PROJECT MANUAL


INTRODUCTION

The project paper is aimed at making the teaching-learning process a purposeful activity. It is a form of self-learning activity or independent study which may be undertaken by an individual student or a group of students over a period of a few weeks. It is concerned with the investigation or study of a situation, problem, theme, behavioral patterns, policies and so on. An outcome, such as a report, design, model or construction of something is usually expected and very often there is an intention to contribute towards solving a problem.

The activity may be theoretical, practical, community-based, subject-based or inter­disciplinary in nature. Differences in the activity and style may arise due to disciplines or subject areas. In the physical sciences, project work may take the form of problem-solving, or experimentation usually carried out in the laboratory. Field work, involving the study of natural phenomena, may also be considered as a form of project work in other branches of science. In the social sciences, field work of a different kind, usually involving the study of individuals, groups, organizations, communities, etc. may be taken up for project work. Surveys and case studies may similarly be undertaken.

The project paper provides an excellent opportunity for independent thinking by the student. The student has occasion to define the problem, plan his work, find appropriate resources, collect and evaluate data, draw conclusions and present them effectively.

 

In brief, project work is intended to encourage commit­ment and responsibility, offer students the opportunity to make decisions and plan and follow through what amounts to a piece of personal research, provide satisfaction through work of relevance, interest and value to students and others, facilitate cooperation rather than competition amongst students, and provide the opportunity for improving communication skills.

 

 

 

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The Working Party set up by the Society for Research into Higher Education to study teaching methods, and particularly project methods, has identified the aims and objectives of Project Work to be as follows:

(a)         To encourage students to make their own choice of a subject study and thus encourage a sense of commitment and personal responsibility for the task, rather than the ritual performance of a task where the only responsibility is seen as meeting the tutor's requirements.

(b)         To give students practice in learning to learn by un­dertaking a piece of personal research involving activities such as planning the work, hunting out sources, collecting material, selecting from it and deciding on presentation, rather than set exercises requiring a minimum of personal initiative and or­ganization on the students' part.

(c)         To enable students to experience the satisfaction of working on a complex task over a period of time with the possibility of producing a result of permanent value and interest to themselves and others, rather than the performance at regular or irregular intervals of unconnected exercises which, however conscientiously performed, rarely lead to anything but throwaway results.

(d)         To provide scope for a degree of cooperation among students rather than purely private work in which competition with others takes precedence over the intrinsic character of the work itself.

(e)         To provide opportunities for the practice of communi­cation skills in a framework where language is used in a number of ways for real communication: seeking information, oral and written reporting, discussing, synthesizing, revising and editing, etc. rather than the straightjacket of a "dummy run" where language is being used not to communicate infor­mation, but to tell the tutor what he already knows merely in order to demonstrate that the student knows it too.

 

 

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

a)   Time Schedule

The topic for the project is to be selected and finalised in Semester V and the report is to be submitted in Semester VI.

The last date for admission being 20th July, the total time duration for the project shall be from 21st July to 31st January next.

The time schedule shall be as follows:

 

1

General Orientation by  Principal /Head of the  Department /Supervisor

Between 21st and 31st July

2

Announcement of supervisors and topics for projects

Not later than 31st July

      3

Selection of topic/supervisor by the students

Not later than  15th August (15 days may be given for changes, if any)

4

Final registration of students  (Registration should be in the Format as specified in Annexure I)

Not later than 31st August; No change of topic after this date

5

Submission of form in Annexure II to the Controller of Examinations, GU

Not later than 30th September

6

Orientation of students by concerned supervisor, assistance in planning the project, preparing questionnaires, bibliographies, etc.

Not later than 30th September

7

Field/Library/Laboratory Work, on-the-job training,  etc.

