Tips on How to Survive a Final Year Project (FYP) including supervision, planning, proposal writing and report writing.

1. F I N A L Y E A R
P R O J E C T
H O W T O S U R V I V E Y O U R
B Y C I K G U FA D Z L I
1 2 F E B R U A RY 2 0 1 5

2. M E N U
• How to start
• Managing your
supervisor
• How to write a
proposal
• Outline
• Format

3. H O W T O S TA R T ?
• Find a problem
• Understand the background
• Knows what already being done
• Design solution
• Develop
• Measure your success - Evaluate
& Validate
• Get agreement **
• Plan your work - Get milestones
and stick to it

4. M A K I N G P R O G R E S S
• Show your work periodically
• Progress is measure by OUTPUT, not time.
• Designs, Codes, Reports, Experiment
results.
• If you don’t know whether you are making
‘enough’ progress, ask.
• Do not waste your time & energy on
problems - focus on solutions.
• Do not compare your progress with others
- every project is unique.
• Use weekly meetings to discuss issues and
potentials - not personal problems

5. M A N A G I N G Y O U R S U P E R V I S O R
“Supervision is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”
- pujangga

6. W H AT T O D O
• Weekly meetings can be very helpful
• Use this OPPORTUNITY to discuss
issues and potentials.
• Build trust – be honest
• Build confidence
• Build a good, working relationship
• Keep promises
• Share information
• Clarify expectations

7. W H AT Y O U C A N E X P E C T F R O M T H E M
• Regular, constructive criticism on
your written work
• Guidance, suggestions and ideas
for research direction/opportunities
• Advice at each stage of the project
• Support
• They are not going to do your
project
• They are not going to defend your
project

8. W H AT T H E Y E X P E C T F R O M Y O U
• Show initiative, be proactive.
• Be honest about how things are going
• Produce quality written work that is not
a first draft
• Meet deadlines (or explain why not)
• Meet regularly to discuss your progress
• Be keen & enthusiastic
• Listen to their advice. **
• Tell them what you are learning
• Teach them something new ##

9. D O ’ S & D O N ’ T S
• DON’T leave the
responsibility for your project
to others.
• DON’T be alone. Talk to
others about your problems.
• DO get support from other
students.
• DO give support to other
students.
• DO take every opportunity to
practice and learn.

10. W R I T I N G Y O U R R E P O R T
T H E B O R I N G PA R T

11. A D V I C E
• Myths ~
• Being able to write well is a gift
• Writing is just a question of
getting down what you know, it will
all come together the time comes.
• Writing is what you do at the end,
that's why it is called 'writing up‘.
• Write early, write often.
• NEVER underestimate how long it
will take to write up.

12. N O T G O O D I N E N G L I S H ?
• Get professional help
• Remember, it isn’t your
supervisor’s job to proof read
what you write.
• They only have a limited time
available for you - try to use that
time to most effect.
• Get advice about your project,
not your English/writing.

13. T H E P R O P O S A L
The Romantic Part

14. W H AT ?
Project proposal is a
document that a developer
submits to a business
customer for acceptance.
The proposal describes the
problem to be solved and
explains the resulting
benefits to the customer.

15. W H AT ?
• 3 Important Ingredients:
• Diagnose the problem
• Propose the solution/
treatment
• Plan the work
• ## Convince the client
• Proposal is about the
PROBLEM, not the
programming/
development

16. T H E L AY E R S
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Methodology
4. Framework and Design
5. Conclusion
6. Reference

17. 1 . I N T R O D U C T I O N
i. Background
Describe current situation
ii. Problem Statement
Describe the problem you want to
solve
iii. Objective
a. To design …
b. To implement/develop …
c. To validate/verify …
iv. Scope
Describe Users and Functionalities

18. i. What have been done by
others
ii. What have you study/
explore to support your
proposed solutions
2 . L I T E R A T U R E R E V I E W

19. 3 . M E T H O D O L O G Y
i. What are you going to do?
SLCD
ii. How and When?
Gantt Chart

20. 4 . F R A M E W O R K A N D
D E S I G N
i. Proposed Framework
The Big Picture
ii. Software/application Design
UML, DFD, ERD, Flow
charts, Pseudocode, etc
iii. Graphic User Interface
Storyboard

21. 5 . C O N C L U S I O N
• Repeat the important points.
• Why client should accept
your proposal
• Constraints ~ maybe
6 . R E F E R E N C E
• Journal articles, conference
proceedings, books, reports,
thesis.
• Around 20

22. B E G I N S W I T H A S I N G L E S T E P
J O U R N E Y O F A T H O U S A N D M I L E S
All the best. Thank you.