SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL & MANUFACTURING

ENGINEERING

DEVELOPMENT OF A HIT 200 PROJECT PROPOSAL

By

Student N. Surname
H0188888A

A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for

HIT 200 Team Project

Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering

Harare Institute of Technology
01 October 8888
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Declaration
We, (Insert your group member names), hereby do declare that this work has not been
previously accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in
candidature for any degree or course.

Students Signature .. Date ..

(Group Lead)
Students Signature .. Date ..

Students Signature .. Date ..

Students Signature .. Date ..

Students Signature .. Date ..

Proposed Supervisors Signature...Date

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 ABSTRACT

This template paper aims to serve as a guidance tool for the development of a HIT 200 proposal.
The first sentence of an abstract should communicate the aim or purpose of the design project.
The following two to three sentences should communicate the problem and the problem
background. Next should follow a brief sentence communicating the research methods to be
used for the research. The sentence, after research methods communicated, should then
communicate the expected results and target market for the project. Note the tense used should
be future tense and the length of the abstract should be between 150 to 250 words only.
Remember an abstract really is a short paragraph giving a summary of the whole project. After
the abstract is written, insert key technology words mentioned in the abstract that should catch
the eye of the reader.

Key words: development, purpose, research methods, target market

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 CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

This should be a short paragraph giving an overview of the topical area/field of the design and
briefly introduce the areas the proposal is going to cover. It should not exceed half a page and
can be a minimum of three to four sentences. Note the document style of the whole proposal
should be font type - Times New Roman, font size is recommended to size 12. Lining spacing
should be set to 1.5, with spacing before and after set to 0 pt. Text is required to be justified,
with only chapter headings and title page centred. Page margins should be 1 inch all round and
it is recommended your proposal document be a minimum of 6 pages and a maximum of 12.
Do not forget to number your pages at the bottom and centre your number.

1.1 Background to the problem

This section should hold a background of the designers problem. Do not be general in the
information the group puts here. The information presented should be a specific problem that
was identified by the group members, detailing where the scenario or problem was observed,
what is currently happen and the issues that appear to be arising from the problem. Support
some of the information with citations from articles read or journals read or interviews
conducted by the group. This section, again, should not exceed a page and should be a
minimum of half a page.

1.2 Problem statement

This should be ONE sentence only (NOT A PARAGRAPH), that clearly communicates the
problem in summary.

1.3 Aim
To develop a project proposal guide for use by HIT 200 students.
N. B. the aim is one sentence that starts with the word To and communicates the expected
output and target market. There is only ONE aim.

1.4 Objectives
To develop an abstract guide and explanation for abstracts of length 150 to 250 words
To develop a representation of how the proposal will look like
To design a methodology to guide the proposal development proposal

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N. B. Objectives are points that each start with the word To and should not be more than
five and can be a minimum of three. Objectives are a breakdown of the aim and should be
specific and achievable. For example, assuming an aim:
To design a solar powered air conditioner for pharmaceutical labs in Zimbabwe.
Possible objectives can be:
To design a control system to maintain room temperature levels between 18oC to 22oC.
To develop a solar photovoltaic powering unit to supply 100W to 500W
To develop a ventilation system to achieve a coefficient of performance between 0.4 and
0.8

1.5 Justification
This section should communicate why the project is important to do and why it is worth
pursuing. The designers should mention who would benefit from the research being under
taken and how they will benefit. Mention should be made on how the research fits within in
the Zimasset agenda or national policy and Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) mandate. For
example, using the example cited in section 1.4, it can be said that the project contributes to
the Infrastructure development strand of the Zimasset agenda and answers to the HIT mandate
on technology transfer and could assistant in aiding quality of the medications developed within
pharmaceutical labs. Note, the Zimasset blueprint has a number of strands, so a group should
see where the project fits in. If the group cannot see a relation to Zimasset, the group is not
required to mention Zimasset, instead the group can look at other policies such as the National
10 point plan or the Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations. This section should be
at least half a page to a maximum of three quarters of a page in length.

1.6 Scope
This section gives the main focus of the research. This section should communicate the main
area of research and development, geographical region of implementation and immediate target
market for the development. Mention should be made also of areas the group will not look at
developing in their design. The section can be four to five sentences.