To be completed by 30th November

8

Submission of report

Not later than 31st January

9

Evaluation by internal examiner (supervisor)  and

external examiner

By end of February

10

Viva Voce

By 15th March

11

Submission of results to Goa  University in the result sheet supplied by the University

Not later than 31st March

 

 

 

b)  Student Orientation Programme:

i)              There shall be a general Orientation of all Third Year students between 21st and 31st July. The Principal of the College, the Head of the concerned Department and/or the Project Coordinator may conduct the orientation. Outside experts may be invited, if necessary. The objective of the orientation shall be to give all students a general idea about projects, the type of projects available, the procedural formalities, etc.

ii)            Students must also be informed that as per Goa University ordinances, they are required to carry out work for the project during Semesters V & VI, but the assessment for this paper will be at the end of Semester VI.

iii)          After students have selected the topics for projects, been assigned to their supervisors, and the registration procedure com­pleted, the concerned supervisor shall conduct an orientation of the students assigned to him/her. 5 to 8 lectures may be devoted to this orientation, which shall cover all details of the project, including field work to be carried out, records to be maintained, periodic meetings, final report, etc.

 

c) Number of Students per Teacher

As per Ordinance OC-45.4.7, “Project work shall be assigned to students in groups of five”. This Ordinance is common to the B.A., B.Sc. and B.Com programmes.

Guidance provided by a teacher to a batch of not more than 5 students and not less than 3 students for project work shall be deemed to be equivalent to 2 periods of instruction per week. If the number of students is 1 or 2, the guidance provided by a teacher shall be deemed to be equivalent to 1 period of instruction per week.

A teacher shall normally be assigned not more than 15 students for project work. Within a department, project work may, to the extent possible, be allocated equally to all teachers.

The pattern for assigning students in the project paper shall be as under:

Batch No.                                              No. of students

1st Batch                                                1 to 5 students

2nd Batch                                               6 to 10 students

3rd Batch                                                11 to 15 students

4th Batch                                                16 to 20 students

5th Batch                                                21 to 25 students

6th Batch                                                26 to 30 students

7th Batch                                                31 to 35 students

8th Batch                                                36 to 40 students

9th Batch                                                41 to 45 students

10th Batch                                             46 to 50 students

11th Batch                                             51 to 55 students

12th Batch                                             56 to 60 students

 

 

d) Responsibilities of the Principal, Head of Department, Project Coordinator and Supervisor:

 

i)        PRINCIPAL:       The Principal shall have the overall re­sponsibility of supervising the project work and submitting timely reports and results to the University. The Principal shall appoint one teacher from the College as the Project Coordinator.

 

ii)      HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT:         The Head of each Department shall have the following responsibilities in respect of the supervisors and students in his department:

a)     Allocating project lectures among the teachers in the Department, ensuring that the lectures are, to the extent possible, distributed equally among the teachers

b)     Confirming registration of students

c)      Ensuring that the students and teachers in his/her department adhere to the time schedule detailed earlier in this manual

d)     Monitoring the progress of the projects in the Department and maintaining the relevant records.

e)     Overseeing the project work

 

iii)    PROJECT COORDINATOR: The Project Coordinator shall be responsible for the following:

a)     Ensuring that the timetable given above is strictly followed in the College.

b)     Ensuring that every candidate is assigned to a Supervisor.

c)      Supervision of the administrative work pertaining to the project paper in the College.

 

iv)    SUPERVISOR: The supervisor shall be responsible for the day-to-day monitoring of the project work of the stu­dents assigned to him/her, and shall perform the following tasks:

a)       Identification of project areas and titles

b)       Receiving proposals from students in the prescribed format

c)       Conduct of weekly meetings of students  assigned to him/her, to assess their progress and to give them the necessary guidance and assistance.

d)       Maintenance of records of attendance, discussions held, reference material / sources of data, field work, placement, etc.

e)       Monitoring of work records / diaries / journals of students. These records must be maintained in the format as shown in Annexure III.

f)         Evaluation of completed project reports

g)       Receiving reports from external examiners

h)       Combining results of internal and external examiners immediately after the viva voce and submission to the Principal as per prescribed format in Annexure IX for onward submission to the University

 

 

REPORT-WRITING GUIDELINES

a. PRESENTATION GUIDELINES

The project report has three distinct parts:

