Making project writing problem solving, relevant

To qualify for a degree in the country’s university, every undergraduate, in his final year, is expected to fulfill an all-important academic requirement, which is to write and submit a thesis or long essay. Unfortunately, many are no longer willing to go through the rigour of conducting detailed research necessary for the attainment of this goal. Rather than exerting themselves intellectually, they prefer to contract the research work to mercenaries for a fee, ADELOWO ADEBUMITI reports.

One of the most important, but often overlooked critical requirements for the award of a university degree is thesis writing. It is a long research paper that students develop over the course of a research degree or academic position. It is the main body of work students produce throughout the course of their research and it’s usually submitted as the final step or the crowning achievement to a Bachelor’s degree or Master’s programme.

Thesis relies on students’ ability to conduct research from start to finish, choosing a relevant topic, presenting a proposal, designing their research, collecting data, developing a robust analysis, drawing strong conclusions, and writing concisely. To write a thesis, universities generally assign a supervisor in the field to supervise and guide students conducting the research. Such a thesis can be published or serve as the basis for longer pieces of work later.

Thesis writing is significant and important in many respects. It is crucial to the academic community, building up and expanding the body of knowledge in any particular course of study.
A well-executed thesis can be published in journals and presented at conferences. It can also build up credibility for the researcher among his or her peers and the academic community. Among other important factors, thesis work assesses the scientific aptitude of candidates and requires careful planning and execution to guarantee successful completion.

Furthermore, the conventional structure of a thesis includes various sections that provide a systematic approach to presenting research findings.

For scholars, there are many benefits in thesis writing. First, it helps in the development of project management skills and scientific report writing skills, which are essential for a research career in the future. Also, writing a thesis is also a valuable opportunity to learn scientific writing and improve writing skills, which are critical for publishing in prestigious peer-reviewed journals.

Despite its importance, some students hardly put in the maximum effort to present a compelling thesis that can make it into journals in academic circles.
In many cases, ignorance in the value and importance of the thesis largely plays a key role. Clearly, many students simply do not know they can gain recognition if they craft an excellent thesis. Yet, a well-written thesis requires comprehensive effort, time, skills and dedication that many students just simply don’t want to put in.

Bogged down by many distractions,including social media and social vices, among others, some students simply view thesis more as an inconvenient obstacle to be scaled rather than a learning experience that can enrich their academic performance or knowledge.
Thus, some of these students seek quicker solutions, there are those who lifted entire research works of others and presented them as theirs, while there are also those who outsourced writing of thesis to mercenaries.

These days, the outsourcing of thesis writing is a booming business in most tertiary institutions in the country. Although it is fast becoming a flourishing source of livelihood for mercenaries who operate unchecked, those who are involved in the business, however, are not always willing to talk about it.

Lecturers who employ plagiarism checkers expressed concern over increased level of plagiarism, lack of originality, and students’ unwillingness to put in the effort to present a compelling thesis.

Although some lecturers agreed that project writing is still relevant, there are others,who said it can be improved upon.
They lamented increased cases of plagiarismamong students, saying lecturers go the extra mile to edit such materials.

They also enjoined the government and other stakeholders to ensure that solutions in research output are embraced and implemented by concerned bodies.
Many students are also against this practice and are often the voice of reason among the student population.

A Mass Communication graduate of one of the universities in Kogi State, who is awaiting call up for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Esther Ogunade, admitted that some of her school mates actually got ‘mercenaries’ to write their projects. Ogunade said these mercenaries, who charge at least N30, 000, did the projects for interested students, adding that those involved in the practice are more than those who opted to undertake the research work themselves. Also, a recent graduate of one of the polytechnics in Nasarawa State, Maryam Ismaila, said these mercenaries operate in conjunction with some of the lecturers on campus. Ismaila alleged that these set of lecturers run cyber café, where they direct interested students to and often times, direct students preparing to write their projects to the place. “These lecturers often direct students to these cafes because they don’t want them to present any project topic that may prove problematic, and takes a longer time to complete. Most of my mates who thought they could do otherwise had their topics rejected repeatedly because it was not from the café they were directed to.

These cafes, she said, charge between N25, 000 and N30, 000, provide topics, write the projects, and bind it for the students.

“The challenge is that there are students who want to genuinely do it themselves, but lecturers threaten them, insisting they won’t be able to meet the time limit to do proper research and should, therefore, be ready for an additional year. It is widespread in both National Diploma and Higher National Diploma,” she said.President, Students Representatives Council, Trinity University, Yaba, Animashaun Farouk, denounced the practice, saying it does not show that those who engage in it passed through the university system. Also, a 400 level mass communication student of Trinity University, Nosa Thompson, said it is essential for students to understand the what they working on, and execute it to logical conclusion to broaden their knowledge.

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Lagos State University (LASU), Dr. Temitayo Adewuyi, said with research outputs, researchers can help proffer solution to societal problems .

Stressing the need to give priority attention to research, the associate professor said her undergraduate project, which focused on ‘Broken homes and students academic performance,’ threw up many revelations.

Similarly, Dr. OyenugaAdedeji of the Department of Sociology, LASU, described project writing as both relevant and important.   Adedeji recalled that his doctoral thesis on youth and cybercrime culture in Lagos, done through participant observation, stood him out, as it brought the New York Times to his house for interview. However, some have argued that thesis writing in universities should be improved upon.  A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, LASU, Dr Abiodun Fatai-Abatan, lamented that most of the projects being submitted are not original as they are contracted out to mercenaries.

Education consultant, Julius Opara, lamented that most of the projects hardly solve societal problems, while some of the students employ ‘specialists’ within the university system to carry out the exercise for them.

The experts, however, agreed that the threat posed by plagiarism to project writing is real, saying addressing the challenge should be a priority. Opara said to check the trend, school management must first restore the initial ideal for why project writing was introduced.  On whether there are projects with national impact, Fatai-Abatan said despite the spiral decline in project writing, in the last examination, about four students stood out in his department, adding that in 2020, a graduating student, GaniyuMakanjuola, did an outstanding project on local government that addressed certain issues.

“He did a very good job using quantity analysis and he made a number of far-reaching recommendations. If we can implement them in Nigeria, it would bring about an improvement in the efficiency of local government councils.”

Adedeji equally indicted the private sector, saying it has failed to embrace project works from universities.

To address these challenges, the experts prescribed different approaches and solutions.

Fatai-Abatan stressed the need to understand the problem. “I see declining quality of education as a consequence of how we, at entry level, throw away merit.”

Adewuyi, on her part, said there should be a meeting of the town and gown periodically, where academics would provide feedback to the town on what they have done.

Adewuyi said it is high time solutions in research output were embraced and implemented by concerned bodies.  The lecturer, who is worried that completed projects are oftentimes left to gather dust, advised that when researches are conducted, there should be a way for a copy to be submitted to where it would be implemented.

For Opara, school management and the government must make deliberate efforts to improve the research system, infrastructure and library education. He tasked supervisors to ensure students worked on original topics that challenged their intellect and ability, and not copy from ready thesis.

The consultant said institutions can leverage on project writing to improve research, critical thinking analysis and an environment where students get resources that boost their ability to write projects.

He said institutions must prioritise project writing in a way that it would be given greater attention and the best ones celebrated and rewarded, thus making students to attach importance to writing projects.

Opara added that government and other key players must avail themselves of recommendations from outstanding projects by recognising that thesis are aimed at helping them find solutions to challenges confronting them.

Besides, he said the government must deliberately invest in improving infrastructure so that students can critically think, research and find solutions to the country’s challenges.