KANO STATE POLYTECHNIC

SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY (SOT)

DEPARTMENT
OF
COMPUTER SCIENCE

AN APPROACH
TO
PRACTICAL PROJECT REPORT WRITING

(2022)

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 INTRODUCTION
A final year research project is the culmination of student’s academic national
diploma (ND) or higher national diploma (HND) programme. The main purpose of
preparing final year research project is to encourage graduating students to apply the
knowledge acquired during their studies and allows them to work on substantial
problems for an extended period of time and shows how proficient they are in solving
real world problems. It also affords them a sound opportunity to demonstrate their
competence as professionals and to apply what they have learnt in the other
components of their programme.
Besides, graduating students get a chance to improve their technical and
communication skills by integrating writing, presentation and team-work. Moreover,
student research project provides an integrated assessment of the students’ progress
toward the training they go through during their academic tenure at the Polytechnic.
This manual is organized in three major sections; while section one addresses general
considerations, section two presents the specific requirements of the academic
programmes offered at Department of computer science, School of Technology Kano
(SOT), Kano State Polytechnic and Section three describe the structural component of
the project report.

SECTION ONE
1.1 Components of a Project Report
A project report is made up of three major parts:
 The Preliminaries section
 The main body (text) section
 The reference sections
The following is a general outlay of a research project report.

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Preliminaries Cover Page, Title Page, Declaration, Approval Page,
Dedication Page, Acknowledgements Page, Abstract, Table of
Contents, List Of Tables and List Of Figures
Chapter One Introduction, Background to the study, Statement of the
problem, Motivation for the study, Objectives of the study,
Purpose of the study, Scope of the study, Significance of the
study, Project’s organization and Definition of terms.
Chapter Two Introduction, Review of related literature (an analysis of
previous research works) and theoretical framework.
Chapter Three Methodology, Choice of programming language, Requirement
Analysis modeling, Data and process modeling, Design
consideration (User interface design, data design and system
design), Design architecture/conceptual design, and detail
design of the proposed system.
Chapter Four System hardware requirement, System software Requirement,
Data Source (method of data collection), Implementation
procedure, Sample implementation input snapshot, Sample
implementation output snapshot, Evaluation of Results
(Graphically or analytically) and Discussion of Results.
Chapter Five Summary of Findings, Conclusion, Limitation of the study,
Recommendations and Contribution(s) to knowledge,
Reference Section Literature cited

1.2 Steps to Writing a Good Research Project Report.

1.2.1 Choose a topic
The student shall develop a properly framed project topic (It should either be a
technical or researchable topic that the student can understand and one that is
interesting to him or her)., and present same for departmental approval. It should not
be ambiguous, not too lengthy, not too wide but should be specific, so as to provide a
clear-cut focus. Students are encouraged to go for primary projects or virgin areas that
have not been explored before by previous researchers. Where a student researcher
engages on previous work, the likelihood of plagiarism could be very high. However,
if a student must choose a topic already researched, then there must be a fresh insight.

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 Sources of project topic ideas may include the following:
 Topic suggested by Academic Advisers or Supervisors
 Topic obtained from lectures, seminars, conferences, workshops etc.
 Topic obtained from books and journal articles (local and foreign)
 Topic from identified current problems existing in any environment,
society or institution
 Topic from areas of future studies as recommended in previous
projects

Maturity and experience usually count in research project topic selection or

choice. A student researcher may wish to visit the project section of the Polytechnic
library or it’s virtual library online for a guide. In addition, the researcher may wish to
explore the resources available through the internet.

1.3 Draw up a plan (fashion out a calendar to map out the

process).
1.4 Check with the Supervisor/Academic Advisers
1.5 Conduct research and take notes, using a range of resources
(books, periodicals internet, etc.).
1.6 Outline the project.
1.7 Write the report, using the outline as a road map
Once the preliminary work has been done, the next stage is drafting the project in a
clear and concise fashion. Specific questions should be directed to the project
Supervisor or Academic Adviser for a guide.

