CSC9Z* Schedule

Online Material
Project
Reports
Retention of Project Results
Presentations and Demonstrations
Project Training Seminars
Time-Line
Assessment
Textbooks

Online Material

The module web page is http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/courses/CSC9Z7, which can also be found via the main Department web page. The project web pages contain more specific guidance and schedules. Check these periodically for updated information.

Project

Your project must aim to solve a realistic problem in a systematic manner. The problem should be realistic in the sense that it is not artificially created for the project. You should avoid re-inventing the wheel, i.e. tackling problems with well-known or readily available solutions. Your approach should be systematic in that it applies the systems and software engineering skills you have learned during your degree. Your project will need clear goals and well-defined beneficiaries: who could use the results and how they might gain from them. You are expected to formulate and execute the project like a real development. You should therefore consider your project's life-cycle, including requirements definition, high-level design, low-level design, coding and testing. If appropriate you should think about acceptance testing and assessment by potential end-users. The project should demonstrate your competence as a computing professional. You should therefore consider ethical issues (e.g. respecting confidences of a company you work with), legal issues (e.g. Intellectual Property Rights in the results) and social issues (e.g. how errors in your project work might affect others, or how your development might require others to change their working practices).

Your project must develop some kind of 'system'. This is usually a piece of software, but other possibilities include constructing hardware, writing specifications, defining a design method, and applying a technique to new problems. The project must exhibit some novelty, though full-blown research is not expected. Your system must be developed in two phases: an interim prototype that is documented and demonstrated towards the end of the Autumn semester, and a final system that is documented and demonstrated towards the end of the Spring semester. The prototype will be a limited part of the system you intend to produce. It may be rough and ready, but should be something that you can demonstrate in some fashion.

Reports

Reports must be typeset. The original typescript may be the principal copy, produced using the Department's laser printers. Information Services has a dissertation printing facility in 1A11A. Using the Department's printers to produce multiple copies is forbidden because it could seriously interfere with printing by other users.

Print your reports double-sided (if possible) on A4 paper, with a margin of about 2.5 cm all round, on standard photocopier paper (80 gsm). Text should be printed with single line spacing in 11 point Times or something similar. See the online information for expected report structure and length. Copyright in reports and project results lies with the student and supervisor. You must acknowledge any material you use that was produced by others, and must obtain permission to reproduce copyright material.

If you require a few pages printed in colour, this can be done by prior arrangement with the Departments's Computing Support Group. Use colour only where it is beneficial, and not purely for decorative purposes. The content of a report is assessed, not its appearance.

If you use Microsoft Word to prepare your reports, it is recommended that you use the interim report template (interim stage) or dissertation template (final stage).

For more technical dissertations, you may prefer to use the LaTeX interim report template (interim stage) or dissertation template (final stage) as appropriate. LaTeX is a widely used and free document preparation system. (LaTeX is currently not installed on the lab machines, so you would need to install it on your own PC.) In Word, you type a chapter heading like 'Introduction' and set the paragraph style to 'Heading 2'. In LaTeX you would use a markup command like '\chapter{Introduction}'. LaTeX documents are translated into printable formats such as PDF. The basic tools for LaTeX can be downloaded and used for free from MikTeX. There are many front-ends for LaTeX that make it more convenient to use, e.g. Lyx, TeXnic Center, TeXWorks and WinShell.

Retention of Project Results

Reports are made available to the external examiner prior to the relevant exam board meeting. The Department keeps paper copies of project posters and reports. After two years, the best dissertations are stored permanently in the University library, while the others are destroyed. Supervisors normally retain dissertations for personal use on a long-term basis. In order to obtain accreditation, the Department supplies a sample of dissertations every five years to the British Computer Society.

The Department keeps digital copies of project results (project posters, interim reports, final reports, project code). These copies are primarily for archival purposes and are not made public.

Presentations and Demonstrations

In addition to writing reports, you are required to support a poster and demonstration of the interim stage. You are also required to give a presentation and demonstration of the final stage.

Project Training Seminars

Although there are no lectures for this course module, you are required to attend project training seminars from time to time. Some of these will be regular Computing Science seminars, while others will be organised specifically to help you in your project. The online schedule of required seminars will be updated from time to time.

Time-Line

The rough time-line of a project is as follows:

Assessment

The online schedule contains the submission deadlines. Late reports are penalised in accordance with University regulations.

Reports are assessed independently by your supervisor and a second marker. The final report is made available to the External Examiner. Assume that your readers understand general computing topics, but provide a clear statement of the background, purpose and methods of your specific project.

The three reports you have to write will develop in terms of detail. You may re-use text from your earlier reports in later reports. The following criteria for judging reports will become progressively more applicable as you work towards the final report:

Problem Formulation:

Describe the problem you are tackling clearly, and explain why it is worth investigating.

Problem Discussion:

Demonstrate that you have read related work by others, and can place your own work in context. Show that you considered alternative approaches, and explain your actual design decisions.

Problem Solution:

Clearly describe what you actually achieved, including any limitations or future work needed. Explain how you systematically tested your system.

Problem Difficulty:

Explain any difficulties you had that were reasonably beyond your control. A hard project that is completed only as far as practicable may attract more marks than an easy project that is well done.

Solution Evaluation:

If appropriate, explain how you involved end users in evaluating your system. Give an objective evaluation of your project, analysing strengths and weakness of what you achieved. Explain how you have advanced the state-of-the-art, and what further enhancements could be made to your work.

Communication Ability:

Present your ideas and results clearly and logically. Your reports should be workmanlike. Note that you must acknowledge the source of all material that is not your own, and if necessary obtain permission to reproduce it.

Textbooks

Copies of the suggested textbook by Dawson have been placed in the Reserved Book Room.

Up one level to CSC9Z* (Honours Project)