Master's Theses and Senior Projects

Choosing a Topic

I'm keeping a collection of Web snippets that might be relevant for senior projects and Master's theses in a Google notebook. This list is not exclusive, and not always completely up to date; if you have your own ideas, I'm certainly willing to consider them.

Duration

Plan on spending an entire academic year on your project or thesis. Very few people complete their thesis work in two quarters; it is feasible for senior projects, but especially if you're not sure about your topic, starting earlier is much better. You can earn credit for the additional quarter(s) by taking CSC400/500; alternatively, you can enroll multiple times for the project or thesis. In any case, you should always be enrolled in some course if you are working on your project with me as your advisor.

Schedule and Progress Reports

I expect you to prepare a general schedule for your overall project and a more specific one for each quarter (possibly including the summer). Then you need to update me on a regular basis about the progress you've made. This can be done in weekly meetings, or through electronic means (e.g. email or Blackboard). However, it is your responsibility to provide me with these updates; I will not chase after you, or push you to adhere to deadlines. I do this on purpose because I believe it is important for you to set your own schedule, and follow through with it. If you expect to have difficulties with this, I recommend to set up weekly meetings with me.

Software Development Process

You should use a formal development process for your project. This can be a process you've used in a Software Engineering class, or some other method. A good reference for a professional software process is Humphrey, Watts' A Discipline for Software Engineering, Addison-Wesley, 1995.

Typically, the project will involve the following phases:

• Proposal
• Literature Review and Related Work
• System Design and Specification of Requirements
• Implementation
• Testing and Evaluation
• Documentation (Final Report)
• Final Presentation

For most of these phases, the delivery of the respective documentation is an appropriate milestone that should appear in your schedule. You can find suggestions for the form of the documentation, especially the final report, on Prof. Stearns' and Prof. Hitchner's Web pages.

Deliverables and Deadlines

The schedule you turn in when you start your project and at the beginning of each quarter must list the deliverables and deadlines for the respective quarter. Again, it is up to you to determine the deadlines, but you need to take into consideration that I need a reasonable amount of time to read your material. In general, I need at least a draft version of that work by the end of the eighth week.

Grades

• A: All deliverables are complete and the work is of very high quality.
• B: All deliverables are complete and the work is of good quality.
• C: All deliverables are complete and the work is of low, but still satisfactory quality.
• SP: All major deliverables have been turned in and need some revision work, or the project write-up was turned in after the 8th week.
• F: One or more major deliverable has not been turned in.

General Senior Project Requirements

The CSC Dept. has a printed form, "Senior Project Checklist" that describes these requirements. Computer Science Department guidelines for Senior Projects are also available outside the CSC office (14-254). See also the CSC Department Web site for