One of the requirements of the final year of the BCS program is the COMP 4905 Honours Project. Please read this document carefully and refer to it often as it will help you successfully complete your Honours Project.

All honours projects involve the student and a faculty supervisor. Typically students choose both the project and supervisor but not without consulting the latter. Once a project topic and supervisor are established, the project must be formally proposed in a written document submitted to the undergraduate advisor. This step ensures that you have secured the support of a supervisor and that the scope of the project is both suitable and understood by both parties. Next, under supervision, the student should begin a preparatory phase, which may involve researching the field and developing needed skills. Typically, all of the foregoing stages are completed before the term in which the student is registered for the project begins. As a result, students should have a running start at the project. This is important as while a term may seem to provide ample time, students inevitably underestimate the time it takes to perform the needed work and prepare the final report. To reinforce the need for careful planning, the proposal must contain a timetable or schedule of project activities and milestones. To assist in the planning, this document contains a suggested timetable on which to base your proposed schedule.

To assist you in selecting a project, visit the following link to read through the faculty list and their research areas (see faculty research interests). This can serve as a starting point in your search for a project/supervisor.

As well, faculty members are encouraged to prepare descriptions of suitable Honours projects that they are particularly keen to supervise. These may or may not be posted so it is best to ask. Do not assume, however, that these are the only suitable projects available. If you have an idea of your own, so much the better. Avoid proposing a project based on a work term, either a formal co-op term or an informal one. There is an academic requirement in the Honours project that cannot be satisfied by the requirements of a paying job. If there are questions associated with project selection, please consult the coordinator.

Included in this document is a timetable for important project milestones besides those you might set yourself. Please pay attention to the deadlines. For example, project report deadlines are firm and failure to comply without a genuinely valid excuse will result in a failing grade. Valid excuses when supported by appropriate medical evidence and recommended by the supervisor, will result in a grade of IP (i.e., in progress) on the understanding that the student will continue to work and complete the project within one month of the end of the examination period for the term of registration.    Upon project completion,  the IP grade will be replaced by an appropriate grade from the supervisor.   If the student does not submit a final report, or goes beyond the allotted one-month extension, the IP grade will be automatically replaced by ABS (i.e., Absent) or F, depending on the circumstances.   For this reason, students are advised to pay particular attention to the University calendar deadline for course withdrawal, as it is much better to have a WDN appear on a transcript than an ABS (i.e., Absent).

Finally, this document contains guidelines for the preparation of the project proposals, progress reports, final reports, and the criteria on which projects will be judged.

The following is a brief summary of the basic rules associated with the Honours Projects within the School of Computer Science. It must be emphasized that these are regulations and not merely guidelines. It is recommended that projects should be proposed prior to the registration term (e.g., in the summer for a fall term, etc.)

1. Each project must be formally proposed. The proposal should be prepared by the student with the aid of his/her project supervisor in written form.  The cover page of the proposal should be the completed Honours Project Proposal and Permission Form which you can obtain from this link:   Honours Project Proposal & Permission Form
   The report should consist of a short description of the project detailing the goals and scope of the study and include an outline of the final report indicating a timetable for the work involved, as well as equipment requirements.


2. Proposals must be submitted to the undergraduate advisor (Edina Storfer) on or before the proposal deadline and include the endorsement of both the student and the project supervisor. Contact the Honours Project Coordinator if uncertain of the deadline.


3. A project supervisor must be a member of the School of Computer Science. In some cases it may be appropriate to have more than one, in which case, one external co-supervisor may be appropriate.


4. One final printed & bound report must be submitted to the supervisor no later than 4:00 p.m. on the deadline published in the honours projects schedule. In addition, a pdf version of the report must be submitted to the school's on-line honours project repository (see Report Submission section below) along with any supporting files (e.g., code, images, video clips, etc.).

The following link lists the faculty of the School of Computer Science and their research areas of interest. For more details regarding the research interests of a particular faculty member, consult the individual web page for that faculty member.   A list of all faculty members can be found here: (http://scs.carleton.ca/people/people.php?People=faculty).

Note: It is in your best interest to follow this timetable carefully. Frequent consultations (e.g., weekly or bi-weekly) with the project supervisor are suggested. Do not let a problem stall progress on your project, see your supervisor without delay. You should also note that it is your responsibility to request consultation with your supervisor, project supervisors will not chase you for updated status reports.

