Comprehensive guidelines PGDM 09-11

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Students' Guide for Comprehensive Project

PGDM (2009-11)

Part I: GENERAL GUIDELINES

This section contains general guidelines which will guide students in framing andundertaking comprehensive project.

What Do We Mean by Comprehensive Project?

A comprehensive project is different from minor project which you are quite usedto while taking it up for each course you studied. A comprehensive project shall bein the nature of coherent, holistic and logical document of ainvestigation. The major distinction here is the requirement of the project toproduce a substantial piece of research.

A comprehensive project is seen as a sustained and systematic piece ofinvestigation that incorporates a logical line of argument, is supported byevidence which may be based upon analysis of data and contains argumentrelevant to the examination of a particular topic. A comprehensive project shall beusually divided into coherent sections or chapters that link together in a logicalmanner. Each chapter shall contribute to the advancement of the argument andwhen taken together all chapters should form an integrated whole. It should be adisciplined investigation, not a mere compilation of the work of others, or just apresentation of data in a variety of ways.

Choice of topic

It is your role to define, in broad terms, the research problem or project topic/areaand identify possible lines of investigation. Once you submit the topic andproposal for comprehensive project, the Institute will attach you with a facultydepending upon specialization in topic/area. However, we encourage you todiscuss further the topic of the comprehensive project submitted to us with thedesignated faculty guide for its further refinement.

It is part of the faculty guides role to review constructively the detailed plans, andto ensure that the student is adequately prepared to address the problem. It isalso the faculty guides job to assess constructively drafts of the project but not to

undertake proof reading. These matters of editing, proper citation and quotation,spelling, grammar and so on, are students responsibility.

Documentation and Presentation

Full documentation of the sources of quotations and ideas is essential. Failure todocument or cite adequately and fully is to ignore scholarly conventions and maymean that you may not receive full recognition for originality. Documentation

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should be used not only to provide the source of a direct quotation but also togive the source for any information, ideas or interpretation that you have usedand placed in your own words. Inconsistencies of spelling and capitalization, in theuse of quotation marks, margins, headings and page numbering, detract from thequality of the work done. The responsibility for attention to such detail restsentirely with you.

Materials. The report should be typewritten or printed on plain, white, A4 sizepaper. Normally printing should be on one side of the page only but where goodquality paper is used, printing on both sides is acceptable. Use black print. In allcircumstances the text must be legible.

Margins. A left-hand margin of approximately 3-3.5 cm allows adequate spacefor binding. The top margin of the first page and of the first page of eachsucceeding chapter/Section should be 4 cms. Other top margins, the right sideand bottom margins should be a minimum of 2.5 cm in size. If printing on bothsides is intended, a right hand margin of approx 3-3.5 cm on even page numbers

would be needed to allow space for binding.

Typing. The text material should be typed with one and a half spacingbetween the lines. Tweleve point font size is to be used in Times New Romanfonts.

Pagination. Beginning with the first page of Chapter 1/Section 1, pages areto be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Small Roman numerals shouldbe used for all preceding pages, with the exception of the title page which isunnumbered.

Proof Reading. Allow yourself adequate time to go through the manuscript wordby word, line by line and page by page, ensuring that all typographical and othererrors are removed. Examiners are going to check references and quotations tosee whether they are accurate. Some examiners can be extremely searching, sobe warned. Check these things before your original copy is duplicated.

Attachments. Attachments such as data sheet, graphs or photographs shouldeither be securely attached to the body of the project or submitted separately in astrong enclosure.

Binding. Bound copies of project may be submitted in either hard-bound or

soft-bound. Documents which are bound securely by being spiraled on their spineare also accepted.

Submission Procedure. When you are satisfied that all the necrevision has been completed and the project report is ready for submission, youshould sign a declaration that the work is original and it is ready for examination.The declaration needs to be a part of your project submission. The draft ofdeclaration is provided as Annexure. Detail information on submission can be

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found in the next Part.

PART 2: PROJECT PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Introduction

It is advisable that you gradually develop and start refining your ideas concerningyour project topic. It is important for you to create a time line for the developmentof your project research so that it is realistic and it gets over in the stipulatedtime.

Project Proposal:

You are required to submit a project proposal which carries 40% marks. Thisproject proposal serves the dual purpose of allowing you to think through what itis you want to do in detail and also allows the institute to identify a faculty guidefor you.

The project proposal has specific length and should normally be of 3 typed pages.The proposal should have the following details, page wise.

First Page*Broad Area (such as Marketing, Finance etc.):*Proposed topic:*Name of Student with signature:*Registration number:Second Page*Brief statement of problem:

*Brief account of data/information sources:Third Page*Brief account of how you are proposing to undertake the study:*Brief account of what you are expecting to find out from your study:

Final Report

There will generally be a strong relationship between the structure of the proposaland the final structure of your report. Final report carries 60% marks.

Each project report has its own structural peculiarity. Nevertheless, it would not be

totally out of place to outline a typical structure which will also serve as abuilding block for you and it will also help in setting targets.

