Sr. Design/Capstone
Engineering Majors
Quick Start Tutorial
Content
1. Overview.................................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Scope.......................................................................................................................................................... 3
3. Literature Review....................................................................................................................................... 3
3.1. Online Searching............................................................................................................................. 3
3.2. Online Sources ................................................................................................................................ 4
3.3. Types of Information....................................................................................................................... 6
4. Planning ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
4.1. Phases.............................................................................................................................................. 6
4.2. Project Management........................................................................................................................ 7
4.3. Accountability ................................................................................................................................. 7
4.4. Focus on objectives. ........................................................................................................................ 8
4.5. Be Realistic ..................................................................................................................................... 8
4.6. Keep Interested ............................................................................................................................... 8
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1.
Overview
The Capstone Project is typically a two-semester project in which students pursue independent
research on a question or problem of their choice, engage with the scholarly debates in the
relevant disciplines, embark in a theoretical-experimental field work that brings the knowledge
acquired throughout the student’s major where the goal is to acquire real-life professional
experiences in the disciplinary field of study.
The end result is the production of a final report and presentation — along with an evidencebased product, good, commodity, output or by-product — that will reflect a deep understanding
of the topic.
The problem will reflect the mastery of dealing with real-life engineering problems.
The Capstone Project proposal should establish dissonance between the current situation and the
ideal situation. This creates a need for a remedy, diagnosis or repairment.
Once the necessity is established, it can be laid out the plan for the project.
To be effective, the Capstone Project must establish an initial problem, demand, urgency or
imperative, create a precondition for a way out, then outline a viable alternative solution.
2.
Scope
How much do you already know about the Capstone Project topic and what skills do you
already have for researching and achieve the goals to be established?
Do you have some knowledge of the project topic?
What is the extent of that knowledge?
Do you have the skills required for the methodologies that will be used?
What do you want to achieve from the project? New skills?
Potential topic for postgraduate studies?
Improve prospects for employment after graduation?
3.
Literature Review
The best way to learn about a topic is to read literature on the subject. Find and read on-the-fly or
“over the knees” relevant publications. Go shallow, no deep. The objective is to get the general idea,
the “big picture”. Sources of information are key to facilite the process.
3.1.
Online Searching
To search for relevant information in any sources, first identify the keywords that define the
Capstone Project. Read the title of an article and its list of keywords — generally located below
the abstract —. Keywords highlight the core content of the article. Once a list of the keywords
are banded out, use them to search for related publications. Keywords and phrases can be
combined using Boolean operators (AND, NOT, OR and NEAR) to limit, widen or define your
search. Most online databases and Internet search engines support Boolean searches (see Figure
1).
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Figure 1. Use of boolean operators to search for information.
Start by writing down the keywords in the same order that they are typed including the Boolean
operators to generate a list of search results.
For tracking and documenting purposes write down in a log file the URL of the web page and
the date you accessed it.
Using the Internet to seek information presents certain problems for gathering literature: (1)
sifting through a vast amount of information to find pertinent information relevant to the
Capstone Project; (2) determine the reliability of that information. The first problem may be
solved to a certain extent by using a list of more specific keywords or phrases combined with the
Boolean operator AND. The second problem can only be resolved when you have become more
knowledgeable about the research topic.
A more reliable way of seeking information on your topic is consulting through the Asa H.
Gordon library at SSU. Books and published theses are excellent publications to start your
research on a topic.
Reviewing similar Capstone Projects — or Thesis for that effect — builds up ideas, impressions,
intuitions, notions and flavors of how to assemble, manage and maneuver the project.
Besides hardcopy publications, consult the SSU library electronic databases (e.g. Galileo). You
can search electronic databases for articles published in conferences and journals, as well as for
patents.
Engineering databases such as Engineering Village (Engineering Index) by Elsevier and Web of
Science by Thomson Reuters provide a consolidated electronic resource for you to search for
published information.
There are also specialized databases for specific fields though Engineering Village and Web of
Science should be a primary source for search.
Search the databases by using the same keywords employed for Internet searches. The
information provided by the databases includes the title, abstract, source of the article, and
citation data.
3.2.