A project proposal, submitted to the coordinator before the proposal deadline, should be a short document (approximately 2 pages) which contains the following information:

1. A title and detailed description of the project.
2. An explicit statement of the goals of the project, including both the objectives of the work to be completed and your personal learning objectives.
3. A potential skeleton outline of the final report in the form of a Table of Contents (although this may differ in the final version).
4. A bi-weekly schedule (or timetable) indicating all important milestones of the project including report preparation.
5. A statement of any software and/or hardware facilities required.
6. The acceptance signatures of both the student and the supervisor(s).

You must also include (as the cover page for your proposal) a filled out copy pdf the Honours Project Proposal & Permission Form

The written progress report, submitted to the supervisor in mid-term (via email is normally acceptable, but confirm this with your supervisor), should be a short informal document which reports on the status of the project.    The progress report content and form may be specified by the supervisor but should minimally contain:

1. A review of status of the project in terms of the proposed goals and timetable.
2. Suggestions on refinements or changes in direction from original project proposal should be made at this time. Should significant alterations be made to the proposal, a revised proposal should be written and, after approval by the supervisor, submitted to the coordinator.

An essential part of any technical work is effective communication of the motivation, methodology and results of that work to others. The final project report that you submit in COMP 4905 is the communication of your work to the "outside world".

It should be clearly understood that this project report is read and graded by your supervisor who knows about the project and knows how much work you have put into it. However, often others may also read about your work, which will be the first time that they heard about the project and thus will be assessing it entirely on the basis of the report. It is to these other readers that the report should be aimed. A common pitfall, when a project involves coding, is for the project report to become little more than code documentation. This approach of course will not impress the other readers who does not understand the motivation for the production of the code. Any outside reader will want to be informed of all three basic aspects of the work mentioned above. Your report should at least clearly describe:

1. Motivation: Give a clear explanation of the project and the rationale for it. Give some background to the problem and, if possible, put it in the context of other similar work being done. Keep in mind that the reader must be introduced to the problem at hand.  Therefore, you should assume that the reader is knowledgeable but not necessarily an expert in the project field. One way to make clear the nature of the project is to clearly summarize its objectives. This aspect is usually covered in the introductory chapter of the project.


2. Methodology: Go into detail about the methods used in doing your project. What are the relevant ideas, the sources of information, the various approaches that might be used? Discuss approaches finally chosen as well as those discarded and finally describe what was accomplished. It is important here to strike a balance between too much detail and not enough. Above all, avoid a repetitious style. This part of the report is usually covered in one or more middle chapters. A good rule-of-thumb is to break a chapter into two or more parts if it is large compared to other chapters.


3. Results: Tell the reader what has been achieved in the project. What works and what doesn't? Give conclusions and summarize the most important issues dealt with in your project. Depending upon the nature of the project you might be able to compare performance, illustrate a user interface, or simply present results in a clear and meaningful way. This is your chance to "sell" your work (i.e., convince others that it is interesting and useful), particularly to the other readers. Most of this material should appear in the 2nd last chapter of your report. A summary should also be given in the short concluding chapter.

Note that such items as user manuals and annotated source code should be put into appendices, if included at all. Many students are tempted to include all source code in their final reports, this is rarely a good idea! Instead, include a machine readable version on CD/DVD of all source code and manuals for readers to use, with an explanation of what is included on the CD/DVD included as an appendix. Do not bulk up a report with code to impress readers as it does just the opposite. Finally, it may be useful to arrange a demonstration of your project, if your supervisor concurs. This should be planned prior to submission of your final report.

This section is designed to serve as a guide in preparing your final report. Follow it closely to avoid disappointing grades! Remember that the report should be formal in style. Aside from the main text, technical reports contain the items listed below in the following order:

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Acknowledgments
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Text
• References
• Appendix(ces)

All of the above should begin on new pages and all pages must be numbered. All other pages should be numbered consecutively from 1 in Arabic numerals (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4, etc..). Pages of appendices should be separately numbered so that each can stand-alone. Each figure and table appearing within the text should be consecutively numbered, listed in the appropriate list, and included within the body of the text close to the point where it is first discussed.

