Revised Template for Undergraduate Project Report

LAYOUT OF FINAL UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT REPORT

The final project report has three main sections – Front cover, preliminary section and main
body. Each section and each sub-section should be on a separate page.
Front Cover: This should contain the title of the project, name of author (in the format
Surname, First-name Other-names), matriculation number, and date (month, year) all written
in capital letters. The project cover should be on green background.
Preliminary section: This section page-numbered in roman numerals (i, ii, iii......∞) should
contain the following sub-sections in order of TITLE PAGE, APPROVAL PAGE,
DEDICATION, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, TABLE OF CONTENTS, LIST OF TABLES,
LIST OF FIGURES, LIST OF PLATES, LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, and ABSTRACT.

TITLE PAGE
THE TITLE SHOULD BE CENTRALIZED, BOLD AND IN UPPER CASE

BY

SURNAME, FIRST-NAME OTHER-NAMES

14/55EI000

A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT

OF ................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................

AUGUST, 2018
 APPROVAL PAGE
Part One: This is to certify that this project was carried out by Student’s Surname, First-
name Middle-name (Matric No.) under my supervision and is a fair reflection of the
student’s input.

................................................................
Name of Supervisor
(Supervisor)

Part Two: We certify that this project was defended by above named student in person and
not by proxy.
............................................ ......................................... .........................................
Name of Supervisor Name of HOD
(Supervisor) External Examiner (Head of Department)

DEDICATION
The project cannot be dedicated to more than a person or group of persons.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This is the section where individuals that contributed to the success of the project are
credited. Avoid frivolous appreciation because the project thesis is an official document.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Title page i
Approval Page ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
List of Tables v
List of Figures vi
List of Plates (optional) vii
List of Abbreviations (optional) viii
Abstract ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background to the study 1
1.2 Statement of the research problem 2
1.3 Literature review 3
1.4 Justification for the study 8
1.5 Aim of the study 9
1.6 Objectives of the study 10
CHAPTER TWO: MATERIALS AND METHODS 11
2.1 Study area/location 12
2.2 Experimental design and data collection 13
Data analysis 14
CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS 15
CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION 25
Conclusion
REFERENCES 30
APPENDIX (if there is any supplementary information relevant to the project e.g.
analysis of variance tables, raw data, images of different stages of observations) 31

LIST OF TABLES
Table Title Page
1 Leaf length of Tectona grandis at weeks after planting 17
2 Leaf breadth of Tectona grandis at weeks after planting 19

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Title Page
1 Map of Ilorin, Kwara State 16
2 Leaf length of Tectona grandis (a bar chart or histogram) 18
 LIST OF PLATES
Plate Title Page
1 Epidermal cell of adaxial leaf surface of Tectona grandis (at x40) 22
2 Stoma of Tectona grandis (at x400) 24

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LAI - Leaf area index
NUE – nitrogen-use efficiency
WAP – weeks after planting
WAS – weeks after sowing
WUE – Water-use efficiency

*Note abbreviations should be arranged in alphabetical order.

ABSTRACT
The Abstract should be informative, completely self-explanatory and reported in past
tense. It should briefly describe the aim, materials and methods, significant results and
principal conclusions of the experiment. The Abstract should not be more than 300 words in
length.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This presents the general introduction and literature review. It should contain
subsections including
1.1 Background to the study: This is the general introduction.
1.2 Literature review: This section presents previous researches relating to the study.
1.3 Statement of the research problem: This section presents the nature and scope of the
problem as well as the information gap the research aim to fill.
1.4 Justification for the study: This section highlights the purpose of the research, the
contribution to knowledge and expected benefits to end-users of the information.
1.5 Aim of the study: This is the main goal of the study
1.6 Objectives of the study: These are the various steps to achieving the aim/main goal.
 CHAPTER TWO
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This section should provide the necessary information to allow suitably skilled
researchers to replicate the study. It should describe the design of the experiment and steps to
obtaining the results. The description may include (but not limited to) the study location/area,
site selection in the case of field work, experimental design/set-up, protocol used/sample
preparation, and methods of data collection/ measurements and data/statistical analysis. Any
plants and soils used should be identified by scientific name, applicable cultivar name, soil
taxonomy and special characteristics. Name of chemicals and devices used should be
mentioned, followed by the name of the manufacturer in parenthesis (name, city, country).

CHAPTER THREE
RESULTS
This section presents the findings of the research. It should be concise, objective and
reported using past tense. Results are first described before presenting in graphical and
tabular forms. Every table, figure or plate should be mentioned in the text prior to graphical
presentation on a separate page. Sketches and graphs are considered as Figures and
abbreviated as Fig. within the text. Pictures and photomicrographs are considered as Plates
and the magnification/scale are often required.
Tables, Figures and Plates should be numbered using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…∞) or
in combination with letters (a, b, c …z) where they are continuous. Table title (placed on top
of the illustration) and Figure/Plate title (placed below the illustration) should briefly
highlight the information contained therein. e.g. Fig. 1a, Fig. 1b and Fig. 1c within text or
Figure 1a, Figure 1b and Figure 1c under the referred graphic. Interpretation of results
should not be repetitive of information in tables, figures or plates.
Tables should not have cells but maximum of four horizontal lines for column headings
and section partitioning.
Table 1: Plant Growth Parameters at Eight Weeks after Planting
Treatment Leaf length Leaf breadth Leaf Area Number of
(cm) (cm) (cm2) leaves
A 2.0 1.0 1.5 4
B 2.1 1.1 1.6 4
C 2.0 1.2 1.7 5
D 2.0 1.4 1.8 5

CHAPTER FOUR
DISCUSSION
This section relates the findings of the study to existing body of literature. The
candidate is required to show the relationships among the facts in the results. Reasons should
be given for observed trends in the results, relationships, exceptions, and outlying data. The
results should be compared with previous researches and should show agreement or
disagreement with previous researches. The discussion should be written in present tense.
Conclusion
The conclusion should summarize the principal findings and emphasize what should be
accepted as established knowledge. It should relate back to the statement of the research
problem and justification in Chapter One. The summary of evidence supporting each
conclusion from the result should be stated. The implications, significance and practical
application of the results should be highlighted. The conclusion should be written in
present tense.

