Tips For Engineering Students Building a Final Year Project

Engineering Final Year Project Tips

Before discussing the 15 Tips For Building an Engineering Final Year Project, we want to highlight that the final year of the degree can be stressful. In the final year project, students not only have to deal with the assignments and exams of the major modules, but they also have to complete a final year project. In most cases, the final year of the degree defines the students’ next career path. Hence, we advise students to prepare for their final year project properly. Students sometimes feel that the stress of doing the final year project is too much, leading to anxiety. On the other hand, some students lack the proper knowledge and planning, leading to poor performance in final year projects. In essence, resulting in poor degree grades.

This article will discuss important tips that Final Year Projects can take onboard before and during their final year project. After reading these tips, students will know in advance what to expect during their final year project. By following these tips, students can determine the essential aspects of the final year project. These tips will also let students define the critical areas they should focus on to succeed. We also advise how students can get help if they get stuck. Getting help early on will pay off and can contribute massively to the success of a final year project.

Any final year project students, regardless of the subject area, can follow the tips below to ensure their final year project is successful.

Pick a Final Year Project Topic that you enjoy

This is perhaps one of the most important tips out of the 15 Tips For Building an Engineering Final Year Project.

Firstly, we suggest you pick a final year project topic you are interested in rather than one that is easy. By the time you are in your final year of the degree, you will have developed an interest in one or two subjects. Hence, we suggest you pick a topic within the subject areas you find interesting. Once you complete the project, this will give you confidence and a sense of achievement. You will develop many skills, learn new things, and be motivated to learn. You can then boast about these skills in your CV. Highlighting these skills will be a significant contributor to you finding your first job after graduation. An easy final-year project topic will not allow you to learn new skills. You should pick a project topic that is different from the norm and makes you stand out from the crowd.

See our various articles below discussing how you should pick a final year project topic.

Select an expert Final Year Project Tutor

Another vital tip for successfully executing your final year project is to pick a suitable project supervisor. Once you have selected a final year project topic, you should look for a project supervisor who is an expert in your chosen subject area. Ideally, you should pick a project supervisor who is approachable and at least has a PhD degree in your chosen subject area. Your project supervisor ideally should be supervising PhD students. 

Focused Preliminary Project Report

As soon as you have picked a final year project topic and agreed with your project supervisor, you must start writing a preliminary project report. Your final year preliminary report must clearly explain the following aspects of your final year project:

Definition of Problem

You must clearly explain the problem you are trying to solve as part of your final year project. The problem statement should encompass the underlying problems you are trying to address.

Background and Related Work

You must refer to the project background and any prior work to address the problem.  

Your Proposed Solution

Your preliminary project report must include your proposed solution detailing how you intend to solve the problem.

A clear breakdown of the project objectives

One of the essential tips for final-year engineering project students is to break down the project into achievable objectives. Once you break down the project into smaller objectives, you can easily develop a clear project roadmap.

Literature Review

A final year engineering project student must develop a research plan. The students must clearly define what they will research, how, and what they intend to achieve from this result.

Realistic Gantt Chart

Once you have broken down the project into objectives and conducted a brief literature review, it is time to develop a Gantt Chart. You must list all project objectives on a Gantt Chart and assign a deadline to each of them. You could also run multiple tasks in parallel, and the Gantt chart should show the parallel running tasks.

A work plan with a timeline will keep you focused and motivated toward completing your final year project.

Quick Proof of concept

Another good tip for the final year project students is to, if possible, do a quick proof of concept. If your project involves hands-on work, we highly recommend that you either use software or a dedicated platform such as Arduino to complete a proof of concept as soon as possible.

Doing a proof of concept early on will give you confidence in your chosen project topic. You will be sure you will not spend time down a blind ally.

What to do if you get stuck on a problem in your Final Year Project?

If you face difficulty in any aspect of your final year project, we strongly suggest you ask for help immediately. You can either go to your project supervisor or use expert tutors at FYP Help to guide you effectively. We can tell from experience that if a student does not address the problems as they come and leave them till a later stage, it is likely that the student will run out of time and will not meet some project objectives.

If you cannot solve a problem, we suggest not being shy and asking for help immediately. It is OK to ask for help if you have done your best. It may be that you would spend days looking for a solution, whereas your tutor may be able to guide you within a few minutes to solve the problem effectively.

Get all your experiments and verification done quickly

Once you have built your prototype, we advise you to complete your experiments quickly. If you have to verify something, it may be a good idea to get this done as soon as possible. You would find that near the final year project submission deadline, all the labs, including computer labs and workshops, will get tremendously busy. In addition, you may find it challenging to use the equipment you need to experiment with your prototype, as likely someone else will be using it. Hence, it is essential to do your verification and experiments quickly.

Another reason not to delay experimentation and verification is that if you do not get the desired results, you would need time to correct your prototype to achieve your project outcomes. On the other hand, if you leave everything to the last moment, you may not be able to tweak your prototype to achieve your desired results.

Regular communication with your project supervisor

One of the other essential tips for the final year project students is regularly contacting their final year project supervisor. Students must plan and organise meetings with their project supervisors at regular intervals.

Meetings with your project supervisor will enable you to keep your supervisor up to date with the project’s progress. You would also have the opportunity to discuss any problems you are facing and get guidance from the supervisor.