I.                     The Preliminaries

II.                      The Text

III.                       The End-Matter

I. The Preliminaries:

These are the pages that precede the actual report, and must be included in the following order:

a)           The first page of a formal report is the Title page. It should be in the format prescribed by the University (Annexure IV). The title should be brief but descriptive and compre­hensive.

b)           Declaration Certificate signed by the student(s) in the format prescribed by the University (Annexure V)

c)            Certificate signed by the Supervisor in the format prescribed by the University. (Annexure VI)

d)           The Preface or Acknowledgement.

e)           Table of Contents: It contains all the preliminaries, the chapter titles, References/ Bibliography, Appendices, Annexures, etc. [The numbering and the titles of chapters, and punctuation (if any) of chapter titles should be exactly the same as they are in the text]

f)              Table of Illustrations: It contains a list of tables, charts and figures (if any)

 

II. The Text:

The text may contain

a)     Introductory Chapter – this chapter must lay out the background, the objectives of the study, its scope, the methodology adopted and the chapter scheme.

b)     Data and its Analysis  Chapter(s)

c)      Findings and Conclusion – this is the last chapter, which must summarise the key findings of the study, present the conclusions based on the findings, indicate the limitations of the study and suggest areas for further study.

 

III. The End Matter

a)     Reference Notes – if footnotes are not used, this section would contain notes of all the references made in the report

b)     Bibliography - Proper citation, style and formats are important. The bibliography must always be in alphabetical order. The preferred format is as follows: Name of author(s), date of publication, title, place of publication, name of publisher.

c)      Appendices and Annexures (if any)

 

B. GENERAL GUIDELINES

1.      The Report shall be written in English, except for other language subjects for which the medium may be the language concerned.

2.      The Report may be either handwritten or typed.

If handwritten, it should be approximately of 45 pages and should be submitted in a hard-bound long note book. On no account should it exceed 60 pages.

If typed, it should be on A4 size paper, with top, bottom and right margins of 1 inch each. The left margin should be 1.2 – 1.4 inches to allow for binding.  In the case of drawings, graphs and maps there are no restrictions on paper size. The project report should be approximately of 35 pages. On no account should it exceed 50 pages.

3.      Candidates must write or type the report only on one side of the paper. If typed it should be typed with 1.5 line / double line spacing.

4.      Every page, except the title page, should be numbered. The candidate must use small roman numerals for the Preliminary pages and arabic numerals for all subsequent pages.

5.      If not submitted in the form of a hardbound long book, the copies of the Report are to be securely bound.

6.      Candidates should submit two copies of the Project Report. The second copy may be a photo copy or carbon copy of the original.

 

INSTRUCTIONS TO PROJECT SUPERVISORS

i.        Students should be made aware that while assessing the report, the correctness of the language in the report will also be taken into account.

ii.      Supervisors should make it very clear during the orientation itself, that different components such as identifying and con­ceptualizing the problem, design, methodology, analy­sis, discussion and manner of presentation will be taken into account while assessing the report.

iii.    Supervisors must provide proper guidance to the students assigned to them in the matter of writing of Refer­ence Notes and Bibliography, so that students present these in the appropriate format.

iv.     Students should be taught the value of intellectual honesty - any matter taken from articles, books or any other sources should be properly acknowledged in the report.

 

 

EVALUATION

 

1. EXTERNAL and INTERNAL EXAMINERS

     a) Each project report will be assessed by one external and one internal examiner.    Normally the supervisor will be the internal examiner.

b) The external examiner shall be appointed by the Uni­versity from the panel of examiners prepared by the respective Boards of Studies. The names of the external examiners shall also be communicated to the Principals of the Colleges where he/she is appointed external examiner.

c) The allocation of marks will be as follows:

 

  Internal Examiner’s assessment                

      Total marks: of which                                                                  50                               

Project Report                                                           20

Field / Library / Practical work                                 20

Attendance of the student for Lectures

and discussions / meetings                         05

Maintenance of the record by the student

of library/field/practical work done                          05

 

        External Examiner's assessment                         

Total marks:   of which                                                          50                                                        Project Report                                                            25

Viva - voce                                                                 25

Guidelines for assessment are given in Annexure VII.

