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TOPIC 2:�WRITING &�STRUCTURING REPORT

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Introduction

Thesis writing – Is it important? Why?

    • Thesis is an evidence of your project. A reflection of your effort.
    • A good project can be ruined by a poor thesis.
    • A bad project cannot be turned into a good one by producing a good thesis.

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Who going to read my thesis?

My friend?

My supervisor? My examiner?

?

Everybody going to read my thesis So, what should I write?

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So, what should I write?

I need to write :

  • related terms,
  • related definitions,
  • related works (LR),
  • related methodologies,
  • related prototype developments,
  • related outputs

  • Everything related to… my TITLE and OBJECTIVES.

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Why do we need to write a thesis?

to put the project into a proper and good documentation.

to share project results with others.

to enhance the knowledge of society.

to obtain some form of degree.

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What is a bad thesis?

Title is too long and not clear.

Objectives is not relevant. Don’t use the word ‘to study…’

Objective is not sync with results. Copy other people works - plagiarism.

Methods is not clear.

False data.

Results are not valid & very bad discussed.

Results does not reflect the objectives.

Thesis is too slight (not thick enough). Language and grammar is very bad.

Overall format of thesis is bad.

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Please remember..�

  • Not much time……lots of mistake……anger may occur…

  • Fastest approach:
    • Check whether the title is ok or not.
    • Check objectives are ok or not.
    • Check whether objectives synchronous or not with the results.
    • Check plagiarism in LRs.

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Please remember..�

  • Check the systematic of methods used
  • (logical step by step).
  • Check the validity of results.
  • Check validity of references.
  • Check format of references.
  • Check the portion of grammar.
  • Check the overall thesis format.

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Rules to follow

  • Try to avoid personal pronouns such as I, you, we, my and so on.
  • Keep sentences short and to the point.
  • Avoid making several point within the same sentence.
  • Avoid abbreviations, short form and slang.
  • Use simple rather than complex words.
  • Common practice to present your report
  • in past tense.

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Rules to follow (cont.)

Present tense should be use when referencing to the work of others.

Avoid jokes and personal asides.

Avoid shortened forms such as ‘isn’t’

�Make sure you know how to use apostrophes (The mark (') used to indicate the omission of one or more letters from a printed word).

Use a spelling and grammer checker using Word Language Tools or other language tools such as RefnWrite, Grammarly, Quillbot

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Body of Thesis

  • The body of the thesis report contains six logical

divisions :

1. Introduction

2. Literature

Study/Review

3. Methodology

6. Conclusion & Recommendations

5. Results and Discussion

4.Development/

Construction

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Writing a thesis is about a story

  1. INTRODUCTION
    • Background of study
      • Current Issue / trend
      • Must reflect to your title (All components)
    • Statement of the Problem
    • Objectives
    • Scope
    • Significance of study
    • Thesis Outline

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Introduction: Content

Find problem in related works?

Write a brief account on the current state of the problems.

Explain what you going to solve and your objectives.

Explain your scope / limitation.

End your Introduction by writing a brief information on how your thesis is organized.

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Writing a thesis is about a story

(cont.)

2.0 LITERATURE STUDY/ REVIEW

    • Review of Previous Related Literature
    • Definition of terms used
    • Current issues
    • Related Work – �Presented in a proper way (classified into categories/techniques/methods)
    • Knowledge gap �(if you are capable to do so)

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What is Literature Review?

A summary of relevant previous research on a topic.

The literature” means the major writings - especially scholarly writings - on the topic.

Literature

Depending on field, "the literature" can include all sorts of things: journal articles, books, published essays, government reports, and so on.

"Review" usually means an overview summarizing major parts and bringing them together to build a picture of what's out there.

Review

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Literature review: Content

End your Literature Study by summarized the literatures that are closely related to your project.

It can relate in terms of software, data/domain, architecture, algorithm, environment, hardware, method of data collection, etc.

Provide a literature review of similar research in the field - you can start of by giving a general literature review of similar research, then focus on those that more related to your project.

Find previous works that relate with your project.

