COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE ACADEMICS GRADUATE INFORMATION MASTERS DEGREE

The Master's Project

The Graduate Edition of the FSU General Bulletin says that all master's students in CS are required to do a project, and that students in the thesis option have the additional requirement of writing a thesis, but that ``the thesis may constitute the project document and the thesis defense may constitute the project defense''.

The project option of the CS department is what the Bulletin calls a course-type master's degree program, as contrasted with the thesis option, which is a thesis-type degree program.

A thesis is a document, whose precise format is prescribed by the University. It is required by the University for all students in a thesis-type degree program.

A project is a requirement of this department. It is required by the department for all master's students, whether in the thesis or coursework-type degree program. It is not just a document, but a piece of individual research or software development work, which includes the writing of a document called the project document.

It is hard to imagine case where a student would do both a thesis and a separate project. The intent was that students in the thesis option would satisfy the project requirement using the project document. However, not all project documents would be of a form and quality to be acceptable as a thesis.

Under both options the master's project serves as a kind of comprehensive examination.

Though in practice there is some overlap between what is acceptable as a thesis and as a project, the non-thesis project generally differs from a master's thesis in the following ways:

• The non-thesis project document has a more flexible format, not being required to follow the university-level thesis format requirements.
• A hard-back copy of a thesis is placed in the university library, but only the department keeps a file of non-thesis project documents.
• A non-thesis project requires the development of a significant piece of software, while a thesis project may be a research project whose only tangible product is the thesis (an academic paper).
• A thesis is expected to be a technical paper of sufficient quality that it would meet the editorial criteria for publication in a computer science conference or periodical. As such, minimum requirements for quality of writing and degree of originality are higher than for a non-thesis project document.
• Writing a thesis is better preparation for a student who hopes to continue on to the PhD degree.

1. Creation of an original software artifact, adequate to demonstrate mastery of software development or, if the project is for a thesis, conducting an original piece of research.
2. Writing of an original paper, adequate to demonstrate mastery of technical writing.
3. Presentation of an oral report on the project, adequate to demonstrate mastery of public speaking.

In judging whether these three deliverables demonstrate adequate mastery, the supervisory committee shall consider whether the depth of technical knowledge and level of skill demonstrated by the student are consistent with the expectations for professional employment.

The scope and difficulty of the project should be greater than that of a term project for a course. The technical depth should be appropriate for the capstone of a graduate degree. In particular, it should require study of one or more areas of CS beyond what is covered by the required graduate and undergraduate courses.

The software may be an end product or be incidental to a piece of experimental research (e.g., a simulator, or implementation of an algorithm for performance testing). The originality need not be fundamental. Creativity at a fundmental level -- such as in the design of algorithms and data structures, or in the concept of the application -- is desirable but not required. It is acceptable to produce "yet another" implementation of a type of software that has been done before. However, in the latter case it is essential that the student first do a study of prior art and document that study with references and analysis, showing how the new implementation incorporates lessons learned from prior practice.

The project document shall always include a description of the project adequate to inform the committee members of the motivation, objectives, scope, methods, and results. It shall ordinarily cover the full software development cycle, including requirements analysis, software design, test design, validation testing, and performance analysis. This project description shall have the form of a technical report. If the software is an end product, the project document shall also include user and maintenance documentation. The latter two shall ordinarily be separate from the project description, though they may be presented as appendices.

The work submitted for the master's project, including both the code (if a software project) and the document, is required to be the individual work of the student. The student is allowed and encouraged to solicit review and comment, including editorial suggestions, especially from the major professor and supervisory committee members. However, the student and advisor should keep in mind that by awarding a master's degree in CS the department is certifying that the student has mastered technical English writing to a level that is acceptable for a CS professional.

If the master's project software is part of a larger software development or research project, it may make use of other software components that were not written by the student, but such other components shall be clearly identified and separated from the contributions of the student. Further, if the master's project is part of a larger project the organization of the larger project must allow the master's student a high degree of autonomy and individual responsibility for a well defined and clearly partitioned segment of the project, from the inception to completion of the segment.

The application of the above criteria to the project is up to the individual student's supervisory committee. The committee shall be formed by the start of the project, and registered with the Graduate Coordinator. All committee members shall be given an early opportunity to review the scope and technical approach of the project, before work has progressed too far to make whatever modifications may be needed to obtain their approval.

A student should allow at least two semesters for completion of the project. At the beginning of the project, the student should agree with the major professor on an estimated time-table, with milestones. For example, a two-semester (30 week) plan might allow six weeks for analysis and design, six weeks for coding, six weeks for testing and validation, six weeks for writing, and six weeks for review, editing, and defense. The schedule may be revised as necessary, based on the actual progress of the student.

The project defense is primarily a test of the student's oral communication skills. However, it is also part of the final comprehensive examination. Therefore, the supervisory committee may elect to ask questions on other subjects within the scope of the student's course of studies.

When scheduling the defense, the student shall allow at least two weeks for review of the final paper by the committee after it has been approved by the major professor. Scheduling of the defense shall be through the office of the Graduate Coordinator. To reserve a room and PC cart for your defense, please contact Eleanor McNealy no less than one week before tha day you plan to present your defense.

When the defense has been scheduled, the student shall obtain an FSU technical report number from the Webmaster. The student shall file a copy of the approved written report with the office of the Graduate Coordinator, both in hard copy and in electronic format (with appropriate copyright notices) suitable for distribution over the Internet, and sign an authorization form for the department to distribute copies of the report. In addition to the student author's name, the title page of the final version shall list the names of the major professor and supervisory committee members.