Technology specialisations compendium autumn 2013 1

Technology

Specialisation 1, 2 & 3

Compendium Torben Tambo, Hans Henrik Hansen, September 2013

Abstract: Within the Master of Science in Technology-based Business Development study program,

Technology Specialisations are the recurring technological stronghold. The Technology Specialisations

should hold the students focus on the technological platform of this program and ideally constitute a

continuous and progressive move forward inspired by the spirit of engineering. This compendium gives

broad information and guidelines on many aspects of the Technology Specialisation project courses relating

to aim, method, mentor company roles, individual versus group performance, scientific motivation and

many other issues. The content is subject to change and ongoing revision, and detailed information can be

provided by the mentioned contact persons – supervisors, secretariate, and Programme Coordinator.

The Gedser Wind

Turbine 1957 – 1967.

Considered as the

”mother” of modern

wind energy.

Technology Specialisation Compendium Autumn 2013 2

Indholdsfortegnelse Technology Specialisations ................................................................................................................................ 3

The fundamental idea of TS ........................................................................................................................... 3

Technology Specialisation 1 (TS1) ..................................................................................................................... 4



Report ................................................................................................................................................................ 7

The regular schedule of TS ................................................................................................................................ 8

Problem statement and progress seminar ........................................................................................................ 9

The role of the supervisor ............................................................................................................................... 10

Plagiarism ........................................................................................................................................................ 11

Groups and list of responsibility ...................................................................................................................... 12

Mentor company ............................................................................................................................................. 13

Scientific methods ........................................................................................................................................... 14

Mentor company - alternative cooperation .................................................................................................... 15

Relating Technology Specialisations ................................................................................................................ 16

Examination ..................................................................................................................................................... 17

Examples of TS ................................................................................................................................................. 18

Novelty ............................................................................................................................................................ 19

Cost and expenses ........................................................................................................................................... 20

How to fail? Checking if you report meets the minimum requirements ........................................................ 21

Harvard Referencing System ........................................................................................................................... 22

Elements of a Harvard-style reference ........................................................................................................ 22


Technology Specialisations

Technology Specialisations - or TS for short - forms the recurring technological element for the Master of

Science in Technology-Based Business Development from the first to the third semester. TS is mostly

organised as project-oriented courses with offset in actual technological issues of the students mentor-

company.

A project course is a course organised under the project workstyle, where 140 hours (at 5 ECTS points) are

allocated from the initial steps until the hand in of the final report after approximately 4 months.

The fundamental idea of TS The three TS’s can have many faces and phases. Generally they must show progression. You should show

from TS to TS that you develop a scientific and professional proficiency, “get clever”.

The ideal case is when a company offers an 18 months stepwise problem statement that can be converted

to these steps

TS1: A screening (search, filtering, actor identification, fact finding mission) project, where you try to collect

knowledge within the field and couple this to actual issues in the company.

TS2: This should be mostly experimental or with a substantial element of experimental work, but still with a

report documenting your work and findings. ‘Experimental’ means to do “hands on”, laboratory work,

making, constructing, classical scientific observations and measurements. Within the IT field, this can be

accomplished by making some (workable) software-based system. Within innovation, this can be done by

conducting focused workshops, making and testing actual products or services.

TS3: This should be a continuation of TS2 with an implementation scope.

But others cases of TS could also have relevance and provide critical contributions to your education. There

could be an idea about understanding corporate technologies: Technologies from different fields that

constitute the joint technological base of a certain company. E.g. the wind power industry is the meeting

point of technologies like welding, fluid mechanics, surface treatment, control systems, electricity supply,

logistics.

The TS can also be detached from a mentor-company relation, e.g. if you don’t have a mentor-company, or

if you can not establish a sufficient technological topic within the company. This is not changing the

requirements for screening, experimentation and implementation (respectively).


Technology Specialisation 1 (TS1)

TS1: A screening (search, filtering, actor identification, fact finding mission) project, where you try to collect

knowledge within the field and couple this to actual issues in the company.

Fundamental to screening is the ability to select a technological solution among a systematically selected

number of options.

Traditionally this has been to find a number of competing products or technologies and then select or

recommend the most suited.

It might also be to have one basic technology and then asses a number of areas for application.

It can also be to find different approaches and select among them for developing a certain technology.

The basic idea is the find the problem area and work toward a solution by applying a systematic series of

actions to go from a problem definition to a multitude of solutions and subsequently narrow down to a

single solution. This should be understood broadly.

