Before reading the following recommendations, print the documents in this folder and use them as references. They contain detailed instructions on all aspects of the project: 

Every year Matsec lists the main issues regularly found in the SOK projects presented by the Junior College students for which many fail to get a satisfactory grade and/or submit an invalid project. 

Therefore, the SOK Department urges you to implement ALL the following recommendations. We know this is a long email, but your future admission to the University of Malta partly depends on the quality of your SOK project. 

In cases where you do not understand the instructions, do not simply ignore them but ask your tutor, or if it is something generic, such as a formatting issue, research them online: 

1. Deadline - The project must be submitted by 9 October, 2023.
2. If by now you haven’t written at least three-quarters of the project, you are running late. Do not leave the writing for the last week. In the last week, you will need to proofread it, format the text, print it, and bind it.
3. The project must comprise a minimum of 20 hours, done in 8 – 10 sessions, and spanning a substantial amount of time. The overseer must sign all the sessions on pages 6 and 7 of the Matsec Booklet. Projects that do not conform to these rules WILL NOT be accepted. 
4. If you estimate that you will not complete the SOK project by the deadline, you must speak to your tutor NOW to find a viable solution. 
5. Overseer’s Signatures. Contact your overseer now for the required signatures. Please do not do it in the last week before the deadline. 
6. Printing and Binding. The project must be printed on single-sided pages and bound with spiral binding [see page 3 of the SOK Project Guidelines]. The original copy of the Matsec Booklet must be inserted manually in the write-up. Do not use scanned copies of the Matsec Booklet. 
7. The finished write-up must include 8 sections (9, if you have an interview or a questionnaire) [see page 3 of the SOK Project Guidelines]. All the sections must be written according to the instructions in the Guidelines]. 
8. Formatting. The paragraphs and text must be formatted in a specific way [see page 4 of the SOK Project Guidelines].
9. The title page must include specific details [see pages 4 and 5 of the SOK Project Guidelines], the title of the project, and a photo in the centre.
10. Contents Page. The write-up must include page numbers and a Contents Page [see page 6 of the SOK Project Guidelines].
11. Journal Reports. All journal reports must be at least 290 words long and include two photographs, at least half of which represent you during an activity [see pages 6 and 7 of the SOK Project Guidelines].
12. Captions and Figure numbers. All pieces of evidence must include figure numbers and captions. Captions must be at least one sentence long and analytical. You must also identify yourself in the photographs. And link the descriptions of the experience to the evidence as follows (Figure. 3)
13. The Evidence section must contain extra photos and other evidence, such as email and/or social media communication [see page 10 of the SOK Project Guidelines].
14. Variety of Experience. If your experience during the sessions was not varied you need to make up for this by doing an interview or a survey [questionnaire] [see page 2 of the SOK Project Guidelines].
15. Questionnaires and interviews must be composed of meaningful and relevant questions. This section must include an analysis [see page 7 of the SOK Project Guidelines].
16. Another crucial aspect is thematic variety. Do not repeat the values, topics, and skills in the journal reports. Ideally, even in the long essay, you must pick new values [Pick the values from the document List of Values, Topics, and Skills found in the folder]. 
17. Research. The discussions about the values and topics throughout the project must be deep and well-researched, particularly in the Journal Reports' ‘Analysis and Reflection’ paragraphs and the Long Essay. 
18. Long Essay. In the interdisciplinary section of the Long Essay, you must discuss the values from at least two other modules apart from the main one. 
19. Scientific Research essay. In the scientific research essay introduction, explain the link between the scientific topic and your experience.
20. Scientific Research essay. Refrain from including the history or merely describing how devices work in the Scientific Research essay. Instead, focus on the underlying scientific principles and facts. 
21. Bibliography. All the projects must include a list of books and webpages used during research in the APA style and in alphabetical order. See more detailed instructions on pages 11 and 12 of the SOK Project Guidelines. Alternatively, you may use the References section on Microsoft Word or the following two links to generate the Bibliography references for webpages and books:

The SOK Department