Preparing for your final year project in the Summer

University courses Mathematics & Computing
1

Your final year project is a hugely significant piece of work that you will do in your degree. As such, it is a very good idea to start preparing for it as early as possible, this includes in the Summer before. Here are some ways that you can prepare in the Summer:

  • Do your background research - once you’ve chosen the overall direction and scope of the project, it is a very good idea to research and read as much as possible in the area of your project. You’d want to read about the domain that your project is solving a problem in, also current solutions and methods are important to look at.

  • Look at as many research papers as possible - online libraries and sources such as IEEE, ACM, Science Direct, Google Scholar and others, are very good and reliable sources. It is also a good idea to read around adjacent areas to have a diverse and in-breadth, as well as in-depth understanding of the area.

  • If you are planning to use new technologies, programming languages or libraries, it is a good idea to become acquainted to these as early as possible, so that you are not spending as much time on this during the 3rd year, so that you can concentrate your time in 3rd year on what matters the most.

  • At the same time, even if you are planning mostly to stick to technologies and tools that you already know, it is still a good idea to practice with them just so that you are prepared as much as possible in 3rd year.

  • If time permits, or if you feel that you are prepared enough, it may be a good idea to start working on a bit of code to start developing a system. This will help you and save time in 3rd year, or, if the prototype is a very basic version, you would still have a more clearer picture of the end product.

2 Likes
2

Totally agree with starting early on the final year project! Doing background research and getting familiar with new tech over the summer was a game-changer for me. I hit up Google Scholar a lot and brushed up on my coding skills. Made the final year so much smoother. Great tips! :grin:

2 Likes
3

how do you plan to approach your background research for your project? Are there any specific resources or strategies you’ve found helpful for delving into your project’s domain and understanding current solutions and methods? I’d love to hear about your process!

1 Like
4

What I found worked well was something along the following lines:

  1. Do general reading into the domain you are trying to provide a solution for, this is very useful particularly if you don’t know the domain too well. It allows you to tailor the solution specifically to the domain and will familiarise yourself with terms, which will be particularly useful when doing the literature review.

  2. Don’t just read literature about current computing solutions in your domain, it is a good idea to read literature purely just from the domain, as computing literature about the domain can certainly tend to abstract and simplify concepts for a computer science professionals audience.

  3. Look at adjacent literature as well, as you have a more general understanding, not just a focused and narrow view of the domain itself.

1 Like