department of environmental engineering guidelines for thesis preparation design topics

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERINGGuidelines for Thesis Preparation

DESIGN TOPICS

For internal use only

June 2021

Part 1: Thesis content for design topics 3

Part 2: Format of thesis 6

Part 3 Guidelines for thesis evaluation 10

Part 4 Appendices 12

Part 1: Thesis content for design topics

2 Overview of pollution source

3 Review treatment technologies and technical proposal 4 Technical calculation and design for treatment works 5 Auxiliaries and equipment

This page is prepared with thesis title, name of the educational provider, name of students and adviser(s) and month/year of publication The format of cover page is given in Appendix A.

Title page

Title page includes title of the thesis, author names, and affiliations Title should be concise and informative and should not contain abbreviations and formulas The format of title page is given in Appendix B.

This part is to recognize individuals, organizations, and institutes who provide help and support for you to completing the thesis This page should be presented shortly and can be written in informal styles.

The abstract is a brief overview of your entire thesis The abstract should provide the purpose of the thesis, the technical proposal, and the works that you completed The given information should be enough but concise, with no more than 200 words

1 Introduction

This part is about 2-3 pages to provide:

- Background of the thesis in a context of common knowledge - Design problems

- Purpose of thesis

- Contents of thesis

- Method(s) (on a general level) - Scope and limitation

2 Overview of pollution sources

Provide the overview of the objectives of the thesis such as the sources of pollution (e.g., water/ wastewater/ air/ solid pollution sources) Characteristics of the pollution sources are given in general Design data of this thesis are specified The standards for the effluents that need to comply are clearly given

3 Review treatment technologies and technical proposal

Provide three to five flowcharts that have been used for the treatment of the pollution sources whose characteristics/ design data are similar to these of the pollution target required in this thesis Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the technologies applied in these flowcharts.

Based on the characteristics of the pollution source required to treat and technologies reviewed, provide comments/discussion or clues for technical selection Two technical proposals are then given in flowcharts Technical description (e.g., functions, principal …) for each unit in proposals is also presented shortly Comparison between two proposals and specify the selected one for calculation

4 Technical calculation

This part shows details the calculation for each treatment unit in the selected flowchart It is recommended to be written in excel format An example is given as follows.

Name of unit Design

5 Auxiliaries and equipment

This section will provide: - P&ID drawing

- Calculation design for auxiliaries and equipment It is recommended to be written in excel format An example is given as follows.

Name of unit Design parameters Unit Equation Specification Reference

- There are at least eight (8) engineering drawings: P&ID drawing (1), Plant view (1), detail drawing of individual/combined unit(s) (6) The drawings need to be printed on A3 paper size to insert together with the print of other sections of the thesis, but on A1 paper size for the presentation in thesis defense.

7 Cost estimation/ Construction measurement

This part is to provide the measurement of building works, and the price for measured construction works items.

8 References

This part must contain a complete list of all references cited in the text The format of citation in text and reference is given in Part 2

9 Appendices

This section is to present all materials directly relevant to the thesis Example of materials can be the catalogs of auxiliaries and equipment whose information has been used to select auxiliaries and equipment in the previous sections.

Part 2: Format of thesis2.1 General requirement

- The thesis must be written in English using Times New Roman font, with 13-point size and 1.5-line spacing The text should be fully justified.

- Page set-up: use A4 paper; left margin: 3.0 cm; other margins: 2.0 cm - No header/footer is allowed.

- Use simple but clear language

- Take time to check the thesis for misspelled words, typographical error, mislabeled figures, tables, or photos…

- Symbol for the decimal marker shall be the point on the line (.)

Page number

- Cover page and title page do not require numbering.

- The pages of acknowledgment, abstract, table of contents, list of tables, list of figures

and abbreviations are numbered by lowercase Roman numerals (i.e., i, ii, …) at the center of the bottom of the page

- The pages of chapters, references, appendices must be numbered by Arabic numerals

(i.e., 1, 2, …) at the center of the bottom of the pages

- Keep the writing short, informative, and as concise as possible The length of the

thesis body (including all chapters) should be not exceeded 50 pages

Each section can be numbered as 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ), 1.2, etc Example of the structure and headings of the thesis is given as follows:

4 TECHNICAL CALCULATION AND DESIGN 5 AUXILIARIES AND EQUIPMENT

6 TECHNICAL DRAWING 7 COST ESTIMATION REFERENCES

Appendix A Title of Appendix A Appendix B Title of Appendix B

Abbreviations

Abbreviations that are not standard in this field must be defined and listed after the table of content page of the thesis In the main body, abbreviations must be defined at their first mention

Plagiarism

Copying another person’s idea or written work and claiming it as your own is considered as plagiarism This action is an academic offence and students are strictly prohibited Therefore, all information, number, photos, picture, figures and tables are properly acknowledged.

Citations

Citations is to credit the original author in text to acknowledge the sources of factual information and diagrams that you wish to use The format of citation in text is given in section 2.3.

- Not more than 200 words, in a single paragraph2.2 Format for tables and figures

- Tables and figures are numbered consecutively in accordance with the number of section and their appearance in the text

- A caption of table and figure contains a brief title and a description of the table and figure that should be short but be able to explain all symbols and abbreviations used - Ensure that the data presented in tables and figures do not duplicate results described

elsewhere in the thesis.

Example of a table in Chapter 1, or Section 1:

Table 1.1 Characteristics of wastewater from food processing

Example of a figure in Chapter 1, or Section 1:

Figure 1.1 Treatment flowchart proposal for wastewater from food processing

2.3 Format of citation in text

All the references cited in text are required to present in the reference list Format of the citation in text is preferred as Author-Year style:

- Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication, e.g., (Cheng, 2007).

- Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication, e.g., (Cheng and Huang, 2016).

