School of International Studies

(SoIS), College of Law,

Government & International
Studies (COLGIS)
Universiti Utara Malaysia

Guidelines
for Academic
Research
Paper
Bachelor Degree of International
Affairs Management (BIAM)
FLOW CHART OF UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMIC RESEARCH PAPER FOR INTAFF STUDENTS

1 PRE-REGISTRATION

 Students should submit the ARP-01 Form (Pre-Registration) during the first
three (3) weeks of the Fifth (5th) Semester - proposing the area and names of
the ARP’s advisor.
 Students are advised to discuss their topic and proposal with potential ARP’s
advisor appointed by the School.

2 APPOINTMENT OF SUPERVISOR

 Students will be notified of the appointed Supervisor by latest the sixth week
of the Fifth Semester through the SOIS website and General Office notice
board.
 Should any issues arise regarding the appointment of supervisor, please refer
to the SOIS Undergraduate Coordinator.

3 PREPARATION FOR RESEARCH PROPOSAL

 Students need to come out with a proper research proposal by the end of
their fifth Semester (approximately 2000 words)

4 REGISTRATION
 The SOIS office will register the ARP during the registration period and
students are advised to confirm registration through their portal.
 Finalize registration during ADD & DROP period in the sixth (6th) semester at
the SOIS General Office.

5 SUPERVISORY IMPLEMENTATION

 Supervision starts beginning of the Fifth (5th) semester and the academic
research paper should be completed by the end of sixth (6th) semester.
 Supervisors are advised to keep the record of meetings with the supervisees
by filing in the ARP-02 Form (Consultation and Supervision Progress)

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6 FINAL SUBMISSION OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH PAPER

 Students must submit a completed Academic Research Paper by the end of

week 14th of the semester to the SOIS Office in three (3) copies (two (2)
HARD-BOUND and one (1) RING-BOUND). The completed ARP will be sent
to reviewer nominated by the ARP Committee for evaluation purposes.
Student are advised to refer to the Academic Affairs Department (HEA)
notification on IMPORTANT DATE FOR ACADEMIC PROJECT PAPER.
 The front page of the RING-BOUND THESIS (reviewer’s version) should
state ONLY the title of the ARP, student’s name and matric number
(without supervisor’s name)

7 EXTENSION

 Any request for extension [incomplete/Tidak Lengkap - TL grade] must be

applied by using ARP-03 Form (Extension of Submission), supported by the
Supervisor before submitting to SOIS Office before or on the last date of
teaching. The approval will be granted upon successful verification by the
Office.
 Extension period of four (4) weeks or one month from the last date of
teaching will be granted. TL grade must be obtained within four [4] weeks
after the last date of teaching.
 If TL grade is obtain after the first four (4) weeks, but not exceeding the
second four (4) weeks, students will receive one grade lower than what
he/she deserves.
 If TL has not been obtained within the deadline of eight (8) weeks, F grade
will be awarded to students automatically through ASIS System Monitoring.

8 MARKING AND PEER REVIEW PROCESS

 Academic Research Papers will be marked by the student’s supervisor and

peer reviewed by another academic from within the same school appointed
by the Undergraduate Students Research Paper (ARP) Committee. A peer
reviewer will be responsible to provide comments and recommendation, as
well as proposing appropriate marks which is non-binding unless otherwise
stated by the Committee [if any discrepancies exist]. The marking criteria will
be based on a standardized assessment rubric.

9 TRANSMISSION OF MARKS

 The office will submit all marks to the Academic Affairs Department upon
receiving the supervisor’s and reviewers' evaluation forms.

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Academic Research Paper Guidelines for Undergraduate Study

Writing an Academic Research Paper: What is it?

