Introduction Examiners and the marking of your project
10.6 The future
10.6.1 Your new skills
This section discusses briefly how you will be able to apply the skills you have learnt from your project in the future. As an undergraduate, you might find yourself moving on into industry or staying on within the academic community to pursue your studies further; for example, for an MPhil or PhD. As a postgraduate, you may wish to remain in academia as a lecturer, a research assistant or fellow, or you too might decide to move into industry. The following points relate to a number of skills you should have developed during the course of your project, whether at the under- graduate or postgraduate level: n Independence. One of the objectives of your project was to develop your skills as an independent worker. Quite often, institutions refer to student projects as Independent Studies, which emphasises this point. Being able to work on your own without detailed supervision is certainly a skill worth cultivating and it should be one of the skills you developed during the course of your project. Industry expects inde- pendence from graduates, and postgraduate research degrees will require this skill as a matter of course. Be prepared to show initiative and independent thinking in your chosen career and be able to take charge of situations rather than having to be told what to do and be directed all the time. n Thinking. Your project should have taught you how to think about things more critically and in a deeper way. Independent thought and ideas represent a maturity of understanding that does not develop from merely attending lectures and tutorials. Your project should have furnished you with these kinds of skills. Once again, being able to look at things in new ways, showing deeper understanding and imagination, are skills that postgraduates are expected to have. n Learning. Your project should have taught you how to learn. As part of your pro- ject, you should have had to learn new skills, new ways of looking at things and new ways of thinking. This ‘learning’ would not come from lectures and tutorials but from your own independent research and study. You have, therefore, understood and developed the skill of independent learning – a skill that will be useful both in in- dustry and postgraduate work. In addition, your project may also have provided an underpinning theoretical grounding in a number of areas rather than a specific technical skill. This is important as it means you can often develop and learn new skills more quickly from this firm base than you could otherwise have done by merely learning a particular tool, lan- guage or technique. For example, although you might not be able to program in a particular programming language, your underpinning theory of languages will mean that you can learn a new language very quickly. You are thus more flexible and adapt- able to change than you would otherwise be with a purely technical background. 10.6 The future 265 n Technical skills. You might also have picked up some technical skills during the course of your project. You may have learnt how to use a particular software package or apply particular analysis and design methods. While you may never use these par- ticular technical skills again, they can provide you with a basis on which to learn sim- ilar techniques and tools in the future and they also help to bolster your CV n Communication skills. Both written and verbal communication skills are a vital part of any degree project. Improving your skills in these areas will certainly be useful, whether you go into industry or continue with postgraduate work. Verbal communi- cation skills will be useful in industry as you will have to liaise with all kinds of people; managers, customers and clients, your own staff, consultants and others. You might also be expected to give presentations and demonstrations and will certainly be expected to produce reports that must be clear and concise. At postgraduate level, you will encounter many new people and situations that require both your written and verbal communication skills. You might have to attend conferences or give seminars. You may be required to do some teaching or support tutorials and laboratory sessions. You will certainly have to produce written reports, transfer documents, articles and, ultimately, a thesis. n Time management. During the course of your project, you will have needed to make a number of trade-offs, you will have had to meet a number of deadlines and you will have needed to balance your project against other commitments. Undertaking your project will have helped you to develop your time management skills discussed in Chapter 7. These skills will be invaluable to you in the future as you try to juggle work, family and social commitments.10.6.2 Your new job
While the above issues represent developments to your own portfolio of skills, this section will look briefly at how things might be done differently in your new career. n Industry. Going to work in industry for the first time can be quite a culture shock. Where in the past you might have looked at things from a purely academic viewpoint because they interested you, within industry your primary concern will be cost. The work you do and projects you undertake will be performed only if financially viable. The software you produce must do what it is supposed to do and what was asked for – there will be little need to justify it or place it within a wider context. You will also feel even more pressure to complete work on time. While your project was your own responsibil- ity and you were the only one who would suffer if it was handed in late, in industry many people will be relying on you to get the job done. Another area that may appear alien to you within industry is the politics. An academic environment usually has an ‘open door’ policy whereby you can speak to people administrators, professors, technicians and others as and when you require. The more structured hierarchy in industry, however, sometimes means you cannot talk directly to the person you need to communicate with. Instead, you may have to go through your own manager for permission to speak to another manager. This can seem quite frustrating when, in an academic environment, everyone has been approachable and easy to contact.Parts
» Projects in Computing and Information Systems A Student's Guide 0273721313 Pearson 2009
» Introduction What are computing projects?
