It is another session of conducting final year research reports and as you may have heard, seen or experienced, it is a hectic year for researchers. Project writing gives you the grace to develop adequate writing skills that when you graduate, anything called writing you put your hands is already well adjusted. So, you do yourself well to focus and do a very nice job.
Here are some tips to help you scale through:
1. First, get your faculty format: The first thing any supervisor would tell a supervisee is to get the faculty format. Without it, your headings and subheadings will be useless. The work may even be good but it will not follow the laid down procedures if you do not follow your Faculty format. The format is always available in the department or your supervisor will direct you on how to get it.
2. Be a friend of your supervisor: Even if all the lecturers in your department are against you for one reason or the other, your supervisor must always be your friend. You will be humble enough to make it like that. That kind of casual friend you know? Because being a friend to your supervisor means he/she will supervise you with a good mind and even do more than the expected in putting you through. Supervisory work is really hectic too.
3. Use the assistance of research assistant: If you are the type that is already familiar with research practice, then good. But where your knowledge in research is fresh, do well to start with proper guidance. Many students who wanted to do it all by themselves later have to start all over because what they initially did was not accepted.
4. Be extremely meticulous: You see? Project writing is hard work. You have to be very careful. You need to read your work word by word, sentence by sentence and page by page. Not all those hurried work that you garbage in for your supervisor only for your supervisor to help you garbage it out. Even when you are done for proposal or final defense, you must use one or two nights to reread again. You have to reread because even if you reread ten times, you cannot see some errors, hence, you do the little you can.
5. References is to project as ingredients are to a pot of soup: You see? If you never understood the meaning of documentation in project writing, it means you never really understand research practice. Any website you used, immediately you are done using materials there, (when using offline writing) you ensure you write everything about the website down. When using computer, you save to your folder. What you will write includes: name of author, title of material, date and domain name in full.
6. If you are using a pdf, same thing applies, but no need for name of website. Just write name of author(s), year, title of work, name of journal and volume with page numbers. Same thing applies to all books used.
7. Citation refers to the names of the authors you referred to in the body of your work. I.e. Michael (2020).
8. References refers to the list of all the cited authors at the end of our work.
9. All cited works must appear in your reference list. This is sacrosanct.
10. Works not cited must not appear in your reference list. This is sacrosanct.
Discussions about research are unending because research practice is emerging. Findings today are altered tomorrow, so it is difficult for one thing to stand for long unless it is still relevant at such time. Since standards change every time, do well to get yourself acquainted with your Faculty standard.
Tips:
1. Start on time from the beginning of first semester
2. Get a topic quickly. A topic is also a problem. If you are asked to identify a problem in research, it means identify a topic, because it is the problem that necessitate the research inquiry.
3. Your topic must be related to your field of study
4. Consult a knowledgeable research assistant
5. A research assistant is anyone who assist students conduct their studies. It could be a graduate, a fellow knowledgeable student colleague, a lecturer or anyone with knowledge in research practice that can guide you through.
6. Dedicate most of your night reading your project.
7. Learn how to merge sentences. Identify irrelevant sentences and omit even if you lifted them.
8. Avoid using a full work and editing it as your project. You will miss the writing skills you were supposed to acquire from the hardwork you are dodging.
You know what? We cannot really say all. Just give it your best shot.