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Structure of the chapter

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Area of interest

2.3 Domain / Problem Area

2.4 Theory

2.5 System Development Model(s)

2.6 Similar Existing Systems

2.7 Implication of Literature Review

2.8 Conclusion

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Introduction

  • Consists of what chapter 2 will describe
  • Give expectation to the reader on what will be discussed/will not be discussed in the chapter
  • May consists of one paragraph only

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Area of interest

  • Describe area of interest of your project
  • Give readers generic idea on the topic and what they need to know regarding the area
  • May talk about:
    • Definition
    • Characteristics
    • Types
  • May start with broader definition before going to more specific area
  • May end the section with a summary table of state-of-the-art works within the investigated area

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Domain / Problem Area

  • Used to describe domain of the project
  • Give readers what they need to know regarding the problem area

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theory

  • Approach to solve problem/handle issues in the domain area

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System Development Model(s)

  • May directly explain on chosen system development model

OR�

  • Describe on few models and made a conclusion of which model is to be selected
  • May use table to conclude the findings

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Similar Existing Systems

  • Starts with the introduction before moving on to sub section that consists of selected similar existing systems
  • Ended with comparisons of each system
  • Conclude with its implication to your project

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Implication of Literature Review

  • The purpose is to gather all findings from literature review into one section
  • From each previous sections, gather the conclusion into this section

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Literature review: Content(cont.)

  • There are some supervisors that love to use a table in summarizing the Literature Study (at the end of the chapter).

  • Example:

Paper title

Author(s)

Years

Proceeding/

Describe

To cite

Journals

how the

paper relate

to your

project

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Literature review: Content(cont.)

  • Discussion of Related Work
  • Example:

Author

 

Mobile Application

M-Learning with integrating by Cloud Computing

 

M-Learning without integrating by Cloud Computing

 

M-Learning

Velev (2014)

/

/

 

Rao (2010)

/

/

 

Guo and Lu (2014)

/

/

 

Liu (2015)

/

/

 

Wang et al (2014)

/

/

 

Sarrab and Elbasir (2013)

/

/

 

Butoi,Tomai,and Mocean (2013)

/

/

 

Stanton and Ophoff ( 2013)

/

 

/

Mehdipour and Zerehkafi

( 2013)

/

 

/

Jagušt (2011)

/

 

/

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An example of citing / quoting processes to avoid plagiarism

  • Author: Kevin Mitnick
  • Title of paper: Intrusion – an explanation
  • Journal : Volume I, Journal of Computer Security ISBN: xxxxxx
  • Presented at : Information & Network Security Conference (INSC), Putrajaya
  • Date of presentation: July 20, 2008

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..............Intrusion can be classified into 2, that are insider and outsider. Insider is an authorized user whereas outsider is an unauthorized user.

3 ways to cite:

  1. ..........Instead of using the term hacker, Mitnick (2008) stated that insider is a person who have access to our assets whereas outsider is a person who do not have access to our assets......
  2. ..........Instead of using the term hacker, Mitnick (2008) stated that “insider is an authorized user whereas outsider is an unauthorized user”.
  3. According to Mitnick (2008), insider is more dangerous that outside because they are the person that had access to overall assets of the company.......

References: Mitnick, K (2008). Intrusion – an explanation. Volume I, Journal of Computer Security. ISBN : xxxxxx. http://abc.com.

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References

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In-Text Citation Principles

Citing Works With the Same Author and Date

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Reference

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Reference Examples

Journal article

  • Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS ONE13(3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972

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Reference Examples

 Magazine articles.

  • Lyons, D. (2009, June 15). Don’t ‘iTune’ us: It’s geeks versus writers. Guess who’s winning. Newsweek153(24), 27.
  • Schaefer, N. K., & Shapiro, B. (2019, September 6). New middle chapter in the story of human evolution. Science365(6457), 981–982. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay3550
  • Schulman, M. (2019, September 9). Superfans: A love story. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/16/superfans-a-love-story

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Reference Examples

Newspaper article

Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can we get better at forgetting? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/health/memory-forgetting-psychology.html

Harlan, C. (2013, April 2). North Korea vows to restart shuttered nuclear reactor that can make bomb-grade plutonium. The Washington Post, A1, A4.

Stobbe, M. (2020, January 8). Cancer death rate in U.S. sees largest one-year drop ever. Chicago Tribune.

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Reference Examples

Book

Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Associationhttps://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000

Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.