1.7 Research questions

1. What is literature review and how is it developed?
2. How do objectives relate to research questions?

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N. B. This section should be questions the group will investigate to generate a literature review
on. The number of questions should not exceed 10 and should be a minimum of 5. Questions
normally can be generated from asking questions that give the group starting points to answer
the objectives stated. So, again, using the example cited in section 1.4, a group could pose
questions as follows:
1. What types of microcontrollers can be used in the control system?
2. What is the ideal temperature for a pharmaceutical lab?
3. How best can solar PV cells/ panels be applied to get the best power rating?
4. What are the shortcomings of current air conditioning units?
5. What type of ventilation/ refrigeration system is optimal for pharmaceutical application?

1.8 Methodology
This section should speak of the research methods to be used and tools/software to be used in
the research. This section should also hold a Gantt chart and an estimated cost of the project
(i.e. the cost range of the project, the group members hope to maintain for their prototype
development and document printing, binding etc.). Examples of research methods include
interviews, questionnaires, literature surveys, circuit modelling, simulations, experiments,
prototyping etc. (there are many more). Note, all projects CANNOT have the same research
methods, a group should choose research methods they think they will actually use and which
are vital to their project. This section should be as brief as possible. See Figure 1.1 for the
Departmental Gantt chart, each group needs to generate their own personalised Gantt chart that
factors in the timeline of the Departmental Gantt chart.

Fig. 1.1 Departmental Gantt chart

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1.9 Literature reviewed
According to Sorrano (2011), literature review is a way of synthesizing and analysing the
designers understanding of a topic. It is a useful way to use up to date (e.g. articles and journals
written between 2006 and 2016 or 2001 and 2016) to state knowledge and work done on an
area of research. Otter (2010) supports what is mentioned by Sorrano and goes on to purport
that literature reviews should be relevant to the research design and bring out clearly the
worthiness of pursuing the concepts developed to answer the problem identified, for example
revealing advantages and disadvantages of available technologies.

1.9.1 What literature review should be

Literature review is not a summary or a copy and paste of every article a group reads, but
instead is an investigation and analysis of existing knowledge and reasoning that convinces the
reader the information is worth knowing and adds to the body of knowledge of understanding
how the design is developed. (Rowland, 2006)

N. B. This section should be a minimum of 3 pages and a maximum of 5 pages in length. Use
headings to separate different sections of your literature review, as shown in the paragraphs
above. Each paragraph should have a citation, follow the format shown in the paragraphs
above i.e. Otter (2010) if the cite is beginning the sentence or (Rowland, 2006) if the cite comes
at the end of the paragraph. Groups are encouraged to follow both forms of citation.
Remember, it is (Surname, Year) or (Companyname, Year) or (Websitename, Year).
1.10 Expected results
This section the group can detail out the expected outcomes of their design in terms of cost,
safety, usability, functionality and desirability.

1.11 Conclusion
This section should be a brief conclusion of the document, no more than four lines just stating
what the proposal document covered.

Further information:
For this write up, there are a few more pointers to be given:
1. Note all sections in red are to be deleted from the template when the groups start filling in
their actual information.

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2. Figures (pictures) should be used only in circumstances where a great deal of information is
given more easily in picture format than written text. All figures should be labelled according
to the section/ chapter and position it is appearing in (See section 1.8, label reads Fig. 1.1.
Departmental Gantt chart, meaning the figure is in chapter 1 and is the first figure to appear. A
second figure would be Fig. 1.2) All figure labels / captions should be placed below the figure
or diagram.

An example:

Fig 2.3 Solar panel (source: Energy Saving Trust, 2011)

The figure labelling communicates that it is in chapter 2, it is the third graphic and was sourced
in 2011 from the website cited.

3. Tables should be labelled according to the section/ chapter and position it is appearing in.
All table labels / captions should be placed above the table.

An example:
Table 3.1 Demographic data
Frequency Percentage (%)
Male 28 62.22
Female 17 37.78
Total participants 45 100%

The table caption communicates that the table is in chapter 3 and is the first graphic.

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References
1. Sorrano P. Dr. (2011) Literature Review Paper, Limnology, Michigan State University,
Michigan, Pg. 1-5
2. Otter S. (2010) Research Skills, Version 1, University of Leicester, United Kingdom, Pg. 1
26
3. Rowland D. R.(2006), Reviewing the Literature: A Short Guide for Research Students, The
Learning Hub, University of Queensland, Pg. 1 - 20

N. B. It is advised to note full bibliographical details of all sources used in compiling the
proposal. References should then be listed in order of appearance in text at the end of the
document, using Harvard-style referencing. If the reference is a website:
1. Energy Saving Trust, http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/renewable-
energy/electricity/solar-panels , Solar Panels, Date accessed: 12 August 2017, Date
modified: May 2011

All the best!