Discussion:
Undergraduate computer science dissertations
(too old to reply)
jeff peterson
2004-02-28 17:16:02 UTC
Permalink
can i do a quick survey?

how many words are most of your undergraduate computer science
dissertations? mine is expected to be ~30,000, is that not a little
excessive?

thanks in advance
Jonathan G Campbell
2004-02-29 10:00:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by jeff peterson
can i do a quick survey?
how many words are most of your undergraduate computer science
dissertations? mine is expected to be ~30,000, is that not a little
excessive?
Does that include appendices, e.g. for program code?

In the institutions that I've been involved with (either in internal
or external examining capacity), I've not been aware of any such
specification. Mmmm ... I think I may recall a specification of an
upper limit, something like 40 pages. 40 pages at 1.5 spacing is
~15--20,000 words.

30,000 words seems a lot for an undergrad. dissertation; I've examined
undergrad. dissertations that were that length, but mostly they would
have been improved by editing down to half or two-thirds.

How much course credit is allocated to the dissertation? How many
hours work are assumed? And what about the equation to text ratio?

Best regards,

Jon C.
jeff peterson
2004-02-29 11:28:36 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jonathan G Campbell
Post by jeff peterson
can i do a quick survey?
how many words are most of your undergraduate computer science
dissertations? mine is expected to be ~30,000, is that not a little
excessive?
Does that include appendices, e.g. for program code?
Nope. 15,000 to be written proposing and designing the system and a
furthur 15,000 words on testing and evaluating the success of the
implementation.
Post by Jonathan G Campbell
In the institutions that I've been involved with (either in internal
or external examining capacity), I've not been aware of any such
specification. Mmmm ... I think I may recall a specification of an
upper limit, something like 40 pages. 40 pages at 1.5 spacing is
~15--20,000 words.
30,000 words seems a lot for an undergrad. dissertation; I've examined
undergrad. dissertations that were that length, but mostly they would
have been improved by editing down to half or two-thirds.
How much course credit is allocated to the dissertation?
40 credits in total (20 creds for design, 20 creds for evaluation.)
[Incase the credit system in the UK is different to whereever you are,
the courses for a two semester year at university (one academic year) is
120 credits, so the project effectively counts for 1/3 of the final
years work.] Of each 20 credits, 15-20% is allocated for presentations,
demonstrating system meets requirements, etc.
Post by Jonathan G Campbell
How many hours work are assumed?
roughly 1/3 of your time for each semester (I.E. you divide your time
between the design of the project and two other modules in the first
semester, and between the evaluation and two other modules in the second
semester.)
Post by Jonathan G Campbell
And what about the equation to text ratio?
Hmmm, not really sure. The project i'm working on has few mathematical
operations involved and thus the dissertation contains very little
notation. I have seen projects for fellow students which differ.
Post by Jonathan G Campbell
Best regards,
Jon C.
Thanks for the reply
Jonathan G Campbell
2004-03-03 17:01:41 UTC
Permalink
Post by jeff peterson
Post by Jonathan G Campbell
Post by jeff peterson
can i do a quick survey?
how many words are most of your undergraduate computer science
dissertations? mine is expected to be ~30,000, is that not a little
excessive?
Does that include appendices, e.g. for program code?
Nope. 15,000 to be written proposing and designing the system and a
furthur 15,000 words on testing and evaluating the success of the
implementation.
Post by Jonathan G Campbell
In the institutions that I've been involved with (either in internal
or external examining capacity), I've not been aware of any such
specification. Mmmm ... I think I may recall a specification of an
upper limit, something like 40 pages. 40 pages at 1.5 spacing is
~15--20,000 words.
30,000 words seems a lot for an undergrad. dissertation; I've examined
undergrad. dissertations that were that length, but mostly they would
have been improved by editing down to half or two-thirds.
How much course credit is allocated to the dissertation?
40 credits in total (20 creds for design, 20 creds for evaluation.)
[Incase the credit system in the UK is different to whereever you are,
the courses for a two semester year at university (one academic year) is
120 credits, so the project effectively counts for 1/3 of the final
years work.] Of each 20 credits, 15-20% is allocated for presentations,
demonstrating system meets requirements, etc.
Okay, given that I said 15--20-Kwords for one module (20 CATS), on the
face of it, 30-K for two modules (40 CATS) is not unreasonable.
However, given the additional (double) time, perhaps there is time to
shorten ;-) (Pascal said something about that.)

What would happen if someone wrote a formal specification and proved
the syetem correct? Good project, few words, few marks?

Sounds like you could be suffering in some Nth rate British university
that has implemented rigid 'teaching quality assurance'.

Best regards,

Jon C.

Loading...