The final dissertation does not have to be submitted until
mid-September but you should start thinking about it from
the start of the project as soon as the 2nd semester
finishes
Writing the dissertation
The contents of the dissertation (excluding references
and appendices etc., with the font size being 11 or 12 pt)
must be no more than 60 pages in length.
Dissertations come in a variety of types so it is
difficult to generalize but the following pages
should help you get started but remember that if you are
unsure what to do you should discuss the problem with your
supervisor.
Finally you have to submit it
be very careful to do so on time.
Assessment
Your dissertation will be assessed by two markers, one
of whom will be your supervisor.
In cases where the markers disagree on the grade of a
dissertation by more than 10% and cannot negotiate an
agreement, an opinion will be sought from a third marker,
who will refer to the electronically submitted copy of the
dissertation. Students who are resitting a project
externally and, very occasionally, other students may be
asked to attend a viva voce
examination.
The categories listed below are included on the
assessment form that each examiner will complete. Also
included below is a table that gives an indication
of what is being looked for in the overall work - note
however that this is only a guide.
- Quality of products: This covers the results of
the work, whether these be software or hardware systems,
models of systems, mathematical theorems and
conjectures, etc. Judgements will be made on the basis
of the complexity or difficulty of the task and the
degree of success achieved.
- Quality of processes: This covers the
processes involved in the development of the project
work and can include the initial analysis of the problem
with its theoretical foundations. It will also cover
design and testing processes, and how you handled
relevant legal, social or ethical issues. The use of the
literature, and of available tools and methodologies
will also be assessed here.
- Amount of work completed: somewhat
self-descriptive. This category includes (i) the
background learning you had to do which is distinct from
the final products that were produced or the processes
that were undertaken in producing the products, and (ii)
the amount of work done in relation to what could be
reasonably expected to be done on the particular
project, given its level of difficulty and the time
available.
- Quality of evaluation: This concerns your own
evaluation of the project in terms of how well the
objectives were satisfied, how appropriate the processes
turned out to be, the possible further directions of
study and the relationships with other people's work.
- Presentation of dissertation: The readability
of the dissertation and the precision of its language
will be judged here, along with the overall
presentation: sensible notation, diagrams, layout,
headings, references, etc.
- Poster session: See
the Poster Session page
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