Polytechnic of Namibia

Transforming into the University of Science and Technology

Private Bag 13388, 13 Storch Street, Windhoek, Namibia

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING - Department of Mechanical & Marine Engineering

Mechanics of Materials MOM410
Lecturer: Mr. E.J. Strydom

Semester Project 2015

Table of Contents
1.

Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................................1

2.

Important Dates ....................................................................................................................................................1

3.

Requirements for Topics.......................................................................................................................................2

3.1.

Proposal Report ............................................................................................................................................2

3.2.

Progress Report.............................................................................................................................................2

3.3.

Draft Final Report .........................................................................................................................................3

3.4.

Final Report ..................................................................................................................................................4

4.

Project Marks Allocation ......................................................................................................................................4

5.

Report Submissions ..............................................................................................................................................4

6.

Presentations .........................................................................................................................................................4

7.

Report Formatting.................................................................................................................................................4

8.

Plagiarism .............................................................................................................................................................5

1. Introduction
The aim of the MOM410 Independent Learning Project is to be of similar structure and set-out as the final year
project. This allows the student to gain experience in report writing and thus count towards the final year project
while learning something new and exciting within the field of MOM410. Each student is to identify a project to be
completed during the first semester. Project shall be of such size as to be easily completed within the given
timeline.

2. Important Dates
Probable timeline and dates for the MOM410 Independent Learning Project:
17 February 2015:

3 March 2015:

31 March 2015:

5 May 2015:

19 May 2015:

Project Handout
Project announced and discussed in class, examples given.
Project Proposal Submission
Deliver Project Proposal Presentation and submit a Project Proposal Report.
Project Progress Submission
Deliver Project Progress Presentation and submit Project Progress Report.
Project Draft Submission
Deliver Project Draft Presentation and submit Project Draft Report.
Project Final Submission
Deliver Project Final Presentation and submit Project Final Report.

18 February 2015 Project Instructions Document for Mechanics of Materials MOM410

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3. Requirements for Topics

Topics are to be chosen from the MOM410 course content. Topics must come from the following:

Thick and Compound Cylinders

Bending of Initially Curved Bars
Fatigue
Creep

Thus in essence, you should choose a project which uses/investigates something in line with mechanics of materials
topics. Project requires you to do background research on topic, design, construct, test, analyze and report on
findings. You must be able to do the experiment, or demonstrate your practical aspect in class during your
presentations.

3.1. Proposal Report

The Proposal Submission is the first submission for your Semester Project and counts 10% towards your project
mark. The Proposal is an individual assignment. The purpose of the Proposal Submission is to present your idea of
a good semester project to the class. Once done, all students will choose the best project, and form a maximum of
four groups, to proceed with the project for the rest of the semester.
The requirements are as follows:
1. Report Report shall be a 4 page document submitted in hard and soft copy.
2. Presentation Student shall give a 5 minute presentation.
As a guideline, the Proposal document should have the following sections:
1. Title (including headers, logos, etc.)
2. Introduction/Background (Explain the context of the problem/experiment)
3. Objectives (Discuss intended outcomes, the scope of your study, what your contributions are. What are
some of the limitations and assumptions?)
4. Motivation (Why is this study important/interesting to study, and to who?)
5. Theory (What fundamental theory is involved, which you will investigate and elaborate on?)
6. Work plan (Proposed schedule and methods)
7. Bibliography/References (give references for stated facts)
Notes for the Proposal:
1. For the Proposal, it is not needed to have separate cover page, only appropriate header. Can start with
report content below header. It is also not needed for a table of content. References also do not need to be
on own page, can follow directly after last section.

3.2. Progress Report

The Progress Submission is the second submission for your Semester Project and counts 20% towards your project
mark. The Progress is a group assignment. The purpose of the Progress Submission is to give an update on your
Project. How are you progressing? Are you progressing as planned, or are you experiencing set-backs? If you
already have a component/model/design or similar, please share.
The requirements are as follows:
1. Report Report shall be a 10 page document submitted in hard and soft copy.
2. Presentation Students shall give a 10 minute presentation.
As a guideline, the Progress Report may have the following sections:
1. Cover Page (including all important information)
2. Table of Content
3. Introduction/Background (Explain the context of the problem and why it is important to study. What are
the limitations and the scope of this study? Briefly describe the lay-out of your assignment.)
4. Literature Review (Lead the reader to a clear understanding of the broad aims of your study. Be brief but
interesting. Similar work shows how your study fits in. Include i) a statement of your goal, ii) the
18 February 2015 Project Instructions Document for Mechanics of Materials MOM410
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5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

importance of the work and for whom is it important and iii) the limitations and key assumptions you
make. This is the foundation of your study)
Methodology (discuss your plan how you will carry out your project)
Results (What information/data has been collected and how it is analyzed? Describe your results and
interpret them.)
Discussion (Here the results are discussed in answering the problem. Criteria include whether evidence is
weak, strong or significant. In essence this is self reflection on the work undertaken.)
Conclusion (Give the results and discussion. Conclusions are stated regarding the problem set. Suggest
further work to strengthen the next assignment.)
References (This is a list of references has been used and cited in the report, using the APA referencing
method)

