INI Graduate Project Proposal and Technical Report Guidelines

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Preparation of the Completed Project

The project must be a document of the highest professional standards. It is also a good practice to prepare a document that meets the publication criteria of relevant professional journals. As the original copy of the project will be kept in the library and may be copied for microfilming and other purposes, the paper and the production must conform to standards of long archival life and clear reproducibility.

These instructions will guide Masters candidates in production of a high quality final project document. It is primarily the responsibility of the student to meet these requirements before submitting the project to the student's advisor(s) and reader.

Number of Copies

Each candidate is expected to have a substantially complete version of the project in the hands of the INI Graduate Programs Office no later than two (2) weeks prior to the end of the term in which the student is completing his/her project work.

The project oral presentation must be held no later than 15 days before the end of the semester in which the project is completed. Following approval by the Project Committee, but not later than 10 days before the end of the semester, the student must submit:

• One (1) copy of a project technical report of good reproducible quality (for microfilming) to the INI Graduate Programs Office, including two (2) signature pages with original signatures of the project advisor(s) and reader
• One (1) softcopy of the report in MSWord
• One (1) softcopy of the report in PDF

The INI will have copies of the technical report bound and will distribute them to the Engineering and Science Library, the student's advisor(s) and reader, and to the publication author(s). One original will be sent to Hunt Library for inclusion in its project collection, and the soft copies will be kept by the INI for future reproduction. More copies may be made for distribution, as required.

Each project technical report must include an abstract of not more than 350 words.

General Form

The general rules with respect to form shall follow those set forth by K. L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations, 3rd Edition (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois 60637). Copies of this book are on file for review at the INI Graduate Programs Office.

Cover Page and Title Page

The project technical report must include two (2) signature pages, both with original signatures (faxed or copied pages will not be accepted). Upon successful completion of the final oral examination, the two (2) original signature pages must be signed by the Project Advisor(s) and the Project Reader and submitted to the INI Graduate Programs Office. The INI Academic Advisor and INI Director will review and approve reports submitted by students of the MSIN, MSISTM, and MSIT programs.

Preparation of the Document: Production

Paper: The paper must have archival qualities and must be heavy enough so that the typing or printing does not show through the pages. The one (1) hardcopy of the original technical report must be printed on 20-pound, smooth-finished bond paper of 50% or higher cotton fiber. Two (2) signature pages must also be provided on the same paper as the technical report.

Text: Pages must be single-sided and unbound with the typed matter double-spaced or a space and one-half, clearly legible and typed or printed using black ribbon or toner. Footnotes and long quotations may be single-spaced. The typed text should fill an area not larger than six inches by nine inches on one side of an 8 1/2" by 11" sheet, allowing a minimum margin of one and one-half inches on the left for binding and one inch on the other three sides. Either pica or elite type may be used.

Computer-Generated Text: If the text is being generated on a computer, care must be taken to ensure that the original is in black ink/toner print on white, 20-pound paper with 50% cotton fiber or higher. Conventional line printer output is not acceptable. The margins must be set as described above.

For the printed copy, any clear font type is acceptable. However, the font size must not be smaller than 8-point nor larger than 12. When using a program format such as Latex or SCRIBE, this might require special specifications for footnotes. For example, if a font such as ROMAN 10 is specified for the text, the corresponding footnote size in SCRIBE is too small for clear reproduction. A special footnote specification should then be used so that the font size is at least 8-point.

In general, for computer-generated text and figures, clarity of production should be the guide for both text and figures. A minimum font size of 8-point must be followed for all legends and lettering on figures. Data and computer programs may be shown as direct computer output, provided the general rules with respect to clarity, size, and margins are followed.

Equations, Charts, Graphs, Tables, Figures: Formulas and equations should be neatly typed. Drawings should be made with instruments in ink. As much as possible, they should be kept within the bounds of a six-inch by nine-inch rectangle. Notes and titles should be neatly typed or lettered. Graphs should show only the main grid lines.

Illustrative material drawn in ink will reproduce satisfactorily. Lines on graphs or illustrations should be identified by labels or symbols rather than colors. Shaded areas should use cross-hatching, and not color, for contrast.

Data should be presented, where possible, in numbered, titled, tables.

Photographs: Ideally, each photograph should have a full range of contrast from true black to pure white. Photos with limited contrast will reproduce satisfactorily on positive microfilm but they will be unclear in xerographic copies made from microfilm. Color photos should not be used in the project document. If necessary, contact a photographer about having color photos reprinted in black on white. Rubber cement and glue are acceptable means of affixing photos, but dry-mounting tissue provides the neatest and most permanent method.

