Final Year Project Report Best Practices

Chapter 2 · Practice 2 of 3

Analyse strengths and weaknesses instead of only describing

From Write the literature review chapter

Why it matters

Describing a paper says what it did. Analysing it says how well it did it, under what conditions, and whether it applies to your users.

Questions to ask of each important work:

  • What data or users was it tested on, and are they like yours?
  • What did it measure, and how strong were the results?
  • What does it assume (internet access, large datasets, expensive hardware)?
  • What would break if you used it for your problem?

A comparison table summarising approaches against your criteria is one of the clearest ways to show this. Then write the gap as a short, specific paragraph: "None of the reviewed systems supports batch-level expiry tracking on low-end Android phones offline, which is the situation of most small pharmacies we surveyed."

Do

  • Compare works against criteria that matter to your users
  • Write the gap as a specific paragraph

Avoid

  • Copying abstracts and calling it a review