University projects provide opportunities for students to practice theories on real problems, join the open source community, and gain experience on mini industrial projects. Students should follow a standard process, make their progress accountable, and use free tools to record time. They should record references, write reports at milestones, and maintain a project blog. Finally, students should create buzz around their project, look for presentation opportunities, and publish their work in conferences to market themselves through the project.

1. Dileepa Jayathilake

2. University projects are
opportunities
Start making a name for yourself
(1) Best chance to practice theories on real
problems
(2) Mark your entry into open source community
(3) Experience a mini industrial project
(4) Embark on a journey towards higher

3. Manage Time
You won’t get super powers during
final three weeks
(1) Follow a standard process
(2) Make your progress accountable
(3) Use free tools to record time

4. Record while you go
(1) Record references as and when they are referred
(2) Write small reports at each milestone
(3) Keep a project blog
Final report is not a
final thing

5. Think Big
(1) Create a buzz around your project
(2) Grab opportunities to present your work
(3) Publish in conferences
Market yourself through
project

6. Innovation Attitudes
4 laws of Innovative
Thinking
(1) Dare to move out of comfort zone
(2) Know that grandfather stories too can
(3) Put yourself under difficult condition
(4) Use technology; Don’t be a devotee

7. Problem solving approach
towards research
Generalizable solution to a
specific problem
--------------------------Example------------------------------
Problem : How to go about storing data for
structured log analysis?
Solution : Effective way to handle huge
heterogeneous tree

8. Research Type 1
Inferential
Survey a population to determine its
characteristics
--------------------------Example---------------------------------------
Problem : What is the target phone model when
developing mobile apps for developing countries?
Solution : Conduct a survey on user preferred phone
model during next 2 years in a developing country
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9. Research Type 2
Experimental
Manipulate environment to
fabricate a solution
--------------------------Example---------------------------------------
Problem : What is the optimum way to extract log data?
Solution : Design a new data extraction language and
fine-tune while comparing with existing ones
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10. Research Type 3
Simulation
Construct an artificial environment
as test bed
--------------------------Example---------------------------------------
Problem : What is the best 3D representation of a mind
map for touch devices?
Solution : Come up with different representations and
simulate user actions to compare effectiveness of each
model
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11. Research Type 4
Longitudinal
Research is carried on over
several time periods
--------------------------Example---------------------------------------
Problem : How to develop a framework for structured log
analysis?
Solution : Develop it as an incremental model over
several phases
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12. Research Type 5
Qualitative
Subjective assessment of attitudes,
opinions, behavior
--------------------------Example---------------------------------------
Problem : What is the impact of cross-cultural behaviors
in geographically distributed scrum?
Solution : Analyze literature and cases to generate
insights and impressions
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13. What’s hot?
Location Aware Apps
Mobile
Web