During the learning process, students are assigned to write different types of academic papers. Some of them can be easy to create, for example, standard essays, while others require more time and effort, for instance, research papers. One of such tasks is capstone project writing.
When educators ask learners to create this paper for the first time, a lot of questions appear in the minds of these students: “what does this assignment mean?”, “how to write a capstone project properly?”, “what are the main requirements of creating the top-notch project?”, etc. Having many matters, learners are becoming confused and do not know how to start writing a capstone project.
One of the ways how to make a capstone project is to assign this task to professional writers. With the assistance of the Internet, you can easily find a reliable capstone project writing service to place your order. With such companies, many students save their time and effort.
Nevertheless, if you decide to write your project by yourself, there is a need to understand how to write a capstone project successfully in order to get a high mark. For this, our guide will be handy for you. It involves helpful steps following which you will succeed in making an excellent capstone project and make your educator pleased with the presented result.
What is a Capstone Project?
Before starting to write this academic paper, there is a necessity to sort out a capstone project meaning. A capstone project is a type of research assignment that many learners should create as part of their undergraduate or master’s degree. Thesis and dissertation are other types of final papers, still, a capstone project is different from them. One of the main distinctions is that the capstone project possesses practical nature.
During writing capstone projects, learners should consider a certain issue. As a rule, this problem can be connected with the interests or experience of the writer. Students’ aim is to carry out research for evaluation and resolving the discovered problems.
One of the goals of capstone projects is to involve learners in their future professional sphere. What’s more, capstone projects enable educators to assess how learners utilize critical thinking skills and the knowledge they have received during a program or course. Thus, every student should understand for himself/herself “what is a capstone project” and only after that proceed to write.
Main Capstone Project Definition
Resuming the capstone project definition we can mention that this is an academic paper that is represented as a summary of a learner’s experience. Aside from showing critical and analytical thinking through capstone projects, students should have strong skills in teamwork and public speaking. This paper is being written in various disciplines such as engineering, business, nursing, IT, etc. The complexity of your capstone project will depend on educators’ requirements and course.
If for one reason or another you can not cope with writing this type of paper, you can always get capstone project help from expert writers. They know how many pages is a capstone project, what should be included in it, what information should be avoided, how to format it, etc.
How Long Should a Capstone Project Be?
We have already mentioned that students should write capstone projects in various courses. Thus, they start thinking that the number of pages required in their papers is different since courses have nothing in common. To tell the truth, it is hard to answer the “how long should a capstone project be” question. As a rule, everything will depend on what requirements your educator will set. Usually, capstone projects are forty pages long or even more.
Do not start thinking that forty pages are too much to write. Students are given enough time to prepare for this academic project. The reason is that aside from the writing process, learners are usually assigned to make a presentation of their capstone projects. Such presentations are a good possibility for students to demonstrate the already mentioned public speaking skills. Also, one of the goals of such a presentation is to assist learners in clearly expressing their thoughts.
Along with the project and presentation, learners are required to create a portfolio that will accompany their presentations with extra materials and assist listeners to comprehend how students have come to their findings. Now, we can go to actions that should be performed in order to understand how to create a capstone project.
How to Do a Capstone Project for Step by Step
The writing process of capstone projects requires preparedness and time. If you are not sure how to do a capstone project, we have a comprehensive guide following that which assists you to create a properly written capstone project. Thus, what should be done first? How to do a capstone project for step by step? Let’s consider this issue in detail.
Topic Selection
In the beginning, choosing a theme for your paper is the first step that should be performed during writing any type of academic assignment. Capstone projects are no exception. The topic for your project can be assigned by your educator or you will have freedom of choice.
It is understandable that your chosen theme should be connected to your sphere of education. For instance, if you are a medical learner, you can concentrate your capstone project on healthcare interventions. If you are going to become a biologist and chemist, your selected theme should reflect your field of expertise.
How to pick up the most suitable topic for your capstone paper? First, it is advisable to take notes and write down interesting ideas that appear during your course. Also, remember that you should be interested in your selected theme since it will be easier for you to cover it.
Moreover, it is recommended to stop your choice of that theme that is less researched. This will make your presentation more interesting to your listeners and educators. Still, make sure you can gather enough information on such a topic. If you have doubts concerning selection, you can ask for advice from your classmates or faculty members.
