PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMA PROGRAM
UTMSPACE
PROJECT PAPER
1.0 THE PROJECT PAPER
The project paper is an integral part of the Professional Diploma Program, and if properly chosen will serve the following purposes:
– A synthesis of various aspects of learning on the Professional Program.
– A demonstration of students understanding of concepts, techniques and skills acquired during the program, through their application in real situations.
– A demonstration of a students ability to write a substantial report in a well-structured manner.
2.0 APPOINTMENT OF SUPERVISOR
Meetings and manner of supervision will be on the arrangement between the students and their advisor.
3.0 CHOOSING THE PROJECT TOPIC
It is the students responsibility to identify a suitable project topic, subject to the approval of his/her supervisor. The topic must be of transportation issues either in the area of management, operation, distribution, logistic, planning or marketing.
4.0 LENGTH OF THE PROJECT PAPER
The project paper is a written document similar in some ways to a thesis or dissertation. The paper should be minimum 8000 words in length excluding illustrations, maps and appendices. The quality of what is written is far more important than the quantity.
5.0 SUBMISSION
Final submission of Project Paper will be on the 15th June 2021. The project paper must be submitted in three (2) copies,
6.0 ASSESSMENT
1. The assessment will be based on:
Project Report/Thesis 100%
THE PROJECT PAPER
1.0 THE STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT PAPER
1.1 FRONT COVER (See Appendix A)
1.2 TITLE PAGE (See Appendix B)
The title page should include all of the following:
a) The title of the project paper.
This title should have been registered with the head of program with the agreement of the advisor before the project paper is submitted. Titles should obviously give an immediate indication of the scope of the project.
b) The name of the student.
c) The course for which the project is being submitted.
d) The name of the school.
e) The (month and) year of submission.
1.3 ABSTRACT
The abstract would comprise two paragraphs (no more than 250 words in total). The first paragraphs should state concisely the purpose of the project. The second should state, again concisely, what was achieved.
1.4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Student may wish to formally acknowledge anyone who has provided exceptional Helpance or organizations that have given the student ready access to their facilities. The wording should be simple and concise.
1.5 TABLE OF CONTENTS (See Appendix C)
A table of contents must be drawn up and included at the beginning of the project paper. It should include the commencing page of the acknowledgements and each of the lists of tables, figures, abbreviations and abstract (in Roman numerals eg. i, ii, ……vi etc) if these appear in the project paper. The page numbers in the table of content should be stated on the right side of the page. Note that the title page at the front of the project paper is considered to be page i, but the number is not typed. Roman numeral ii appears on the first page that follows the title page.
1.6 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES (OPTIONAL)
If the report contains many tables and/or figures a list should be provided, giving the table or figure number, the title and the number of the page as which it is presented.
1.7 GLOSSARY (OPTIONAL)
In writing a project paper it is sometimes convenient to use symbols, abbreviations or ‘jargon’ that are unfamiliar to the general reader. It may be helpful to provide a key to these at the beginning of the project paper and should be presented as separate page.
1.8 INTRODUCTION
One of the most common problems found in project reports concerns the intelligibility of the work to the general reader student must remember that, unlike his/her supervisor, the general reader has not had the benefits of discussing his/her work with opportunity to ask the student questions. The introduction provides an opportunity to lead the reader ‘gently’ into the report, beginning by setting the scene very broadly and then progressively focusing on the nature of the topic to be addressed, and the reason it was chosen as the subject of study.
1.9 LITERATURE REVIEW
This section should give a detailed account of the topic to be studied, a comprehensive discussion (with references where appropriate) of relevant work which has previously been carried on by other workers in the field of study. All material taken verbatim from articles, textbooks etc. must be presented in quotation marks.
Examples of Fully Referenced Review of the Literature:
1. According to Ziesemer, Thomas (1995) in his study about the growth with imported capital goods, limited export and demand and foreign debt, there is an implication of introducing imported inputs and elasticity’s of export demand into the neoclassical growth model for the analysis of long-run growth.
