lead in planning the work, obtaining the
necessary resources and inputs, etc. The Supervisor then becomes your consultant. At regular meetings you
should be fully prepared to:
• Outline briefly the progress you have made since the last meeting;
• Outline your plans for the next two or three weeks;
• Ask for advice on specific aspects of the project.
You may wish to provide your Supervisor with some information before the meeting so that he/she has
time to read it carefully. Sometimes the meetings may be quite short; at other times you may need to ask
for a longer session to discuss some aspects in more detail.
You should agree a regular meeting time (normally weekly). Either side should inform the other (with some
notice if possible) if the appointment cannot be kept, and an alternative time should be arranged as soon as
possible. If you call at your Supervisor’s office without an appointment, he/she will very likely be engaged
or out. You should leave a note saying that you called, asking for an appointment and suggesting some
possible times. Probably the best way to communicate with your Supervisor is by e-mail; you must
therefore check your e-mail frequently.
It is most important that you make effective use of your Supervisor’s time and do not waste it. In that way
you are likely to receive good support and encouragement.
• THIS IS YOUR PROJECT AND COMPLETION IS ENTIRELY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
• YOUR SUPERVISOR IS THERE TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE AND GUIDANCE WHEN YOU ASK
FOR IT.
• YOUR SUPERVISOR IS NOT THERE TO CHASE YOU FOR WORK, OR TO LEAD YOU THROUGH
EACH STAGE OF THE PROJECT.
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5. PROJECT LOGBOOK
All professional engineers keep a logbook / journal / daybook: this is a legal document that records every
aspect of their working day. The FYP is your chance to practice this important skill and all students are
required to keep a Personal Project Logbook. Only the departmental standard logbook which you can get
copies at secretary’s office is allowed to use during your project work.
The purpose of the logbook is to record the day-to-day progress of the project and learning experience. You
must always have it with you whenever you are working on your project, for example in the laboratory, in
the library, in the meetings with your Supervisor and in other project related works. Get into the habit of
using it for all notes and do not use scraps of paper. It is a working record and personal learning journal —
date each entry, work reasonably neatly and do not ‘copy up neatly afterwards’. Printed material that you
collect may be pasted in or put into a separate loose-leaf binder (suitably cross-referenced).
Provide your ID number and module information on the first page. You may also leave two or three pages
for a list of Contents, with page references. Students often use the back of the book for references/
bibliography. You are also expected to date each page and the get the signature from your supervisor.
Your logbook must also contain your signed Project Risk Assessment Form and any supplementary Risk
Assessment Forms.
Typical contents of your logbook are:
• Summaries of papers, reports or books (including full reference details).
• Notes of meetings with your Project Supervisor – preparatory notes, discussion points to follow up,
agreed actions.
• Experimental and other data obtained.
• Calculations and analysis of technical problems.
• Sketches of design ideas.
• Project management issues.
• Learning experience.
The logbook should be an honest account of how your thoughts developed as the project progressed – it
may therefore contain entries which subsequently proved to be wrong or unsatisfactory.
6. HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES
Your project work could potentially be hazardous to health, and the law therefore places certain
requirements on both you and your supervisor to:
• Understand your respective legal responsibilities for Health and Safety.
• Carry out and document (and update as necessary) a Risk Assessment for all activities associated
with your project work.
• Specify and document (and update as necessary) precautions to be taken.
• Identify and implement any training required.
• Periodically monitor observance of the agreed procedures.
At an early meeting with your Supervisor, and before any potentially hazardous activities are undertaken,
you must discuss and complete the Risk Assessment Form.