The Academic Research Paper module is for final year students. It is a core requirement for
Bachelor of International Affairs Management (BIAM) students. An academic research paper
offers the opportunity for students to undertake independent research and to produce an in-
depth study of a specific topic within the field of international relations. It further enables
students to explore a topic in more depth than an assignment essay. In undertaking an academic
research paper, students need to adhere to the following steps:

 consider what area of research they are interested in pursuing, that relates to one of the
modules taken prior
 narrow down their research interest to a specific topic, which is to be done in consultation
with their supervisor
 formulate their own research problems and carry out the research projects themselves.
Under no circumstances should students use a third party to undertake the research or
writing process on their behalf. Students are not allowed to work on a joint project or to
work on exactly the same topic as another student.
 identify specific research questions
 decide what type of research methodologies will be used for data collection and according
to what time frame
 analyse and write up the data in a critical manner

An Academic Research Paper should:

 be a piece of small-scale research which can be completed within one semester

 be both challenging and enjoyable to do
 be organised into chapters and with a contents page, references and bibliography
 often, but not always, link theory with practice
 include some form of empirical research rather than be entirely dependent on
secondary research sources. This is to be done with the guidance of the supervisor.

Course Objectives

On completion of an academic research paper, students should be able to:

 demonstrate the ability to conduct a major social science (international relations) inquiry
using specific research methodologies and secondary data.
 demonstrate academic written skills of a reasonably high standard

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Structure and Argument

An academic research paper should be a sustained argument that is the result of a student’s
reading, thinking and information-gathering. When done well, readers of an academic research
paper will find the students’ presentation and framing of the topic engaging, convincing and
thought-provoking. A strong paper will utilise a selection of concepts, theoretical ideas,
observations, statistical findings and call upon faculties of criticism and imagination in order to
arrive at defensible conclusions about a topic that is challenging and puzzling to the student.

Academic research papers tend to be formatted in the following manner. First, there is a
discussion of a larger problem or issue. This is then followed by a smaller-scale piece of empirical
research (example 1: the larger issue is why more men than women study international relations
as adult students, and the smaller-scale piece of research explores the same issue but zeroes in
on one particular higher education institution; example 2: the larger issue is online staff
development training and its correlation to staff performance while the smaller-scale research
explores the same issue but with regards to a particular workplace). The small scale empirical
research is intended to shed some light on the larger issue, with the larger issue providing the
context within which the small scale research is situated.

Requirements and Format for the Academic Research Paper

1. Requirements
1.1. Maximum length of paper is between 12,000-15,000 words, which only include the
main text and exclude the endnotes, appendices, and bibliography. There is no
minimum number of words. The academic research paper will be evaluated based on
the quality instead of length.
1.1.1. Students may include interview/ focus group/ survey questions as appendices
but the transcripts are not necessary.

1.2. Students may write either in Bahasa Malaysia or English, subject to the supervisor’s
consent.

1.3. Three (3) copies (two HARD-BOUND and one RING-BOUND) of academic research
paper must be submitted to SOIS General Office. All copies of Academic Research
Paper must be printed in SINGLE-SIDED pages using A4 size paper. One HARD-BOUND
copy will eventually be given to the supervisor after the evaluation process. Student
must take into consideration the time it takes to get their paper bound by the printer,
which typically takes anywhere between 3-10 working days.

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 1.4. The academic research paper should be submitted no later than the end of week 14 of
the semester.

1.5. The text should be typed in letter quality using font size 12 and double spacing.
Long quotations should be indented, single-spaced and in block quotations. No
quotation marks should be used.

1.6. Penalties

1.6.1. Three marks shall be deducted from the final mark of the academic research
paper for every additional 1,000 words (or part thereof) beyond the word limit.
1.6.2. One mark shall be deducted from the final mark of the academic research paper
for each additional day (or part thereof) beyond the deadline.

2. Format

2.1. For binding purpose, the left margin should be 4.0 cm wide. The top, bottom and right
margins should be 2.5 cm wide. (Refer to diagram next page). The top margin of the
first page in each chapter should be 5 cm

2.5 cm

2.5 cm
4 cm

2.5 cm

2.2. An academic research paper should contain three main divisions: the preliminary
pages or front end; the text or main body, usually divided into parts – chapters and
sections; and the supplementary pages, or back end.