TS1 can as such not be the work with a technology where on all options are limited to one upfront.



TS2 is based on experimental approaches. This means that the student must work with actual technologies.

A desired state should be concretized in an experiment. Experiments have normally been physical, but can

for students with interests in IT and simulation also be virtual, e.g. a flowmodel or a piece of software.

Experiments can take many forms and shapes, e.g.

Physical

- “Wet” laboratory experiments

- Field studies

- Interaction design

- Physical product development – prototyping

Virtual

- Solid mechanics simulation and stress models

- Fluid mechanics simulation

- System simulation of e.g. power grids, supply chains

- Software and IT infrastructure

In the past TS2 has been done as e.g.

- Linking quality management in wind turbine to software solutions

- Testbed for photovoltaic elements

- Fermentation of salad under different conditions for alternative fish feeds

- Testing of repeater technologies in wireless smart grid monitors

- Testing of medicine on cell cultures

- Optimising materials flow at wind turbine construction sites

The TS2 will be evaluated with the Danish 7-mark grading scale.



The course can be carried out in four variants:

1. It extends previous laboratory work, making supplementary in-depth experiments and/or testing equipment and prototypes with future users. These abilities are central for further work in the industry where tasks in the future require the ability to learn new technological knowledge fast and in-depth.

2. It involves carrying out experimental work within the framework of a course at the foreign university. The course should be preapproved by the Programme Coordinator.

3. It involves carrying out an in-depth desk study on existing material of a chosen technology. This model accommodates students being either abroad or domestic without options of following given courses.

4. Implementation studies of technology included in Technology Specialization I and II. Implementation is to be seen broadly as the conversion or progression from experiment to operations, e.g.

manufacturing

further development

product maturing

maintenance

embedding into a system

related to actual / physical / virtual use

inclusion of new issues

reflection on wider perspectives in its use

operational observations

refinement of virtual models

innovation acceleration


Report The technology specialisation is documented in English in a report. A report from a technology specialisation project consists of the following parts:

1. Abstract (optional) 2. Introduction to the subject and a clear, workable problem statement 3. Methods of data acquisition and optional planning of experiment 4. Theory of the technology with sufficient literature search. 5. Empirical works and experimental results 6. Discussion relating theory and empirical results to the problem statement 7. Summary, conclusion and suggestions for further work 8. Literature references.

Abstract (optional but recommendable) The abstract could take the form of an executive summary of 1-2 pages encompassing:

1. Motivation for and account of the project idea and its main problem 2. Summing up of the main theories and the theoretical framework or model 3. The method applied 4. Summing up of the most important results 5. Possible perspectives, future work (TS2 and 3)

The report body The text and argument developed should be well-proportioned. This means that problem statement, theory, method, empirical data, analysis and conclusions should respond to each other in size and content. It should represent a well-developed and balanced argument, and discuss credibility of sources. Results/recommendations The report should lead to a clear recommendation for deciding upon the researched techniques, preferring one technique over the others on a systematic argument. It should bring something innovative to the company. Discussion The discussion is important to show a critical and well reflected position of the student to the topic of choice. Conclusion and suggestions for further work

The final section of the report should encompass reflection about what the next technology specialisation

should contain and how it would continue and build on the results through TS2 and TS3.


The regular schedule of TS

TS will normally consist of the following steps

Approximate timeline

Critical steps Outcome

Week 1 Allocation of supervisor Relationship

Establishing relationships with a mentor company Relationship

Initial supervisor meeting Initial problem formulation

Week 4 Hand in of problem statement in close collaboration with supervisor

Guidelines for the project

Second supervisor meeting activity preferably at the company premises

Deepened understanding

Week 7 Hand in of presentation for progress seminar A presentation for general commenting

Week 8 Progress seminar Fellow student and supervisor feedback

Third supervisor meeting activity Inclusion of remarks from seminar

Week 17 Supervisors recommendation of student to attend examination

Ready for exam

Week 19 Hand in of report Evaluation process Making of a presentation

Week 21 Examination 10 minutes students presentation of the subject 10 minutes discussion between supervisor, examiner and student 5 minutes evaluation

Pass / not pass

For students with finalised mentor company agreements, at least one meeting during the semester is

preferably done at the mentor company’s premises.


