SciTech School of Advanced Learners

Cover page The cover page should contain the name/title of the project, name of the client or the organization, the organization which prepared prepared the report, the date of publication and other relevant information. Executive Summary The executive summary is a brief description of the content of the report. It summarizes the report, so that the readers can quickly grab the idea what the report is about without having to read it completely. This should contain all the aspects covered in the report. The executive summary is similar to the abstract of a research publication. An example is given below,  Example The project of constructing a flyover for the A19 road was initiated by the Road Development Authority of Sri Lanka. The outcomes of the project are, a bypass road connecting A19 & A6 roads and a flyover above the Polgahawela railway station. Presently, the level crossing area overlaps with the shunting area of the Polgahawela railway station. Hence, the rail gate...

Literature Review Studying the previous research work is a vital step in a research. The researcher must understand about the present status of the research area in order to move forward and discover new knowledge. In the previous articles, the initial steps such as background study, problem statement, aim and objectives were discussed. These steps lay the foundation for the research so that the way forward is reasonably clear. After the first stage, the research should advance to the second stage, which is the literature review (also known as the literature survey). This is the fifth step of the flowchart presented in the first article .  The purpose of conducting a review of literature is to search and evaluate the present knowledge. Here, the idea is not to develop any new arguments or theories, but to summarize what others have done without changing the original idea/findings. A properly conducted literature review will show the progress of the considered research area, means h...

Planning a research prior to the commencement of any research related work is considered a good case practice in the academia. This is especially recommended for the students who are conducting a research for the first time (e.g.: undergraduates). Setting up an action plan along with a timeline helps the student to conclude the research in time without any delay. It also makes sure that the study is going on according to the plan without any lags during the study period.  After selecting a research topic while understanding the background, the researchers can come up with a suitable timeline for their study. Some of the tasks such as setting objectives, literature review, etc. are mandatory for any research. However, some tasks such as data collection or data analysis can be unique to the research. In such cases, the research team should be able to clearly identify the specific tasks and arrange them according to the order of occurrence. It is highly recommended that the student...

Planning and designing a civil engineering project is a complex task which requires expert knowledge and strategic decision making skills. Engineering judgement plays a key role throughout the entire designing process. It is important to understand the level of responsibility the design engineers hold and the risks associated with executing these challenging engineering tasks. Proper investigations, analyses and planning works must be accomplished prior to initiating the construction phase. Most of the undergraduate courses in civil engineering has a design component where the students are required to present a holistic design to real world scenario. This series of articles discusses the process of designing a civil engineering project. All the major activities carried out in the 'planning and designing' stage are explained in a detailed manner.  The design process can be elaborated in ten steps; each step having one or more clear outcomes. In this article, the first thre...