HOW TO START WRITING A

COMPUTER SCIENCE PROJECT

BY

THE CODE4ME TEAM

For more information contact

www.code4me.info

INTRODUCTION

One amazing thing about final year projects is that it can boost or mar your
overall CGPA. So its 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 COMPUTER SCIENCE 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.
A good example:
A student I once knew went online and searched for topics to use. He finally
came up with the topic,
Genetic Algorithm Based Train Simulation Using Concurrent Engineering
I wished him good luck.
In the end, while defending his project, he was asked by the project
examiners to explain to them what his topic was all about. Turned out that
what he had researched on had no bearing whatsoever with the topic as the
examining panel pointed out to him that the explanation he gave, and the
actual meaning of the project topic, were two different things entirely!

The poor lad was told to rewrite his work under a week after which he was
awarded with a D for all his troubles. If he had taken a simple project
topic which he understood, he would have cleared his papers!
The thing about choosing a project title is that you should know what the
titles all about! Only then can you begin to research in the right direction!
Choose a title that is clear to you, that you understand. Do researches on the
project and confirm that the purpose of the project is in line with the notion
that you had about it. Do not wait until the eleventh-and-a-half hour before
you are told what your project really is!
My next post will guide us on the tips to take to choosing the best topic for
our project defense.

CHOOSING THE BEST TOPIC FOR YOUR PROJECT DEFENSE.

Okay, so youve 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?

Heres a tip. Choose a computer science project 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 it will be
viewed that you are using your knowledge gained from your education to
contribute to the developmental uplifting of your 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
experienced in a developing third world country like ours? Most of the
topics that we gather online come from sources which belong to the white
man. The white man has overcome the issues of constant electricity, cheap
and affordable internet services and a conducive environment for a human
being to live in. So the type of project that his 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
white man, 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 country 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 society?

We have to think of this when choosing topics for our Final Year Projects.

A REAL WORLD COMPUTER SCIENCE PROJECT TOPIC

EXAMPLE

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 number you would see one. How can you be sure
that the number wasnt just printed on the drugs container and is a fake
one? Is there any way you can be sure that the NAFDAC 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? 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 you 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!

GETTING REAL WORLD PROBLEMS!

Lets imagine that we were actual real world problem solvers and we wanted
to solve real world problems encountered either by us or other members of
the society in a particular field, discipline or activity.

Now that weve imagined what we are, the next step is for us, the problem
solvers to look for problems encountered in our society that can be solved by
us!
I have one such problem that I encounter almost every other day and I intend
to make an example of this problem to demonstrate how we can create
project topics from everyday difficulties.
Note: Since we are computer scientists, it is assumed that the method of
solving the problems we encounter would be to replace or enhance the
existing mode of operation of the system, (It could be a banking system,
record keeping system, examination recording system, etc) within which the
problem exists, with a formidable and reliable computerized system. This
will involve designing computer software to work and interact with the
provided computer hardware, provided for the new computerized system.
Next, we shall take a look at a problematic system operating in my
environment.

A PROBLEMATIC SYSTEM: THE POST OFFICE VACANCY

NOTIFICATION SYSTEM

In my town, the Post Office is still very useful, for something other than the
obvious purpose of a post office, which is to send and receive mails and
parcels. It is used by businesses and organizations in the town and its
environs to show vacancy notices to the public. Every week, job owners go
to the Post Office to pay for their job offers to be pasted on the notice board
and everyday job seekers troop to the Post Office to read the Notice Board
for information about the vacancies available.

Next well take a look at the problems of this system. . .

THE PROBLEMS:

Well, where shall we start?

Lets begin with the fact that no matter where you live in the town, you have
to pay transport money to come and get information. To stand a better
chance of getting the job, youll have to submit your application early, and
to do that you have to be aware of the freshest job offers so that you can
apply at once! What if you went there and there was nothing new?!!
Ah!
A complete waste of money from a job that you dont even have! So here we
see the problem of transportation.
What comes next on the list? Remember it was mentioned that every week
job offers were put up. By whom? The job owners. How? By them coming
to the Post Office. Again, we see the problem of transportation coming in to
play for the job owners, such that no matter where the job was located in the
town, a staff had to pay a visit to the Post Office just to deliver information.
Cant this be avoided?
What else? Staleness. How many times have applicants applied for a job
whose offer had long since expired, just because the notice did not put any
deadline and the notice was still up? Imagine the disappointment of the
applicants and the embarrassment of the job owners!
These are the major problems of the current Post Office Vacancy
Notification System in my area.

We have looked at our environment for faulty systems with problems, we

have identified one and now we have a Topic for our Final Year Computer
Science Project! The topic: The Post Office Vacancy Notification System.

WRITING A COMPUTER SCIENCE PROJECT TOPIC PROPOSAL

When writing a project proposal the following sections should be contained

in it:
Introduction
Statement of the Problem
Aims and Objective
Justification for the Study

Now in the next posts, we shall take a look at each of these sections and for
each section, give an example of a how to write the contents of the section
using the topic: The Post Office Vacancy Notification System, as our
project.

HOW TO WRITE THE INTRODUCTION SECTION

The Introduction Section of the project proposal, as the sections title clearly
describes, introduces the reader (in this case, your project supervisor) to a
brief overview of the situation of the environment within which the
problematic system that is to be solved, exist.

