Structuring Your FYP

1
Structuring Your FYP

• Theres no right answer
• Structure of FYP needs to fit your topic and
  approach
• This talk looks at a model that works for many
  FYPs
• And teases out some factors common to all
• You need chapters to say
• What the FYP is about (the research question)
• Current thinking about the topic (from
  literature)
• Your specific goals for elucidation of the topic
• How you plan to achieve those goals (methodology)
• What you found out (results)
• Conclusions how findings help answer the
  question

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What is the FYP about?

• Its important to state the research question
  clearly
• Usually this requires an Introduction giving
• A brief statement of the question
• Background information where your topic fits
• Often youll need to give some history as well
• Remember, it doesnt have to break new ground
  (unlike a PhD, which must innovate)
• It just has to be your own work

3
Current thinking about the topic

• Your research is going to build on whats already
  known
• Relevant theoretical approaches
• Previous studies of the same material
• Studies of topics you see as similar or analogous
• Usually, this forms the foundation from which you
  expand on the topic by primary research
• Though you can do everything by secondary
  research
• This chapter is your Literature Review

4
Your Specific Aims

• Which parts of the topic will you elucidate?
• In general, this means homing in on a particular
  area
• For example, if youre looking at the Soccer
  Business
• Is your focus on Premiership clubs (possible
  oligopoly)?
• There are theoretical writings on oligopolies
• Or on the things that affect the whole industry
• impact of transfer fees
• How non-league clubs feed talent into the league
• the impact of large clubs on gate receipts in the
  region)
• Economics of merchandise vs TV vs attendance
• If you state your aims clearly, its easy to see
  when you achieve them

5
How you plan to achieve those goals?

• Methodology
• How do you plan to collect the extra information
  you need?
• Usually involves a plan to conduct primary study
• Structured interviews
• Surveys
• ButAnother valid approach is purely secondary
  researchconducted by critical analysis of
  existing literature
• This chapter is where you lay out you planned
  method

There are potential ethical issues here
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What you found out

• OK, youve applied the methodology what
  happened?
• Results are important, but not the only thing
• Its very rare that everything went to plan
• Sometimes, you learn more from ideas that
  failed
• State the problems you had and how you solved
  them
• Is there any significance in the cause of the
  problems?
• What information came out of your study?
• Analyse it to show what it means
• This gives the conclusion of your primary
  research
• From it you can draw conclusions for the whole
  project

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Conclusions

• This is where you
• Show how your findings help answer the initial
  question
• Bring together the analysis of the literature
  with your analysis of your own results
• Relate ideas in the literature to your
  observations
• If youre very lucky, you may even have evidence
  to resolve disagreements found in the literature,
  or to challenge accepted views

8
Bibliography

• This is where you give credit to all your sources
• Readers need to be able to find things here,
  somake sure its in alphabetical order
• Follow Harvard style for referencing and
  bibliography
• Whats the current thinking on
• Separate sections for Books, Papers, Online
  sources?
• Separating general sources from those actually
  quoted?
• Some people list these as Bibliography
  References
• Or you can simply list general sources in a block

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Appendix

• This is where you put information that you dont
  need the marker to read!
• Its a back-up to demonstrate how you got your
  results
• For example, it could contain Questionnaires and
  Summary responses
• Make sure it doesnt break any confidences
• you almost certainly wont include individual
  survey forms
• and never identify individual survey respondents
• For interviews, respondent may be identified, so
  take care
• Its not a place to relocate text to cut the word
  count
• Marker may not even read it, so no credit to be
  had

10
Using the Technology

• Always have a Table of Contents
• This shows your structure at a glance
• Makes sure you understand the hierarchy of your
  report
• Easy starting point is the skeleton FYP
• Linked from FYP (BS3002) module page on Business
  site at http//www.winchester.ac.uk/bm/
• Contains some possible chapter and section
  headings
• You can include notes to yourself before you get
  round to writing final text that way, you dont
  forget things
• If you fill in File/Properties the footers will
  work too
• You could also use Outlining facility of Word

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The Interim Report

• Basically the same structure as the real thing
• Introduction
• Question youre trying to answer
• Background information
• Literature Review (substantially complete)
• Methodology (first thoughts)
• Outline of how you plan to fill in the
  information gaps
• State any ethical issues and how youll avoid
  them
• Bibliography (only slightly incomplete)
• Obviously you wont have any results or
  conclusions

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Mark Sheet Headings (2004)

• The Question asked
• Is the research question interesting and well
  formulated?
• Quality of investigation
• How thoroughly is the subject matter researched?
  
• Is there a critical analysis of relevant sources
  and literature?
• Are any empirical investigations well conducted
  and analysed?
• Analysis
• What is the quality of the analysis?
• Does it progress significantly beyond the
  descriptive?
• Structure/Expression
• Is the FYP well-structured with a clear, logical
  flow?
• Are modes of expression clear and fluent?
• Any features which in the tutors view commend or
  detract from the project?