HOW TO SUCCEED IN FINAL YEAR PROJECT AT SCIT BY AGABA JOAB EZRA cit4.mak.ac.ug/projects/index.php 1

Seminar Agenda Issues to discuss will be; What is this final year project and why do it? How do we form groups? The sizes, how to choose the right people, e.t.c How do we get a supervisor? Reporting issues with supervisors early enough,… How do we get a project topic? What is required in a concept paper? What is required in a proposal? What is required in a report? What referencing styles should be used? What of submission deadlines? And submission process? What about the projects assessment? The 40% and 60% Are there opportunities to get funding in future to improve our projects for community outreach? 2

Formation of Groups BIS (BIS 3200) – 4 Students per group BIT(BIT 3208)- 4 Students per group BCSC(CSC 3206)- 4 Students per group BSC FLAT(CSC 3206)- 4 Students per group Each group is allocated a supervisor and a group number 3

Supervision and Assessment Each group will agree on when to meet the supervisor. Report any issues with the supervisor to the HoD or Final Year Projects Coordinator early enough. 40% of the final mark will come from the group supervisor and this mark is from individual assessment not a group. So you must participate in the group 60% will come from the final project report submitted together with the panel presentation assessment. 4

Building a Problem for a project First document your idea and discuss it as a group Then present that idea to your allocated supervisor. This could be like a half-a-page content. Also look at what has already been done in relation to your idea and see what is missing. Visit the book bank and check the projects already done and avoid repeating them. Also watch on plagiarizing those projects. Watch out for those lazy students who want to steal your idea and present it to the department as their project title even when your idea is still young! 5

Contents of a Concept Paper Presents what you intend to do. The contents should be; Background to the study-what is on ground? Problem statement-What is the problem? Main objective and specific objectives-What do you intend to achieve? Scope of the project-What are the geographical and functional boundaries of your project? Significance of the project-will the world collapse without your project? Methodology- Briefly, how do you intend to achieve the objectives Should be summarized between 2 to 3 pages and should be in future tense. 6

Contents of a Proposal Rather detailed compared to a concept paper Contains three Sections; Section One(Introduction)- (Not more than 5 pages) Presents the background to the study, Problem statement, Main Objective and Specific Objectives, Scope and Significance of the study. These should flow with what was stated in the concept paper but this time in detail. The background should start on a broader scale and keep zeroing down to the problem. By the time one reads the last sentence of background, he/she should be having a hint about the problem statement The problem statement should be clear. It should show that indeed there is something worth solving. 7

Contents of a Proposal-Cont’d More on Introduction The objectives should be SMART(Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Reliable and Timely). So don’t promise what you can’t deliver in time. The scope should show the boundaries of your project(both geographical and functionality). Geographical-Is it covering the whole organization or a particular department. Functionality- What will your system do? What won’t it do? The significance presents the importance of the project to the community (prospective users) and the academia(the knowledge gap being filled). 8

Contents of a Proposal-Cont’d Section Two(Literature Review)-(Not more than 5 pages) Presents literature read from research scholars but related to your project Avoid plagiarism(like copy and paste) –give credit to the owners of the literature by mentioning the authors as a reference. Should address at least some of the following; Introduction and definition of key terms (if they were not defined in section one) Suppose your project is “A Mobile-based Crime Reporting System for Uganda Police”, you would need to ; Define what a mobile-based crime reporting system is and what it does Advantages and disadvantages of such systems Examples of such systems(i.e case studies). Tell us why those systems were developed, where were they developed, how do they work, what are their weaknesses, among others If possible, go on to summarize the differences between the case studies above and the proposed system. This means that the positives that your proposed system will have against the existing systems are the reason why your system will be important. Present a conclusion 9 9

Contents of a Proposal-Cont’d Section Three(Methodology)-(Not more than 5 pages) Presents the steps you intend to follow to achieve the objectives. Suppose your project is “A Mobile-based Crime Reporting System for Uganda Police”, you need to; State field study techniques you intend to use and why you intend to use them. How helpful will those techniques be? State the tools you intend to use in system analysis, design and implementation State how you intend to test and validate your system 10

Contents of a Proposal-Cont’d References Presents a list of the scholarly work you have read and used in building your proposal. Follow the referencing style recommended by the school. APA referencing style shall be used Appendix should at least contain Work plan Budget 11

Contents of a Project Report The first chapters of a proposal will become the first three chapters of the report BUT in past tense. Chapter four- focuses on Study, Analysis, and Design of the system. The out put of this chapter should be a document to guide the person to implement the system. Chapter Five-focuses on project results. It includes implementation, testing and validation results. Chapter Six –focuses on Conclusion and future work. Future work should explain what you feel you didn’t do in the project and should be done in the future. Now, for those looking for projects to do, this is the place to visit from students’ project reports in the library! 12

Contents of a Project Report (Cont’d) After chapter six, it will be References and then after Appendix. The appendix should include documents relevant to the project. The Source code issue- NO SOURCE CODE should be included in the appendix! Instead, include the pseudo code, especially that of the project files that focus on meeting functional requirements of the system. 13

Project Report Submission Requirements(Before panel presentations) Submit to your respective departmental projects coordinator three(3) spiral-bound project reports and make sure that you sign for your group. Check the date you have been scheduled to present and start preparing. 14

Panel Presentations Be at the venue for presentation at least 30 minutes before time. Dress smartly, be composed and organized. Prepare at most 10 PowerPoint slides to summarize your presentation. Come along with where to write comments from the panel Avoid answering a question asked to another group member by the panel. Just wait for yours! Take the project reports to the Internal Examiner allocated to you by the panel after addressing the panelists’ comments for approval letter. 15

Final Project Report Submission Requirements(After panel presentations) An approval letter from the supervisor(or any other person assigned to you by the panel to satisfy). Two hard cover bound project reports signed by your supervisor A CD labeled with your group number and course containing; The project report An abstract of the report A folder containing your project source code. A text file containing login details for any administrative account on your system Ensure that you sign after submitting the final report Note: some of the best projects will be selected to be presented at the College’s open day. 16

Important Deadlines Activity Deadline date Concept paper submission By 5pm of 28th February 2013 Project Proposal submission By 5pm of Friday 28th March 2013 Project Report Submission By 5pm of the Friday of the week before final exams of semester 2 2012/2013 Starting Panel Presentations Starting First week after semester 2 exams Final Project report submission Depends on time given by the panel to make corrections but not exceeding 3 weeks from date of panel presentation Ending panel presentations End of July 2013 NOTE: Any group that fails to submit by end of End of July will be strictly referred to next academic year. 17

Questions??? 18