The title page should contain the following information:

• Organization (Carleton University)
• Title of course
• Title of project
• Name of author
• Name of supervisor, including initials and department
• Date

Appearing on the next page, the abstract allows a reader to get a quick idea of what is in the report without having to search into the main text. The abstract should present the problem, the approach, the results obtained and the conclusion(s) reached in no more than 200 words. It is best to write the abstract after the remainder of the report is written.

Acknowledgments are used to credit copyrighted material, the significant assistance obtained from others and contributions received, etc. It should be brief and to the point.

The table of contents lists principal headings as they appear in the report (including appendices, if applicable) together with the page numbers on which the headings occur. It should not list anything prior to the main text.

The list of figures should be an index of all figures found in the body of the report. Similarly, should your report contain tables, a list of tables should be included as well. Such lists should include the figure or table number, title, or caption, and the page on which it occurs.

Next follows the main body of text. Organization of the report shall be determined by the nature of the material being discussed. Normally reports begin with an introduction, have other chapter headings appropriate to the material and end with a conclusion. Early pages usually should provide background information and work objectives. Succeeding sections describe work procedures, results achieved, and related matters, as appropriate. Finally, the report should conclude with a frank appraisal of the achievements, relating these to the project goals, and suggestions for further work.

It is important to list all sources cited in the text in the references section. Many potential references will likely be discovered during the preparatory phases of the project. Take care to record these for inclusion in your report. Within the text, references are to be cited by giving the surname and year of publication, as follows:

• for single authors, e.g. [Smith, 1961]
• for two-author entries, e.g. [Smith and Brown, 1959]
• for multiple-author entries, e.g. [Smith et al., 1941]
• if author not given, cite as Anon., and give year, e.g. [Anon., 1972]

Note: If more than one reference by the same author occurs in a given year, add a letter to differentiate sources, e.g. [Smith, 1961a], and [Smith, 1961b].

The above format for citation of references (by first author and year) is particularly convenient, since citation of additional references (or deletion of cited references) does not require extensive alterations of the text. Other formats of reference citation, e.g. by consecutive numbers allotted to each reference, require change to many citations when a single reference is added or deleted.

References should be listed alphabetically (and, for a given author, sequentially by year) in the following format:

Brown, B.J., Smith, N.K., Jackson P.B. (1970) Pollution World's Critical Challenge, Oxford University Press, pp. 293.

Smith, T.G. (1961) A Study of urban growth in North America, Journal of Social Studies, Volume 5, Number 6, pp. 261-272.

Personally acquired information should be referred to as "private communication", as follows:

Bittner, B.C. (1992) Private Communication.

Each appendix should have a title. Additionally, when more than one appendix is used, designate them as Appendix A, Appendix B., etc. All pages, table, figure, and equation numbers in Appendix A should be preceded by "A-", those in Appendix B by "B-" etc. When only a single appendix is used, should one omit the letter prefix.

All reports are to be neatly typed (or printed) on one side of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and suitably bound, i.e., not submitted in loose-leaf binders. Reports should be as concise as possible, we do not measure the worth of a project by the weight of its report. A reasonable guideline is: reports should not exceed 100 pages in total . On the matter of quality of printing, you must submit a report that is clearly readable.   Make sure that the FONT is not to small and that the printer has not smudged the text.   In preparing your report, allow adequate margins (remember that binding will eat away at the left margin) and ensure that pages are properly numbered as outlined above.

All headings should be flush left and should have at least two lines of space above. A heading should not be placed near the bottom of a page unless there is space for at least two lines of text below. Optionally, if desired, the decimal system may be used for numbering the headings, sub-headings and sub-sub-headings (e.g., 1, 1.1, 1.1.1). Avoid the excessive use of headings, it is quite unnecessary for each paragraph to have a heading. Text paragraphs should be typed with 1.5 line spacing, with extra space between paragraphs. A paragraph should not begin near the bottom of a page unless there is space for at least two lines of text.

In the text, symbols should be used to designate footnotes. The symbol should be placed at the upper right of the appropriate word in the text, and at the beginning of the footnote. Footnotes should be typed single-spaced at the bottom of the page. If there is more than one footnote on a page, successive footnotes should follow without line-spacing.

Equations should be carefully formatted (hand written if necessary). Symbols used for the first time should be explained. Number those equations which are part of a series or which are referred to in the text. Use consecutive Arabic numerals; for example, 1, 2, or 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, etc. When used, the equation numbers should be enclosed in parentheses and placed in the lower right corner of the equation. Align the equation numbers.