SUBMISSION DATES:

PROJECT PROPOSAL (to the faculty guide) : April 3, 2010

FINAL REPORT SUBMISSION : (to the faculty guide ) : April 23, 2010.

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Preliminaries. The preliminaries of your report should be in the following order:

Certification

Title page

Acknowledgments

Preface (if any)

Table of contents

List of Tables

List of Figures

List of acronym (if any)

Abstract

Pagination for this section will be roman numerals.

Chapter/Section Scheme. There is no typical project structure; it is quite oftenguided by the need of the study. Nevertheless, you are typically required to takecare of the followings:

Introduction: The introduction is concerned with identifying thepurpose of study. The introductory chapter should state the nature ofthe problem or issues that you are investigating, how this fits into thecurrent investigation on this topic, how you intend to go aboutinvestigating it. It should also bring about the research questionsraised and the objectives set for your study.

Review of the Related Literature: In the report the literaturereview must be tightly organized. The purpose of the review is to fitthe particular study into a broad scheme or framework, enabling thereader to see its importance and relationship to other studies ortheories. In some works a literature review may not be confined toonly one chapter/section. Depending on the subject and structure ofthe work, it may be appropriate to refer to relevant literature inseveral chapters/sections.

Methodology: In this chapter/section you describe your researchmaterials and data sources, experimentation etc. You need to explainand justify the method within the purview of overall theoretical

framework adopted and also why these methods were seen asappropriate.

Analysis of Data/Experimentation: This may be confined to onechapter/section or spread over two/three chapters/sections. This willinclude presentation as well as analysis of data or experimentationcollected/undertaken for the study. (Data in Appendix whereverpossible)

Summary and Conclusion: This chapter/section is about what you

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know as a result of your research and what still needs to be done. Itmay include recommendations. This chapter/section may includeI.Restatement of the problem, II. Summary description of procedures(briefly stated), III. Major findings, IV. Conclusions aRecommendations for further investigation.

References. References are arranged in alphabetical order, the last name ofthe author listed first, then initials and the date of publication.

Appendices. An appendix contains supplementary material that you considernecessary to the interpretation of the text itself. The decision on what materialshould be included in the text and what material should be placed in an appendixis at the discretion of the writer. However, caution should be exercised to guardagainst the abuse of appendices, particularly against using them as a refuse foreverything that could not be squeezed into the report. Tables and data which areimportant but not essential to the understanding of the report, copies of coveringletters, printed forms and questionnaires, tests, etc. may be placed in an

appendix. Each separate entry heading is listed as APPENDIX A, APPENDIX B, etc.

Report Length

It is impossible to be specific on this. The field of investigation is the importantdetermining factor. However, the majority of students tend to produce reportswhich are too long. Length itself is not a positive quality and may make for greaterdifficulty in interpretation. Verbosity and inordinate length should be avoided.However, it is suggested that a 2 full credit point dissertation should be about4,000-5,000 words.

Final Report Submission

Care must be taken of the sequence of presentation of various components ofyour report.

Order of presentation. This includes the followings:

Certificate of originality

Title page

Acknowledgement (if any)

Preface (if any)

Table of contents List of tables (if any)

List of figures (if any)

Abstract

Introduction (if separate from chapter 1/section 1)

Chapters/Sections in sequence

Bibliography

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Appendix(ces) if anyAbstract. The report must contain an abstract, or summary, of approximately200 words. This summary is normally the first text read by the examiner. It istherefore very important in conveying an impression of the work and what hasbeen achieved, and should be given much greater share of time and thought thanits size would indicate. It should state simply and directly the objectives, what was

done and the knowledge contributed.Number of copies. Your report in the final form after binding should beprepared in two copies. One copy must be submitted to the Institute forevaluation and one copy should be retained by you.Report in Soft copy. Along with the hard copy of the Report, you are alsorequired to submit one copy in CD format.

FINAL DISSERTATION DECLARATION FORM

I hereby declare that the Project work entitled_______________________________

_________________________________________________(write the title in Block Letters)

submitted by me for the partial fulfillment of the Post Graduate Diploma in

Management Program/PGDM-RM/PGDM-IB/PGDM-FS to Institute for

Integrated Learning in Management, Greater Noida is my own original work

and has not been submitted earlier either to IILM GSM or to any other Institution

for the fulfillment of the requirement for any course of study. I also declare that

no chapter of this manuscript in whole or in part is lifted and incorporated in this

report from any earlier / other work done by me or others.

Place :

Date : Signature6


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Name of Student : _____________________________

Address : _____________________________

______________________________________

______________________________________

PRESCRIBED COVER PAGE DESIGN

.... TITLE ....

..

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the

two year full-time Post Graduate Diploma in Management Programme

PGDM/PGDM-RM/PGDM-IB/PGDM-FS

Submitted by

.

Roll No:Batch : 2009-2011

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Institute for Integrated Learning in ManagementGraduate School of Management

16, Knowledge Park-IIGreater Noida 201 306

Month & Year

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