department of environmental engineering guidelines for thesis preparation design topics

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITYINTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING Guidelines for Thesis Preparation DESIGN TOPICS For internal use only June 2

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY

INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Guidelines 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 1.1 Thesis content

For design topics, the thesis will include the following sections Each section is started on anew page

2 Overview of pollution source

3 Review treatment technologies and technical proposal

4 Technical calculation and design for treatment works

5 Auxiliaries and equipment

Acknowledgement

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

Abstract

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 informationshould 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 aregiven in general Design data of this thesis are specified The standards for the effluents thatneed 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 sourceswhose characteristics/ design data are similar to these of the pollution target required in thisthesis Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the technologies applied in theseflowcharts

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

Max capacity(Qmax)

Retention time(t)

Volume (V)Tank size

…

5 Auxiliaries and equipment

This section will provide:

7 Cost estimation/ Construction measurement

This part is to provide the measurement of building works, and the price for measuredconstruction 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 selectauxiliaries and equipment in the previous sections

Part 2: Format of thesis 2.1 General requirement

- The thesis must be written in English using Times New Roman font, with 13-pointsize 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, mislabeledfigures, 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 thecenter 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

4 TECHNICAL CALCULATION AND DESIGN

5 AUXILIARIES AND EQUIPMENT

Plagiarism

Copying another person’s idea or written work and claiming it as your own is considered asplagiarism 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 factualinformation and diagrams that you wish to use The format of citation in text is given insection 2.3

Abstract

- Not more than 200 words, in a single paragraph

2.2 Format for tables and figures

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

- A caption of table and figure contains a brief title and a description of the table andfigure 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 describedelsewhere 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 thecitation in text is preferred as Author-Year style:

- Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and theyear 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 ofpublication 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 ofpublication

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 thestepwise removal of microlitter in a tertiary level wastewater treatmentplant Water Res 109, 164-172

Talvitie, J., Mikola, A., Koistinen, A., Setala, O., 2017b Solutions to

microplastic pollution e removal of microplastics from wastewatereffluent 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-HillEducation

Web reference

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

Part 3 Guidelines for thesis evaluation 3.1 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 evaluationforms (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 toevaluate and provide at least two questions related directly to the thesis contents for thestudents to answer in front of committee

The scale of grade is 100 Each member of committee evaluates the thesis on the printedevaluation 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 advisorand reviewer must be equal or higher than 50 points In case that there is 01 examiner givingthe grade lower than 50 points, the head of department will decide:

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

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

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

o Three examiners have different levels of grade: the head of department will decidethe 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 provideexplanations 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 foreach 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 tothe 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’s regulation (Referred to in clauses in No 110/QĐ – ĐHQT on 04 April 2008: Quy định về hướng dẫn tốt nghiệp và chấm luận văn tốt nghiệp đại học tại Trường Đại học Quốc tế)

3.6 Clause 12

Part 4 Appendices Appendix A Cover page

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY

In 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

atVietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

International UniversityThe Department of Environmental Engineering

Month/Year

Appendix C EV01, EV02, EV03, EV04, and EV05 Forms

INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Environmental Engineering

EVALUATION FORM For Academic Advisor

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

Criteria Maximum mark Your mark 1 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) 30 Total 100 Comments/ recommendations for improvement/ correction ………

………

………

………

Questions ………

………

………

………

………

Name of Advisor ………

Date signed

INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Environmental Engineering

Form EV01

Form EV02

EVALUATION FORM For reviewer

Name of student: ……… ID: ………

Criteria Maximum mark mark Your 1. Writing skill and format (compliance to thesis guidelines) 10 2. Introduction, literature review (relevant, sufficient, clear) 10 3. Technology proposal (suitable and practical technology) 10 4. Calculation (right, sufficient, clear) 40 5. Design drawing (sufficient, follow the technical drawing standard, describe properly the structure of the unit) 30 Total 100 Comments/ recommendations for improvement/ correction (*compulsory) ………

………

………

………

………

………

Questions (at least two questions) ………

………

………

………

………

………

………

Name of Reviewer ………

Date signed

INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Environmental Engineering

EVALUATION FORM For committee member

Name of student: ……… ID: ………

Criteria Maximum mark mark Your 1 Introduction, literature review (relevant, sufficient, clear) 5 2 Technology proposal (suitable and practical technology) 5 3 Calculation (right, sufficient, clear) 25 4 Drawings (sufficient, follow the technical drawing standard, describe properly the structure of the unit) 20

5 Writing skill and format (compliance to thesis guidelines) 5 6 Presentation (quality of slides, speaking skills, timing) 15

7 Answer the questions from reviewer and committee members (relevant to questions, satisfiable) 20

8 Attitude and behavior 5

Total 100 Comments/ recommendations for improvement/ correction ………

………

………

………

………

Questions ………

………

………

………

………

………

Name of committee member ………

Date signed

Form EV03