How to Write a Capstone Project in Technology – Just Meet Our Guide

Technology is moving forward, and unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for those who are endowed with a technical mindset, there is no room for creativity. But there is a place for thorough research, analysis, strong points and a personal look at innovation. Let’s do this together.

How to Write a Capstone Project in Technology – Your Step By Step Instruction

Well then, let’s overcome your fear of the unknown and begin our research on your project.

It All Begins with Your Topic

As usual, you have two options. The first is to get a topic from the teacher. The second is to develop a theme yourself. And this is just the case when we recommend paying attention to the first option. You already have serious enough research and a lot of technical work, so it’s much better not to complicate your life by searching for a topic that is suitable.
After you receive a topic from a professor, look at it again. Make sure that you understand all the terms and catch the essence of what is required of you. If the topic seems incomprehensible to you at this stage, feel free to ask questions immediately. If you postpone all clarifications until the moment you complete your homework, you will lose the precious time that you will need to study and write.

Hint! Ask questions even if you understand your topic. It is very likely that your professor, being keen on his work, will give you valuable tips and advice in which direction to move. And this will significantly increase your chance of a good assessment, of course, provided that you follow all further recommendations.

In case you need to choose a topic yourself, well, even this is not a hopeless situation. Start with what is interesting to you and what you know well. Following this path, it will be easier for you to navigate the research materials, you will be able to develop a strong thesis and you will immediately catch the essence that the researchers of your subject are talking about. Here are some ideas you can start your search with.

• Technical Subtleties of Developing Wearable Devices;
• Big Data for Retail – Ways to Organize Information;
• Machine and Deep Learning – Application Prospects Today;
• The Current Stage of AI Development – What Technology Is Capable of from a Technical Point of View;
• Testing Health Care Applications – Access and Security Issues;
• Development for iOS and Android in Terms of Further Application Promotion.

Let’s Start Your Research

So, after you have made the final decision regarding your topic, it is time to move on to direct research. So what scientific materials will you need?

Books

In our case, you will need books only for the first acquaintance with your topic and collection of basic information. As a rule, books are not suitable for full-fledged research, as technologies develop faster than publishers manage to publish books. Therefore, go to Google Books, look for suitable literature and start collecting the first insights.

Scientific Materials

Scientific articles will form the basis of your research. Be sure to pay attention to the publication date – in the case of technology, the fresher the publication, the better, because innovation is developing too fast. In addition, you need to use only authoritative sources.

How to Check the Credibility of the Source?

The very first way is to write the name of the author in the Google search line and see his other publications. Also, pay attention to other scientific articles that contain a link to the study that you are currently analyzing. If you find enough of these links, then the scientific article can be considered authoritative.

How to Work with Scientific Articles?

So, after you have found some potentially suitable articles, you need to read them. It is not necessary to read every letter – try to read diagonally, but try to catch the point and follow the logic of the author’s thoughts.

At the second reading stage, take a pen and paper, write down the title of the article and its author, and try to write down the main points and their proofs. Now you can be sure that you understand the article better, and most likely, the first ideas for your personal thesis are already beginning to appear in your head. Do these steps with all the articles you choose. For the capstone project, you need at least five recent articles.

Hint! Once you have selected some of the best articles, try to find their analysis or even criticism. This will help you form a complete picture.

Github

Unexpectedly, right? However, this resource can become a real well of useful information, especially if you need to include the practical part in your project. Therefore, if your task is partial work with code, then look at existing developments. Plus, such an analysis will help you write your piece of code, if necessary.

Graphic Materials

The capstone project cannot exist without visual support. Therefore, be sure to keep all the graphs and tables that you will rely on when writing.

Hint! Save graphics and print them on an enlarged scale. So it will be easier for you to protect your project, and it will be easier for the audience to perceive what you are talking about.

Case Studies

These sources are suitable for you if you need to highlight not only the theoretical but also the practical side of the issue, especially if the topic of your project is at the junction of two sciences, for example, information technology and marketing. Look for examples of real companies that have implemented specific developments in their business processes. Also, pay attention to the results. You will be able to use real results to defend your thesis statement, plus any indicator that you could not achieve will serve you like a hint for improving the idea that you describe in your project.

Moving On

So, after analyzing all the sources, you already have a preliminary picture in your head. Now is the time to draw up a preliminary plan, or draw a skeleton of your work. It will look as follows.