Sometimes, the project supervisors are very busy, so you must plan any meeting with them after checking their pre-planned schedules.

Monitor and report delays due to other’s work

Likely, you will individually develop your final year project to be much more in control. But for some reason, if you work in a team or are doing an industrial project by collaborating with other individuals, you will be relying on others’ ability to deliver things on time. Therefore, if you are working with someone else, ensure they deliver their part of the project on time, so there are no delays, and you can achieve your final year project objectives on time. If you happened to be delayed by others’ work, then clearly mention it in your report.

Stay on top of your work and regularly review Gantt Chart

Another essential tip for the final year project students is to stay on top of their work. Time will pass before you know it. Hence, it is vital to review and track your progress regularly. You should check and compare your progress against the Gantt Chart you developed as part of your final year project preliminary report.

Please use all the resources available, whether the project supervisor, post-graduate students, lab technicians or online communities.

Clear and Thorough Final Year Project Report

A clear and comprehensive final year project report is one of the essential elements for final-year project students. Your Final Year Project Report is an important document that you will write and reference throughout your educational career and, in some cases, for your job hunt. You must write a concise report that covers all aspects of your final year project. For example, you must write about the problems you are trying to solve. In addition, the report must cover the following sections: timeline, literature review, method, tests, results and verification, future work to improve the project and conclusion. Finally, you must write an easy-to-understand final year project report so that a layperson can understand it.

In your final year project report, you must highlight how you think the project is a success and how you have achieved all your project objectives. In addition, if applicable, you should mention the underlying reasons why you did not meet some project objectives.

Do not leave writing the final year project report till the end, as you may not find the time near the end to complete your report. Usually, the submission of final year project reports coincides with the final exams or vice versa, and you can lose focus from writing a good final year report.

Prepare a Concise Final Year Project Presentation

You will be required to create a final year project presentation. The presentation can be in the form of PowerPoint or a poster. Regardless of its format, the project presentation must be clear and concise. You must use detailed graphics, charts, etc., to highlight your results and project outcome. The idea is that someone can quickly comprehend your project scope and outcome after looking at your final year project presentation.

Practice your Final Year Project Presentation

Another essential tip for the final year project students is that you must practice your final year project presentation. Some students know a lot about their topic, but their presentation skills are not good, and they cannot communicate well. A poorly presented final year project presentation would give the impression that you do not have enough knowledge and command of your final year project topic.

Hence, you must practice a lot to ensure the final year project presentation runs smoothly. It would be best if you prepared yourself to the extent that you can answer any questions that your examiner may have about your selected final year project topic.

Conclusion

The final year project is essential to any student’s educational career. The final year project will most likely be instrumental in a student’s career choice. In addition, the experience of the final year project will teach a student many skills that can become useful in their professional career. Therefore, it is imperative that the final year project student successfully executes the final year project. Hence, we have presented 15 Tips For Building an Engineering Final Year Project. The students can use these tips to ensure their final year project is successful.

Best Final Year Project Tips for Students

We have listed a summary of the final year project tips below that will benefit the final year project students regardless of their subject area, i.e. technical or non-technical.

• Pick a Final Year Project Topic that you enjoy
• Select an expert Final Year Project Tutor
• Focused Preliminary Project Report
• A clear breakdown of the project objectives
• Literature Review
• Realistic Gantt Chart 
• Quick Proof of concept
• What to do if you get stuck on a problem in your Final Year Project?
• Get all your experiments and verification done quickly.
• Regular communication with your project supervisor
• Monitor and report delays due to other’s work
• Stay on top of your work and regularly review Gantt Chart
• Clear and Thorough Final Year Project Report
• Prepare a Concise Final Year Project Presentation
• Practice your Final Year Project Presentation

By following and reading the final year project tips listed in this article, the final year project students can develop a solid road map to execute the final year project successfully.

A well-planned and successfully executed final year project is guaranteed to ensure a bright and prosperous career for the degree students.

How can FYP Help assist your Final Year Project?

FYP Help specialises in helping both undergraduate and postgraduate students with their Mini projects as well as Final Year Projects. Our team of experts will help you develop the skills mentioned in this blog post. Our mentors will not only help you refine your interest area but will also assist you in picking the topic for your project which will later help you find a job in your respective field. FYP Help specialises in helping with engineering projects. Our expert mentors are specialists in the following areas of engineering:

• Electrical and Electronic Engineering Degree
• Electronic Engineering Degree
• Electrical Engineering Degree
• Embedded Systems
• Mechatronics Engineering Degree
• Software Engineering Degree
• Mobile App Development
• Any Computing Programming Language
• Computer Science Engineering Degree
• IT Degree

We are here to help!

If you need help with projects in any of the above engineering fields then please contact us today. We are sure we will be able to help you.

We can help you prepare for your Final Year Project right from the start of your degree program. By working with you we will develop a project action plan that will include the development of Mini Projects. All the Mini-Projects will be selected in a subject area that interests you. The projects will cover a range of conceptual topics. You will be solving real-world problems as part of your mini-projects. Upon the successful completion of your mini-projects, you will feel confident about starting a Final Year Project. Please rest assured that our Mentors will be here to help you throughout this process. They will share tips and techniques that can help you excel in your chosen subject area.

Get in Touch!

Please get in touch with us today if you need help with any areas of your Final Year Project.