1.8 Documentation Phase (Formatting Issues)

All research project shall be written in English and shall be prepared in
standardized format, using Times New Roman, 12 font sizes for regular text, and
heading – 14 or 16 font sizes. Tables, figures, etc., may be smaller than 10 font
sizes.
1.9 Paper Size:
The size of the paper shall be A4

1.10 Margins:
Page margins shall be: 4cm left, 2.5cm right, 2.5cm top and 2.5cm bottom. The
bottom margin may measure more 2.5cm to avoid “windows” and “Orphans”

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 (These are incomplete lines, as those beginning or ending a paragraph, carried
over to the top of a page). The Researcher may avoid them by either rewriting
copy to eliminate the line or fill it out, or may make the bottom margin deeper,
moving the line to the next page.
1.11 Line Spacing:
All standard texts shall be double-spaced. Quotations of four lines or longer shall
be single – spaced with the left and right margins indented on each side.
References, bibliographic works, and endnotes, shall be single – spaced and
double spaced between entries.

1.12 Headings:
Chapter headings and subheadings shall be consistent throughout the research
project. If the Researcher uses all caps and centre the chapter heading for the
first chapter, be sure to use that format throughout the project. Also, there shall
be a minimum of three lines of space between the chapter heading and the start
of the first paragraph.

1.13 Page Numbers

The Researcher shall place page numbers at least ¾cm from the edge of the
paper. The final draft will be trimmed ¼cm on all sides in the binding process. If
page numbers are too close to the top or bottom of the page, they may be
trimmed away.
The pages preceding the main body of the project should use Roman numerals
(i,ii,iii,iv,v etc.) for page numbers. The title page should be page i, but the
Roman number is usually suppressed or omitted from the page. Standard Arabic
numbers (1,2,3,4,5etc) should be used for the main body of the project paper.
On the first page of each chapter, the page number should be placed at the centre
bottom. Placement of page numbers thereafter may be at centre bottom, centre
top or top right. Page numbers on landscape figures or tables need to be placed at
the same locations as page numbers for other pages. It should be noted that
landscape figures and table should be paginated with the top of the figure or
table to the binding side of the page.

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1.14 Corrections:
No forms of correction fluid or hand-written corrections are to be used.

1.14 Documenting sources:

The in-text citation of sources has two requirements:
a. They must include just enough information for the reader to locate the
appropriate source in the list of references
b. They must include just enough information for the reader to locate the place in
the source where the borrowed materials appear.
1.15 Preparing the List of References:
The American Psychological Association (APA) format shall be used for
referencing across the Institution. It is important (morally and legally) to
acknowledge the source of information used in any research assignment.
Academic writing encourages paraphrasing of someone else’s ideas or words the
researcher has read and researched. Paraphrasing means re-working something
which the researcher has read into his or her own words. If the researcher uses
someone else’s words or work and fails to acknowledge them, the researcher
may be accused of plagiarism and infringing copyright. Therefore, all materials
used by the Researcher shall be acknowledged by duly citing the sources in the
text of the paper. The list of references shall be made in the order in which the
references are cited in the text under the “References” section, which
immediately follows the concluding chapter of the project. If journal paper needs
to be cited, then each listed journal article shall provide the name(s) of the
Journal, volume number, year and page numbers of the article. Each listed text
book, shall provide also the publisher and city of publication but in this case
page numbers are not necessary.

Double - space between the title and the first entry, and between entries. Indent
the first line of an entry five spaces, and flush left each successive line.
List entries in alphabetical order according to authors last names. For unknown
authors, list in alphabetical order according to the word of the title (exclude A,

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 An, The). If there is no author or editor, place the title in the author position.
Alphabetize by the first significant word in the title. In text, a short title (or the
full title if it is short) should be used for the parenthetical citation.

Group authors should be alphabetized by the first significant word of the name.
When the author and publisher are identical, use the word “Author” as the name
of the publisher.
Separate author, title, and publication information with a period followed by one
space.
If the list is more than one page long, do not repeat the reference title, but
continue the page number in sequence.
1.15.1 Placing and punctuating the Parenthetical Reference:
The American Psychological Association (APA) recommends placing the
parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence, before the final period. On
some occasions, the reference can be placed within the sentence to clarify its
relationship to the part of the sentence it documents.
When the reference documents a long quotation that is set off from the text,
place it at the end of the passage after the final period.
Join the names in a multiple-author citation in running text by the word “and”. In
parenthetical material, in tables and captions, and in the reference list, join the
names by an ampersand “&”

1.16 Edit and reread the report

1.17 Appendices:
This portion shall contain information that can be removed from the main body
of the project report without affecting the flow of material being presented e.g.,
Details of a lengthy derivation of a formula may be put in an appendix while the
results of the derivation are retained and utilized in the main body of the report.