2. Epstein, Gein (1994) said that the world faces the prospect of a new kind of debt crisis. Actual deficit is still conceivable, but something shy of default is even more possible.
1.10 RESEARCH DESIGN
The structure of the report will largely be determined by the nature of the project, and only general guidance can be given here. In general, a detailed account will be given of the source of data and information, how it was collected, and how it was processed and/or analyzed. Any results obtained will also be presented here, but not the discussion of these results.
1.11 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
This is the heart of the report, where students will present a critical appraisal of what has been written before, make comparisons and present arguments supported by his/her analysis of the results. Student should make clear the logical steps which lead to the conclusions he/she has drawn, and relate these conclusions to the objectives of the project.
1.12 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
The conclusions should follow naturally from the analysis and should need no further comment, apart from any qualifications, which may apply to the conditions under which they hold. It is felt that actions should be taken on the basis of the conclusions then such recommendations should be stated there.
1.13 APPENDICES
Any materials which is not necessary for the general reader to follow the report’s arguments should be placed in an appendix such material should, nevertheless, must be relevant to the work, and is included for those readers who may wish to question the findings or to pursue the work further.
1.14 REFERENCES
Detailed references should be given so that the reader may know what sources the writer drew on, which information is attributed to which source and to find the original information to check it or obtain more information.
References may be presented according to the Harvard system. References to periodicals should be listed as follows: authors’ surnames and initials (instead of first author et al), year of publication in parentheses, exact title of paper, contracted title of periodical in italics (or underlined), volume number in Arabic figures (in bold print), initial and final page numbers of article.
Example:
Sachs, T.M & Benson, A.R. (1978). A Conceptual Framework for The Management of Marketing Efficiency. Journal of Marketing 58 (1) 80 – 81.
In the Harvard System, the titles of books are in italics, (or underlined), followed by the town and publisher.
Example:
Jain, E.E (1990). The Logic of Strategic Planning, 5th Ed. New York; John Wiley & Sons, P.P. 80 – 86.
1.15 PAGINATION
The project paper should be paginated continuously in Arabic numerals placing the number at the center of bottom of the page, about 1 cm from the bottom edge the middle of the margin lines of text.
1.16. CORRECTIONS
Before sending the project to a binder the student should proof read it to correct any typing errors. If the project paper is submitted with errors it will probably be returned to the student for correction before it is finally accepted.
2.0 THE FINAL PROJECT PAPER
2.1 FORMAT
A project paper consists of many parts arranged in a certain order. It is recommended that the following order be used as a guide, although not every paper will include all the items listed:
No.
Item Remarks
1.
Blank Page/Title Fly
2. Title Page
No to be paginated but counted as (i)
3. Declaration of Original Work
(See Appendix D) Not to be paginated or listed in Table of Contents but designated as (ii).
4. Letter of Submission
(Only for Hard-Bound Copy)
(See Appendix E)
Not to be paginated or listed in Table of Content but designated as (iii).
5. Acknowledgements/Preface To be paginated as page (iv) and listed in Table of Contents.
6. Table of Contents Not listed in Table of Contents.
7. List of Tables To be paginated as page (v) and listed in Table of Contents.
8. List of Figures/Graphs/Diagrams To be paginated as page (vi) and listed in Table of Contents.
9. List of Abbreviations (or Glossary)
To be paginated as page (vii) and listed in Table of Contents.
10. List of Definition of Terms To be paginated as page (viii) and listed in Table of Contents.
11. Abstract (not exceeding 300 words)
To be paginated as page (ix) and listed in Table of Contents.
12. Main Body (Chapters) To be paginated beginning with 1.
13. Bibliography (or Literature cited)
To be paginated.
14. Appendices First sheet to be counted but not paginated. (Insert a leaf with only the word APPENDICES etc. in the center of page – followed by the actual appendices that are paginated.
15. Blank Page
2.2 PRINT SPECIFICATIONS
Font used should not be too fancy as to complicate reading. Students are advised to use Arial with font size of at least 11.
