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Each student in the Software Engineering program is required to complete a thesis project as part of the requirements of the degree. While working on the two-semester project, the student registers for SE 598 in the Fall semester and for SE 599 in the Spring semester. This is normally done in the academic year in which the student plans to graduate. If students decide to have a team project, it is necessary to clearly and explicitly specify the responsibility of each team member as early as possible. Thus, if a member is behind schedule for some reason, the other member(s) will not be affected for graduation.
Students are responsible for choosing topics for their thesis projects and for writing proposals. There are three standard ways to find a project. First, go to the library and search for potential project topics from relevant journals and conference proceedings. Second, talk to faculty about their interests and find a faculty member who has the closest interests to yours and negotiate a project. Third, find a project that might be related to your work. This applies mostly to part-time students who work for a company with a software need. A student choosing this option must negotiate with the company to assure that the project meets company security concerns and still provides sufficient information for a published thesis. Students are not limited to the above mentioned three ways for finding a project.
Each project must consist of sufficient work and difficulty to warrant 6 credits. In a typical project, the student develops a new system and the documents for the software development cycle. Each project must have a faculty member as the project advisor. The project advisor will recommend a grade for the student in each semester to the Graduate Program Committee of the Department of Computing Sciences.
There are eight (8) written reports and two (2) oral presentations of 60 minutes each that are required for the M.S.S.E. thesis project.
The eight (8) written reports and their due dates are listed here with the requirements listed below. Dates marked with an asterisk are of the academic year prior to the year in which the student registers for SE 598 and SE 599.
*The deadline for theses varies from year to year and it is normally around last Friday of April. You must adhere to the Graduate School deadline in order to graduate in time.
The above eight reports are recommended for typical M.S.S.E. thesis projects. Depending on the nature of each individual project, the name and contents of the reports may vary. The student(s) should consult with the project advisor for report formats appropriate for the project.
The first oral report should be scheduled during the last week or final exam week of the Fall semester and the second oral report should be scheduled during the first two full weeks of April.
Each presentation should be about 50-60 minutes including at least 10 minutes for questions. The presentation should provide a conclusion to and analysis of the semester work. Visual aids are encouraged, and it may be necessary to make special arrangements to demonstrate the project. If the presentation requires any special equipment or arrangement, the student(s) must inform the faculty advisor of this at least a week before the presentation. It is the student’s responsibility to check the equipment properly before the presentation.
Reports must follow a consistent style, be electronically processed, be printed 1.5 or double spaced, and be laser printed. Each will have a cover page with the format:
PROJECT NAME
REPORT NAME
Author's Name
Modification Date
Submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements of
the
Master of Science in
Software Engineering
For all reports after
the first two, the following format is recommended:
· Cover Sheet
· Abstract
· Table of Contents
· The main body
of the report will have a chapter division with each chapter divided into
sections and sub-sections
· Index
For those documents we suggest your follow certain standards such as IEEE Standards Software Engineering, which are available at the Reference Section in the Library. Dr. Dennis Martin has published a set of standards specifically designed for SE thesis projects and undergraduate senior projects. You can find them at
http://www.cs.uofs.edu/~dmartin/dsindex.html#Standards
While we strongly suggest that you follow those standards, you should consult with your thesis project advisor(s) for what documents and in format you should have for your project.
The final proposal must be approved by the project advisor and three copies shall be submitted to the Graduate Program Committee by the second Monday of May for departmental approval.
The project advisor and second reader will sign the cover page of the thesis after a satisfactory revision is made. Three copies of the final version of this report and the signed cover page shall be submitted to the Graduate School.
The Graduate School requires that a thesis be submitted and approved by the department by mid-April (exact date may vary from year to year). Since the thesis must be approved by the advisor and the second reader as departmental approval before it is submitted to the Graduate School, the student must submit the thesis to the advisor and the second reader by the first Monday of April to leave time for possible revision. Students are advised to strictly adhere to the deadline for this report in order to avoid any delay on their graduation.
This report should be derived
from all the other reports and summarize the whole project. It should not
be a collection of the other reports. Instead, it should emphasize the
merit and significance of the system built in the project.