Online Sources
General:
www.rapidgator.net
www.4shared.com
www.2shared.com
www.codeforge.com
www.rapidshare.com
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www.mediafire.com
www.ebookee.net
www.scribd.com
www.filediva.com/
www.academia.edu
www.serendi-cdi.org/main/index.php
Research:
www.researchgate.net
https://sci-hub.tw/
http://41610.org/
Software:
http://www.cdlibre.org/consultar/catalogo/index.html
https://downloadraw.net/
https://ftuapps.dev/
Books:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/
http://en.bookfi.net/
https://b-ok.cc/
https://archive.org
https://www.elsolucionario.org/
https://www.cienciamatematica.com/libros-gratis
https://epdf.pub/
https://en.calameo.com
https://www.arch2o.com/
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/
https://bookboon.com/
https://www.free-ebooks.net
http://freecomputerbooks.com/
https://bookflare.org/
Handouts:
https://www.slideshare.net
Engineering websites:
http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/CAS/courses.d/AFEM.d/
http://www.thestructuralengineer.info/
https://www.accessengineeringlibrary.com
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/electrical-engineering
Civil Engineering:
http://ingcivilcjcody.jimdo.com/
https://saladelingenierocivil.blogspot.com/search/label/libros
https://teayudoingeniero.blogspot.com/search/label/civil?&max-results=12
https://www.elsolucionario.org/
https://civilgeeks.com/
http://www.thestructuralengineer.info/
Papers:
https://sci-hub.tw/
www.academia.edu
Online Courses:
https://www.freecoursesonline.me/
https://onehack.us/
https://freedownloadae.com/
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https://tutsnode.net/
www.udemy.com/
https://freecourseweb.com/tutorials1/
Torrents:
https://1337x.to/
3.3.
Types of Information
Once relevant information has been gathered, evaluate it critically.
(1) How relevant is the information to your research topic? Generally speaking, only part of the
information found will be relevant.
(2) If the information is relevant, what is its significance? Categorize the information based on the
research method employed, materials utilized, or methods or results employed.
(3) If the information is related to materials and methods, what were the materials and methods
used? How were the experiments designed? How were the measurements made? How reliable
and accurate are the measurements?
(4) If the information is related to results and discussions, how did the author analyse and interpret
the data? Is there an alternative method of analysis? Is the interpretation sound? Does the
conclusions reflect the data and analysis?
(5) How does the information contribute to the understanding of the Capstone Project? What are
the strengths and limitations — let alone the utility — of the information towards the goals of
the project?
(6) Is there any information gap in the information acquired that could be adopted as a particular
objectiuve of the Capstone Project?
Recall that some information have high number of citations, that is, papers or articles have been
referenced (cited) by many researchers. Such papers are key papers that should be noted, particularly
if they are directly related to the goals of the Capstone Project.
4.
Planning
A Capstone Project, unlike a course, has no class schedule. In other words, it is a self-reliant
structured course that requires the student to organize and manage his/her time for conducting the
research and produce the outcomes. There’s no instructor but advisor only in this case.
4.1.
Phases
The way most students approach their research project can be described using the six phases
identified by Holland (2001) for Project Management:
(1) enthusiasm,
(2) disillusionment,
(3) panic and hysteria,
(4) search for the guilty,
(5) punishment of the innocent and,
(6) praise and honour for the non-participants.
The enthusiasm phase is experienced at the start of the research project. Students get excited
over the prospect of conducting some ‘groundbreaking’ research on their Capstone.
Driven by euphoria, they devote all their waking hours including cutting classes to conduct
research.
However, the enthusiasm dies down once they discover that research work is tedious and the
progress is slow. They start to realize that research work is fraught with problems that they
cannot solve easily.
This leads to the disillusionment phase where they start to lose interest and plod along
indifferent to the quality of the research, hoping that the research project will soon end.
As the end of the semester approaches, they suddenly enter the panic and hysteria phase as they
realise that they have not done enough work.
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They start spending many sleepless nights to complete the research work in the last hour but
discover that they are unable to meet the deadline.
Soon, they look for excuses for not being able to complete the research work (search for the
guilty phase) and start to blame others for their failures (punishment of the innocent phase).
The preceding scenario needs not to happen with proper time management, planning and realistic
expectations. A capstone project usually stretches over one academic year for an undergraduate, but
can be done in one or two semesters if the student has the organization, discipline, determination and
temperance to finish the project. It is more akin to a marathon race than a short sprint. Therefore, it is
desired to plan carefully to ensure that the student sustains interest and achieve the desired outcomes.
The planning should cover the entire duration of the project. Only after having drawn up a project
schedule the student will have more realistic expectations of himself/herself.
4.2.
Project Management
When planning a Capstone Project, it can be applied the so-called ‘project management
principles’. First, from the objectives of the project, work out the scope that will enable to fulfill these
objectives. From the scope, identify the specific tasks or activities that need to be carried out and
define the work within each activity. The activities identified, in the first instance, can be very broad
such as conducting literature review, setting up experiments, construct and mount a prototype, gather
and analyze data, test results and report writing. Identify the topics from the literature review and
break them down into several sub-activities or sub-tasks.
