You've all studied software engineering and had experience
of projects, so there is little to add in terms of actual
organisation and implementation of the project.
Only a few issues remain:
1 - Report Writing.
Guidelines on project report writing are
here, which were developed
from guidelines for writing postgraduate theses, so
the guidelines are biased towards reports on
fundamental research rather than software or product
development. However, the principles and sequence for
both are identical, except that development replaces
research throughout the report : specifically, a
report on software or product development will most
likely begin by introducing the need or opportunity
for the product in chapter 1, and surveys what is
already available in chapter 2, and describes how and
why you choose a particular approach in chapter 3;
etc.
2 - Review of research literature or existing
software / systems / products etc.
Regardless of whether you have a well
specified project emanating from industry, academia, or
yourself, a survey of existing and related methods is
necessary to show you are aware of the general field, and
have not missed any good ideas. Besides, such information
frames the context of the project and forms the bulk of the
first two chapters.
Consequently you need to do some research and while there
are several online search databases, Google is a fairly
comprehensive quick one-stop-shop for most undergraduate
needs at this stage.
Google scholar will serve for academic
peer-reviewed research; and on campus, you should have
direct access to many online journals.
You may also use other online literature searches such as
ACM, and IEEE., with online access to contents also
available through the library website: http://booleweb.ucc.ie/
Google search will suffice for general
topic searches; but will generally result in an
irrelevant overload, unless Google scholar has no
hits. Specific focused narrow searches may yield
information on novel untested topics which have not
yet been through the peer review process and published
and listed through Google Scholar.
Google code searches public source
code, if you wish to integrate and
attribute (so as to avoid allegations of
plagiarism) code snippets or utilities into your
code...this would be the exception rather than the
rule, as in the case of a large diverse software
engineering project which draws on several fields
integrating them into a single facility.
Google book search may also be
convenient to review book snippets which are not
available on Safari from BooleWeb via the UCC library site.
Together these search resources should rapidly facilitate a
comprehensive review on almost any topic you need; your
main problem will be trying to restrict search results. The
usual approach is to start with a fairly general search
using appropriate search keywords and then follow
interesting or relevant trails to focus on what you want.
The results may suggest you change search keywords or even
research directions. If too many 'hits' are returned at any
stage, restrict the search by the use of exact phrases or a
conjunction of extra relevant keywords. To avoid
overwhelming bewilderment, try to restrict references to
major works rather than every reference on the web. You can
check citation rank or just restrict keyword search words
occuring in the title of the article, which brings us
neatly to the next major issue, restricting the scope of
your project.
3 - Realistic Restrictions
Since the usual project problems involve a combination of:-
1 - initially
being somewhat idealistic / optimistic and attempting too
much;
2 - followed by
the drudgery of reality: unforseen bugs, problems and
incompatibilities, in algorithms, programs, and
technologies;
3 - followed by a
last minute panic - being forced to cut both the ambitions
and thrust of whatever you have into a presentable project,
then it is
essential to have realistic goals and schedules, with
alternative routes to the finish if needed.
(The similarity with the board game 'snakes and ladders' is
all too real!)
So, assuming that you have an approved project, and
plan of action, then, please consider and highlight to your
supervisor any aspects of your project, which you think
are, or may be problematic or overly ambitious, in
terms of:-
1- goals - what you intend to do,
and
2 - how you
intend to do it,
so you can try to avert any late problems, and have
fallback plans, to minimise stress and maximise success.
4 - Grading
Further details on grading are available
here.