I find the state of our FYP a little disconcerting lately. Especially on the care and quality taken to accomplish it. To that end, I give you the Do’s and Don’ts Guide to Successful FYP in FC (especially for the students).
Do:
Understand the type of project you are doing.
Is it a system development project or a research project? A development project (whether generic or industry-specific) needs to be complete and workable. A research project means you require good data to make a good analysis.
Be thorough in getting the User Requirement (UR).
For system development (SD) projects user requirement is ESSENTIAL. It dictates how the final product will look like along with its serviceability. A less than thorough UR will mean a wobbly end-product with a lot of holes – not very encouraging either for the users or your grade.
Be thorough in your Experimental Objectives (EO).
For Research (R) projects EO is vitally important. An EO will loosely encompass the following:
- what is it you are trying to find or prove [e.g.: Algo A is better than Algo B for domain ABC]
- how will you test it and what will you use [eg. conduct an experiment, use a model]
- how will you measure the results, what will you measure [e.g. measure performance, higher speed better performance]
A good EO will give you a good experimental design, which later translate into good analysis (because you have good, rich data).
Meet up with your supervisor regularly.
Your supervisor (SV) is your guide. They are knowledgeable and can make sure that you complete your FYP following the program requirement. If you don’t meet up and discuss, then you may be led astray by your peers or your seniors.
Understandably, we are only human and our ‘chemistry’ , or lack thereof, may boost or deter a student-SV relationship. So choose your SV with care. You can change your SV if need be, but be positive about who is actually the problem there (no sense changing the horse when the cart has a broken wheel).
Pay attention to your Gantt Chart.
The Gantt chart is your friend in managing your project. The Gantt chart is not simply a page-filler in your FYP Thesis. It should be used to ensure that milestones are met in the range of time that is acceptable.
Follow the FYP Handbook.
The faculty members went through a lot of toil to produce this handbook to help guide you in your journey through FYP. It has a wealth of knowledge (from margins required to references); and even information on marking scheme (talk about a leaked exam!). It is even FREE! Get it. Use it.
Realize and remember that your lecturers are not evil.
The faculty members (from your SV to your evaluators) are not evil, just gleefully waiting for an opportunity to fail you. We want you to succeed and with quality, because that is how you will be judged in the real-world.
MyEndNote: An article that is too long will not have the desired effect. The Don’ts can be found here.