Problem statement and progress seminar After approximately 1 month the student should hand in Problem Statement by e-mail to the secretariat. This is to secure progress and direction of the project within the relatively limited timeframe available. The Problem Statement is basically a working document between supervisor and student potentially also the mentor company. The Problem Statement would typically be around 10 lines of text stating project scope, method chosen, relationships and partners, technological foundation, delimitation and potential outcome. The Problem Statement should preferably be enclosed in the annex of the final report. For the progress seminar, the student must hand in a presentation. The presentation could be Powerpoint, PDF or others. It should be approximately 5 slides describing the project at its current stage elaborating from the Problem Statement on chosen theory, empirical work, analytical considerations, etc. At the progress seminar, the students are provided with sparring by other supervisors and his/her fellow students. For that reason it is recommendable, that the presentation ends up with questions to the audience. Recommendable is also that you appoint an opponent among the fellow students, and furthermore a fellow students to take notes while you are presenting and participating in the discussion. Dates for the progress seminar are posted on the Blackboard and in the calendar system. A more precise schedule for the progress seminar will be provided in due time.

Deadline for handing in the presentation is 7 days before the first progress seminar date. Submission info

will be posted during the semester.

Appendix 1 in your report is suggested to be a one page summary of the progress seminar

- What did other students contribute with to your presentation

- What did you realize from the day

- What did you contribute with to other students


The role of the supervisor

You can have a supervisor allocated for your TS. The supervisor will be one of the lecturers at AU Herning, a

part time lecturer probably with industry experience, or it can be a technological specialist from another

university.

The supervisor is ... a supervisor. What the supervisor can

- Advice in streamlining the problem statement

- Question the exactness of the scope

- Give input to identify sources

- Guide you to experts

- Look if your arguments are consistent and your report has a reasonable flow and layout

- Ask you to go in a certain direction

- Advice, ideas

- Give hints on your company cooperation

- Exercise critique on your choices

What the supervisor can not

- Write your report

- Do extensive literature surveys

- Win a long discussion, where you insist

to go in the wrong direction

- Do your experiments

- Guarantee that you pass

- Share the destiny with you

Some supervisors are experts within the chosen field. Some are technological generalists with broader

insights. Some supervisors must act mainly on conducting your process and not act out of a specific

knowledge. Both profiles can be very helpful.

Proposal for supervisor meetings

- You issue an agenda 2 – 3 workdays before

- You makes minutes of the meeting possibly using voice recorder

- Send the minutes to the supervisor for reference, not for correcting

- Send full, written material to the supervisor electronically some days before the meeting

- Make questions to the supervisor brief to help also making short answers

Upon previous agreement supervising can be done as physical meetings, Skype or similar online meetings,

email. Phone can occasionally be used, but don’t count on it. All interaction during the semester should be

with the supervisor or the secretariat. Complaints, concerns, ideas and pains must be sent through the

secretariat for assessment at the Programme Coordinator.

It is the student’s responsibility to maintain contact to the supervisor. Lack of active contact maintenance

might make it difficult to pass your exam.


Plagiarism

Plagiarism is unethical and will be met with strong sanctions. We have to report any

suspicion to an office in Aarhus who will then investigate further and decide upon

eventual sanctions. Sanctions can be from a written warning, annulment of the

exam, annulment of the whole semester, or expulsion.

Plagiarism is when longer or important parts of a report are taken from somewhere

else without referencing.

We have seen a number of “borderline” plagiarism cases – all equally unacceptable

- Popular sources (Wikipedia, etc.) are copied directly into the report as claimed “common

knowledge” – some have even translated directly from popular sources

- Over-quoting, more than 100 words from one source

- Over-lapping, more than 10% of a report taken from other sources

- Under-referencing: All use of external sources must be referenced

- Net scraping: Construct a report from numerous sources on the net without your interpretation

- Use of unreferenced sources not available to the supervisor

- Mechanistic rephrasing: It is not enough just to change some words in an external source to make it

yours. It should be your words!

- Essay harvesting: Parts of report constructed on randomly found similar student reports on the

Internet – leaving out independent work

- Translations: Parts of reports translated from sources in other languages.

A report must display an independent and verifiable work out of personal integrity and professionalism.

And be reasonable:

- Necessary quotes must be included.

- Empirical material is to be included as appendix or described through your methods section.

- Ohms law has already been invented, and feel free to quote.

In doubt: Ask your supervisor or let the supervisor ask the Programme Coordinator. In serious doubt: get a

written statement approving the method from the supervisor.


