This document provides guidance for writing project proposals, reports, and research papers. It discusses the typical components of a research proposal, including the title, background study, problem statement, objectives, literature review, and methodology. It also provides tips for writing the different sections of a research report or paper, such as the introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions. Additionally, it covers topics like properly citing references, presenting data, generating knowledge and understanding from information, and writing abstracts.

1. DISCUSSION
AND
CONCLUSION
CN505/DCN5051 -
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROJECT 1

2. PROPOSAL
First step in implementing a research
project;
Indicator of your understanding of the
research project;
Outlines the feasibility/viability of the
research project.

3. PROPOSAL COMPONENTS
Title
Background Study
Problem Statement
Objectives
Literature review
Methodology

4. DOCUMENTATION
 project writing is both laborious and time
consuming!
 Format of project – as in attachment
 Completed sections can be submitted to
supervisor for corrections / comments as and
when they are ready; do not leave it to the
last day!
 Remember to BACKUP your work (pen drive,
CD)!

5. Order of report in descending order of
importance for the reader.

6. Contents pages should be informative.
1 Introduction
2 Method
3 Results
4 Discussion
5 Conclusions
6 Recommendations
7 References
1 Introduction
2 Method of treatment
2.1 Survey of reducing
agents
2.2 Survey of precipitating
agents
3 Plant requirements.
3.1 Pre-treatment storage
3.2 ………..

7. Results Discussion
• Do not swamp the
argument.
• Place the details in
Appendices.
• Decrease the detail from
reports to theses to
papers.
• Give sufficient results to
support the argument.
 What is implied by the
data?
 Do not simply repeat
the results.
 Compare with the
results of other work.
 Conclusions are drawn
and justified during the
discussion.

8. Presentation of results
 Use the format that
illustrates the point to
be made.
 Tables.
 Graphs.
 Drawings.
 Schematic diagrams.

9. Method
 Describe the method
or approach.
 Justify that it is
appropriate.
 Establish constraints or
assumptions.
 Enable others to
repeat the work and
check the
conclusions.
 Link with the research
question.
 Motivate the work -
what is its
importance?
 Establish approaches
used in previous
research - the
literature search.

10. Sometimes you can use a citation to make your text clearer
or to illuminate your story. The following guidelines apply for
citations:
 Quote citations literally and without mistakes. If you
omit a part of the citation, you use [...] in that space.
Your own quotations are also put between brackets ([ ])
 Show clearly where you start and end the citation:
choose a smaller letter, indent the text, use italics or put
the text between single quotation marks
 Make sure that the sentence in which you use the
citation still flows well.
Citations

11.  one author: (Swanborn, 1975)
 Two or three authors: (Kotler, Robben and Geuens,
2005)
 Three or more authors: (Bruin et al., 2006)
 If an author is already mentioned in the text only,
mention the page number(s): (66-67)
 When you use more publications written by the
same author, include a shortened version of the title to
differentiate them: (Slywotzki, How digital 2005)@
(Slywotzki Profit 2004)
 If there is no author, use a shortened version of the
title between quotation marks: (“How digital” 32)
 If you refer to publications in the text, make sure that
you list them in your bibliography!
Citations (cont.)

12. Citations- Example
Citation –Beginning of the sentences
 According to Esser (1971), gamma radiation is an effective
ionizing radiation due to its ability to penetrate cell walls of
mushroom mycelia.
 Fukushige et al. (2009) proposed that “TORNADO” device
with multiple infall of leachate is preferable for the effective
aeration.
Citation –end of the sentences
 Fish yields are determined by several factors that include
the quantity and quality of diets. (Jauncey, 1982).
 Over the last 30 years, Malaysian palm oil industry has
grown and at present it is one of the largest agro-based
industries (Wong et al., 2002)

13. References and Citations
Citations :
Umar [28] states that …
Client/server environments [28] are
important ….
Umar (1997) suggests that …...
…had significant results (Umar et al. 1997).
References :
[28] Umar, A, (1997), Object-oriented
Client/server internet environments, Prentice-
Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

14. DATA PRESENTATION & DISCUSSION
 Purpose: Generate new Knowledge
and enhance our Understanding

15. DATA PRESENTATION

16. DATA PRESENTATION & DISCUSSION
 Data can be qualitative or quantitative;
 Qualitative data:
 Is subjective, rich, and in-depth information
 normally presented in the form of words;
 derived from 1) interviews and 2) other sources -
observations, life histories and journals (paper
review) and documents of all kinds including
newspapers.
Example: Taste (sweet, sour, bitter, salty)