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The preliminary pages include elements such as the title page, dedication, abstracts
in English and Bahasa Melayu, acknowledgements, declaration form, table of
contents, list of tables, figures and abbreviations.

The supplementary pages consist of references and appendices or annexes.

Table 1 is an example of how elements in a project paper from preliminary or
front end to back end are arranged. We recommend that the example is used as a
guide, although not every academic research paper will include all the items listed.

Table 1: Elements of an Academic Research Paper

NO ITEM REMARKS
1 Blank Leaf
2 Title page Not to be paginated but counted as one (i).
Subsequent preliminary pages are paginated
with small Roman numerals (ii, iii, iv,…) and are
numbered consecutively. (Appendix 2)
3 Permission to Use Permission to use should be addressed to:
Dean, School of International Studies, College
of Law, Government and International Studies
(COLGIS), Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010
Sintok, Kedah Darul Aman (Appendix 3)
4 Declaration To be signed by student. (Appendix 4)
5 Certificate of Acceptance To be signed by supervisor/s. (Appendix 5)
6 Abstract Listed in Table of Contents (Two versions are
required – English and Bahasa Melayu; both
are listed). (Appendix 6)
7 Acknowledgement To be paginated. (Appendix 7)
8 Table of Contents Not listed in Table of Contents. (Appendix 8)
9 List of Tables Listed in Table of Contents. (Appendix 9)
10 List of Figures Listed in Table of Contents. (Appendix 10)
11 List of Abbreviations Listed in Table of Contents. (Appendix 11)
12 Main body (chapters) To be paginated with Arabic numerals
(0,1,2,3,…).
13 References/ Bibliography To be paginated, continuing the Arabic
numerals (0,1,2,3,…).
14 Appendices/Annexes First sheet to be counted but not paginated
(Insert a leaf with only the word APPENDICES
in the centre of the page, followed by the
actual appendices which are paginated).
15 Blank Leaf.

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2.3. The number of the page should be at the bottom right hand corner of the page.
The page number must appear on all pages of the paper, excluding the title page.

2.4. Page number should be in Arabic numerals (0,1,2,3,…), and runs consecutively
throughout the academic research paper. For the preliminaries (preface,
acknowledgements, table of contents, etc), page number (if any) should be in
Roman lower case numerals (i, ii, iii,…).

2.5. Endnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout all chapters and should
appear on separate pages at the end of the entire text. Students may use
footnotes or parenthetical citations, but must not mix citation styles.
Recommended stylebooks: APA Style manuals.

2.6. The bibliography and appendices should be in single spacing and be placed after
the endnotes, if endnotes are used.

2.7. Tables, figures and maps should have appropriate titles at the top, be
numbered consecutively and appear immediately following the text as the first
point of reference.

2.8. The format for references and bibliography should follow the American Psychological
Association Manual of Style.

2.9. There should be an abstract of no more than 300 words in one page and double spacing
just before the Table of Contents. The abstract should be given both in English and
Bahasa Melayu; the version to appear first will be of the same language used in writing
the academic research paper.

2.10. The academic research paper must be bound in MAROON, with gold lettering of font
size 16. The front cover should have the following inscriptions:

TITLE OF THE ACADEMIC RESEARCH PAPER

STUDENT'S NAME

SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA
MAY 20XX

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 2.11. The student's name, the title or an abbreviation thereof, and academic year should
appear on the spine of the academic research paper [Appendix 1].

