Final Project Evaluation and Reflection
I. Overview – General Project Progression
This Extended Project is a 7-month, 250-hour scientific research project culminating in the
completion of a 9300-word literature review dissertation on bacteriophage therapy, a
pioneering field of microbiology and medicine. Knowledge obtainment, skill attainment, and
quality demonstration are among the most significant highlights of this project over its course.
Indubitably, there is a vast number of various aspects to draw detailed evaluation and reflection
upon as I progressed, and the timely conduction of which has been realised in the form of a
work log as evidence of iterative reflection.
Commitment, improvement, and development have been the key aims of my project.
Following my flexible plans and increasingly improved time management skills, the overall
progression of my project has been exceptionally smooth, with a relatively high level of
motivation and dedication throughout. As of this very last stage, the project is near completion
with all standard requirements duly fulfilled.
Nevertheless, identifiable imperfections, weaknesses, and challenges from various sources also
emerged as the project progressed steadily forward. Therefore, in order to effectively overcome
such hurdles or adapt to new circumstances when necessary, changes, primarily to my initial
planning and time management, were also made and reflected.
It is with great humbleness that I decidedly say I have benefitted considerably from this project,
as it has truly transformed me from a passive learner into an independent, reflective, and
confident researcher with valuable transferable skills and strong academic momentum that can
be carried forward to higher education and even beyond.
II. Initial Ideas and the Development of Ideas
The ‘exploring areas’ stage of my project was reasonably successful as I managed to explore a
wide range of ideas in various subjects such as healthcare/medicine, artificial intelligence,
chemistry, and biology. This process was greatly facilitated by the effective use of a mind map
created in ‘XMind’ (a platform for designing mind maps), on which all my ideas were clearly
presented. After considering a number of other topics, I decided to set my initial title as ‘To
What Extent Could Virotherapy Be Applied to Fight Superbugs and How Will It Impact Modern
Medicine?’ for interest and future benefits since I am an aspiring medical applicant. With the
initial idea sparked in a biology lesson and my genuine interest in this pioneering field well
beyond the syllabus, I was highly passionate about attaining and developing a broad range of
skills while forging links to HE/career.
As I gradually made further progress in my initial ice-breaking primary and secondary research
and established a better understanding of my topic and the original and ongoing purpose of
my research, the title was amended three more times, with the official title finalised as ‘To
What Extent Could Bacteriophage Therapy Be Applied to Treat Certain Superbug Infections
and Cancers and How Will It Impact Medicine in the Future?’. The finalised title significantly
narrowed my topic down: from ‘virotherapy’ (treatment using biotechnology to convert viruses
into therapeutic agents by reprogramming viruses to treat diseases) to ‘bacteriophage therapy’
(the use of bacteriophages, i.e., a specific type of viruses, as therapeutic agents to treat diseases);
from ‘modern medicine’ (broad, undefined range of time) to ‘medicine in the future’ (defined
explicitly as ‘future’). This change fundamentally helped me ensure a comparatively more
balanced workload to handle and thus the realistic progression of my project.
III. Project Planning and Management
1
I. Overview – General Project Progression
This Extended Project is a 7-month, 250-hour scientific research project culminating in the
completion of a 9300-word literature review dissertation on bacteriophage therapy, a
pioneering field of microbiology and medicine. Knowledge obtainment, skill attainment, and
quality demonstration are among the most significant highlights of this project over its course.
Indubitably, there is a vast number of various aspects to draw detailed evaluation and reflection
upon as I progressed, and the timely conduction of which has been realised in the form of a
work log as evidence of iterative reflection.
Commitment, improvement, and development have been the key aims of my project.
Following my flexible plans and increasingly improved time management skills, the overall
progression of my project has been exceptionally smooth, with a relatively high level of
motivation and dedication throughout. As of this very last stage, the project is near completion
with all standard requirements duly fulfilled.
Nevertheless, identifiable imperfections, weaknesses, and challenges from various sources also
emerged as the project progressed steadily forward. Therefore, in order to effectively overcome
such hurdles or adapt to new circumstances when necessary, changes, primarily to my initial
planning and time management, were also made and reflected.
It is with great humbleness that I decidedly say I have benefitted considerably from this project,
as it has truly transformed me from a passive learner into an independent, reflective, and
confident researcher with valuable transferable skills and strong academic momentum that can
be carried forward to higher education and even beyond.
II. Initial Ideas and the Development of Ideas
The ‘exploring areas’ stage of my project was reasonably successful as I managed to explore a
wide range of ideas in various subjects such as healthcare/medicine, artificial intelligence,
chemistry, and biology. This process was greatly facilitated by the effective use of a mind map
created in ‘XMind’ (a platform for designing mind maps), on which all my ideas were clearly
presented. After considering a number of other topics, I decided to set my initial title as ‘To
What Extent Could Virotherapy Be Applied to Fight Superbugs and How Will It Impact Modern
Medicine?’ for interest and future benefits since I am an aspiring medical applicant. With the
initial idea sparked in a biology lesson and my genuine interest in this pioneering field well
beyond the syllabus, I was highly passionate about attaining and developing a broad range of
skills while forging links to HE/career.
As I gradually made further progress in my initial ice-breaking primary and secondary research
and established a better understanding of my topic and the original and ongoing purpose of
my research, the title was amended three more times, with the official title finalised as ‘To
What Extent Could Bacteriophage Therapy Be Applied to Treat Certain Superbug Infections
and Cancers and How Will It Impact Medicine in the Future?’. The finalised title significantly
narrowed my topic down: from ‘virotherapy’ (treatment using biotechnology to convert viruses
into therapeutic agents by reprogramming viruses to treat diseases) to ‘bacteriophage therapy’
(the use of bacteriophages, i.e., a specific type of viruses, as therapeutic agents to treat diseases);
from ‘modern medicine’ (broad, undefined range of time) to ‘medicine in the future’ (defined
explicitly as ‘future’). This change fundamentally helped me ensure a comparatively more
balanced workload to handle and thus the realistic progression of my project.
III. Project Planning and Management
1
