Chapter 1 · Practice 3 of 4
Check what already exists before you commit
Why it matters
Committees reject proposals that duplicate an existing product or a previous year's project without adding anything. Spend an evening searching before you decide:
- Products: search app stores and the web for apps that already solve the problem. Note what they do badly or who they leave out.
- Previous FYPs: ask your FYP coordinator or library for past titles in your department. Many departments keep a list.
- Research: search Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore and the ACM Digital Library for the problem in plain words.
Finding existing work is not a reason to give up. It is the start of your literature review and the source of your angle: a different user group, a local language, offline use, lower cost, better accuracy on local data. Write that angle down; it becomes the "why this project" part of the proposal.
Do
- Search products, past FYP titles and research papers
- Write down what your project does differently
Avoid
- Claiming "no such system exists" without having searched