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 SECTION TWO
SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR PROJECT WRITING IN THE
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE.
2.1 Project layout
PRELIMINARIES:
i. Cover Page
ii. Title Page
iii. Declaration
iv. Approval Page
v. Dedication Page
vi. Acknowledgements Page
vii. Abstract
viii. Table Of Contents
ix. List Of Tables
x. List Of Figures

CHAPTER ONE: Introduction

1.1. Background to the study
1.2. Statement of the problem
1.3. Motivation for the study
1.4. Aim of the study
1.5. Objectives of the study
1.6. Scope of the study
1.7. Significance of the study
1.8. Organization of the work

CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review

2.1. Review of Related works.

CHAPTER THREE: Research Methodology

3.1. Methodology

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3.2. Choice of programming language
3.3. Requirement Analysis modeling
3.4. Data and process modeling
3.5. Design consideration (User interface design, data design and system design)
3.6. Design architecture/conceptual design, and detail design of the proposed
system.

CHAPTER FOUR: Implementation and Result Evaluation

4.1. System hardware requirement
4.2. System software Requirement
4.3. Data Source (method of data collection)
4.4. Implementation procedure
4.5. Sample implementation input snapshot
4.6. Sample implementation output snapshot
4.7. Evaluation of Results (for research project)
4.8. Discussion of Results.

CHAPTER FIVE: Discussion and Conclusion

5.1. Summary of Findings
5.2. Conclusion
5.3. Recommendations
5.4. Contribution(s) to knowledge

REFERENCES (APA Style)

List of tables
List of figures (if any)
Appendices.

2.2 WORKED EXAMPLE:

2.2.1 Cover Page:
TITTLE OF THE PROJECT
EG. (AN ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM)

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 BY
STUDENT’S NAME
STUDENT’S REGISTRATION NUMBER

A PROJECT REPORT PRESENTED TO THE

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE,
SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY KANO,
KANO STATE POLYTECHNIC.

MONTH, YEAR (EG. AUGUST, 2018).

…………………………………………………………………………………………
……
2.2.2 Title Page
TITTLE OF THE PROJECT
EG. (AN ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM)

BY
STUDENT’S NAME
STUDENT’S REGISTRATION NUMBER

A PROJECT REPORT PRESENTED TO THE

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE,
SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY KANO,
KANO STATE POLYTECHNIC.
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
AWARD OF ……………………………….. IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

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 MONTH, YEAR (EG. AUGUST, 2018).
…………………………………………………………………………………………
……
2.2.3 Declaration
DECLARATION

I, …………………., hereby declare that this project essay and the practical project
titled: ……………………….. is an original project carried out by me in the
Department of Computer science under the supervision of Mr. …………………….
All references made to author’s works by me have been duly acknowledged.

Student name…………………………………….

------------------------------------
September 2019.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
……
2.2.4 Approval/certification Page
We the undersigned certify that this project was carried out by ………………….. with
matriculation number ………………… in the Department of Computer science,
School of technology Kano, Kano State Polytechnic.

……………………………………….. -------------------------------
PROJECT SUPERVISOR Date/signature

………………………... ---------------------------------
PROJECT COORDINATOR Date/signature

……………………….. ---------------------------------
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT Date/signature.