Groups and list of responsibility

TS can be done individually or in groups of 2 or 3. Time for supervisors, progress seminar and examination

will be extended to reflect this. According to Danish regulations on examination, each students work

contributions must be clearly identifiable and each contribution must be identifiable (list of responsibility)

and itself forming a basis for passing. This can be secured by organising the group’s work carefully and

clearly stating each group member’s contribution in e.g. the list of contents of the final report. Example

Each student is required to show his participation longitudinally in the report. I.e., each student should

contribute to the method, the theory, the empirical section, and the discussions. Introduction and

conclusion might be collectively made.

Reports based on the work of a group can also be fully individual, but take offset on joint pools of

knowledge, like larger experiments done by the group members. This must be clearly stated in the

‘Methods’ section.

Absence of clear identification of each student’s central contributions will always lead to a “no pass”.

Report table of contents (sample!)

1. Introduction (jointly)

2. Theory

a. Innovative products (John)

b. Surface treatment (Paul)

c. Mechanical processes (Georgina)

3. Method (jointly)

4. Case

a. New product properties (Paul)

b. Manufacturing (Georgina)

c. Quality control (John)

5. Discussion

a. Proposal for new technology (Georgina)

b. Identifying optimal process windows (John)

c. Match to similar technologies (Paul)

6. Conclusions (jointly)


Mentor company

We strongly encourage all students to have a mentor company and pursue projects together with the

mentor company. Ideally you should be working alongside colleagues and regard the mentor company as

“regular” employer, but you should of course also spend time on classes and your projects. The projects

should take their offset in real problems and cases in the company.

In the mentor company you should at the best also do your Company Projects (CP). Ideally you should be

able to link CP and TS, like

- Technological implications of the introduction of X-technology into the product portfolio of

company Y

- Business implications of the of the introduction of X-technology into the product portfolio of

company Y

But this is an ideal picture, as many companies seek to make some separation between technology and

business. Here you have the chance of introducing the dual thinking.

A part of a mentorship is to experience the atmosphere and character of relationships within a company.

Mostly you will be regarded as a kind of guest or a ‘junior’. It might be your first professional assignment,

and it is critical to your future career to get the best out of it. The presentation of TS assignments might

contain ‘traps’ that you need to manage yourself:

- Assignments are incomplete

- Assignments are made of courtesy to you, and do not contain real business issues

- Resources, particularly for interviews and experiments, are unavailable or delayed.

- The company is unable to provide good links between TS1 – TS2 – TS3

In all of this, the company is the critical part, and the student and the university must adopt a pragmatic

way of working together.


Scientific methods

TS must be based on scientific sources. Popular sources like Wikipedia, howstuffworks, etc are no-go’s and

will make it very difficult to pass exam.

Main theoretical sources can be

- Textbooks from the study program, from other study programs or found on the global book

market. Always check sites like amazon.co.uk.

- Scientific articles from scientific journals. Never less than 5, if they are good.

- Industrial standards, norms and documented practices, e.g. ISO, DIN, DS or various publications of

various industrial consortiums like W3C (web), WHO (health), IEEE (electrical/software)

A source can also be an expert. An expert can be an advocating expert, deeply engaged but maybe also

biased. An expert can also a (more) neutral expert more like the outside observer.

Examples of advocating experts

- Supplier knowledge engineers

- Consultants

- Customers

- Some university researchers

Examples of (more) neutral experts

- Technology writers or journalists

- Governmental specialists and advisers

- Regulatory officers

- Other university researchers

Scientific methods include the ability to follow and prove an argument putting in a wider search for

objectivity and leaving subjectivity in the background. Systematics on knowledge gathering should be

applied. Problem identification and problem description is weighted higher – not above – problem solving.

The library plays a significant role. Make sure you make appropriate access to the most important search

engines. Google is good, but only make limited search within scientific articles. ScienceDirect must be

regarded as a major referential source, but can also not stand alone.


Mentor company - alternative cooperation

If you don’t have difficulties in finalising agreements with a mentor company, see that you get one. But if it

is not the case, or the mentor company relations are more business-oriented than technology-oriented

alternatives could be:

1. Obtain an informal relation with a company, that at least can provide a good case for a TS. Perhaps

also technical specifications, interviews, supplier / market / customer information. Be sure that the

informal perspective is commonly agreed, so the company do not back out of the engagement.

2. Find a case in the newspapers, professional magazines or the news relating to an actual company

or industry. Qualify yourself out of screening process within the field. Consider using obtained

knowledge to approach companies or industry associations in a competent manner, e.g. to make an

interview or gather more in-depth data from indirect sources.