2.3 MARGINS
The left margin should be at least 1.5 inches wide to facilitate binding of the submitted thesis. The tip, bottom and right margin should be at least 1 inch while the header and footer at least 0.5 inch from the edges. These specifications are applicable to the printed output, thus margins in the -page setup- should be adjusted accordingly to produce the desired result.
2.4 SPACING
Text in the thesis should be typed double-spaced. The following, however, should be single-spaced:
(i) explanatory footnotes (if absolutely necessary)
(ii) quotations longer than three lines set in a block
(iii) bibliography (except between entries)
(iv) appendices, such as questionnaires, letters, etc.
(v) slightly long headings or subheadings.
2.5 OTHERS
(i) PLAGIARISM IS A VERY SERIOUS OFFENCE. ANY STUDENT CAUGHT OF SUCH MISCONDUCT WOULD AUTOMATICALLY GET A FAILING GRADE.
Appendix A
OPTIMISATION OF BUS SEATING CAPACITY IN METRO BUS SDN BHD
MAZIAH BINTI YAACOB
xxxxxx-xx-xxxx
PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMA
IN
FREIGHT & SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
JAN 2015
Appendix B
(TITLE OF YOUR PROJECT)
(YOUR NAME)
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the
Professional Diploma Program
UTMSPACE
(YEAR OF COMPLETION)
Appendix C
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGE ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iii
LIST OF TABLES v
LIST OF FIGURES vi
ABSTRACT vii
CHAPTERS
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Problem Statement 5
1.3 Objective 6
1.4 Significance of Study 8
1.5 Hypotheses 9
1.6 Limitations 10
1.7 Definitions of Terms 11
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Marketing as a Management Philosophy 14
2.1.1 The Marketing Concept 15
2.1.1 (a) Marketing Functions 16
2.1.2 The Marketing Management Concept 17
2.1.2 (b) Importance of Marketing Department 18
2.2 Corporate Marketing 19
2.3 Corporate Strategic Marketing Planning 23
2.4 The Nature of the Relationship between Corporate Marketing 28
and Corporate Strategic Marketing Planning
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN 33
3.1 The Data Collection (Primary and Secondary) 34
3.1.1 Survey Instrument (Questionnaires) 35
3.2 Sampling Techniques (Probability or Non Probability) 36
3.2.1 Sampling Size/Population 37
3.3 Procedure for Analysis of Data (eg. cross-tabulation, chi-square, 38
correlation analysis, factor analysis, t-test, z-test, anova, mann-
whithey, regression analysis, discriminate analysis, etc.)
4. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 46
4.1 Frequency and Characteristics of the Respondents/Companies 47
4.2 Analysis of Problem Statement, Objective and Hyphotesis 48
findings and results.
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 60
BIBLIOGRAPHY 65
APPENDICES 67
Appendix I – Cover Letter 68
Appendix II – Questionnaire 69
Appendix III – Photographs/Maps/Lengthy Charts 71
DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK
Appendix D
PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMA IN FREIGHT & SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
UTMSPACE
“DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK”
I, ________________________, (I/C Number:_____________)
Hereby, declare that,
• This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree, locally or overseas and is not being concurrently submitted for this degree or any other degrees
• This project paper is the result of my independent work and investigation, except where otherwise stated
• All verbatim extracts have been distinguished by quotation marks and sources of my information have been specifically acknowledged.
Signature:_______________ Date:_______________
Appendix E
LETTER OF SUBMISSION
Date of submission
The Programme Coordinator
Professional Diploma Program
UTMSPACE
Kuala Lumpur.
Dear Sir,
SUBMISSION OF PROJECT PAPER
Attached is the project paper titled “AFTA: EFFECTS AND CHALLENGES FACING THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY IN MALAYSIA” to fulfill the requirement as needed by the Professional Diploma Program, UTMSPACE
Thank you
Yours sincerely
MAZIAH YAACOB