» Computing project types What are computing projects?
» Programming in computing projects
» Degree structures Degree requirements
» Degree requirements for projects
» Overview Your supervisor Stakeholders
» Clients and users Stakeholders
» Evaluators and testers Stakeholders
» Overview How this book is arranged
» Taught degree projects versus research degrees
» Summary Projects in Computing and Information Systems A Student's Guide 0273721313 Pearson 2009
» A definition What is research?
» Originality What is research?
» Gaincontribution What is research?
» Knowledge and understanding What is research?
» Identify the broad area of study.
» Plan how you will perform the research.
» Gather data and information.
» Analyse and interpret these data.
» Present the results and findings.
» Review the field – i.e., perform a literature survey.
» Build a theory – based on your understanding and interpretations of the field.
» Test the theory – does it work?
» Reflect and integrate – i.e., update your ideas based on your ‘tests’ and contribute
» Intellectual discovery The research process
» Research methods Research methods
» List or multiple choice. Provides the respondent with a number of options to
» Scale. Used to rate the respondent’s feelings towards something.
» Ranking. Used to order a series of options. You should not provide too many
» Complex grid or table. Used to gather similar responses on a range of questions.
» Open-ended. Used to obtain extended, qualitative answers.
» Summary Further reading Action points
» Techniques and Information Sources
» Additional considerations Choosing a project
» Follow any guidelines precisely. Most institutions require specific information; for
» Proofread thoroughly and get someone else to check it. Any errors or omissions
» Introduction to the subject area. This will provide the reader with an under-
» Current research in the field. This will emphasise that your project is not based in
» Identify a gap. You should be able to identify some aspect of the field that requires
» Identify how your work fills the gap. Having identified a gap in the field, your
» Identify risks and solutions. It is also useful in a project proposal to highlight any
» Explicit sections Preparing a project proposal
» Reviewing your proposal Preparing a project proposal
» Exercise Projects in Computing and Information Systems A Student's Guide 0273721313 Pearson 2009
» The project process Introduction
» Definition The project’s stages
» Planning The project’s stages
» Initiation The project’s stages
» Control The project’s stages
» Closure. The project’s stages
» Complete a literature search and literature review of existing stock market prediction
» Develop a suitable artificial neural network model.
» Identify and collect suitable data for analyses and evaluation.
» Evaluate the model using appropriate statistical techniques.
» Complete final report. Setting objectives
» Step 1 – Work Breakdown Project planning
» Step 2 – Time estimates Project planning
» Step 3 – Identify milestones Project planning
» Step 4 – Activity sequencing Project planning
» Step 5 – Scheduling Project planning
» Step 6 – Re-planning Project planning
» Rolling wave planning Project planning
» Risks. Include a list of critical risk factors and means of dealing with these risks
» Organisation. If you are undertaking a group project it would be worthwhile
» Alleviate critical risks Introduction
» Identify risks Risk management
» Alleviate critical risks Risk management
» Controlling risks Risk management
» Research degrees versus taught degree projects
» A starting point Introduction
» The literature survey process
» Format of information Literature searching
» Tracing the information Literature searching
» Inter-library loans Literature searching
» Some tips for performing a literature search
» Critical evaluation Writing literature reviews
» Overview The past Introduction
» Introduction The software development life cycle SDLC
» Requirements definition Requirements capture
» Requirements specification Requirements capture
» Functional specification Requirements capture
» Design The software development life cycle SDLC
» Build The software development life cycle SDLC
» Test The software development life cycle SDLC
» Implementation The software development life cycle SDLC
» The earliest ’model’: build-and-fix
» The stage-wise and classical waterfall models conventional models
» explore the requirements of the system with the user – requirements capture, andor
» explore the technical feasibility of a system – experimental prototyping.