3. Find a selected, scientifically relevant and business related subject but conduct a purely theoretical

and laboratory/experimental project within this field. Input could be textbooks, scientific and

professional journals and magazines, publicly available sources like datasheets, product

specifications, technical standards, etc.

4. Some supervisors do conduct research projects alongside the supervising activities. Most of these

research projects are occasionally spinning off requirements of various supportive efforts. A TS

project can be conducted as a side activity to research and provide interesting challenges.

TS substitution

After written application some courses on Master-of-Science level can be transferred as TS1, TS2 and TS3.

Currently we do not have a lot of experience with this, and we will be hesitant to approve such transfers.

This is while the TS not only provide a technical project within the study program, it also provide the

pedagogical experience leading up to the Master Thesis project. If you reach this point and haven’t worked

a lot “our way”, you might see yourself in a weaker position. So, TS is about exercising the “TS spirit” both

on sense of the technological studies, but also in the path of your personal armament and professional

development up to the Thesis.

In looking for a substitution as a course in another university, the basic requirement is still a strong

technological content and a project element. Obviously such a course should be on a Master-level. An

intermediary solution can be to participate in some course, but still write a – shorter – report, where the

topic is discussed in a relevant scientific perspective probably including a number of scientific articles.


Relating Technology Specialisations

During the Master Program in Technology-Based Business Development it is expected that the student

increasingly and progressively develops skills within understanding and promoting the dual view of business

and technology. TS play an important role within this in order to secure a continuous grasp of concrete

technologies.

The theoretical courses are to promote a scientific platform for the progression of TS. But the findings

within TS are also to enact studies of technology within business from the Master of Science perspective.

The course Methods and Approaches should provide deeper scientific profoundness of your work on actual

company related problems.

The course Management of Technology should set the scene for the broader comprehension of the

technological context of the company within e.g. technology roadmaps, external technology drivers,

technology portfolio management and many other subjects.

The Company Projects are to be done in parallel with the TS’. Ideally they support each other, as said

above. Going hand-in-hand is in some cases not possible. Here you should find the best possible relations

within the company to support your project. If you can not accomplish this, then refer to ‘No mentor

company’ to find alternative strategies in obtain relevant projects.

In exercising your professional skills within TS you should always consider, that you are B.Sc.’s with the

insight and tools it gives you. So you never start from zero.


Examination

To be eligible for examination you must perform on the gates set up in the semester schedule finalising

with the hand in of your report. The report will be reviewed by the supervisor and an internal examiner. At

the examination you will have 10 minutes scheduled for your presentation. Here you can use

- Spoken word

- Electronic presentation (most does)

- Posters

- Physical items, demo’s

- Blackboard/whiteboard

- Multimedia – take care that it actually works!!

Afterwards there is 10 minutes for discussion of the subject. The more you can justify your proficiency in

the subject, the surer you are to pass, but structure and series of argumentation in your report is also

critical. Don´t include findings in your presentation not presented in your report, but feel free to elaborate

on your written findings.

The evaluation will always reflect a combined view on the report and the presentation.

Criteria for excellent performance Compliance to the above examination form. For a maximum performance, the student is furthermore evaluated on: - Ability to create a strong link between the subject of choice and the scientific method and choice and

critics of theory, leading to a substantiated chose of technology.

- The novelty of the retrieved technology.

- The amount of externally retrieved data and networking through the Internet, scientific articles, expert interview, focus group interview, observations, experiments, statistical data.

- The depth of the analysis and the ability to limit the analysis.

- The rigour in aligning technical alternatives for the given issue

- The students’ ability to exemplify, put into perspective, and critically assess the result.

- No or insignificant errors in the paper, presentation and oral examination.

- The novelty of the result.

- The validity and probability of implementing the solution.

- Correct grammar and an attractive and readable language. Evaluation TS’ are evaluated with “approved”/”not approved”. It is expected that TS2 experimentally will be evaluated with the Danish 12-step grading system.