Notes for the Progress Report:

1. For the Progress Report, the report content can start directly below the table of content. References also do
not need to be on own page, can follow directly after last section.
3.3. Draft Final Report
The Draft Final Submission is the third submission for your Semester Project and counts 30% towards your
project mark. The Draft Final is a group assignment. The purpose of the Draft Final Report is to give you a second
chance by grading your report and presentation as for the final submission, but giving you the feedback to
include/change/alter/correct/improve as necessary. For the Draft/Final Report, we are not concerned with the
progress and schedule anymore, as the work is to be complete by this time. Thus your draft is in essence the final
version, and thus according to your knowledge, all reading/experimenting/testing/analysis is finished.
The requirements are as follows:
1. Report Report shall be a 20 page document submitted in hard and soft copy.
2. Presentation Students shall give a 15 minute presentation.
Notes for the Draft Final Report:
1. For the Draft Final Report, the report content can start directly below the table of content. References also
do not need to be on own page, can follow directly after last section.
2. If applicable, experiments/demonstration set-up shall not be part of presentation time, group must be
finished setting up at start of presentation.
As a guideline, the Final Report should have the following content:
1. Cover Page (including all important information)
2. Table of Content
3. Introduction/Background (Explain the context of the problem and why it is important to study. What are
the limitations and the scope of this study? Briefly describe the lay-out of your assignment.)
4. Literature Review (Lead the reader to a clear understanding of the broad aims of your study. Be brief but
interesting. Similar work shows how your study fits in. Include i) a statement of your goal, ii) the
importance of the work and for whom is it important and iii) the limitations and key assumptions you
make. This is the foundation of your study)
5. Methodology (discuss your plan how you will carry out your project)
6. Results (What information/data has been collected and how it is analyzed? Describe your results and
interpret them.)
7. Discussion (Here the results are discussed in answering the problem. Criteria include whether evidence is
weak, strong or significant. In essence this is self reflection on the work undertaken.)
8. Conclusion (Give the results and discussion. Conclusions are stated regarding the problem set. Suggest
further work to strengthen the next assignment.)
9. References (This is a list of references has been used and cited in the report, using the APA referencing
method)

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3.4. Final Report

The Final Report Submission is the Fourth submission for your Semester Project and counts 40% towards your
project mark. The Final Report is a group assignment. After feedback was given for the Draft Final Report, groups
go back and update/improve their submission for the Final Report.
The requirements for report and presentation are thus essentially the same as for the Draft Submission, but
expectations of quality are much higher...

4. Project Marks Allocation

Proposal:
Progress Report:
Draft Submission:
Final Submission:

10%
20%
30%
40%

5. Report Submissions
All reports shall be submitted in two ways:
1. First, it shall be submitted as a PDF document (10% penalty if anything else) on e-Learning before 09:00
on the due day. Reports submitted late will be penalised by 1% for every minute being late (thus plan ahead
you have been warned...).
2. Secondly, it shall also be submitted as a hard copy at the start of the class session on the due date. Reports
shall be printed double sided. Note that 1 sheet of paper has two sides (front and back) and thus gives 2
pages.

6. Presentations
1. All presentation shall be in the form of a single Microsoft PowerPoint file containing all presentation
material. File to be copied to lecturer laptop for archiving purposes.
2. Presenters will be penalised if presentation time varies by 10%.

7. Report Formatting
The format specifications for all reports are APA style as per Booklet available from Library and also look at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/560/ for further advice on the style required. APA is not only
referencing, but also a writing style guide, giving specific requirements for heading style, text style, language style.
As this APA is the official style required by the Polytechnic of Namibia, MOM410 students are expected to adhere
to these requirements...
The format specifications for all reports are:
Font Type and Size
Line Spacing
Margins
Page Size
Printing
Binding Type

:
:
:
:
:
:

Times New Roman size 12

1
2.5 cm
A4 (printed double sided)
Black & White (except final report in colour)
Stapled (except final report binded professionally)

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8. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is when you intentionally or unintentionally copy parts of some elses work and present it as your own,
without giving credit to the author. It is an unethical and criminal offence, for which you can get expelled from all
tertiary institutions. To avoid making yourself guilty of plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you:
1. use another person's idea, opinion, or theory;
2. use any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings--any pieces of information--that are not common knowledge;
3. quote from another person's actual spoken or written words; or
4. paraphrase another person's spoken or written words.
The purpose of checking your reports, an online plagiarism checker will be used. You have now seen the previous
reports generated from your progress submission. The % plagiarism committed will be deducted from your report
mark, thus you have been warned. Also note that all paragraphs identified by the plagiarism checker as being
plagiarised, will not be considered any further for marking of your report. I DO NOT MARK OTHER PEOPLES
HARD WORK, ONLY YOURS!

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