The project must conform to the following specifications:
• Word-processed
• A4 paper, single-sided using a good quality printer and paper
• Font (main body of text) – Arial (12pt)
• Line spacing – one-and-a-half times
• Margins – the left margin must be 3cm, to allow for binding, and 2cm on the right. Top and bottom margins must be 2.5cm
• Pages should be numbered consecutively and referred to in the Contents page.
Title
This should be brief and an accurate description of the project – not more than one sentence.
Contents page
Sections, and sometimes sub-sections, should be given page numbers on the Contents page to help readers find their way around the text.
Abstract
This should be a short summary of the procedures, your major findings and conclusions drawn from them in approx 150-250 words. It should not contain references; the reader will look for these in the main body of the report. A good abstract should contain four basic pieces of information:
• Why the work was done (found in the introduction)
• What was done exactly (an outline description of the methods used)
• What the results were (a summary of the main results)
• What the authors concluded from these results (a summary of the discussion and conclusions)
When you use electronic searches you’ll find other styles of abstract which may be useful.
Introduction
This should contain a brief description of the aim(s) of the project, the approach and the background to the dissertation. It should set your work in an appropriate context, presenting the problem the dissertation has been designed to address.
Methods
This section should contain a concise description of method(s) used, together with sources of material. This should be written in sufficient detail so that the reader could repeat the process. It should not contain superfluous procedural details and any original methods should be described fully. Statistical methods used to analyse results should also be noted in this section.
Results
This section should include processed (summary) data in the form of graphs or tables. These figures/tables should have titles and explanatory legends so that the results they contain may be understood without reference to the text. Legends to tables appear above the table; legends to figures appear below the figure. Ensure the format of all tables and figures are consistent. Resist the temptation to present the same results in more than one form. You must, however, write brief descriptions of your results in the text. You should include some indication of how the raw data has been processed. Unprocessed original results should not be in the main text.
Discussion
In this section you should discuss and explain your results. This should be a discussion of how your results fit in with other findings and the significance of your results to your original hypothesis. In this type of project you can speculate more than would be acceptable in a published paper. You can also suggest further research which could be done if more time and resources were available or how this research could be developed.
Literature based projects
The notes above apply to projects of laboratory based and data analysis projects. Literature based projects should follow a similar format though they will not normally have a Materials and Methods section.
Like a primary research based project, a literature based project should set out to test a hypothesis. It should then use results reported in published papers to test the hypothesis. This means that, as in a primary research project, results will be reported and will be discussed. The results section to be correspondingly longer.
Your project will be marked independently by two internal markers, one being the immediate supervisor. The external examiner may moderate their agreed final mark. The project should be written in the past imperfect tense, and if you are in doubt about this style read some journals in your subject specialism for guidance. UK (not US) English spelling must be used.
Risk factors influencing teen pregnancy and the long term effects of this on educational attainment and income potential.
Brief outline of project:
SECONDARY RESEARCH
This research is to explore the risk factors contributing to teen pregnancy and the long terms effects this has on their educational attainment and income potential.
PROBLEM:
WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT:
This research will address three factors. The first is the risk of teen pregnancy, and second is the effect pregnancy has on educational attainment, in terms of time and poverty, and the third are the short and long term effects on income potential, that is, living in poverty as a result of poor educational attainment. The research will consider current policy and offer some recommendations.
A literature Review
Teenage pregnancy within UK context