2.12. The title page following the hard cover should have the following inscriptions:

(i) Title of the ARP

[must be typed 6cm from the upper ledge]
(ii) Name of the Author & Matrix Number
(iii) School / Department
(iv) Month/Year
[For details, see Appendix 2]

3. Plagiarism
In submitting assessed written work it is important to beware of plagiarism, which is the
unacknowledged use of other people’s ideas and/or written work as well improper
referencing. Universiti Utara Malaysia regards plagiarism as a very serious issue. Penalties
for those found guilty include suspension or expulsion (for further details on what
constitutes plagiarism, please refer to the university’s academic rules handbook, specifically
general prohibitions 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2. 6.3). Students are advised to submit their work
through turnitin, a plagiarism checker software, which is accessible through the UUM
Learning Zone. And do not hesitate to seek advice from supervisors for more clarification.

4. Extensions
Extensions will only be granted in extenuating personal, medical or academic circumstances.
Students need to fill in the ARP-03 Form (Extension of Academic Research Paper Submission
Form), supported by the supervisor before submitting it to the SOIS Office to obtain an
Incomplete (TL – Tidak Lengkap) grade. The Incomplete (TL) grade must be redeemed within
the first four weeks after the Semester last date of teaching. If the Incomplete (TL) grade is
redeemed after the first four (4) weeks, but not more than the second four (4) weeks’ time,
students will receive one grade lower from what they are entitled to (Refer to Academic
Affairs Department circular). Student is entitled for grade F if incomplete (TL) grade is
redeemed after the eight (8) week.

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5. Marking and Peer Review

Academic Research Papers will be marked by the student’s supervisor and peer reviewed by
another academic from within the same school appointed by the Undergraduate Students
Research Paper (ARP) Committee. The marking criteria will be based on a standardised
assessment rubric. Students are required to submit one copy of RING-BOUND THESIS
(reviewer’s version) without supervisor’s name stated. The front page must state the title of
the ARP, student’s name and matric number only. Peer reviewer will be responsible to
provide comments and recommendation, as well as proposing appropriate marks. The
recommendation and proposed marks will be non-binding unless otherwise stated by the
Committee. Should there be any major discrepancies of marks (a difference of two grades
or more) between the supervisor and the reviewer, the ARP Committee will consult both
parties in order to reach a consensus. In a case of disagreement between the supervisor and
the reviewer, the allocation of 75:25 of grade will be imposed (75% of the marks from the
supervisor while 25% from the reviewer).

6. Supervision
The students are responsible for interacting with their supervisors in a professional manner,
and for doing their part in maintaining positive working relationships. Should any issues
arise between the students and supervisors, an appropriate course of action may be taken
by way of requesting for a change of supervisor in accordance with the following procedure:

 the student submits the ARP-04 Form (Change of Supervisor) to the SOIS Undergraduate
Coordinator for a change of supervisor
 the SOIS Undergraduate Coordinator will process the request, which will involve
consulting with all relevant parties
 the SOIS Undergraduate Coordinator forwards the request and a recommendation
(including pertinent comments as may apply) to the Head of Department for
endorsement.

7. Ethical Research Guidelines

i. As a rule there should be no covert research or deception about aims of research.
ii. Respondents / informants should know that they are the subjects of research,
and participation should be voluntary.
iii. Participants must not be hurt, physically or psychologically, by the study.
iv. In participant observation studies, observation may be conducted without the subject’s
knowledge if the activities observed are public for all to see, including the researcher.

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 v. Once verbal contact with the subject is initiated and personalized knowledge is
sought, the subject should be informed of the research project and permission to
continue the study must be sought.
vi. The researcher should ensure and preserve confidentiality of information collected if
the respondent or informant requires it. (This may not be relevant to all studies,
i.e.: in some oral history studies, people may wish to be identified.)
vii. If you are unsure or unclear about the ethical considerations of your research project,
please consult your supervisor and / or the SOIS undergraduate coordinator.

