REGULATIONS FOR 

INDEPENDENT AND SENIOR PROJECTS

 

1. Any student doing an independent or senior project must obtain approval for their project in the semester preceding the semester in which the work is to be completed. The following must be strictly adhered to in order to obtain approval of your project and successfully complete it. The objective is to provide the student an opportunity to do independent work in an environment similar to what you might experience upon graduation.

 

a. Select Your Topic. This must be done independently. Prepare an abstract and proposal discussing the topic and work you intend to accomplish. Once you have selected your topic and prepared your abstract then see your advisor to get a form. In some instances, a faculty member may have a topic he would like examined. In those cases, the faculty member may suggest this area of inquiry to an interested student.

b. Approval Requirement. Upon completion of your abstract (title of the project and a 1 - 2 paragraph description of the project) and detailed project proposal including a time-table showing the completion date of all phases of your project, resources required, references etc., you must submit it in triplicate to the 'Projects Committee' for approval. This must be submitted to the committee during the eighth (8th) week of the semester. During the ninth (9th) week of the semester the committee will meet and review all proposals. If your project is approved, you will be allowed to register for the project during the following semester. It should be pointed out that summer and fall projects must be approved during the spring semester. If your project is not approved, it will be returned and you will have exactly one week to resubmit your proposal for approval. If your proposal is not approved during the second review, you will not be permitted to do your independent study or senior project during the next semester. The goal of the department is to have all projects approved prior to pre-registration for the following semester.

c. Student Requirements. During the semester that the project is in process, the student is required to have a minimum of five meetings with his advisor. For each of these meeting, the student is required to submit a minimum one page double spaced progress report. These meetings should be scheduled on the timetable submitted in your abstract. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss project progress as well as project problems. Failure to attend these meetings and/or failure to submit the minimum one page progress report will result in a penalty assessed in your final grade. The advisor will keep a project folder with comments on all meetings and upon completion of the project, this folder along with the final report will be submitted to the Department Chair with a recommendation for a final grade.

d. Incompletes. In general, an incomplete will not be given. Failure to complete your project will result in a grade of F. If however, in the opinion of your advisor, there is valid reason for the delay AND the project is eighty percent (80%) complete, a grade of incomplete (I) will be permitted. It should be noted however, that failure to complete the project in the following semester will result in a grade of F.

e. Draft Report. A draft report is to be submitted to your advisor during the thirteenth (13th) week of the semester.

f. Final Report. The final report is due during the fifteenth (15) week of the semester. You must submit three copies of the final report, one for the department, one for the advisor and one to be graded and returned to the student. A late final report will be penalized.

 

g. Final Report Format. It is difficult to standardize a format for both computer science and computer engineering What is recommended is that a format worthy of submission to a professional journal in your field of interest be used. Your advisor will on a case by case basis refer you to appropriate journal articles that can be used as a format guideline.

h. Oral Presentation. An oral presentation of your project is required. These presentations will be scheduled during the fourteenth (14th) week of the semester and will be open to the college and invited guests. The presentation should not exceed one hour and you will be graded on your presentation. At the end of your presentation, it is expected that you will address questions from the attendees.

 

2. If you chose to do a project outside our department, you will need the approval of the Computer Science and Computer Engineering Chairperson.

 

3. You may also have a co-advisor from outside the department on any project being pursued within the department.

 

 

 

 

PTP/bb