Oversize Paper: Charts, graphs, maps and tables that are larger than the standard page size might have to be used in the project. It is recommended that such pages be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Try a different layout for the chart or table to see if it can be placed on a standard page, or use a photograph or xerographic reduction of the material.

Corrections: Make any necessary corrections neatly. In an unbound project, simply substitute a new page.

The soft and hard copies should be free of typographical errors, erasures, strike-overs, corrections, or other deviations from perfect manuscript form. Failure to satisfy department or college requirements as to quality could require the retyping or reprinting of the document.

Preparation of the Document: Form

Title: Your project will be a valuable source for other scholars only if it can be located easily. Modern retrieval systems use the words in the title - and sometimes a few other descriptive words - to locate your project. It is essential that the title be a meaningful description of the content of your project. Avoid oblique reference, and be sure to use word substitutes for formulas, symbols, superscripts, subscripts, Greek letters, and so on.

Format: Projects typically have three main parts: Preliminaries, Text, and References.

1. Preliminaries
a. Title page, followed by the copyright notice if statutory copyright in the project has been or is to be claimed. For filming, the copyright notice is placed before the title page. Essential components of the copyright notice are: copyright symbol, full legal name of theauthor, year in which copyright is secured by publication. The copyright notice may appear as follows: Copyright by John Arthur Brown 19-- All Rights Reserved
b. Preface, including acknowledgements
c. Table of Contents, with page references
d. List of Tables, with titles and page references
e. List of Illustrations, with titles and page reference.
f. Abstract, limited to one page.

2. Text
a. Introduction
b. Main body, with larger divisions and more important minor divisions indicted by suitable, consistent headings

3. References
a. Appendices
b. Bibliography (If the appendices are bound as a separate volume, the bibliography should be bound with the text in the first volume)

Page Numbering: Each page in a project, except the blank page following the title page should be assigned a number.

The following plan of page numbering generally is accepted:

1. For the preliminaries, use small Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, etc.). The numbering begins with ii; the title page counts as page i, but the number does not appear.

2. For the remainder of the project - including the text, illustrations, appendices, and bibliography - use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.). Each page must be numbered. Try to avoid the use of letter suffixes such as 10a, 10b. The numbering begins with 1 and runs consecutively to the end of the project. On pages carrying a major heading - such as the first page of a chapter of the bibliography - the page number should be placed at the center top. If the description of an illustration is too long to be placed on the same page, it should be placed on the previous page, not on an unnumbered page.

3. If there are more volumes than one, each volume should contain a title page duplicating the title page of the first volume. If the volumes are separate entities it would be sufficient to identify them further as Volume I, II, etc. In any case, the numbering may follow consecutively from one volume to another, or begin with Arabic 1 at each new title page.

Footnotes: Footnotes should be placed at the bottom of the page below a 15-space underscore, starting at the left border. The first line of each footnote should be indented five spaces, and identified by a raised numeral corresponding to that used in the text. Footnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout each chapter.

Reproduction of Data: The data on which the project is based should be made accessible to the reader in substantially complete form. Generally, this means that raw data should be reproduced in a convenient manner in one or more appendices to the main document. In the case of extensive data gathered from readily available published sources, specific detailed citations will suffice, provided that a minimum of one set of the raw data used in the project, complete in all respects, is presented with the original copy submitted to the Library. Deviations from a procedure of full disclosure must be specifically approved by the student advisor and explained fully in the project.

Reproduction of Procedures: All instruments, analytic procedures, apparatus, or other critical elements in the execution of the study should be described in detail. Apparatus should normally be described in engineering drawings and by photographs. Instruments should normally be reproduced in full in pictures or drawings unless they are easily available from other sources. Procedures of analysis should be fully specified either by citation or by detailed discussion in one or more appendices.

In the case of computer calculations essential to the central arguments of the research, these must be fully and clearly explained. If the computer programs which provide the basis for these calculations are originated by the student, the student is required to provide a program listing and minimal documentation on the program in the project. The program listing and documentation would normally be included in a separate appendix to the project. However, in the case of extensive computer work considered by the student and his/her advisor to be too long to include in the project, presentation in the form of a table elucidating important components is acceptable. In this case, the student is advised to submit a separate internal report giving further details. Standard subroutines or packaged programs which routinely are included as software support to a computer installation and which can be readily obtained are exempted from this requirement, but these should be clearly cited and the source of these programs made apparent in the project.

References: Citations of the professional literature should be standardized throughout the project. The form of citation should be consistent with the form used in a standard professional journal of the candidate's field.