Examples of TS

Title Company profile

Assessment of different photovoltaic technologies Power producer

Testing of HIV and Ebola vaccines Biotech

Selection of Human Resource Management system Electricity dealer

Indoor light in construction of a business park Business council

Cleansing of semi-finished rubber products before joining with metal parts

Mechanical-elastomeric manufacturing

Calculation methods for estimation of cost and earnings during offshore windpark erection

Leading wind turbine manufacturer

Exercises on content management systems and knowledge management for promotion of innovative networks

Technological service organisation

Wind engineering, wind loads and siting considerations No mentor company, but planned interaction with leading wind turbine manufacturer

Automatic optical character recognition on mechanical energy meters and data integration

Energy Services Company

Effects of very high and very low winds on the electricity grid

No mentor company, but close dialog with several

Innovative, roof-integrated solar panels – test, measurement and assessment of different pipe and wing configurations

Solar panel manufacturer

Evaluation of software development frameworks for simple portals using Java and Ruby on Rails

Component supplier to wind turbine industry

Assessment of generic automation technologies in industrial laundries

Larger industrial laundry

Fermentation technologies of sugar cane remains for local production of sustainable bio-ethanol

Leader in bioengineering

Gasification of woodchips using industry standard burner technologies for powering of a piston-engine

Burner/heater turn-key supplier

Tracking technologies for industrial subassemblies in windturbine control systems manufacturing


IT system for management of regulations on super-heavy transportation in 13 focus countries


Assessment of nanotechnology for coatings in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)

Larger electro-mechanical manufacturer

3D printing materials screening Technological services organisation

Decommissioning of services and IP networks Telecom

Systems for project portfolio management Leading wind turbine manufacturer

Electrical energy from waves in the sea Cleantech start-up


Novelty

Critical to you and as a basic requirement a TS project should provide something new. Participation in a

major breakthrough innovation project in your mentor company would of course be ideal. Between

supervisor, company and student, there must be an initial but also an ongoing discussion on how to

maintain a project on the forefront of the development of the company. Sometimes, the “new” is not

obvious below are some reflections.

What is novelty

- An service or product innovation within a company or in the network of the company including

suppliers, customers and knowledge institutions

- The application of an existing technology in a new context

- Implementation, transformation or change of technological “things” in organisational contexts

- Obtaining generalised compliance requirements or push products or service beyond minimum

levels of compliance

- Identification of roadmaps / forecastings into future technologies

What is novelty not

- Collect common knowledge unreflected

- As-is mappings

- Static views of the company

- Innovation of something already innovated in the company

- Rephrasing general issues into a buzzword terminology

- Using popular beliefs as science

How to secure that you are on track

- Identify “if this has been done before”

- Perform adequate literature search

- Assess if the work might have any impact on the company

- Confront experts


Cost and expenses

In the TS’ it is possible to receive funding for purchasing of relevant materials and equipment needed. To a

lesser extent is purchase of software, as free or cheap student editions normally exists.

It is important to initiate purchases quite early in the semester as there might be delivery time from

suppliers.

All purchases must be approved in advanced by Programme Coordinator, typically as e-mails. All purchases

should also be agreed with your supervisor.

Ulrich Bjerre coordinates our stock of equipment. Please always first ask Ulrich, secondly raise the request

for purchase.

Payment method

- Hand out costs yourself and get the costs refunded

- Have your mentor company handing out costs and invoice AU Herning

- Have an invoice send to AU Herning using these VAT-numbers

o Purchase in Denmark: 31 11 91 03

o Purchase in EU: 16 56 27 77

o Purchase in rest-of-world: 16 56 28 82

Always remember full documentation.

What has been purchased

- Touchscreens

- Low-cost 3D printer

- Frequency analyzers

- Soft oscilloscopes

- Thermal camera

- Image analyser for meter reading

- 868 MHz Development Kit

- Chip evaluation kits

- Wattmeter

AU Herning has also various laboratory facilities that might assist with physical manufacturing of various

equipment typically in metal, plastic or wood.

The mentor companies do in many cases buy required materials and equipment and put laboratory

facilities at disposal. If you encounter a good case, please issue such a case to the Programme Coordinator.


How to fail? Checking if you report meets the minimum requirements

Aversion of engineering and technology will lead to failure to pass TS exams. Use of social science material

in TS’s is generally discouraged and should be limited to describing the context of the application of

technologies. A general business justification should not be elaborated in a TS.

Other key points

- 15 normalised pages

- Minumum 10 – 15 references, hereof 7 – 10 scientific articles

- A research question. E.g. “Which type of photovoltaic cells are providing the highest yield at a cloudy

day?”

- A good, “catchy” introduction. “The rapid growth in photovoltaics in private households raises a

requirement for cleaning of these to sustain electricity production.”

- A clear cut theory highlighting state of the art in the area, reflecting that you have checked similar

research, and giving the general understanding of the topic (“theory”)

- A method. What did you want to do? What did you actually do?