» Which development approach should I use?
» Which programming language should I use?
» Introduction Top-down and bottom-up development
» Top-down development Top-down and bottom-up development
» Bottom-up development Top-down and bottom-up development
» Verification Verification, validation and testing
» Validation Verification, validation and testing
» Testing Verification, validation and testing
» Who is involved with testing and evaluation?
» Test plans Miscellaneous testing types
» Quality assurance and quality control
» Exercises Projects in Computing and Information Systems A Student's Guide 0273721313 Pearson 2009
» Getting started – project initiation
» Managing the five project elements
» Introduction Dealing with problems
» Weakening Dealing with problems
» Personal problems Dealing with problems
» Hardware failure Dealing with problems
» Data availability Dealing with problems
» Discovering your workresearch has been done before
» Analyse what you are currently doing.
» Change what you are doing to achieve your aims.
» eliminate activities you don’t need to do; and
» be more efficient doing the things you have to do.
» Time management tips Procrastination
» Using your supervisor effectively
» Introduction Working in teams
» Team development Working in teams
» Managing the team Working in teams
» Teamwork tips Working in teams
» Considerations Writing and structuring reports
» Approaches to writing Writing and structuring reports
» When should I start writing?
» Identify structure. This relates to the content of your report, using a report break-
» Identify presentational style. You should also try to set standards at this stage on
» Draft the introduction. The introduction gives the reader an idea of the
» Develop the main body. The main body of your report is the next part you
» Articulate conclusions and make recommendations. Quite clearly, your conclu-
» Complete the introduction. As part of the evolutionary approach to writing,
» Write the abstract. You cannot really write a clear abstract for your report until
» Add references and appendices. Although you will be collating references and
» Arrange contents list, index. Leave the completion of an index if one is required
» Proofread, check and correct. It is vitally important to proofread your report after
» Introductionliterature review – the first chapter of your report should always be
» Main body – the content of which depends on the type of project you are un-
» Conclusionsrecommendations – summarises the contribution of the work and
» Style Writing and structuring reports
» Word processing Writing and structuring reports
» Tips Writing and structuring reports
» Presenting charts and graphs
» Common mistakes Data presentation
» Miscellaneous charts Data presentation
» Other data presentation Data presentation
» Introduction Referencing material and avoiding plagiarism
» Citing references Referencing material and avoiding plagiarism
» Listing references Referencing material and avoiding plagiarism
» Commenting program code Documenting software
» Writing user guides Documenting software
» The presentation content Visual aids
» Introduction. One or two slides that introduce you and your talk.
» Main body. The slides that constitute the bulk of your presentation and cover the
» Summaryconclusion. A few slides that summarise your presentation and perhaps
» Dealing with questions Oral presentations
» Poster preparation tips Poster presentations
» Introduction Preparation Demonstrating software
» Demonstration tips Demonstrating software
» Introduction Viva voce examinations
» Introduction Examiners and the marking of your project
» General. Examiners will look at the relevance and appropriateness of the topic
» Report. Examiners will look for clarity, consistency, an appropriate use of
» Defence. Examiners will assess the types of arguments you have made to support
» Other. Examiners will review the administrative issues of your project. For example,
» What was the research question?
» Is it a ‘good’ question? This involves a comprehensive literature review to ensure
» Has the student answered the question adequately?
» Has the student made an adequate contribution to knowledge?
» The project approach from a technical perspective i.e., not a project management
» General project considerations subject independent
» Literature reviewproject foundation Assessment criteria
» Project approachmethods Assessment criteria
» Results and contributions Assessment criteria
» Introduction Taking your project further
» Seeking funding Developing commercial software packages
» Copyright and patents Taking your project further
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