 

 

2. VIVA VOCE

a)      The viva voce will be conducted by the external examiner in the presence of the internal examiner/project supervisor.

 

b)      The viva voce is primarily meant to test the understanding of the candidate of the topic and methodology employed, his/her competence in the general field of study and to verify the actual involvement and participation of the candidate.

 

c)      The Principal shall prepare the schedule of the viva voce in consultation with the concerned external examiners and notify the same for information of the concerned students and internal examiner.

 

d)      A copy of the project report shall be sent by the concerned college to the external examiner so as to reach him/her at least 20 days before the conduct of the viva voce. The report shall be collected by the concerned college from the external examiner after the conduct of the viva. Both the examiners must sign the report, under the comment “Examined”.

 

e)      The external examiner shall conduct the viva for not more than 20­ minutes for each candidate. The questions asked should pertain to the project work done by the student so as to assess the knowledge gained or the skills acquired by the student, the difficulties faced, etc. as per Annexure VIII.

 

f)        Based on the performance of candi­dates examined by him/her at each centre, the external examiner shall submit a brief general report regarding the quality of project work.

 

 

 

3.   RUBRICS

a) The Supervisor/Internal Examiner and External Exam­iner will consolidate the mark sheet and assign appropriate letter grades to each candidate as described in Ordinance OC-45.4.13. This consolidated marksheet (See Annexure IX for format) shall then be forwarded along with the general report mentioned at 2(f) above, to the College Principal for onward submission to the University.

b) A candidate shall be required to obtain not lower than ‘C’ grade in the project paper in order to be declared as Passed.

c) There will be no revaluation for the Project paper.

 

4.  INSTRUCTIONS TO EXAMINERS

a)     A project report should be judged on the basis of content and presentation. It should not be assessed only on the strength of the overall impression gathered during the perusal of the work. Attention should be paid to the various components of the project report. The external examiner may also call for the work records / diaries / journals of individual candidates at the time of the viva voce.

b)     The examiner should pay attention to the correctness of the language in the report.

c)      No additional weightage should be given to computerised reports.

 

5. APPOINTMENT OF EXAMINERS

l.    The Board of Studies in each subject shall prepare a panel of examiners for projects which may include persons (even non-teachers) from outside the University i.e. Institutions like N.I.O., Industry, Professions, etc.

2.   The external examiners should preferably have at least 3 years experience of guiding projects or have a Ph.D. or M.Phil Degree.

3.   The External Examiner shall be paid Rs. 50/- per can­didate (for the Evaluation of the Report and conduct of Viva). He/She shall also be entitled to TA/DA as per University rules.

4.   No honorarium will be paid to the Supervisor / Internal Examiner.

 

 

REFERENCE BOOKS

 

1)     Bell, J. (1993): How to Complete your Research Project Successfully, New Delhi, UBS Publishers Distribution Ltd. 

 

2)     Chandra, A. and Saxena, T.P. (1979): Style Manual, New Delhi, Metropolitan Book Co. Pvt. Ltd.

 

 

ANNEXURE I

REGISTRATION FORM FOR PROJECT WORK

Name of the College: _________________________

 

1.      Name of the Candidate: _____________________

(As per University Registration Card)

 

2.      Class: _________          Div: ____       Roll No. : _______

 

3.      University Registration No.: _________________

 

4.      Subject: _______________________

 

5.      Topic for Project work: ______________________

__________________________________________

 

7.      Name of the Supervisor: ____________________

 

8.      Signature of the student and date: ____________

 

9.      Signature of the supervisor and date: _________

 

 

 

 

 

Signature                               Signature

Principal                                 Head of the Department

 

N.B.: Change in the topic will not be permitted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNEXURE II

STATEMENT REGARDING THE NUMBER OF CANDIDATES

REGISTERED FOR PROJECTS

 

[To be submitted by the Principal of the College to the Controller of Examinations, Goa University by 30th September]

 

Name of the College: __________________________

 

Class: T.Y. B.A. / B.Com. / B.Sc.

 

Subject: _______________________

 

No.