- A decent effort on empirical data (TS2: experimentation). Cle

- A critical discussion. Discussions are not only reserved social science. Here we need to move beyond

Murphys Law, and go into depth with pro’s and con’s on the project at its fullest

o Adequancy of background

o Clarity of the research question

o Substance of the theory

o The empirical data – a 360 degrees view

o The findings – validity and reliability


Harvard Referencing System The basic idea of the Harvard reference system is to make references in the text with “author-date” and to provide an alphabetic list separately at the end of the paper with the same organisation. For example like this in the text: "While information sharing between the private and public sector has improved since 9/11, sharing of information requires additional enhancements (Dacey, 2002)." "Although much recent research has focused on the importance of long-term strategic relationships (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Wilson, 1995)." The quoted work will then be listed in full, in alphabetical order, in a section entitled "References" at the end of the article. References should be used whenever you use a direct quotation from another author, also when you are quoting someone else's opinion or research. Sometimes, the reference may be direct, as in the second example; at others it may be indirect, as in the first, when the author is acknowledging that he or she has taken the statement from someone else's work.

Elements of a Harvard-style reference The basic structure is to list alphabetically by lead author's surname or name of organisation (i.e. the surname that appears first in the work quoted). While conventions of use of italics, quotations etc. will vary according to the media, the basic structure is as follows:

Surname, initials

(year of publication)

Title

Publisher, place of publication, journal, etc.

Exact reference. Putting references in order Entries should follow alphabetical order of author surname.

If there is more than one entry by the same author, put them in date order of publication.

If an author wrote more than one of your references in a single year, then use 2000a, 2000b, etc. References by more than one author always follow single author references.

Three authors follows two, four authors follows three and so on.

Sort alphabetically using lead author's surname first, then second author, then third author etc.

Sorting by names in this way is more important than sorting by date. Punctuation should be as follows:

for two authors, separate by "and", without a comma

for multiple authors, separate by a comma, but the last name should be linked by "and" without the comma.

Examples


Richardson, A. (1988) Richardson, A. (1989a) Richardson, A. (1989b) Richardson, A. and Brown, B., (1988) Richardson, A. and Smith, S., (1986) Richardson, A., Brown, B. and Smith, S. (1983) Ingram, T.N., Schwepker, C.H. and Hutson, D. (1992) Ingram, T.N., Laforge, R.W., Schwepker, C.H. Jr, Avila, R.A. and Williams, M.R. (1997) Ingram, T.N., Laforge, R.W., Avila, R.A. and Schwepker, C.H. Jr and Williams, M.R. (2001) How to cite different source types Books

Surname, initials


Title

Edition

Publisher

Place of publication. Example Abbott, A. (1988), System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor , University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Patton, M.Q. (1990), Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods , 2nd ed., Sage, Newbury Park, CA. A chapter from an edited book

Surname, A.N.


"Title of chapter"

in Editor surname, initials (Ed.)

Title of Book

Edition

Publisher

Place of publication

Chapter page numbers. Example Bourdieu, P.(1977), "The forms of capital", in Richardson, J.G. (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, Greenwood Press, New York, NY, pp. 311-56. A translated work

Surname, A.N.


Title of Book

Edition

Translated by Translator name, initials

Publisher


Place of publication. Example Bourdieu, P. (1977), Outline of a Theory of Practice, translated by Nice, R., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Journal articles

Surname, A.N.


"Article title"

Journal Title

Volume number, Issue number (if it exists)

Article page numbers. Example Baron, R.M. and Kenny, D.A. (1986), "The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51, pp. 1173-82. Guthrie, J. and Parker, L. (1997) "Editorial: Celebration, reflection and a future: a decade of AAAJ", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal , Vol. 10 No.1, pp. 3-8 Electronic sources NB this refers to a source which is only available electronically, and not to sources which you may have accessed electronically but which are also available in print form, such as an article from an scientific journal accessed via the Web. These follow the same convention of referencing as for printed sources, but include elements unique to the Web:

Name


"Article title"

available at: full url

(accessed date) For the last two elements, please try to remember the following conventions: When giving the url, "http://" should only be included if the address does not include "www"

(accessed date) is important because of the lack of permanence of Internet sites. Example Better Business Bureau (2001), "Third-party assurance boosts online purchasing", available at: http://bbbonline.org/about/press/2001/101701.asp (accessed 7 January 2002). Hummingbird (2002), Hummingbird corporate website, available at: www.hummingbird.com (accessed 2 January 2002). Leeds Metropolitan University (2002), "Business Start-Up@Leeds Met", available at: www.lmu.ac.uk/city/bus_startup.htm Pitkow, J. and Kehoel, C. (1997), "GVU's WWW user surveys", available at: www.gvu.gatech.edu Ballantyne, D. (2000), "Dialogue and knowledge generation: two sides of the same coin in relationship marketing", paper presented at the 2nd WWW Conference on Relationship Marketing, November 1999-


February 2000, Monash University and MCB University Press, available at: www.mcb.co.uk/services/conferen/nov99/rm/paper3.html An electronic journal would be referenced as follows:

Surname, A.N.