• Title page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Thesis Statement
• Main Body
• Conclusion
• Appendices
• References

You Can Start Writing

Now let’s figure out what we will write in our paper. Let’s move in order, but you better start with the main part and then finish the rest.

• The title page contains information about you, the name of your research and university, as well as the name of the supervisor.
• The abstract is a brief description of your project. It is very simple to write this part if you leave it for later. All you need to do is to highlight the main idea of each part of your work and give these thoughts a smooth and logical look.
• In the introduction, write a few words about your topic, then go on to the problem that you will explore, and also indicate your thesis statement. It is very important to do everything correctly and logically. The problem that you are researching should be relevant, existing and most importantly, researched. Your thesis should be based on your problem and summarize all your research briefly, as well as point out ways to solve the problem.
• In the main part, most global work awaits you. Unfortunately, it is impossible to make an absolutely accurate algorithm that you can follow. This is not an essay of five paragraphs where everything is short and clear. Here your thoughts should move very logically, and you will not be limited by the number of paragraphs. We advise initially dividing your project into logical chapters, where one chapter will contain one complete thought.
• Conclusion. After you write the main part, do not rush to write a conclusion. Better leave your project alone and give yourself time to relax. We advise you to do so because your conclusion should summarize the study done briefly, but not contain a repetition of the sentences that you have already written. Therefore, it is better to write a conclusion with a fresh mind.
• Appendexies. In this part, you need to collect all of the graphic and visual data that you used and arrange them in a logical order – exactly as your research progressed.
• References. You probably have already known for a long time the rules for designing scientific sources, but before you move on to this part, we recommend that you look at the academic standards again. Do not forget to arrange your sources in alphabetical order, plus pay attention to formatting the names of articles that you used.

Well, you almost did it. Concluding our guide, we want to give you some more practical tips that will be useful to you with a big share of probability.

Practical Tips

Keep in mind the following guidelines when preparing your capstone project.

Plan Your Time

As you have already understood, a capstone project is not a five paragraphs essay where you can discuss any topic you want, plus state your opinion.
Everything is much more complicated and serious here. Therefore, you need much more time to prepare. Ideally, if you take a few days, but rather a week to complete the project.

• The first day for the first acquaintance with the topic and the search for preliminary sources;
• The second day for the analysis of your scientific materials, and a summary of theses from them;
• The third day to develop your thesis and think over the skeleton of your paper;
• The fourth day to directly write the text;
• The fifth day for verification and revision;
• The sixth day to prepare your speech to protect your project;
• The seventh day for rehearsing your speech to make it sound perfect;

So, is it realistic to complete the capstone project in a week? Our answer is yes, it is real.

Do Not Deviate from the Topic

Since the capstone project is not based on paragraphs, but on chapters, it is very easy to start deviating from the topic, since you have a lot of space that needs to be filled with words. Therefore, make sure that the logic of your paper is not violated by watery phrases and deviations from the essence.

Design Your Speech for Protection

Writing a project is only half your success. The second half is to protect it in front of the professor and the audience. Therefore, as soon as your text is ready, you need to immediately begin to prepare a speech for your protection. To do this, do a simple exercise. Put your project text aside and simply write down your thoughts in such a way as if you were talking about your research to your friend or parents. You may miss some technical details, but it will be very easy to return to the text and add them. The most important thing is to get a lively speech with clear words, clearly illuminate your problem and not forget the thesis statement, following the logic of your research as well.

Check Your Text, Graphics, and List of Sources Again

Allow yourself a little rest and then return to your text again. First, check the logic of your paper. Do not be alarmed if it starts to seem to you that you can make your paper more logical – you still have time to fix it. However, make sure that one of your corrections does not violate the logic of all other chapters. And remember, sometimes it’s enough to correct just a few words to make the wording more logical.

Next, check grammar and lexical errors, punctuation, and typos. And also make sure that your text has the necessary percentage of originality.

Make Sure You Follow the Academic Style

Be sure to check the academic formatting requirements again. As you may have noticed, academic requirements change very often, and sometimes even professors notice them late. Therefore, go to the official website of the academic style in which you write and check the correctness of the design of your list of references, the text itself, and the cover page. In other words, don’t let the little things get into your work and ruin the impression of a great text.