[Should there be any problem or further enquiries, please refer to SOIS Undergraduate
Coordinator]

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APPENDIX 1 : KEY ELEMENTS OF THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

The proposal should include the following components:

1) Background of the study

2) Statement of the problem

3) Research questions

4) Research objectives

5) Objectives of the study

6) Significance of the study

7) Theoretical framework

8) Research methodology

9) Literature review

10) Chapterization

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APPENDIX 2 : FRONT PAGE

6 cm

AHMAD BIN SHARIF

MALAYSIA’S INVOLVEMENT IN PEACEKEEPING
MISSION
MALAYSIA’S INVOLVEMENT IN PEACEKEEPING MISSION

AHMAD BIN SHARIF

SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA

MAY 2017
2017

4 cm

SPINE Note: The academic research paper must be bound in

MAROON, with GOLD lettering of font size 16.

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APPENDIX 3 : TITLE PAGE

6 cm

MALAYSIA’S INVOLVEMENT IN PEACEKEEPING

MISSION

AHMAD BIN SHARIF

245121

AN ACADEMIC RESEARCH PAPER

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS MANAGEMENT (HONOURS)

SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA

MAY 2018

4 cm

Note: Everything should be written in CAPITAL and BOLD. All of the

pages, from here on (starting at the second page) will be paged with
roman (i) but this page number must not written.

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APPENDIX 4 : PERMISSION TO USE

6 cm
ii

PERMISSION TO USE

All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced and or make copies of

any part of the chapter, illustrations and contents of this
Academic Research Paper in any form or means whether
electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise without prior
written permission of the Dean, School of International Studies,
Universiti Utara Malaysia.

4 cm

Note: This page should be numbered using roman numerals (no.ii)

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APPENDIX 5 : DECLARATION

6 cm iii
iii

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work except for

excerpts and a summary of each chapter of which was explained
by me. I also give these rights to the School of International
Studies, College of Law, Government and International Studies,
Universiti Utara Malaysia for the purpose of publication if found
suitable.

Date of Submission: ________ _______________

(Name & Signature)

4 cm

Note: This page should be numbered using roman numerals (no.iii)

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APPENDIX65 : CERTIFICATE OF ACCEPTANCE

6 cm iv
iv

CERTIFICATE OF ACCEPTANCE

Having examined the Academic Research Paper entitled

written by [NAME], Matric No.[____] and be accepted as
meeting the graduation requirements of Bachelor of
International Affairs Management (Honours).

Recommended by:

___________________________________
Name of supervisor:
Date:

4 cm

Note: This page should be numbered using roman numerals (no.iv)

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APPENDIX 7 : ABSTRACT

6 cm v

ABSTRACT

An abstract should include following components: summary of

background, problem statement, objectives, research methods and
findings [not more than 300 words].

Keywords : (choose three to five keywords ONLY)

4 cm

Note: Abstract must be prepared in both, English and Bahasa, in

two (2) different pages (no.v and vi)

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APPENDIX 8 : ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

6 cm
vvii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
(IF ANY)

[You may wish to use a dedication to thank those who are close to
you for their support of your efforts…]

4 cm

Note: Acknowledgment must not exceed TWO (2) pages, but may be
written in some PARAGRAPHS and a SINGLE SPACING. (no.vii)

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APPENDIX 9 : TABLE OF CONTENTS

viii
6 cm

4 cm

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APPENDIX 10 : LIST OF TABLES

ix

List of Tables

No. Title Page

Table 2.1 Food Self-Sufficiency Level 2016 12

Table 3.2 Sustainable Development Index 34

Table 4.1 Food productivity 2016 45

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APPENDIX 10 : LIST OF FIGURES

List of Figures

No. Title Page

Figure 2.1 World Hunger Statistics 2010-2015 12

Figure 3.2 Productivity by State 34

Figure 4.1 Statistics of Labour Forces in Malaysia 45

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APPENDIX 11 : LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

xi

LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS

ARF ASEAN Regional Forum

GCC Gulf Cooperation Council

GDP Gross Domestic Product

IGOs Inter-governmental Organizations

MNCs Multinational Corporations

NGOs Non-governmental Organizations

WFP World Food Programme

Note: LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS should be arranged in an

alphabetical order A-Z.

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