The written report is a reflection of your project findings. It is the core of your capstone project as it shows your understanding of the project theme. The written report accounts for a significant portion of the total mark in this course. Some general guidelines for writing such a report are given as follows:

Theme

You have to state clearly your project theme to the readers by indicating what are the issues you are investigating in the project. The objectives, background, methods, results and findings, and also the conclusion of your investigation should be included in the report.

Background

Every issue has its background. The sources you use in your investigation should be reliable (such sources may include international journals, official statistics, etc.) to construct your investigation background. This provides a basis for interpretation of your recommended solution.

Recommended Solution

Based on the background information provided, you will propose a solution, which involves the utilization of chemistry, to the problems identified, and explain clearly the mechanism involved. Again your recommendation needs to be supported by reliable sources. You have to persuade the readers that the solution provided is sound and practical.

Discussion

You may discuss issues related to your investigation such as the effectiveness of your proposed solution, any limitations of it, the practical difficulties in carrying the solution out, and some possible future development directions, etc. An all-round analysis can provide the readers with more angles in viewing your investigation.

Conclusion

At the end of your report, you have to summarize and conclude your project findings in detail.

References

A reference list has to be included. Such a list includes all the references you have cited in the text of your project. Please refer to the “Importance of referencing” for more information.

After the poster part and submission of the project report, students will give an oral presentation in front of a panel of teachers to present their investigation outcomes. There will be a question-and-answer (Q&A) session after the student presentation. More details are given in the following:

Presentation

This is a group presentation. Each group will be allocated a time slot to present the project findings in the class. Members of the same group will give a presentation on the part they are responsible for. You may use PowerPoint to assist your presentation. All presentations will be 15 minutes long.

Q&A session

At the end of each presentation session, students will answer questions regarding their written report, poster and oral presentation raised by the panel of teachers. Questions from students of other groups or students in the University are also welcomed. This session will be 5-10 minutes long.

PowerPoint file

You will submit the presentation file to the course coordinator within 3 days after the oral presentation for assessment record.

The oral presentation mark accounts for a significant portion of total course mark. Each student will be evaluated individually for their performance in the presentation and Q&A session. Please note that your presentation performance will also be a part of peer evaluation by students in other groups. Further announcement regarding the time and venue of the presentation will be made through the HKU Portal email system or this website in due course.

Each group has to prepare a poster to illustrate the project theme chosen and summarize the project findings. The poster will be displayed in an open area (e.g. lobby of chemistry department), and if possible, public area outside the campus (e.g. Science News Corner at the Hong Kong Science Museum). Some general guidelines for you to develop the poster are given as follows:

Size & Orientation

The size of the poster should be no larger than 90 cm × 120 cm. The orientation can be portrait or landscape. Make sure you utilize the space effectively.

Content

The poster is a visual abstract of your project findings. Given the space constraint, you should present your ideas in a clear and concise way. Try to keep each section brief but make sure the core ideas of your investigation are adequately and clearly presented in the poster.

Design

You can design your poster using software like PowerPoint or Photoshop. Make sure your design fits in the printing settings so as to minimize the difference between the original design and final printed product. While the poster content is important, please do not make it too compact with too small fonts and tight spacing.

Reference

A reference list has to be included. Such a list includes all the references you have cited in the text of your project. Please refer to the “Importance of referencing” for more information.

Students of the same group will receive a common mark for their poster. Please note that your poster will be a part of peer evaluation by students in other groups.

The peer evaluation consists of 2 parts: inter-group and intra-group evaluation. Students have to fill in a questionnaire to evaluate their peers’ performance.

Inter-group evaluation

This is to evaluate the performance of students in other groups. You may take their works on poster and oral presentation as a reference for evaluation. Individual marks should be given to each student in other groups.

Intra-group evaluation

Students also have to evaluate their own groupmates’ participation in the group. You may take account of their communication skills, time management, fulfillment of assigned responsibilities and etc. for the evaluation. Again separate marks should be given to each group member.

The peer evaluation questionnaire will be available on the day of presentation. Students need to hand in the completed questionnaires by the end of the presentation.

Students’ participation will be evaluated throughout the course. 

The preparation work for course meetings, for example, will be one of the references. 

Please refer to the “Course Meetings” part for further information. This part contributes to 5-10% of the final course grade.

In the project, you may need to use diagrams, statistics or information from different sources to illustrate and support your ideas of investigation. For academic writing, when you reproduce graphs, tables, pictures or other unoriginal works, they must be adequately numbered and referenced. If the referencing work is not properly done, you may be regarded as committing plagiarism**.

Referencing Style

For referencing style and rules, you may refer to the academic writing course held by the Centre for Applied English Studies (CAES) you have taken in junior year.

Reference List

You should include a reference list at the end of the report and the poster. Make sure you include in the list only the source materials you have used in your presented work.

Please bear in mind that this is a capstone project and you are expected to demonstrate your ability in critical evaluation of information drawn from a range of high quality sources, integration of a wide range of appropriate theories, principles, data and methods, adequate quoting references used in your presented work, and presentation of ideas in a clear, logical and coherent way. Remember to review and check your work carefully to ensure all cited sessions being properly referenced.

** Please read the details of plagiarism at the following hku website:
http://www.hku.hk/plagiarism/