Svendsen, S., & Løber, L. (2020). The big picture/Academic writing: The one-hour guide (3rd digital ed.). Hans Reitzel Forlag. https://thebigpicture-academicwriting.digi.hansreitzel.dk/

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Reference Examples

Blog Post

Ouellette, J. (2019, November 15). Physicists capture first footage of quantum knots unraveling in superfluid. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/study-you-can-tie-a-quantum-knot-in-a-superfluid-but-it-will-soon-untie-itself/

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Reference Examples

Conference Proceeding

//Conference proceedings published in a journal

Duckworth, A. L., Quirk, A., Gallop, R., Hoyle, R. H., Kelly, D. R., & Matthews, M. D. (2019). Cognitive and noncognitive predictors of success. Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesUSA116(47), 23499–23504. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910510116

//Conference proceedings published as a whole book

Kushilevitz, E., & Malkin, T. (Eds.). (2016). Lecture notes in computer science: Vol. 9562. Theory of cryptography. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49096-9

//Conference proceedings published as a book chapter

Bedenel, A.-L., Jourdan, L., & Biernacki, C. (2019). Probability estimation by an adapted genetic algorithm in web insurance. In R. Battiti, M. Brunato, I. Kotsireas, & P. Pardalos (Eds.), Lecture notes in computer science: Vol. 11353. Learning and intelligent optimization (pp. 225–240). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05348-2_21

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Reference Examples

Conference Presentation

Evans, A. C., Jr., Garbarino, J., Bocanegra, E., Kinscherff, R. T., & Márquez-Greene, N. (2019, August 8–11). Gun violence: An event on the power of community [Conference presentation]. APA 2019 Convention, Chicago, IL, United States. https://convention.apa.org/2019-video

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Reference Examples

Published Dissertation or Thesis

Kabir, J. M. (2016). Factors influencing customer satisfaction at a fast food hamburger chain: The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Publication No. 10169573) [Doctoral dissertation, Wilmington University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Zambrano-Vazquez, L. (2016). The interaction of state and trait worry on response monitoring in those with worry and obsessive-compulsive symptoms [Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona]. UA Campus Repository. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/620615

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  • 3.0 METHODOLOGY
    • Procedures for Collection and treatment of Data
    • Procedures in developing and gathering the results
    • Methods used in analyzing data
    • Hardware/Software/Application used

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Methodology: Content

can divided into several sub-sections

provide a description of the technique or method you proposed (better to use diagrams)

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What is Methodology

A software development methodology or system development methodology in software engineering is a framework that is used to structure, plan, and control the process of developing an information system

A wide variety of such frameworks have evolved over the years, each with its own recognized strengths and weaknesses.

One system development methodology is not necessarily suitable for use by all projects.

page 03

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Example of

Software development methodology

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Waterfall development methodology

Rapid application development methodology

Agile development methodology

Spiral development methodology

Prototype Methodology

User Centred Design Methodology

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Detailed Research Methodology

    • Examples:

      • Title : Development of Web Based Online Homestay Booking System

      • Uses Web Development Life Cycle (WDLC) which encompasses 5 phases:
        • Planning, Analysis, Development, Coding, Testing

EXAMPLE 4 1: 1

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Detailed Research Methodology

Phase

Activities

Techniques

Deliverables

Planning

  1. Identify problem statement, objective, scope and project significance
  2. Identify system requirement

  • Conducting interviews with the owner of the homestay.
  • Reading journals and articles.
  1. Project goals, approach and significance
  2. List of system requirement

PHASE 1

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Detailed Research Methodology

Phase

Activities

Techniques

Deliverables

Analysis

  1. Define functional and non-functional requirements.
  2. Identify hardware and software to be used.
  3. Estimate project schedule
  1. Review similar / existing web-based system

  • Microsoft Project
  1. List of functional and non-functional requirements.
  2. List of hardware and software used.

PHASE 2

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Detailed Research Methodology

Phase

Activities

Techniques

Deliverables

Development

  1. Identify development framework, tools and technique
  2. Design user interface
  3. Design Use Case Diagram
  4. Design database structure
  5. Design application
  6. Develop database.