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…………………………………………………………………………………………
……
2.2.5 Dedication Page
This project is dedicated to ------------------------------------------------------
…………………………………………………………………………………………
……
2.2.6 Acknowledgements Page
Acknowledgment should be arranged in this order:
1. Acknowledge God
2. Acknowledge supervisor
3. Acknowledge HOD
4. Acknowledge lecturers
5. Acknowledge student’s relatives
6. Acknowledge student’s friends
2.2.7 Abstract
An abstract should contain the following ingredients
1. Introduction
2. Statement of the problem
3. Objectives (you can state the major) objective or you outline them in specific
form
4. Results/findings
5. Major concluding remark

Note below
- No paragraph
- Single line spacing
- Italics
- Written in past tense
Written below, is a typical example of an abstract that satisfy the above conditions:

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ABSTRACT
Social tagging systems are web-based sites that store user’s keywords called tags,
which continue to receive significant consideration in academic environment, due to
increasing acceptance of Web2.0 and growth in the number of users using social
tagging. , tagging systems give good support for users to tag resources and
communicate with, as well as recommend friends. Friend recommendation helps users
make a choice by presenting them with the best available information., this however
comes with associated problems like tag ambiguities and information overloading., to
address these issues, this work proposes a friend recommendation system based on
Ant Colony and FP-growth algorithms. The technique first applies the FP-Growth
algorithm to find the frequent activity sets among users and then construct the
combined trust graphs., after which the Ant Colony Optimization algorithm is finally
applied., It combines those trust graphs to calculate the optimal friend recommended
through iterations., Experimental results on a delicious dataset signify an
improvement in precision in the range 0.1% to 1.1%; recall in the range 21.85% to
50.84%; and F1 in the range 31.31% to 50.85% approximately., this shows a
significant improvement compared to the other approach. The future direction is to
use different data mining algorithms, large scale datasets and community detection
for friend recommendation in social tagging systems. We have described a new
recommendation process using FP-Growth Algorithm through which we achieved
good results and a strong recommendation.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
……
2.2.8 Table Of Contents
Here, a researcher is advised to use an automatic page numbering generation
function when generating his/her table of content, else, he/she must to mapped
each item to its appropriate page number.
PRELIMINARIES:
i. Cover Page
ii. Title Page
iii. Declaration
iv. Approval Page
v. Dedication Page
vi. Acknowledgements Page
vii. Abstract
viii. Table Of Contents
ix. List Of Tables

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 x. List Of Figures

CHAPTER ONE: Introduction

1.1 Background to the study
1.2 Statement of the problem
1.3 Motivation for the study
1.4 Aim of the study
1.5 Objectives of the study
1.6 Scope of the study
1.7 Significance of the study
1.8 Organization of the work

CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review

2.1. Review of Related works.

CHAPTER THREE: Research Methodology

3.1. Methodology
3.2. Choice of programming language
3.3. Requirement Analysis modeling
3.4. Data and process modeling
3.5. Design consideration (User interface design, data design and system design)
3.6. Design architecture/conceptual design, and detail design of the proposed
system.

CHAPTER FOUR: Implementation and Evaluation

4.1. System hardware requirement
4.2. System software Requirement
4.3. Data Source (method of data collection)
4.4. Implementation procedure
4.5. Sample implementation input snapshot
4.6. Sample implementation output snapshot
4.7. Evaluation of Results (for the research project)
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4.8. Discussion of Results.
CHAPTER FIVE: Discussion and Conclusion
5.1. Summary of Findings
5.2. Conclusion
5.3. Recommendations
5.4. Contribution(s) to knowledge

2.2.9 REFERENCES (APA Style)

2.2.11 Appendices.
2.2.12 List of Tables
1. …………………………………………………………………………
2. ……………………………………………………………………….
3. …etc.,

2.2.13 List of Figures

1…………………………………………………………………………..
2…………………………………………………………………………..
3……etc.

2.3 CHAPTER ONE:

INTRODUCTION
The aim of this chapter is to introduce readers about the research domain, issues,
problems, importance and as well, attracting them to keep on reading the whole
project report. It entails the following sub-section;
1.0 Introduction
Describe the work flow and progress format of the chapter
1.1 Background of the study:
This establishes the context of the project. And clearly identify the importance of
the project to the targeted audience. i.e., it includes any relevant information that