First you talk about the main elements around which the current problematic
system operates and how they interact with the environment

For example;
If the system is a University Student Registration System for instance, the
obvious main elements of that system would be the university, the students
and the registration of the students.
Now you talk about the first element, the University and how it interacts
with the society. At least, a paragraph should focus on the usefulness of the
university to the environment.
Then take on the next element-the students. Another paragraph should
introduce the role of the student as regards the university and the
environment. Now another paragraph will talk about the other element, the
student registration process. The aim of each paragraph would be to explain
to the reader the role of each element of the system and how they operate
within their existing environment.

Notes:

*Note that the environment could be an office, a street, a town, a city, a

state, a region, a country or even, the world-but that would be pushing the
limits too far!

*It is necessary to make research on the elements of the system so as to be

able to write on them. The more research materials you read on them, the
more will be your ability to write an introduction about them.

*Try and write like a journalist writing an essay rather than a student
struggling for words to quickly complete and pass his proposal to his project
supervisor! Read lots of journals and newspaper publications so as to see the
use of words and increase your vocabulary.

*Make your paragraphs connect and flow together so that when one is
reading the whole introduction, he/she will be able to follow you with
understanding and clarity.

Now, we shall write the Introduction Section for the proposal of the topic:
The Post Office Vacancy Notification System.

Proposal of the topic: The Post Office Vacancy Notification System |

Introduction Section Example.

Note: Words written in brackets () are comments made by me to you and not
a part of the Section Write up.

1.1 INTRODUCTION (Take note on how the section is numbered and

titled in block)

(First I will start with a paragraph about the current systems element-the
post office)

The Post office is responsible primarily for the collection and delivery of
mails and parcels to remote destinations usually separated by towns, cites or
countries. Until the late decade, the delivery of mails and packages to remote
locations was done through the post office service but since then, with the
advent of the internet, the role of the Post office as the primary means of
mail delivery, was replaced by the electronic mail or the email. Nowadays,
business cards of organizations and companies have long since replaced the
P.O. Box: label with the email address: label, making the delivery of
mails via the post office an obsolete practice. However, since physical
parcels cannot be transferred from one location to the next through the email
system, the Post office is still used as a means to send physical materials
from one place to another.

(Now I will introduce the second element of the system -Vacancy- in the next
paragraph)

As a result of the nature of the activities that go on there, the Post office is
seen as a public infrastructure open to all sections of public, as anybody and
everybody can go there to either send or receive mails. This makes the Post
office a convenient spot to place public notices such as awareness
campaigns, government public announcements, job vacancies and adverts
for members of the public to read. Of the lot, the most widely read notices
are those on job vacancies as every year, fresh graduates leave school and
look for employment into the countrys labor market. Hence, many Post

offices situated in cities and towns across the country are seen as a viable
and cheap source of information, especially for the unemployed youth, about
the employment opportunities available in the area of location of the post
offices.

HOW TO WRITE THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

SECTION
After we have introduced the reader to the core elements behind the
workings of the current problematic system, the next step is to IDENTIFY
the problems of the system which make it problematic. To write this section
you will need to list each problem and outline it i.e. explain it.
Hint: Try and make your list of problems be up to five or more

PROPOSAL OF THE TOPIC: THE POST OFFICE VACANCY

NOTIFICATION SYSTEM | STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
EXAMPLE.
Note: Words written in brackets () are comments made by me to you and
not a part of the Section Write up.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

(Take note on how the section is numbered and titled in block)

(First I will use a paragraph to introduce the list of problems with their
outlines)

There however exist certain issues associated with getting information about
the availability of jobs by the job seekers. These problems are outlined and
discoursed in brief detail below:

(Now I will list and explain the problems)

1. Cost of Transportation: The cost of transportation by the applicants

consistently paying visits to the post office to look for a job can run into a lot
of cash. As long as they do not have a job or are looking for a better one,
they will feel obligated to find time to go the post office to take a peek at the
notice boards to find vacancies for which they can apply for.

2. Lack of access to fresh vacancy information: Many an applicant has

missed the opportunity to get a job for which they were qualified for,
because of lack of immediate information on the availability of a vacancy.
Often the news of a job offer will be heard weeks after it had been displayed
in the post office notice board giving the applicants little time to submit their
applications.

3. Distance from the post office: For those living in locations far away
from the post office, the problem of distance comes into play as applicants
living beyond the close proximity of the post office would be at a major

disadvantage to get jobs as those living nearby will always have the
privilege of getting the jobs due to their faster access to vacancy information
from the post office.

4. Lack of Remote Business Transaction by Employers: It is impossible

for business owners to have access to the job advert services of the post
offices without physically visiting the premises of its building. This makes it
difficult or very near well impossible for businesses operation beyond the
close proximity of the post office to benefit from their job information
service.

5. Stale Information: Due to inefficient services caused by inefficiency of

the individual or individuals in the post office responsible for managing the
job adverts notification section of the office, there can be frequent
occurrences of having stale and expired job vacancies still being displayed
on the notice boards which would lead many applicants on a fruitless and
wasted venture.

For more information on any matter concerning your Computer Science

Project Topics you can visit the Code4Me Website at www.code4me.info

Have a Nice Day!

~ Code4Me Team
team@code4me.info