  1. StarUML

  • phpMyAdmin

  • Adobe Dreamweaver CS6
  1. Development architecture
  2. User interface design/ Storyboard

  • Use Case Diagram
  • Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)
  • Database
  • Algorithm of the application

PHASE 3

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Detailed Research Methodology

Phase

Activities

Techniques

Deliverables

Coding

  1. Set up development environment based on the result from the design phase
  2. Start the coding activity
  1. StarUML

  • phpMyAdmin

  • Adobe Dreamweaver CS6

  1. the codes of the application
  2. Executable code module

Testing

  1. Develop testing form
  2. Perform usability testing
  1. Select a few individual to do testing of the full system.

Deliverables:

  1. Result of testing.
  2. User feedback

PHASE 4

PHASE 5

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Detailed Research Methodology

Jamaliah Taslim

50

Figure 4: Overview of Research Methodology and Approach

Prob. Identification

Req. Gathering

Req. Analysis

Design

Develop

  • Identify and understand potential problems.
  • Identify goal, objectives, scopes and significance of research.
  • Plan related tasks.

Tool: MS Project

  • Primary Data: Interviews
  • Secondary Data Search for Online Journal that related to concept of workspace and Oracle 10g.

  • Analyze requirements based on raw data from primary sources.
  • Analyze requirements from the existing workspace.

Tool: Rational Rose

  • Design the system interface.
  • Design classes,

objects and their

interactions.

Construct

database.

Tool: Rational Rose,

Oracle Database 10g Workspace Manager

  • Translate design into code.
  • Develop prototype system.

Tool: PHP, Apache (web server), Oracle 10g (database server), Macromedia MX (workspace)

Deliverables:

  • Defined goal, objectives scope and significance.
  • Project Plan. (Gantt Chart)

Deliverables:

  • Raw data.
  • Concept understanding.

Deliverables:

System requirements & requirements model

Deliverables:

  • logical design
  • Data flow diagram
  • - Entity relationship Diagram (ERD)
  • Physical Design Detailed design.

Deliverables:

Prototype System

Data Collection and Requirement Gathering

Prototype development to demonstrate the concept of research study

Title: A Development of Oracle 10g Workspace

EXAMPLE 1: 1

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Detailed Research Methodology

    • Examples:

      • Title : REQUIREMENT PRIORITIZATION FOR NON RESIDENT ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

      • Uses System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) which encompasses 5 phases:

- Project Planning,

  • Requirements Elicitation,
  • Requirement Analysis
  • Requirement prioritization and
  • Verification

EXAMPLE 3 1: 1

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Detailed Research Methodology

Phase

Activities

Deliverable

Objectives to be achieved

Project Planning

-Conducting a preliminary investigation by interviewing the staff of Non-Resident Management Unit

-Identifying the problems, objectives, significance

-Conducting a literature review analysis regarding the project

- Plan on the procedure to gain requirements

-Plan the techniques for both requirements elicitation and prioritization that will be used on the projects

-Plan the final outcomes of the projects

-Description of the actual problems faces by UPNR

-A full statement of the research objectives ,research significance and research scope of this project

-list of compatible methods, procedures and techniques to be used

Not applicable

PHASE 1

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Detailed Research Methodology

Phase

Activities

Deliverable

Objectives to be achieved

Requirements Elicitation

-Conducting a full interview with The Head of Non Resident unit

-Conducting an interview with the student representative of Non-Resident unit (JPNR)

-Conducting a document analysis by analyzing the appropriate documents involved in conducting student’s events

-Knowledge on the actual process and data used for application processes

To identify the requirements of the Non-Resident’s Activity Management system by using suitable techniques for requirements elicitation

PHASE 2

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Detailed Research Methodology

Phase

Activities

Deliverable

Objectives to be achieved

Requirement Analysis

And

Prioritization

-analyzing the business process

-prioritize the requirements using MoScoW

-develop a Software Requirement Specification(SRS)

-Business flow model

-Activity Diagram

-Use case Diagram

-Use Case Description

-System Sequence Diagram

-SRS

To prioritize the requirement using MoSCoW prioritization technique for Non Resident Activity Management System

PHASE 3 and PHASE 4

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Detailed Research Methodology

Phase

Activities

Deliverable

Objectives to be achieved

Verification

-develop a prototype

-conduct a prototype testing

-System prototype

To verify the prioritized requirements for the Non-Resident’s Activity Management System

PHASE 5

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Important part in methodology for CSP650

Design and development

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Thank you