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 the readers need to know before diving in to the project. As such it should provide
a detailed understanding of the topic.
1.2 Statement of the problem:
It is a statement & not a description of problem, it’s constructed after a careful and
serious thought of the problem being address. i.e., statement of the problem
answers the question why the problem is being undertaken. Statement of the
problem is extremely important to be formalized at the earlier stage of the study.
1.3 Motivation for the study:
What are the justifications/reasons to undertake the effort to address the issue
(Project topic)?
1.4 Aim of the study:
This illustrates reasons and what the study will do, which should reflect the
statement of the problem
1.5 Objectives of the study:
Consider the single aim you mention in 1.4 above and break it in to a number of
sub-aims call the objectives, each containing at least a single measurable element
1.6 Scope of the study:
Clearly state the span/extent to which you limit the functionality of your project
topic.
1.7 Significance of the study:
This refers to the important of the project’s finding to the world of knowledge. i.e.,
how the final product of the study will benefit the society.
1.8 Organization of the work:
This describes the Structure or the layout of the project, i.e., it describe how the
reader or the examiner can keep track of the progress or workflow of your work.

2.4 CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED WORKS

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The single aim of this chapter is to identify A POTENTIAL RESEARCHABLE
PROBLEM by reviewing the past works, and can be accomplish by decomposing the
aim in to the following important objectives;
• To clarify important concepts related to the project
• To report to the readers/examiners on how the problem were identified/found
(i.e., is it from literature or experiment or experience or etc.)
• To summarize the work of other researchers on the same project topic (this is
extremely impotent to reduce duplication of research)
• To report to the readers/examiners on how the investigation was conducted to
established the research problem.

At this stage, a student should review previous works on the topic. He/she may
provide the historical background on the core issues of discourse and provide current
pertinent ideas from credible sources. The layout of this chapter should be such that
the issues raised by the project title are adequately addressed. These should relate to
both theory and practice. Information may be sourced from but not limited to; text
books, e-library, journals articles, newspapers, exhibition catalogues, reports,
government documents, conference proceedings, public discussion and video.
This chapter should be concluded by clearly identifying or establishing the research
gaps from the literature which the current study will address in the research.
2.1 Introduction
Describe the work flow and progress format of the chapter

2.5 CHAPTER THREE:

ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
The main aim of this chapter is to propose in detail, the method to be adopted in
solving the established problem, highlighting the ideas to solve the problem and
validating the effectiveness of the ideas
3.0Introduction
Describe the work flow and progress format of the chapter
3.1 Methodology:

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 This report on how the ideas employed to solve the problem is modelled
and experimented, this includes the tools used, the processes and the
data generation process. As such, the objectives of this section are;
• To explain the choosing solution employed to address the problem
• Modelling (Designing the methodology with help of diagram or
representation)
• Describe what and how data was collected (experiment, survey,
primary, secondary etc.)
3.2 Choice of programming language:
This involve examining the problem and selecting the best programming
language that can efficiently solve the problem. Moreover, good
programming and writing skills are extremely important.
3.3. Requirement Analysis modeling:
This includes a description of both functional and non-functional
requirement and a model (a model is a representation of idea(s). It can
be represented mathematically (mathematical model) graphically
(graphical model) or else, as long as the model can clearly explain the
idea).
This involve designing the methodology with help of diagram or
representation such as flowchart, use-case diagram, activity diagram,
entity relation diagram, process diagram Algorithms, Pseudo-codes,
Mnemonics, symbolsetc.
3.4. Data process modeling:
Depending on the problem address, this is a process of creating a visual
representation for an information system to facilitate connection
between data points and structure by applying certain formal techniques
such as hierarchical data model, network data model, relational data
model, entity relationship data model or object-oriented data model. The
goal here is to illustrate the type of data to be used and the relationship
among these data types, i.e., the way the data can be grouped, organized,
including its format and attributes.