17. DATA PRESENTATION

18. DATA PRESENTATION

19. TYPE OF DATA

20. TYPE OF DATA

21. EXAMPLE OF QUANTITATIVE DATA
 20min, 0min, 10min, 50min, 40min, 30min;
 298K, 299K, 299K, 298K, 298K
 16mg/L, 1mg/L, 8mg/L, 4mg/L, 1mg/L, 2mg/L;
 15mg/L, 0.7mg/L, 6mg/L, 5mg/L, 1.1 mg/L, 2.5mg/L;
 17mg/L, 1.3 mg/L, 7 mg/L, 3mg/L, 0.8 mg/L, 1.5 mg/L.

22. INFORMATION
 Information = Arranged, organised Data.
Time
[s]
Temp.
[K]
Conc. 1
[mg/L]
Conc. 2
[mg/L]
Conc. 3
[mg/L]
0 298 1 0.7 1.3
10 299 1 1.1 0.8
20 298 2 2.5 1.5
30 298 4 5 3
40 299 8 6 7
50 298 16 15 17

23. KNOWLEDGE
 Knowledge = Processed Information;
 Average and standard deviation were calculated from
arranged data;
Time
[min]
Temp.
[K]
Average Conc.
[mg/L]
StDev
[mg/L]
0 298 1 0.3
10 299 1.0 0.15
20 298 2 0.5
30 298 4 1
40 299 7 1
50 298 16 1

24. KNOWLEDGE (CONT’D)
 Concentration of ... increases exponentially at 298K;
 Reaction is first order;
 Rate constant, k = 0.0586 mg/(L·min).
y = 0.7142e0.0586x
R2
= 0.9599
200
250
300
350
400
0 20 40 60
Time [min]
Temperature[K]
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Concentration[mg/L]
Temperature [K]
Concentration [mg/L]

25. UNDERSTANDING
 Understanding = Ability to explain Knowledge;
 Example: The increase in microbial concentration is first
order because microorganisms produce daughter cells
every 10 min.
y = 0.7189e0.0594x
R2
= 0.9643
200
250
300
350
400
0 20 40 60
Time [min]
Temperature[K]
0
5
10
15
20
Concentration[mg/L]
Temperature [K]
Concentration [mg/L]

26. WISDOM
Wisdom = Apply Knowledge the right Way.
 Example (The Right Way):
Fermenter operator understands that ethanol
concentration of 15 % kills the yeast culture. Hence
ethanol concentration is monitored and controlled to
remain <15 %.
 Example (The Unethical Way):
Colleague has a grudge against of fermenter operator
and decides to sabotage. Colleague also understands
toxic effect of ethanol and decides to turn off
monitoring system so that ethanol concentration
spirals out of control and inhibits yeast culture.

27. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Table
 Line graph
 Bar chart
 Pie chart
 Figure from software/instrument used
Please take Note!
 Whatever diagram you use, an associated
commentary is essential.
 Do not leave it to the reader (especially
supervisor and internal examiner) to work
out what the diagram shows.

28. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Table
 Make comparisons between
quantities which are totals and/or
have sub-divisions, at the same
point in time
 Show data that is time series,
nominal or ordinal

29. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Table (Example)
Source: K. Openshaw / Biomass and Bioenergy 19 (2000) 1-15.

30. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Line Graph
Source: As. J. Energy Env. 2009, 10(04), 221-229

31. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Line Graph
Source: Agricultural Wastes 4 (1982) 411-426

32. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Bar chart
 Make comparisons between quantities
which are totals and/or have sub-divisions,
at the same point in time
 Show data that is time series, nominal or
ordinal
 Bar charts are inappropriate for large data
sets with many bars and numerical data.

33. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Bar chart (Example)
Source:M. Franz et al. / Carbon 38 (2000)1807 –1819

34. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Bar chart (Example)
Source: Renewable Energy World, Vol. 14(4), p. 8.

35. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Bar chart (Example)
Source: Renewable Energy World, Vol. 14(4), p. 47.

36. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Pie chart
 show the percentage parts of the whole;
they are the circular version of a
percentage component bar chart;
 highlight a particular component using an
exploded or dynamic pie chart, where a
slice of the pie is extracted.

37. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
 Pie chart (Example)
Bulb
2%
Water heater
2%
Others
6%
Electric kettle
5%
Fluorescent light
3%
TV
6%
VCD / VCR / DVD
7%
Iron
8%
Refrigerator
21%
Air-con
12%
Washing machine
10%
Rice cooker
8% Fan
10%
Figure 3. Breakdown of residential electricity consumption in Malaysia. Refrigerators and
air con’s top the list followed by washing machines, fans, rice cooker, irons etc.
Source: Energy Policy, Vol. 35(2), pp. 1050–1063.

38. The basic format:
Author's last name, Initial(s). “Title of the document”. Name of the
site. Date of publication. Name of the sponsoring
company/institution. Date of access <electronic address>.
Examples:
Online journal article
Stone, Amey. “This Product Test Was Conclusive, Or Was It?”
Business Week Online. 2 Nov.
1999. 3 Nov. 1999 <http://www.businessweek.com/today.htm>.
WWW-site
Burka, L.P. “A Hypertext History of Multi-user Dimensions”. MUD
History. 5 Dec. 1994
<http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/lpb/mud-history.html>.
REFERENCES

39. HOW TO WRITE ABSTRACT
 Abstract is simply a summary of the work or paper that
others can use as an overview.
 It will help your reader to understand the paper and it
will help people searching for a particular work to find it
and decide whether it suits their purposes.
 Seeing as an abstract is only a summary of the work
you've already done, it's easy to accomplish!
• Writing Your Abstract
 Identify your purpose.
 Explain the problem
 Explain your methods
 Describe your results (informative abstract only)
 Give your conclusion
Background

40. Discharging the oily wastewater in the environment causes serious problems,
because of the oil compounds and organic materials presence. Applying
biological methods using the lipase enzyme producer microorganisms can be an
appropriate choice for treatment of these wastewaters. The aim of this study is to
treat those oil wastewaters having high concentration of oil by applying lipase
enzyme producer bacteria. Oil concentration measurement was conducted using
the standard method of gravimetric and the wastewater under study was
synthetically made and contained olive, canola and sunflower oil. The strain used
in this study was Pseudomonas strain isolated from compost fertilizer. The oil
under study had concentration of 1.5 to 22 g/l. The oil removal amount in
concentrations lower than 8.4 g/l was over 95 ± 1.5%. Increase of the oil's
concentration to 22 g/l decreases the amount of removal in retention time of 44
hours to 85 ± 2.5%. The best yield of removing this strain in retention time of 44
hours and temperature of 30°C was achieved using Ammonium Nitrate as the
nitrogen resource which yield was about 95 percent. The findings of the research
showed that Pseudomonas bacteria isolated from the compost fertilizer can
degrade high concentration oils.
Keywords: Pseudomonas, Oil, Wastewater, Lipase, Bacteria
EXAMPLE OF ABSTRACT

41. Background: Discharging the oily wastewater in the environment causes serious
problems, because of the oil compounds and organic materials presence. Applying
biological methods using the lipase enzyme producer microorganisms can be an
appropriate choice for treatment of these wastewaters. The aim of this study is to treat
those oil wastewaters having high concentration of oil by applying lipase enzyme
producer bacteria.
Materials and methods: Oil concentration measurement was conducted using the
standard method of gravimetric and the wastewater under study was synthetically
made and contained olive, canola and sunflower oil. The strain used in this study was
Pseudomonas strain isolated from compost fertilizer. The oil under study had
concentration of 1.5 to 22 g/l.
Results: The oil removal amount in concentrations lower than 8.4 g/l was over 95 ±
1.5%. Increase of the oil's concentration to 22 g/l decreases the amount of removal in
retention time of 44 hours to 85 ± 2.5%. The best yield of removing this strain in
retention time of 44 hours and temperature of 30°C was achieved using Ammonium
Nitrate as the nitrogen resource which yield was about 95 percent.
Conclusion: The findings of the research showed that Pseudomonas bacteria isolated
from the compost fertilizer
can degrade high concentration oils.
Keywords: Pseudomonas, Oil, Wastewater, Lipase, Bacteria
EXAMPLE OF ABSTRACT
Purpose/Objective

42. RESEARCH ETHICS
 DO NOT CHEAT!
 Present the data you obtained experimentally
and not what you think it should be!
 DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!
 ‘Cut-n-paste’ is not an acceptable practice!
 If you have to use certain phrases from a
particular source, credit must be given to
original author(s)