If you are a student of a college or university and ask a question “what is a capstone project?”, it means you have started an assignment. You may need to understand how to complete this task and get the highest grade. A capstone project is a final paper of a graduate or undergraduate program that students usually write to show what they have learned throughout their academic years. The paper is usually completed within one year and has a considerable impact on the final grade.
Read this article to get substantial capstone project help. The article will help you understand what work is, what structure it has, what types of papers exist, and what requirements professors usually have regarding the assignment.
Defining a capstone project
A capstone project is a multifaceted assignment that serves as a final paper of your academic performance. It serves as a measure of your academic success showing what you have learned within the years in a college or university. A capstone project is similar to a thesis or a dissertation, but it may take many different forms. It is not necessarily a written paper with methodology and findings. It may be a portfolio or a report. It may be a written file or a video or audio recording. You may also develop a presentation. Thus, there are many different ways how students may hand in this assignment. Much depends on the requirements and students’ imagination.
So, many professors do not require such creativity while reporting the results of a completed task and simply ask about a written paper similar to a thesis or dissertation in structure. Like the thesis, you will write a capstone project within a year. It is not a simple research paper. It requires much time and effort to prepare the task. Thus, you need about 9-10 months to complete your research and note the results.
Types of Capstone Projects
There are different criteria according to which capstone projects are differentiated. You may vary the task by the academic level, by the research type, by the means of reporting the findings, etc. For instance, writing a final paper you may format it in the following forms:
- A written research paper
- A description and the actual presentation of a product or service
- A plan of an exposition
- A detailed description and practical implementation of an experiment.
You may work on your paper alone or in a group of your peers.
To complete your paper, you have to get approval to the proposal from your professor. Thus, you have to work hard to present the evidence of an effective plan before its realization.
Basic requirements for writing a capstone essay
To complete a successful paper, you need to develop an idea of what you want to study. It is important to perfectly develop an idea and understand what outcomes you expect to receive. Think about a purpose first. What do you want to study? Why? What do you want to achieve? These questions will help you choose a topic and develop the goal of your capstone project. You have to write a research proposal to understand whether your plan deserves attention. Only when you develop a 6-5 research proposal you will understand whether you wish to complete this paper.
If you think that after writing a proposal you will simply finish the results section and you will complete the assignment within a couple of months, your work may be considered weak and not interesting. Mind that the amount of effort and time you put into work directly affects the further level of appreciation of your plan. The low effort may result in low grades because professors also understand that little attention to your paper cannot get the highest grade. Only those students who devote much time to the project, apply their critical and analytical thinking skills, and add creativity deserve the highest grade.
There is no standard structure of a capstone project because it may take many forms. If you have decided to write down the results of your research, you need to remember that a written paper requires the inclusion of some basic sections that will help you make your project logical and easy to follow. Check the structure of the task below and use it for your writing:
- Abstract. It is a one-paragraph summary of the whole project you have completed with the results and discussion. It usually does not exceed 200-250 words. Even though it is written in the beginning before the whole paper (on a separate sheet of paper), you have to work on it when the whole paper is ready and you have already written the conclusions of your study.
- Introduction. The first section of the project has to contain the background data for your study. Why have you decided to study this topic? What is its significance? What background information do you have for starting the research? Write down the purpose and the major research questions you are going to study in this section. Mind that you need to add references where appropriate in the introduction. Also, you may discuss the major section of the whole project to help a reader understand what to expect in the rest of the paper.
- Literature Review. The second section shows what knowledge exists regarding your subject. You have to conduct a literature review and analyze the sources on your subject. Make sure that you do not simply summarize what you have found but also apply critical and analytical thinking to discuss the results of the review of the literature. Be scrupulous when reporting the results of the literature and cite each idea you have taken from outside sources.
- Methodology. Discuss the strategy you will apply to conduct research. There are many research strategies, and it is essential to discuss in detail what you will do to obtain the findings.
- Results. The results section has to note all the findings you will obtain in the flow of your study. Depending on the nature of your research, your findings may be delivered in a form of numbers, tables, and figures or a written format. You may use quotes if applicable to report the findings. Mind that this section should not contain any interpretation of the results, just mere reporting of findings.
- Discussion. This is the section where you need to critically assess and analyze the findings. Refer your findings to the information in the literature either supporting or rejecting previously obtained information from the sources. You have some research findings at this stage and you need to discuss those referring either to personal experience or to the theoretical sources.
- Conclusion. A good capstone project should have a conclusion. You ought to summarize your research purpose and what you have found. Do not simply restate the major results but consider their implementation and application in future research and practice.
Conclusion
Thus, the major goal of a capstone project is to show what you have learned during your studies. When you conduct research and present results you show not only knowledge you have obtained but also depict your skills. You show research skills, focus on your ability to critically assess the information, and analytically discuss the findings. You also show your background knowledge that helps you go deeper into research and discover the ideas you wish to share with others.