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 3.5. Design consideration:
This involves;
 User interface design, also known as the front end the system
 Data base design also known as the back end of the system
 system design also known as integration, this is the process of
designing the architecture, components and interfaces for a
system so that it meets the end user requirement.
2.6 CHAPTER FOUR:
IMPLEMENTATION/RESULT EVALUATION
The main aim of this chapter is to describe the implementation processes, analysis and
justify the result by Putting deference or arguments to support the claim made.
4.0 Introduction
Describe the work flow and progress format of the chapter
4.1. System hardware requirement:
This refers to the specification of the hard ware component that the
implemented project will require for it proper and smooth operation, this might
involve specification for CPU, RAM, HDD capacity, type or model of the
machine to be used, other hard ware component (in the case of hardware
project) etc.
4.2. System software Requirement:
This deals with defining the resource specification that need to be installed on
the computer to provide an optimal functioning of the proposed project or
application. These include but not limited to the system platform, operating
system, application drivers and web browsers.
4.3. Data Source and Means
This involves a description on:
 The data origin, (where you obtain the data),
 Nature, size, and the type of the data (Primary or Secondary data type)
 Method of data collection, (Survey, Interview, Observation,
Questionnaire, social media, online tracking, etc.)

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4.4. Implementation procedure
This refers to the process involve when installing a new software ready for use.
These include; planning, process design, installation, configuration and
customization, system migration, testing and training,
4.5. Sample implementation input snapshot (screenshot):
Providing a pictorial snapshot or screenshot of the required input to the system
(i.e., screenshot of the input system interfaces)
4.6. Sample implementation output snapshot (screenshot)
4.7. Providing a pictorial snapshot or screenshot of the final expected output of the
system, (i.e., screenshot of the output system interfaces)
4.8. Evaluation of Results (for the research project)
These involve the following:
 Reporting the results obtained from the Data gathering phase and how
the data was validated
 Discussing the results of the end process (the final output of the system)
 Interpreting the result (explaining and arguing the meaning of the final
output of the system)
 Explain the meaning of the graph and tables if any.

2.7 CHAPTER FIVE:

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
The major aim of this chapter is to evaluate the achievement of the objectives
5.0 Introduction
Describe the work flow and progress’ format of the chapter
5.1. Summary of Findings
The main objectives here are;
 To report to the readers/examiners on re-examination of the project’s
objectives
 To highlight the finding of the project

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5.2. Conclusion
Conclude the project work by stating whether it achieves the objectives or
otherwise justify. Here, you are to comment on the strength and weaknesses of
the research work
5.3. Recommendations
The objective here is to propose future direction(s) of the research project for
future researchers
5.4. Contribution(s) to knowledge:
Clearly, highlight the contributions made by your project to the world of
knowledge.

REFERENCES (APA Style)

List of tables
List of figures (if any)
Appendices.

SECTION THREE
STRUCTURAL COMPONENT OF THE PROJECT REPORT.

3.1 Characteristics of a Good Project

S/N Characteristics Requirements
01 Easy to read and understand 3 Cs (Clear, Concise, Coherent)
02 Well-structured with clear flow 3 Cs (Clear, Concise, Coherent)
03 Interesting A story-like
04 Contains substance of knowledge Own insight, thinking and Logical

Note:

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‘Clear’ means not ambiguous, ‘Concise’ means compact and right word, ‘Coherence’
means interrelated between sentences, paragraph sub-sections, sections and chapters
as a unit.

3.2 CHAPTERS OF A PROJECT

Chapter is the second largest unit of writing after the project itself (i.e., chapter is a
subset of project report). It is virtually a division of main ideas of the project and
represents phases in research activities.
It comprises of several sections, figure, table or diagrams.
As a unit of writing, chapter 2-5 have three main components namely; introduction,
body and conclusion, (chapter 1 do not have conclusion).
These can be simplified as below:

 Each chapter is written with certain objectives. These objectives have double-
fold functions.
1. First, it serves as a guidance in writing the body of chapters.
2. Second, it is also used by the examiners to evaluate the chapter.
 It is highly recommended to write statement of objective for the chapters in
their introduction. i.e., introduction of each chapter solely contains the flow of
its objectives)
 Objective must be clearly written and followed by description of how the
objectives were achieved
3.3 Component of a chapter
All chapters of a project most contain three components namely:
Introduction
 Summary of the chapter contents. It includes a statement of objective of the
chapter. It helps the readers (examiners) to understand the flow of the sections
in the Body.
Body
 Refers to the materials of the chapter. This can be sections and sub-sections.
Body explains the points for achieving the objectives.
Conclusion

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  Evaluation on the chapter’s objective achievement and is NOT a summary as it
has always been misunderstood.