Create a Proposal
Before proceeding through the writing process itself, students should submit a proposal to their educators. This paper consists of approximately 200 words. Your capstone project proposal should involve the following points.
- Specify the topic you desire to cover in your capstone project and provide reasons for writing about this particular theme.
- Tell your educator about your expertise or background in the particular theme.
- Write about the scope of available data, information, and sources.
- Specify what research you are going to conduct in the capstone project and what methods you intend to utilize.
- Tell your educator about the established goals you plan to achieve with this capstone project.
There is a broader version of the capstone project proposal. It should include a literature review and methodology that you are going to utilize in your paper. Before presenting your proposal to the educator, you should make sure you have included everything needed. Your educator should believe in your interest in the selected topic. If everything is written properly, your capstone project proposal will be accepted by your educator.
Search for Information
Next, you should start finding related to your theme information by identifying the sources. If you analyze textbooks from your course, it is possible to discover an enumeration of advisable literature and utilize this list as a basis for your capstone project.
To make the process easier, you can create a folder on your PC or other devices and save all helpful references and valuable links in one place. Also, you can structure information in different files and title them appropriately. What’s more, adding tags can assist to make navigation simpler.
Do not forget to determine and highlight key articles that you plan to discuss in the literature review section. They also should be related to your theme. Grouping these articles by categories will be a good idea as well.
Structure
Unfortunately, there is no single outline for a capstone project. It may vary, still, a clear structure will assist students in logically dividing their work and focusing on every part. Usually, the standard capstone project structure includes a title page, abstract, introduction, literature review, methods, results and discussion, conclusion and recommendations, and references list.
Make a Schedule
Capstone project writing is a challenging process. It is impossible to create a top-notch paper within several days. Since the capstone project is a voluminous document, students should engage their time-planning skills. A creation calendar with tasks and deadlines will be the best idea.
From time to time you can correct the schedule, especially if you see that one task you can perform quicker while another can require more time than you have scheduled. For convenience, you can utilize organizers on your smartphone or PC in order to keep track of your progress at any moment.
Start Writing
A thesis statement is considered the basis of capstone projects. Your aim is to create a strong thesis statement that will be concrete and narrow at the same time. If you come up with too broad a thesis statement, you will fail in covering all details. Your capstone project can be written from any point you desire. Keep in mind that the introductory section should be composed at the end. First, you should sort out the matter of the issue deeply and only after this write a good introduction. Point to the main issue and enumerate the limitations of the research.
Your literature review should summarize your conclusions of the existing information on the theme. Make common findings and write a short analysis of every source that is essential for your research. Treat sources critically and write down the spaces in the information. You can include quotes to raise the value of your review. Note that overusing these quotes is a bad idea.
You can analyze the process of your research in the methods section. Let your readers comprehend what and how you have performed. Write about the positive and negative sides of selected methods.
The results paragraph enables you to describe the data you obtained during the research. Visualization of statistics in tables and charts would be a good idea. The conclusion section should include a summing up of your findings. Also, you can offer recommendations for future research. You should demonstrate a link between your results with the initial problem.
Proofread your Project
Before presenting your capstone project to your educator, it is recommended to read the first draft several times and make amendments. Reread all parts in order to assure they are logically written and complete. Those sentences that are without meaning, you should cut. If needed, write important sentences in order to make a text complete.
After checking the context of your capstone paper, you can verify the absence of grammar, spelling, and other types of mistakes and typos. Assure that the tone of your document is academic.
Capstone Project Template
Nowadays, with the help of the Internet, you can easily find examples of capstone projects in your course. Such a capstone project template enables you to understand how a properly written document should look. Online templates can include a detailed explanation of every part so you will surely sort out how to write your own capstone project.
Finally, make sure the capstone project format is in accordance with the requirements. You can ask one of your friends, relatives, or classmates to look through your capstone project and leave feedback.
Also, do not forget to prepare for the defense. Remember that every student will present his/her paper to the project committee. Your presentation should be on the same high level as your whole project. As a rule, you will tell about the essence of your theme, discuss the research of your capstone project, and finish with your conclusions.
During showing your presentation, you should be prepared to answer questions of the committee. These matters will be connected with your research and conclusions. As a rule, the committee will be familiar with the text of your capstone project in case committee members viewed your proposal and drafts. Thus, your defense will remind discussion.
We can conclude that writing a capstone project is complicated but possible. Make use of our thorough guide to create a memorable capstone project and impress your educator and the committee members.