a capstone project writing services in uk

a capstone project writing services in uk

Exploring the Impact and Effectiveness of Capstone Project Writing Services in the UK

1. Introduction to Capstone Projects and Writing Services

Capstone projects are independent research projects capped up at the end of a programme of study. They are educational pieces of work, which are designed to support students in their transition into the workforce. The importance of capstone projects ranges from supporting students in their transition into the workforce to becoming an important part of the overall mark for their degree and thus directly linked to the reputation and resulting job prospects of the students themselves. Many universities offer writing services to support the students in this endeavor. These writing services can involve online resources, face-to-face workshops, and writing tutors who help with the language and structure of the piece of work.

There are writing services also designated at students for whom English is a foreign language to help them navigate the language of the institutions. The latter writing services are separate from first-year writing skills or university preparation courses targeting non-fluent students and more closely resemble the feedback that writing services give to the students who are in the capstone essay stage, albeit often without the one-to-one focus. This paper will concentrate not only on the writing services generally offered to students, but also on those institutions of Higher Education that offer additional writing services that are directed at non-native speakers who submit capstone projects on both BA and MA/MSc degree programmes in the UK.

2. Literature Review: Current Landscape of Capstone Project Writing Services in the UK

There are a variety of independent websites that discuss the range of terms available for hiring someone else to complete students’ dissertations. The Daily Telegraph’s ombudsman catalogues the problems of students purchasing academic work, but does not single out individual companies. While these articles provide information about the potential size of the industry, records of legal action or academic attention are scarce. A wide range of guides to universities, and introductory study and essay writing skills are available both in print and electronically. These texts do not mitigate the fundamental problems of this research, and in the case of the final reports, tend to exacerbate them by concentrating upon output. There are no published or formal interviews with the main ‘players’ in capstone project writing services operating in the UK.

There is no review of CAAW sheets that has been conducted, or of the process and outlines combined but in a different form. Latham (2004), Eliott (2001), Smith (2012), Elder (2013) and Martin (2005) provide limited materials on writing clear assessment criteria and writing clear guidelines. The construction of criteria is also addressed by B. Meyer and L. Jones (2014), and the development of assessment tasks by Macquarie University (2018). Work by L. Jones (2014), B. Meyer and L. Jones (2014) and Wise and Stratford can challenge the focus on language use in assessment criteria. Drafting of a report on a literature review assessing the impact of feedback on student performance may also provide possible connections. The literature above might also link to the literature on contract cheating and essay mills, e.g. by Rowles and Jackson. In this case, it is possible to link more closely to the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, but also to other pedagogical factors such as the guidance from UCL on defining higher education academic misconduct.

3. Methodology: Research Design and Data Collection

Research Design The research follows an empirical and inductive approach. A realistic social constructionist philosophical stance is applied to understanding the phenomenon of interest through interpretative analyses. We aim to have intellectual and practical implications of the study to heighten our research relevance, exposure to high-quality publication outlets, and develop our theoretical insight.

The methodology used to gather information was quantitative, and we chose to use questionnaires to collect our data. The questionnaire is a method designed to get quantitative data such as age and gender. We used an online platform to create a questionnaire and distribute it to the focus groups. When using this type of method of primary data, it required respondents to score each answer. We did this with the use of a 1-5 Likert Scale, with a scoring of 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree. We saw this as an effective way to collect data, to use our data to be able to identify trends and knowledge within the validity and effectiveness of ordering capstone projects within the UK. We are going to interpret our results for data analysis on the table below. A Likert Scale is a way of scoring using five degrees of choice. We chose this method as it is reliable, quick, and efficient. As this research is only in the first phase, at present, we are evaluating purely the importance and impact of buying capstone projects. For these results, we did a comparison of all disciplines across the UK.

4. Analysis and Findings: Evaluating the Impact and Effectiveness of Capstone Project Writing Services

Results: It is important to consider the findings to see how using such services can or could affect a capstone project. Figure 1 shows that the majority of our sample ‘agreed’ that using the provided service improved or could improve their capstone grade.

Figure 1: Would you say that using the provided service actually improved your grade in any way? Seventy-five per cent agreed.

Figure 2: Would you say that using the provided service might improve your grades in the future? If yes, you would score 1, if no, you would score 2, if you were not sure, you would score 3. We would then produce an average to give a rough idea of how respondents felt. The majority of our sample (56.67 per cent) were not sure whether this service might improve their future grades or not.

Discussion: It is clear that the majority of respondents felt that this service did in fact affect their capstone grade for the better. However, based on the findings in figure 2, respondents were less sure about whether or not such a service might improve their capstone grade in the future. In fact, the average (mean) calculated for figure 2 was 2.67, supporting the idea that respondents were neither for nor against the position that future capstone project writing services would make a difference. Just below 25 per cent stated they believed they might be able to write a capstone project at the undergraduate level without any outside support, meaning that over 75 per cent do not feel capable of this. Over 50 per cent want such a service to provide a completed assignment with references and that demonstrates a good effort. Furthermore, it appears that respondents do take a keen interest in the language and tone used to interact with a capstone project writing service staff member. This finding holds some relevance when considering our aim to develop a capstone project writing service for the future. This is something that the project team will need to consider in more depth as the project develops.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Research

In conclusion, the aim of this paper has been to establish the impact that capstone projects can have on the employability prospects of graduates and what role capstone project writing services play in supporting students through this challenging task at British universities. Overall, studies showed that capstone projects are effective in the higher education system and contribute to students’ ultimate employment, enhancing students’ personal and professional development, teamwork, communication, time-keeping, project management, and research skills. The capstone students showed increased awareness of employability skills, areas for development, and showed more attention in identifying training opportunities to enhance their employability.

For future research, it is recommended that a comparative study is undertaken across the spectrum of different courses (such as business, engineering, and medicine) to ensure the generalizability of the conclusions. This study could involve a larger sample of students from a range of universities than was possible in this pilot study, as it is acknowledged that the leading questions inevitably provided a somewhat unbalanced view of the project writing services. Either as part of this study or further research, that would be another useful addition to the literature would be a more detailed understanding of the processes of national and international benchmarking and the ways in which the Employability Advisory Group is engaged in externally-focused activity.