The document provides guidelines for students on writing an interim report for their final year BS and BT projects. The interim report should include content for the first three chapters of the final dissertation document, including the introduction, literature review, and methodology. It should follow a specific structure and include all relevant sections. The content of each section is described, with an emphasis on providing investigative objectives and justifying the chosen research methods. References must be included and follow the Harvard referencing system.

1. INTERIM REPORT REQUIREMENTS
BS and BT Final Year Project
Prepared by:
Sr Dr. Md Azree Othuman Mydin
School of Housing, Building and Planning

2. The Interim Report?
 Should provide the majority of the content (this
may well change, BUT not by very much) for the
first three Chapters of the final Dissertation
Document, i.e.:
 Chapter 1 - Introduction
 Chapter 2 – Literature Review
 Chapter 3 – Methodology
 AND
 It is never to early to start to build the References
section of the final Dissertation Document.
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3. The Interim Report - Structure?
 Contents:
 Full Name (& Student Number)
 Title of Dissertation
 Aim & Objectives
 Literature Review
 Methodology
 References
 NB.
 Make sure that your Interim Report contains ALL of the
above.
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4. The Interim Report - Content?
 Full Name (& Student Number)
 For sure your name!
 Title of Dissertation
 i.e. your ‘current’ Dissertation Title
 The title of you Dissertation may have changed since
you submitted your original Dissertation Proposal
(and it may well change again?).
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5. The Interim Report - Content?
 Aim & Objectives
 Re-visit, and perhaps modify the Aim & Objectives of
your original Dissertation Proposal.
 A general introductory paragraph should lead to the
statement of;
 the main Research Aim,
 followed by the statement of 3 to 4 specific Research
Objectives that you believe can be achieved during the
Dissertation process.
 These should be;
 investigative objectives and therefore problem-based, i.e.
rather than solution-based,
 and bear in mind the need to analyse rather than merely
describe.
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6. The Interim Report - Content?
 Literature Review
 The idea here is to place your Research into relevant
contexts; i.e. matched to specific Objectives.
 Re-visit, and expand upon, the Relationship to Previous Work
of your original Dissertation Proposal.
 No investigation starts from scratch; someone else
MUST have done something relevant to the Aim &
Objectives of you Research in the past.
 It is NEVER sufficient to say, “There has been little work done in
this area before…”
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7. The Interim Report - Content?
 Literature Review (continued)
 Appropriate contexts might be subject-based;
 e.g. “What has been done in this subject area before?”,
 Or problem-based;
 e.g. “How has this kind of problem been approached in
previous studies?”
 Only include citations/extracts from relevant literature
here, i.e.:
 relevant to the topic/subject of your Dissertation.
Ian Perry 44241: Dissertation: Interim Report? Slide 7

8. The Interim Report - Content?
 Methodology
 This section must detail the way in which the Objectives
of your Research are to be achieved.
 This means not only a description of the methods to be used,
but also a discussion of the logic of those methods.
 It should answer the question; “Why are you using
these methods?”
 The discussion should, therefore, include consideration of
alternatives and demonstrate the appropriateness of the
approach being proposed.
Ian Perry 44241: Dissertation: Interim Report? Slide 8

9. The Interim Report - Content?
 Methodology (continued)
 This section must go beyond merely itemising a data-
collection approach.
 What you really need to do here is to explain what will be in
each Chapter of the final Dissertation Document.
 If basing your research upon a previously used
methodology, then it should also answer the question;
“Which methods have been judged to be appropriate in
the past in previous work?”
 You have to move beyond this previous work in some clearly
identified way (therein lies your originality).
Ian Perry 44241: Dissertation: Interim Report? Slide 9

10. The Interim Report - Content?
 References
 A reference list for each of the citations in your
Interim Report should appear under this
heading.
 Only include those references which you have
actually cited.
 This list of references must be presented using
the Harvard System:
Ian Perry 44241: Dissertation: Interim Report? Slide 10

11. The Harvard System?
 You MUST use the Harvard System:
 This applies to everything that you produce throughout
your time at this University.
 All documents ‘used’ should be listed (in a References
section at the end of the text) in the general form:
 Author (Date), Title, Publisher.
 NB.
 Only ever list References to works actually cited in the
text.
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12. Harvard - a system of two parts!
 References
 A full bibliographic description for each source that has
been used, e.g:
BSI (1989), Recommendations for references to published
materials. (BS 1629), British Standards Institution.
 Citations
 From the text to the Reference source used, e.g.:
"a set of data describing a document, or part of a document,
sufficiently precise and detailed to identify it and to enable it
to be located" (BSI, 1989).
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13. List References by Author’s Name
 Bournemouth University (2005), Citing References, [Online], Academic
Services, University Library, Bournemouth University, Available:
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/using/harvard_system.html [Accessed: 06 Sep
2005]
 Bryman A. & Bell E (2003), Business Research Methods, Oxford University Press.
 BSI (1989), Recommendations for references to published materials. (BS 1629),
British Standards Institution.
 Ghauri P & Gronhaug K (2005), Research Methods in Business Studies: A Practical
Guide, 3rd Ed., Financial Times Prentice Hall.
 Trochim W M (2005), The Research Methods Knowledge Base,
[Online], Available: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/index.htm
[Accessed: 9 Aug 2005]
 University of Hull (2005), References: how to collect and present them, [Online],
Academic Services, Libraries, University of Hull, Available:
http://www.hull.ac.uk/lib/infoskills/collect.html [Accessed: 06 Sep 2005]
Ian Perry 44241: Dissertation: Interim Report? Slide 13

14. What do Citations look like?
 If a citation can NOT contribute to the sense of a sentence:
 There is some evidence (Alas, 2003) that these figures are
incorrect.
 If the citation can contribute to the sense of the sentence:
 Smith (2004) has provided evidence that these figures are
incorrect.
 If referring to particular sections of a document:
 … is positively associated with educational achievement. (Jones,
2005, p.151)
Ian Perry 44241: Dissertation: Interim Report? Slide 14

15. Remember!
 We treat Plagiarism very seriously.
 If it is not yours, i.e. you have read it elsewhere, then you must
reference it.
 You MUST use the Harvard System :
 This applies to all documents that you produce throughout your
time at this University.
 References, MUST appear in full, at the back of your text,
in the form:
 Author (Date), Title, Publisher.
 Citations, MUST appear in the text, in the form:
 (Author, Date)
Ian Perry 44241: Dissertation: Interim Report? Slide 15

16. The Interim Report?
 The Aim & Objectives, Literature Review & Methodology
sections of this ‘Interim Report’ should provide a
‘prototype’ of the first 3 Chapters of your final
Dissertation Document;
 It is almost certain that the content of these Chapters will
change;
 but you really need to have done something under each of these
headings by now; in order to be able to complete your Research
on time.
 It is NEVER too early to start building your References
section;
 Remember, you need a ‘full’ reference (i.e. in the Harvard style)
for anything you cite/use in your Dissertation.
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