THE FEAR OF FINAL YEAR PROJECT

For those of us who schooled in Nigeria, especially in a public university, you will agree with me that for most students the most dreaded period of their stay on campus is during preparation to commence final year project. The stories from the older students appear mostly discouraging as they always inspire fear for final year project.

The final year project is the final piece of academic work and presentations that undergraduates carry out after their 4 or 5 years of study. It is one aspect that the various departments take very seriously, the fear of “if you don’t defend well, you are sure to graduate with a pass” always beclouds students reasoning as they try to imagine how the D-day would be.

To start with; students are usually asked to submit their preferred project topics to the department for review and possible corrections and assigning to lecturers appointed as project supervisors.

Traditionally, three topics are requested from the students to select from and approved for onward assigning and commencement.

After the topics have been submitted to the Head of Department or Academic adviser, the H.O.D with a few lecturers assess the topics, make corrections or advise to recast.

The approved topics are then assigned to various lecturers in respect to their areas of specialization. The supervisor invites the students under their supervision and gives instructions on how the project should be carried out.

Note that every lecturer depending on their experience and qualification have their different styles and method of engaging their candidates, hence the students are supposed to consult their seniors to enquire on their respective supervisors’ style of supervising students to deliver.

Some supervisors prefer submission of work done in chapters while others would ask for the entire work to be submitted before corrections can be made. In some universities, supervisors usually request chapters of work done via their email address for corrections and forwards back to the students for compliance with inputs and recommendation. There are still some analogue lecturers who would either tell their students to type and submit or write down, put in a file and submit either at their offices or a specified location. Its important for the students to identify what works for their supervisor and comply to avoid being frustrated or witch-hunted.

The best part of this is that students are given the option for a change of supervisor few weeks into engagement upon payment of a sum (mostly N5,000.00 and above and N10,000.00 for late entries).

REASONS FOR ANXIETY OVER THE FINAL YEAR PROJECT:

Students usually have fear for final year projects for the following reasons;

1. High expectations from supervisors: Some project supervisors expect too much from students; this is not too bad but I would rather prefer that student’s strength be put into consideration individually as not all can perform at same pace. This is not often the case with Uni lecturers, they tend to place all student the same and has increased the amount of fear exhibited by final year students over project writing.
2. Sleepless night over research: Final year project come with a lot of stress which could prolong into late nights. Due to the vastness of some topics the researcher is prone to contribute large portion of his/her sleep in ensuring that deadlines are met. This has been a major source of fear for final year students of Nigerian tertiary institutions.
3. Financial threshold: Every project come with its financial burden, you cannot carryout a successful research work without having to spend through your teeth. This has rapidly influenced the tension that students face when it come to writing final year projects. Sometimes shrinking your scope of study has little or no effect on the amount spent on a study. Not meeting up financially could mean late submission of project or not defending at all in some cases.
4. Multiple corrections and recasts: Final year project is known for its numerous corrections/revisions which is due to students’ carelessness and nonchalancy in carrying out their research papers. This is where consulting professional proofreaders and editors come in, it is advisable to always engage the services of professionals to help in proofreading and editing your research papers at every stage to forestall grammatical errors and inaccurate formatting.
5. Stage fright and fear of defense: For some students, the troubles don’t just end with writing final year projects, the defense itself brings fear to students. Again, this is where professionals should be consulted to help students with salient areas of concentration and hints on possible questions so that the students don’t spend too much time covering the entire material even though questions may be thrown up from very silent in-between contexts of their project.
6. Anxiety for good grade: Making an “A” in your final year research project is a good way to boost your academic grade and increase your chances of making it out of school in flying colors, hence project writing always increases the anxiety of students, the fear that they may either have high grades or not becomes a source of worry for final year students.

HOW TO OVERCOME FEAR FOR PROJECTS/THESES

1. Start early: The best possible way to win over your fears for final year research is to start on time to prepare for your project; it is advisable to formulate a project topic from difficult tasks or experience during your industrial training in OND, HND or B.Sc level. This will keep you abreast with the problem in which you intend to find possible solutions to and keep you ahead of your contemporaries. If peradventure you could not get a topic during your I.T then consult a professional for free project idea.
2. Fall in love with your topic: After formulating a suitable topic you should love the topic; your success in defense is determined by your ability to play around your topic, the statement of problem, findings and recommendations. This is only possible when you fall in love with your topic.
3. Seek advice from your seniors: The easiest way to excel as a final year student planning to take up any research assignment is to indulge those who have passed similar stage successfully, if you are lucky to get a smart senior who can properly guide you before commencing your research work, your final year project will be very easy to complete. Basically, you require a good knowledge of your topic and speed to complete the research in good time.
4. Consult professionals: There is no school policy that is against your getting external help to finish your final year project, you can engage the services of professional project writers to complete your research papers especially if you are a working class and can not meet up with your deadline.
5. Have a budget: Every endeavor requires a budget; same rule applies to your final year project writing. You need to decide on how much you intend to spend throughout the exercise so you don’t end up in debt or frustrated.
6. Look out for likely questions during defense: It is only professionals who have handled similar exercise that can provide you with reliable hints on likely questions and manner of approach for every question thrown at you. Consult a professional.
7. Pray: Nothing takes the place of prayer. During your final year research project do yourself good by getting close to God. This is the only sure way to achieve success on campus.