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CC2018Professional Development for Computing

Developing a Project Proposal

Developing a Project Proposal Identifying and selecting a

project The role of the project

supervisor The project proposal Literature search and review

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Sources of Project Ideas Brainstorming Workplace Personal contacts The Internet Background reading Lecturers Clients or local businesses Past projects

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How to find an area?You could Follow up a previous project Follow up a topic from your current year

e.g. system development methodologies for mobile devices Specialise in a year 3 topic

e.g. Formal Methods; Network security management Exploit your other strengths

e.g. Mobile devices and community gardening Improve your CV

e.g. Mobile devices and Financial Services

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What Types of Projects?

You could Replace or extend an existing system Move a system to a new platform or

operating system Make an old system more efficient Create a new system to provide a better

service

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How to Select a Potential Project? Brainstorm an initial list of potential

topics Research into the topics and narrow

down your list to what is feasible Spot a gap in the research

This can be indicated by your lecturers or your own reading

Test your ideas

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Test Your Potential Projects/Ideas (1)

Does the topic really interest you? Do you have the necessary skills,

facilities and tools readily to hand? Do you have the finance available to

purchase materials or tools, if needed? Do you have the time and the facilities

to acquire missing skills? Are all team members committed to this

topic? (if a group project)

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Test Your Potential Projects/Ideas (2)

Is your idea original and not just a near duplicate of a past project?

Is your project to a level that exceeds previous coursework?

Does the project enable you to explore, develop and demonstrate skills and knowledge relevant to your course?

Is your project consistent with your career goals?

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The role of the supervisor (1) The role of your supervisor is to guide

you He/she agrees your project proposal You meet him/her regularly to discuss the

progress of your work He/she signs your logbook (meeting log) He/she is your first marker He/she arranges your Interim

presentation and the final Viva

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The role of the supervisor (2)

Your supervisor Does NOT provide additional

teaching Can only advise you on your work

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The Project proposal The project proposal is a document agreed

and signed by the supervisor and the student

It includes information about the project Background Problem and scope Objectives Approach Resources Plan Initial literature review

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The Proposal: General Details Student’s personal details

(name, ID, email, degree programme)

Project duration (dates from… to) Project title Supervisor

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The Proposal: Background Description of the

scope the problem its relevance the context

Includes a top-level functional requirement what is the project to achieve? why is it worthwhile?

For Computing students, it is important to produce working software as one of the main project deliverables

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The Proposal: Objectives State and explain what kind of computer system is

to be designed and implemented Other objectives could relate to the research,

analysis, design, implementation and testing Each objective should be given a deliverable, e.g.

bibliography, design documents, target code, packaged demonstration system

In your final report a critical appraisal of the project is needed, and you should refer back to the objectives

Objectives should be SMART

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The Proposal: The approach

For example: System Development Life Cycle

(SDLC) Structured methods Object-oriented methods Rapid Application Development (RAD)

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The Proposal: Skills Projects must build on a reasonable

range of skills and knowledge acquired from Computing modules

In this section you list The design and technical skills you currently

have which are relevant to your project The skills you need to acquire for your

project, e.g. VB, XML, Java RMI, SSADM etc Refer to relevant 3rd year modules you are

planning to take in order to gain these skills

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The Proposal: Special Requirements Students are responsible for ensuring that

the necessary resources needed for projects are available or requested

State your need of: data sources letter of agreement regarding obligations of

employers or clients access to domain specialists installing special software on your machine

Please note: the University cannot normally provide or pay for special facilities

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The Proposal: Project Plan Plan for the main tasks of your project

Indicate 3 – 4 substantial tasks that you will undertake in the first semester of your project:

in-depth literature review feasibility study analysis design prototype

These tasks will be evaluated at the Interim assessment

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Literature Review: Purpose To assist in the development and the justification

of your project Report on

What was found What are the gaps in existing knowledge

To increase and demonstrate your understanding of current thinking and theories

To provide the reader with an introduction to your area of work

To establish the academic context of the project To provide an academic underpinning for your

conclusion

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Literature Review: Sources Primary Sources:

Conference papers Research reports Company reports

Secondary sources: Books Journals Newspapers

Media: Papers Video and radio broadcasts The Internet

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Literature Search Allocate time to browse titles in the library

catalogues Read abstracts of a range of journal

articles identify and keep notes – read in full later

Identify and keep notes on relevant web pages, book chapters and conference papers

When reading, look for ideas on methods that could be adapted to your project

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Referencing Avoid plagiarism: it is important to show where

you have used someone else’s words or ideas Referencing is required when you

Quote another person words Summarise or paraphrase ideas, opinions or

information of another writer Use diagrams, tables, figures and statistics from

another source Using references shows your awareness of the

subject area and the key concepts

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