Title of the project 

Name of the

Supervisor

No. of candidates registered for the Project

Remarks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Separate Course-wise lists (for B.A., B.Sc. & B.Com) may be prepared and sent. Within each course, project details may be arranged subject-wise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNEXURE III

WORK RECORD / DIARY

 

Name of the College:________________________

Name of the candidate: _____________________

Course: _______________

Year: _________________

Title of the Project: ____________________________

                                  ____________________________

Library/ Laboratory

Field work 

Description

of work

Date

 

Time

spent 

Signature of

Authority

Counter Signature

of  Guide & date

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Additional sheets may be used)

1) Signature of the student:

 

 

2) Signature of the Guide:

 

 

3)     Signature of H.O.D.:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNEXURE IV

TITLE PAGE OF THE PROJECT REPORT

 

Title of the project:

 

 

Name(s) of the student(s):

 

 

Course: B.A. / B.Sc. / B.Com.

 

 

Year:

 

 

Name of the Project Supervisor:

 

 

Name of the College:

GOA UNIVERSITY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNEXURE V

DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE(S)

 

I/We declare that this project report has been prepared by me/us and to the best of my/our knowledge, it has not previously formed the basis for the award of any diploma or degree by this or any other University.

 

Roll No.           Name                                                                          Signature

 

 

 

 

 

ANNEXURE VI

CERTIFICATE BY SUPERVISOR

 

Certified that the Project Report is a record of work done by the candidate himself/herself/themselves under my guidance during the period of study and that to the best of my knowledge it has not previously formed the basis of the award of any degree or diploma by this or any other University.

 

 

 

 

Name & Signature

Project Supervisor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNEXURE VII

GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSMENT

Examiners are requested to keep in mind the following guidelines regarding the assessment of the Project work

 

 

COMPONENT

 

INDICES

A

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Problem /Topic

 

 

 

 

 

1

Clear and concise title

2

Importance of the topic recognised

3

Background Information

4

 

Objectives and /or Hypothesis/Research Questions & Statement of the problem

5

Scope of the Topic

B 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Methodology

 

 

 

 

6

 

Appropriateness of the Sample and/or sources of Data/Information, Relevance of the Data

7

Information-gathering Tools / Techniques

8

 

Appropriateness of data/ information collection procedures

9

Appropriateness of Presentation of Data and/or Data Analysis procedures followed

C

 

 

 

Findings And

Conclusions

 

 

10

 

Clear and concise interpretation of results and discussion

11

Appropriate conclusions drawn

12

Recommendations/Suggestions (if any)

D

 

 

 

 

 

 

Report

 

 

 

 

 

 

13

Structure/ Organisation/ Format

14

 

Style of Presentation, use of graphics, photos, tables, print media (if any)

15

Neatness

16

Proper language used

17

Proper typing rules followed

18

References (adequate and properly cited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNEXURE VIII

GUIDELINES FOR THE CONDUCT OF VIVA VOCE

 

The External Examiner may ask questions for the Viva based on the indices given below:

                                   

INDICES

1.            Reasons for selection of the topic

2.            Knowledge and understanding about the topic

3.            Explanation of the topic (objectives, definition of terms, scope etc.)

4.            Description of data gathering procedures

5.            Reasons for selecting the sample/sources of data

6.            Justification for data collection tools/techniques /procedures

7.            Justification of the Interpretation and Conclusions drawn

8.            Suggestions for further work in the area

9.            Difficulties encountered during the project work

10.       Experience/Benefits gained from the project work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNEXURE IX

CONSOLIDATED MARKSHEET FORM

 

Name of the College: __________________________

 

Name of Examination: ____________ Year: _______ 

 

 

No. 

 

 

 

 

Exam. Seat No. (as allotted by

University)

 

Names of

Candidates

 

 

 

Marks

awarded

by Int.

Examiner

(/50)

Marks awarded

by Ext.

Examiner

(/50)

Total marks

awarded

(/100)

Letter

Grade

awarded

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

External Examiner                                         Internal Examiner/Supervisor

 

Place:

 

Date:

 

 

 

 

Checked and Countersigned                                              Signature

College Seal                                                                          Principal