Projects: Final Report / Dissertation Requirements

Projects: Final Report / Dissertation Requirements

1. Introduction

Your Initial Project Proposal gave you a chance to put forward an idea for your project. Your Interim Research Proposal explained how you are managing your project. Your Final Report – often called your Dissertation – should tell your readers what you wanted to do, how you went about doing it, the results you achieved and what you believe it all means. It is your opportunity to communicate your work successfully, and provide you with not only a report for assessment, but also a document for your long term use as you develop your career.

2. Developing your Project

When developing your project, you should actively implement the project management principles you learnt at level 2: this will help ensure your project has a good chance of succeeding. Make sure you regularly review the information you identified at the Interim Research Proposal stage for resources, risk, ethics, contacts and overall planning, so that you stay on track with your project. Ensure you update these forms where necessary. The actual process you should adopt is very much dependent on the nature of the project, and it is here that input from your supervisor is vital. The following notes provide some general information.

What you should have already done – if not, do these activities now: 

Be aware of module requirements, submission dates etc. Plan for these.

Be certain that you understand your project’s “problem”, i.e. the work to be done, and the reasons why this work is required. Take guidance if this is not the case. 

Your project may either examine a particular topic in great depth, or combine different areas of thinking into a new whole.

Formulate the aims of the project. Make sure they are realistic, considering timescales and resources. 

Spend time researching other approaches to the same and similar problems: this will become the literature survey.

Undertake a few basic investigations and/or designs to help get a feel for the project. 

Analyse the results of the initial investigations / designs. Be guided by what you find to decide your way forward.

Undertake iterative steps of investigative / design work, result-taking and conclusiondrawing. Seek advice if the results are unexpected. 

You must plan your project from the very start. It is always clear from the dissertation whether you have been working according to a properly planned route, or simply blundered along.

Check your plan with relevant staff – supervisor, technicians - and ensure your risk assessment supports it. Review both regularly to keep them current and ensure that what you are actually doing meets the plan – or explain where you are deviating from plan, and why. Re-plan accordingly, and re-assess your risks. 

Have regular contact with your project supervisor, and always arrange future meetings.

If / when you encounter any difficulties, perhaps due to circumstances beyond your control, contact your supervisor and seek advice as soon as possible. 

A project needs to contain your personal input. A review or examination of an existing system / device without out clear demonstration from you of your new thinking and activity does not generally produce a project with a high mark

complete case study is attached below