"Article title"

Journal Title

Volume number, Issue number

Article page numbers

Available at: url

(accessed date) Example Swaminathan, V., Lepkoswka-White, E. and Rao, B.P. (1999), "Browsers or buyers in cyberspace? An investigation of electronic factors influencing electronic exchange", Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 5 No. 2, available at: www. ascusc.org/ jcmc/vol5/ issue2/ Conference papers Some papers may not be published in journals but may be delivered at a conference and then published as part of the proceedings of that conference, in which case, use one of the following styles as appropriate. Example Lodi, E., Veseley, M. and Vigen, J. (2000), "Link managers for grey literature", New Frontiers in Grey Literature, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Grey Literature, Washington, DC, October 4-5, 1999, GreyNet, Amsterdam, pp. 116-34.

Naude, P. and Holland, C. (1998), "Marketing in the information domain", in Halinen-Kaila, A. and Nummela, N. (Eds), Interaction, Relationships and Networks: Visions for the Future, Proceedings of the 14th Annual IMP Conference, pp. 245-62.

Stauss, B. and Weinlich, B. (1995), "Process-oriented measurement of service quality by applying the sequential incident technique", paper presented at the Fifth Workshop on Quality Management in Services, EIASM, Tilburg.

Strandvik, T. and Storbacka, K. (1996), "Managing relationship quality", paper presented at the QUIS5 Quality in Services Conference, University of Karlstad, Karlstad.

As you see, some of the above references give the date of the conference, others do not; if in doubt, follow the convention used by the conference. Government or commercial reports Particularly when writing a case study, you may want to refer to company or government documents. In which case, the organization may become the author and the form of entry would be as follows:

Organization name


Title of report

Publisher and place of publication (may be same as author). Example Apollo Enterprises (1993), Annual Report , p. 8. Page 11 of 11


Ernst and Ernst (1978), Social Responsibility Disclosure: 1978 Survey, Ernst and Ernst, Cleveland, OH. Bank of England (2003), Quarterly Report on Small Business Statistics, Bank of England, London. Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) (2002), White Paper on Enterprise, Skills and Innovation, DTI, London. European Commission (1998), Fostering Entrepreneurship in Europe: Priorities for the Future, European Commission, Brussels. Yorkshire Forward (1999), Regional Economic Strategy, Yorkshire Forward, Leeds. Some guidelines to remember for all source types If all the above seems complicated, it's worth remembering that the Harvard system is actually quite logical. Bear in mind the following guidelines:

The entry always begins with the author's surname, followed by initials, followed by the date in brackets.

Authors' surnames and initials are always inverted, i.e. Other, A.N. (whether you are referring to the author of an article/chapter, or the editor of the work within which the work is found).

If more than one entry by the same author, put in order of dates.

Publications, whether book or journal titles, are always in italic, with significant words only capitalized. Make sure that the journal title is exactly the same, e.g. use of &/and.

Excerpts from publications, i.e. book chapters, journal articles, always come in "quotes", with only the first word, proper names, and German nouns, capitalized.

The name of the publisher is shown before the place of publication (as it would be in an address). Abbreviations for US states should be in short capitalized form, e.g. CA, MA, rather than Ca., Mass., and should be added as necessary.

Electronic references follow the same conventions as printed ones, followed by "available at:" and the URL. Only retain "http://" if the address does NOT include www. Also, state the date when last accessed (accessed ...).

Use commas to separate elements of the entry. Source and more information This note has been copied almost directly from the publishers Emeralds guidelines, which can be found at http://info.emeraldinsight.com/authors/guides/harvard.htm?part=2 Another source is Anglia Ruskin University: University Library Guide to the Harvard Style of Referencing July

2008

http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

http://info.emeraldinsight.com/authors/guides/harvard.htm?part=2

http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

Technology specialisations compendium autumn 2013 1

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