Figures should be consecutively numbered. Titles should be centered below figures. The word "Figure" should be capitalized, e.g., FIGURE 12. If there is more than one line in the title, the additional lines should be typed single spaced. If included, photos should be of suitable quality. Crop or mask out insignificant detail. Similarly, tables should be consecutively numbered. When feasible, design tables for reading in upright position, not sideways. Break lengthy, complicated tables into separate smaller ones. Combine related tables on single sheets when they will fit comfortably. Brief explanatory captions should be on all tables in addition to references for explanations in the text. Captions should be centered atop tables. The work "Table" should be capitalized. If there is more than one line in the caption, the additional lines should be typed single spaced.

All references, figures, tables and appendices must be cited in the text. Use Fig. 1, Table 1 to cite figures and tables in text. Tables, figures and appendices should be arranged in the sequence of citations in the text. Use Eq. (1) when referring to equations.

Source code listings of complete programs should be in the appendices if included at all. Code fragments may appear within the text body proper for illustration purposes. Where possible, keep the listings upright, not sideways. Use smaller print if necessary.

You will hand in one properly bound hardcopy of your final report to your supervisor on or before the due date. In addition to the final report, your supervisor may have additional requirements for project submission, e.g., machine readable copies of software, etc.

You will also submit a PDF (i.e., Portable Document Format) version of your final report to the school's on-line honours project repository.  You can make a PDF file from your work by installing a kind of PDF printer on your machine (many free versions are available online) and then simply printing the document using that PDF Printer as your selected printer.   You will also need to submit a text-based abstract describing your work (use the abstract from your report) along with the title of your report, a single 640x480 PNG,GIF or JPG image that represents your work and finally ... any additional files such as source code, images, video clips etc..

The files that you submit will remain in the repository database and will be only visible to faculty members in the School of Computer Science.   However, the title, abstract, term, year and a single project image will be visible to the general public.   If you selected the checkbox on your Honours Project Proposal & Permission Form to allow the school of show your name, then your name will appear alongside your project's title and abstract so that the public will be aware of who did the project.   Note that your final report, source code and other files will NOT be visible to the general public.

You will submit your project by going online to the following website on or before the project due date:

http://www.scs.carleton.ca/honours_projects/

You will be asked to provide a title and a text-based abstract for your project as well as your final report in PDF format.   You will also be asked to upload any additional accompanying files.   One such file MUST be a file called cover_img.xxx (where xxx = png, gif or jpg) which is a 640x480 PNG/JPG/GIF image representing your project.   You should then include all other files pertaining to your report such as source code and data files etc..  Have these available when you go to submit on-line.

Late projects will not be accepted unless accompanied by appropriate documentation. Do not expect deferrals simply for the asking, expect to be required to supply medical certificates or equivalent to substantiate your need for deferral. Should you be unable to submit your report before the deadline, it is your responsibility to immediately contact either your supervisor or the coordinator, otherwise your project will be graded as ABS. Submitted copies will not be returned to the students.

1. Preparatory Phase and Literature Survey. The report should demonstrate that the student has read and understood an appropriate body of literature on the subject area of the project. It is a very important purpose of the project to acquaint students with the concept of independent study and the assimilation of material from a variety of sources. The project should be based on, and the report should reflect, the preparatory phases of the project.


2. Relevance to Computer Science. The project undertaken must demonstrate sufficient work in the field of computer science to be classified as being relevant to the field. Given that your supervisor has assisted in the formulation of the project, this should be guaranteed unless there has been significant deviation from the original proposal.


3. The Project Report. The quality of the report, both its content and the style of writing, is most important. The report should concisely express the significant contributions made, the extent of original work done, and demonstrate the scientific proficiency with which the project was carried out. Take care to ensure that proper English is used throughout the report.


4. Analysis and Performance Evaluation. Where appropriate, an analysis of the algorithms or implementation involved should be made. As well, a frank self-appraisal of any results obtained, if possible within the context of similar results obtained by others, is appropriate. Readers will also look for vision, i.e., what follow-on developments are feasible and appropriate.


5. Research Contribution. Original ideas and contributions to the field of computer science made in the course of the project should be clearly expressed in the report. Such contributions normally influence significantly the grade awarded to the project.