Once the activities are identified, start to estimate the amount of time that each activity will take.
It may not be easy to estimate the time needed for an activity as any task is subject to the triple
constraints of (1) time, (2) resources and (3) scope. Resources can be funding or equipment. Scope
refers to the amount of work involved. If resources are fixed, the time — duration — for the scope of
work is fixed. However, time for an activity can be reduced if more resources are injected into that
activity.
Work out now the Critical Path of the research schedule, which is the string of research activities
that takes the longest time. The activities can now be put together into a schedule that is commonly
known as a Gantt chart (see Figure 2). For research work, you can plan your activities in terms of a
week, fortnight, month or quarter. You may use MS Project to produce Gantt charts, precedence
diagrams and timeline graphs.
Figure 2. Example of a Gantt chart.
In planning, cater for contingencies and allocate more time to activities that have a higher level
of uncertainty or a greater certainty of failure. Many students also do not allocate enough time for (1)
the writing report, and (2) the oral presentation at the end of the semester. Not allocating enough time
for both requirements may jeopardise the outcome.
4.3.
Accountability
Once the schedule of the Capstone Project has been worked out, the student should stick to it as
he/she did with his/her Civil Engineering curriculum grid. The difference between the curriculum grid
and the Capstone Project schedule is that the curriculum grid is in terms of credit hours per semester,
whereas the Capstone is in terms of progress outcomes per week. Therefore, the student needs to
allocate a time to the research/development activities on a daily/weekly basis to match the Capstone
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Project schedule. A good rule of thumb to use when allocating time for research activities is to set
aside the same number of hours per week for the Capstone as the student would spend on an equally
weighted course.
Regular intermittent meetings with the academic supervisor is a good motivation for the student
to keep to the Capstone Project schedule. However, sometimes the supervisor may not be able to meet
the student as regularly as the student would like. If that is the case, the student should summarise
progress (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) into a short report (half page to one page) to update the
supervisor. A sure sign that the student is falling behind the research schedule is when he/she finds
that he/she have nothing to update the supervisor on and then make excuses to avoid a meeting.
4.4.
Focus on objectives.
It is important to always keep the objectives of the Capstone Project in focus. It is quite common
to ‘stray’ away from these objectives while trying to solve a problem. To find the solution, the student
may wander on to another topic and before long, he/she will find himself/herself working on an
entirely different topic. The student will know if he/she are ‘straying’ away from the project by asking
himself/herself the following questions: (a) is there a connection between what I am doing now and
my project’s objectives? (2) is what I am doing now important to my Capstone Project? (3) how will
what I am doing now contribute to my project?
4.5.
Be Realistic
Thomas Edison, best known for his invention of the electric light bulb, made the following
observation: ‘Through all the years of experimenting and research, I never once made a discovery. I
start where the last man left off… All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those
of invention pure and simple.’ This quotation points out that most great advances were not made by
chance, but through many hours spent on research and often based on the pioneering work of previous
researchers.
4.6.
Keep Interested
Maintaining interest in a Capstone Project topic topic requires discipline and self-motivation. The
following are suggestions on how to maintain interest during your research:
1. Read in-depth the topic. The student will discover new things about the subject that will keep
him/her challenged making the Capstone Project interesting.
2. Meet the supervisor regularly. Discussing progress with the academic supervisor on a regular basis
will deepen the understanding of the research topic. Sometimes, by talking through the problems
the student will discover solutions that would not have been discovered if the student kept the
problems to himself/herself.
3. Switch among research activities. Sometimes, research activities are scheduled concurrently. When
the student finds himself/herself unable to make progress in one project activity, switch to another
one to sustain productivity.
4. Work regular hours. Working unreasonably long and irregular hours can be detrimental to the
physical health as well as psychological health. Sleep deprivation will make the student more
prone to accidents and mishaps. Be mindful of this if the project requires to work in the laboratory
or to operate machines.
5. Have a support group. The support group can include fellow students and friends and co-partners.
Checking progress with fellow students sometimes provides with the motivation to persevere
through difficult research activities. Fellow students and friends can support you by sharing
frustrations and problems. When the student shares his/her problems, he/she will find that he/she is
better able to cope emotionally and psychologically with the demands of the Capstone Project.
6. Schedule breaks. It is a good idea to plan breaks in the Capstone Project schedule. The breaks allow
to evaluate the research progress and schedule. If necessary, realign objectives and adecuate
schedule.
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