One amazing thing about final year projects is that it can boost or mar your overall CGPA. So it's best to endeavor to make your project earn you nothing less than a B. This thread is dedicated to providing tips to assist undergraduates offering the course of computer science in any of our higher institutions of learning.
Getting a Project Topic:
Obviously, this is the first thing that one should think of. But the problem is how to go about it. Many students will search the web, libraries or other sources looking for topics that they could use. Sadly, after a topic might have been found, many students fail to fully understand the purpose for which the project was intended for. They only get to discover this during their project defense when the examining Project Co-coordinator points out this fact to them, but by then, its too late for excuses. The Marks are awarded... and its never an Alpha.
The thing about choosing a project title is that you should know what the title's all about! Only then can you begin to carry out research on it in the right dirction! Choose a title that is clear to you, that you understand. If its too Abstract for you, forgo it and look for one you can explain in your sleep to your curious younger brother when woken up at 1:00 am at night.
Choosing the best topic for your Project Defense: Okay, so you've picked a topic. You understand its aims and objectives intuitively. Is there any thing else that you need to know that can help you decide if the topic you have chosen is the best one for you?
Here's a tip.
Choose a topic that will solve something in your immediate environment. That way you will get more marks as you are targeting real-life issues in your society and you it will be viewed that you are using the knowledge gained from your soon-to-concluded-education to contribute to the developmental uplifting of your immediate environment.
Try not to choose a topic like:
"An Adaptive Programming Model for Fault-Tolerant Distributed Computing"
It may sound good and all but does it solve the immediate problems experience in a developing third world country like ours? Most of the topics that we gather online come from sources which belong to the developed world. The developed Nations have overcome the issues of constant electricity, cheap and affordable internet services and a conducive environment for living. So the type of project that their students will be solving will be research topics to discover new ways and algorithms for solving already existing solved problems like the one in the topic I gave above: Already there are many Adaptive Programming Models in existence but this project seeks to create one that will over come the problems associated with the already existing models. This project will be of use to the environment of the Developed World, since almost every aspect of their society is based on the computer, hence it makes sense to create models that will make them more fault tolerant so that they can function more efficiently. In many developing Nations like ours, where not even 2% of our society is based on the workings of the computer, of what real use will such a topic have for us? Why seek to improve a model that is not even in operation in our immediate environment? We have to think of this when choosing topics for our Final Year Projects.
Now consider this topic:
'Online NAFDAC Registration and Verification Solution"
Ever bought a drug and discovered that it did not work for you? Yet if you checked for the NAFDAC registration number you would see one. How can you be sure that the number wasn't just printed on the drug's container and is a fake one? Is there any way you can be sure that the NAFDAC registration number you see is real? How can you verify that claim? Is there an easily accessible medium by which ordinary members of the public like you and I can check to see if a drug has been registered without going through tedious bureaucratic procedures? If the drug cannot be verified is there a way we can report the fake drug to NAFDAC?
Looking at the above, we can clearly see that we have a problem predominant in our society that has yet to be solved. Why go perfecting algorithms and models when your people are in danger of consuming fake drugs-an issue that you can tackle with your acquired knowledge of computer science?
Now if you were a Nigerian Computer Science Professor and two students came up with their project titles, one the Model Improvement Title and the other, the NAFDAC Verification Title, which of the two titles would you believe if implemented would aid the Nigerian society more? Your guess is as good as mine!
Need to find similar topics relevant to our environment like the one above? Check Here