3.4 Section of a chapter

A section is relatively, a distinct part of a chapter. Technically, there has to be more
than one section in a chapter. Otherwise, it is just a short chapter.
In other words, chapter fundamentally contains several sections and section is a sub
system of a chapter.
These can be simplified as below

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Like a chapter, section also comprises of three main components namely;
introduction, body and conclusion. The first paragraph of section introduces the
readers (examiners) with work presented in a section. i.e., it elaborates the objective
and the significance of a section.
An example of introduction to section is as follows:
“This section presents the methodology of data collection. We used
two methods to collect data from experiments – method 1 and method 2.
We provide the description of each method and illustration of data collection
process flow in this section. We also present ...”

Body of a section
A body of a content contains the actual contents of the section. Body starts from
second paragraph of the section. It may contain tables, figures and their narrations in
the form of sub-sections and paragraphs. Last paragraph of the section concludes the
section.

3.4.1 Conclusion of a section

Conclusion provides insight and presents the findings of section. Following is the
example of conclusion of the section:

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 “We presented the data collection methodology in this section. These
methods are widespread to collect consistent data due to their robustness in our field
of research. Therefore ...”

3.4.2 Sub Sections:

This unit of writing refers to division of section. Sub-sections have the same structure
as a section. However, the parts in a sub-section are smaller than in a section. i.e.,
Subsection starts with the introduction to sub-section.

Introduction comprises one or two sentences of the first paragraph in a sub-section.

Following is the example for introduction to the sub-section:

“We present the process flow of method1 in this section.”

First paragraph, after introduction, continues with the body.As a body, sub-sections
provide definition and explanation of targeted entities/concepts. For example;

“Method 1 starts with activity 1 and continues to perform activity 2.”

Last sentences in last paragraph of the sub-section are the conclusion of the subsection
as shown in following example:

“Method 1 is a significant technique used to solve problem1due to its

efficient procedure 1 and procedure 2.”

3.5 Paragraph
Paragraph is a division of sub-section and normally it describes a main point. It
contains paragraph title and description of the title followed by evaluation.
The title sentence presents the concept or entity emphasized in a paragraph. It is
followed by few sentences to explain the title of the paragraph. In the end, paragraph
must have evaluation of the explanation.

It is a good practice to write only one main point in a paragraph, to avoid confusion
over several points in a paragraph and to achieve clear flow of the points.

The example of each part is provided as follows:

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 3.5.1 Title:
“Method1 has three drawbacks- drawback1, drawback2 anddrawback3.”
3.5.2 Explanation:
“Method1 adopts procedure1 to improve the performance ofparameter1. However,
procedure1 incurs cost1 and results indrawback1 ...”
3.5.3 Evaluation:
“Therefore, method1 is not suitable with scenario1 and requiresscenario2 for its
effectiveness”

3.6 Conclusion
A good Project report is beautifully structured and able to help the examiners to
follow and understand the flow.
Appearance of a project report can influence the examiner’s perception on the quality
of the work and generously award the marks.

3.7 Recap
 An academic Project is a research undertaken to address an issue(s). This means

NO ISSUE, NO PROJECT. Therefore, a project research should start with the

establishment of issue to be researched on.

 The ultimate goal of a project research is to find a truth of the matter;therefore,

the finding must be highly reliable and trusted. Evidence should be provided to

ease the acceptance of project findings.

 There is no definite size of a project report, but it must be in accordance with

the guidelines issued by Kano state polytechnic.

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References
 A. Hevner, S. Chatterjee, “Design Research in Information Systems”,
Integrated Series 9 in Information Systems 22, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-5653-
8_2, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010.

 Slides “Practical Thesis Writing Approach” of Prof. Abdullah Gani, SMIEEE,

FASc. Sources from IEEE Computer Society and University of Malaya.

 Kano state polytechnic, “2021 ACADEMIC REGULATION PAB

APPROVED 2021”, section 22.5, page 25.

 Bayero university Kano, “PG-school regulation and guidelines for writing

thesis” part 4.

 Delta state polytechnic, Ogwashi-uku, “Guidelines for preparing student

projects” November 2019.

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