How to Select Your Final Project?

By Fatima tuz Zuhra

Lecturer, DCS UoP

Most of our students work on their final project just for fulfilling the requirements of their degree and in doing so they select such a project that is easy (according to their point of view). No doubt that this project is one of the important requirements for obtaining their degrees, but what is most important is that this project is the first opportunity for a student to practically apply the theories and concepts he/she has learnt in his/her four years study duration. They really learn during conducting this project. If this project is selected and conduced well, the student will be successful both in his/her professional life and further study e.g. MS and Ph.D.

The task of a teacher is to give right directions to students. The rest depends on the student. If he follows the directions, by working hard, success will be his. Although, this short text is not enough to set hard and fast rules for final project selection, some guidelines are provided which can help a student because final project selection is one of the crucial and hard tasks in student life.

There are two choices for final project selection: developmental project and research project. In a developmental project, the student must follow any of the software lifecycle models and must deliver a software product at the end of the project. This deliverable should be tested and debugged in all respects and must be efficient. Research projects, on the other hand, are based on research methodology. It involves a lot of literature survey i.e. a deep study of the existing knowledge. At the end of research project, the student is required to add something new to knowledge that is worth to know. Developmental projects, in my view, are recommended for those students who intend to join software industry soon. However, if a student wants higher study i.e. MS or Ph.D., then I think such a student must select a research project.

Some suggestions for the selection of final project are given below:

            i.            First of all, the student should think about his/her own interest. During his/her study, the student has studied many Computer Science subjects e.g. Data Communication and Networking, Databases, Signal Processing, Graphics, Compilers, Artificial Intelligence, E-Commerce, Operating Systems and many more. All these subjects are open for research as well as developmental projects.

          ii.            If the student is still confused, he/she can go and ask for guidance from any faculty member. If a teacher provides some options, the student should note these down and should search heavily on the Internet to select any of these options.

        iii.            There are discussion forums and e-mail groups which can be joined for getting valuable ideas and discussions on what is going on currently in any particular subject area. Joining such groups is recommended for students.

        iv.            Our university has provided students with an important facility i.e. the Digital Library. For a computer science student, it is important to access IEEE and ACM. If these resources are used well, there will be no problem in the selection of such a project, which is most wanted internationally.

          v.            The student must keep in mind, however, that for acting on the points given above, a single week or two or even a month is not enough. Although it is better to spend more time on deciding the project, it does not mean to delay the project! It means students should explore every subject they study, right from the beginning semesters (and should not defer it to the seventh or eighth semester). Students should join discussion groups and hear (at least) the discussion there much before seventh semester. They must take advantage of the digital library much before they are asked for submitting project proposals!     

Whatever choice the student takes, the main things are hard work, consistency, patience and proper planning. Good luck for your project!