REFERENCES
References are meant to specify sources of information, origin of quotes etc. They
appear in main body of the project write-up and the References. Cited (in-text) references
are found embedded in the main body (Chapter One to Four) of the write-up. Listed (end-of-
text) references are found in the Reference section and present the list of works cited in the
main body.
Cite and Listed references should the following APA style.
Cited (in-text) referencing
In the text, identify References by means of an author‘s name, followed by the date of
the reference in parentheses.
References at the beginning and end of a sentence appear in these formats below:
 Oladele (2008) reported stomata are present on both surfaces of the leaf.
 Stomata are present in both surfaces of the leaf (Oladele, 2008).
 Stomata are present at the abaxial surface of Tectona grandis (Oladele, 2008) and
Prosopis africana (Esau, 1979).
Cited references should be arranged chronologically from earliest to recent. Where two
cited references for a quote share the same year, alphabetical order should be used. Semi
colon should separate two references within parenthesis at the end of the sentence.
 Stomata are openings in the leaves of plants (Esau, 1979; Oladele, 2008; Oluwole,
2008).
When there are more than two authors, only the first author‘s name should be
mentioned, followed by ’et al.‘. e.g. Oladele et al. (2008) reported that ... or ....openings in
the leaves plants (Oladele et al., 2008; Oluwole 2008).

In the event that an author cited has had two or more works published in the same year,
the references, both in the text and in the reference list, should be identified by a lower case
letter like ’a‘ and ’b‘ after the date to distinguish the works. E.g. Stomata are present in both
surfaces of the leaf (Oladele, 2008a, b).

Information from unpublished source such as personal communication should be

referred to in the text only and not included in the reference list. E.g. Mosses are common
features on savanna trees during rainy season (Fatoba, Pers. comm.).
Listed (end-of-text) referencing
References should be listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order. The list should
be in alphabetical order of first author’s name. In a case where an author published in
different year, the older reference should be written first. Use hanging indent to outline
references in the list.

For journal articles:

Journal names should appear in full and not abbreviated. Each reference should contain
the following:
i. Surname(s) of the author(s), followed by initials
ii. Year of publication
iii. Title of article (in sentence case)
iv. Full name of the journal and not abbreviation (italicized)
v. Volume number (and issue number, if indicated)
vi. Pages occupied by the article.

Goodluck, J., Robinson, M. and Thoma, J. A. (2012). The active site of porcine pancreatic
-amylase: Factors contributing to catalysis. Carbohydrate Research, 10 (4): 487-503.
Oladele, F.A. (2008). Studies on trichomes with special reference to savanna species.
Nigerian Journal of Botany, 5: 45-50.
For Book:
i. Surname(s) of the author(s), followed by initials
ii. Year of publication
iii. Title of book (written in title case and italicized)
iv. Full name of the publisher
v. City of publishing
vi. Total number of pages in the book.

Esau, K. (1979). Anatomy of Seed Plants. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 610 pp.

Oyewole, J. and Blass, B. (2001). The Future of Modern Genomics. Blackwell, London, 550
pp.

For Book chapter

i. Surname(s) of the chapter author(s), followed by initials
ii. Year of publication
iii. Title of book chapter (in sentence case)
iv. In: Surname(s) of the book editor(s), followed by initials with ed.(s) in parenthesis to
indicate editor or editors
v. Title of book (in title case and italicized)
vi. Full name of the publisher
vii. City of publishing
viii. Pages occupied by the chapter

Basino, B. and Malikwu, M. (2011). Emerging disease of catfish. In: Smith, J. (ed.), Modern
Fish Farming, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York, pp. 230-257.

For Online document:

 i. Surname(s) of the chapter author(s), followed by initials
ii. Year of publication
iii. Title of article (in sentence case)
iv. Full name of the publisher
v. Web address or url link
vi. Date accessed
Muktar, J. (2007). Medicinal plants of the savanna region of Nigeria. IOP Publishing Botany
Web available online at http://botanyweb.org/articles/news/11/6/16/1. Accessed 26 June
2007.

*NB: Online document(s) without author name and year of publication should not be
reckoned with in the project write-up.

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
1. All sections of the project report should be typed in Times New Roman font 12 and
double spaced (2.0 spacing), justified to align on both margins, paragraph with first
line hanging at 1.0 cm indentation and printed on a quarto-sized paper.
* For Quarto printing, set paper size to 25.4 cm (10 inches) by 20.32 cm (8 inches) – height by width. Left and
right margins should be 3.25 cm (1.28 inches) and 2.54 cm (1.0 inch) respectively to create room for binding
space.
2. Reports should be two (2) soft-bound and signed by the supervisor only prior to oral
examination.
3. Certificate of correction will be required for departmental clearance by students.
4. Three (3) hard-bound copies should be produced after the correction has been
certified and submitted to the Undergraduate Project and Seminar
Committee/Coordinator.