- Three or more authors: first author's name followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically), e.g., (Sahu et al., 2016).

- Groups of references should be cited first alphabetically, then chronologically.2.4 Format of reference list

Reference list should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary If there are more than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year, these references must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication

Example of references to a journal publication:

Carr, S.A., Liu, J., Tesoro, A.G., 2016 Transport and fate of microplastic particles in wastewater treatment plants Water Res 91, 174-182 Talvitie, J., Mikola, A., Setala, O., Heinonen, M., Koistinen, A., 2017a How

well is microlitter purified from wastewater? A detailed study on the stepwise removal of microlitter in a tertiary level wastewater treatment plant Water Res 109, 164-172.

Talvitie, J., Mikola, A., Koistinen, A., Setala, O., 2017b Solutions to microplastic pollution e removal of microplastics from wastewater effluent with advanced wastewater treatment technologies Water Res 123, 401-407

Example of reference to a book:

Crawford, C.B., Quinn, B., 2017 Microplastic Pollutants Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Example of reference to a chapter/section in an edited book:

LeVan, M.D., Carta, G and Yon, C.M., 2007 Perry's chemical engineer's handbook Section 16 Adsorption and ion exchange, McGraw-Hill Education.

Web reference

In general, students should avoid using websites as reference unless necessary As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given

2.5 Format of Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc Each appendix is labelled by a letter and a title (e.g., Appendix A Questionnaires), and must be referred as “Appendix” + “letter” + “number (optional)” (e.g Appendix A.1) at the relevant point in the text.

Part 3 Guidelines for thesis evaluation3.1 Thesis submission requirements

Thesis submission for examination:

- 03 hard copies of thesis (including technical drawings printed on A3 paper size) For thesis presentation on defense day

- 01 set of technical drawings printed on A1 paper size for the presentation on the defense day.

Thesis submission after committee approval

- 02 hard copy of the revised thesis according to the committee’s comments, with the lettering on the outside cover printed in gold letters

- 02 CD of a PDF version of the revised thesis - 02 report on thesis revision

3.2 Evaluation principle

Each thesis will be firstly evaluated by 01 advisor and 01 reviewer on the printed evaluation forms (EV01 and EV02, respectively) The reviewer does not have a close relationship (farther, mother, wife, husband, sister and brother) with the student The reviewer needs to evaluate and provide at least two questions related directly to the thesis contents for the students to answer in front of committee

The scale of grade is 100 Each member of committee evaluates the thesis on the printed evaluation form (EV03).

3.3 Conditions for final oral examination

In order to have an oral examination, the thesis’s grade of student evaluated by both advisor and reviewer must be equal or higher than 50 points In case that there is 01 examiner giving the grade lower than 50 points, the head of department will decide:

- Organize a meeting for discussion between the advisor and reviewer to unify the grades for the thesis

- If the grade is not unified after the discussion, the second reviewer can be invited for evaluation of the thesis

o Two examiners have the same levels of grades: the head of department will decide the grades of thesis based on the results of these two examiners.

o Three examiners have different levels of grade: the head of department will decide the grades of thesis based on the results of these three examiners.

3.4 Committee for oral examination of thesis

Committee for oral examination of thesis consists of a minimum of 03 members, but a maximum of 05 members.

Number of external examiners from outside the International University is not over ½ total number of committee members.

Committee chair is a lecture at a doctorate degree with the experiences in processional teaching and educational management, having knowledge in the topic area of the thesis Committee members does not have a close relationship (farther, mother, wife, husband, sister and brother) with the student

3.5 Oral examination procedure

The committee secretary reads the decision to establish the committee, name of student, name of advisor, and name of reviewer.

The committee chair reads the regulation for oral examination and thesis evaluation The student presents the thesis orally for 15 minutes.

There are 30 minutes for the student to answer questions, from advisor and reviewer questions to the questions of committee members and other attendants.

The secretary reads the comments of advisor and reviewer The student can provide explanations related to the comments.

The committee members complete the evaluation forms (EV03).

The secretary takes the minutes of the meeting with all questions and answers, discussion, grade of each committee member, and the average grade (EV04).

After the oral examination, the chair gathers committee members to reach the decision for each thesis and disclosure of the results of thesis evaluation for all students

Depending on the result of thesis, the student is requested to revise his/her thesis according to the recommendations from the committee members (EV05).

3.6 Final grade of thesis

The final grade of the thesis is the average grade (with one decimal place) from the advisor, reviewer, and committee members.

The thesis is passed if the grade is equal to 50 points or higher

*The sections in this part are prepared according to the current International University’sregulation (Referred to in clauses in No 110/QĐ – ĐHQT on 04 April 2008: Quy định vềhướng dẫn tốt nghiệp và chấm luận văn tốt nghiệp đại học tại Trường Đại học Quốc tế)

3.6Clause 12

Part 4 AppendicesAppendix A Cover page

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY

The Department of Environmental Engineering, International UniversityIn partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

B.E in Environmental Engineering

(3 lines)

Student name: Full name of student – ID No.

Advisor: Title and full name of supervisor(s)

(4 lines)

Month/Year

Appendix B Title page

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of B.E in Environmental Engineering

Appendix C EV01, EV02, EV03, EV04, and EV05 FormsINTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Environmental Engineering

EVALUATION FORMFor Academic Advisor

Name of student: ……… ID: ………Class No……….

CriteriaMaximummarkYour mark1 Meeting with advisor, level of commitment and independence in work 15 2 Writing skill and format (compliance to thesis guidelines) 10 3 Introduction, literature review (relevant, sufficient, clear), technology choice (suitable and practical technology) 15 4 Calculation (right, sufficient, clear) 30 5 Design drawing (sufficient, follow the technical drawing standard, describe properly the structure of the unit)