MSc Advanced Computer Science: Individual projects

COM00140M (PACS)

Format and submission

Please direct any queries about the information on this page to Dr Xinwei Fang, Programme Lead for MSc Advanced Computer Science.

View previous version of this page: Pre-2021/22

Format for submission

Students are required to submit a report and supporting material, as follows:

Executive summary

At most two (2) pages, aimed a non-specialist, knowledgeable authorial peer.

The summary must:

state the aim of the reported work,
motivate the work,
state methods used,
state results found, and
highlight any legal, social, ethical, professional, and commercial issues as appropriate to the topic of study (if none, then this should be explicitly stated).

Main body

At most fifty (50) pages, aimed at an academic in Computer Science (that is, a potential marker, who may be any academic member of the Department). [Note: the title page, tables of contents, tables of figures / diagrams / etc., abstract, dedication, and bibliography do not count towards the 50 pages.]

While no particular structure is mandated, it is expected that there will be:

Introductory material
Background and review of related work
Description of methodology, experimental design, or design
Results or analysis
Concluding material

Rules

All source material that is used, whether by direct quotation or not, must be acknowledged, in the IEEE referencing style. See the University of York Academic Integrity site. (If you are an undergraduate student see section 5.7.1 of the Undergraduate Handbook. If you are a taught postgraduate student see section 4.7.1 of the Postgraduate Handbook. Both handbooks are available via the Handbook page).
Reports must be typeset. If absolutely necessary, some formulæ or figures may be handwritten or hand-drawn, and then scanned.
Project reports should be compiled as PDF documents.
Project reports and supporting evidence should be submitted as a single .zip file, through, the Teaching Portal, the Department's electronic submissions system.
Students must adhere to any word and page limits. Staff marking your project dissertation are instructed to stop reading when a limit is reached. (Quality is much more important than quantity; you should not aim to come close to the upper limit simply to make your report appear substantial).
Do not include your examination number anywhere in your report.
Main text must be written in Helvetica size 12pt font, the left and right margins should be both 4cm, the top margin should be 2.5cm and the bottom margin should be 4cm. The spaces between paragraphs must be 12pt, and there should be no indentation of the first line of a paragraph. These dimensions are setup automatically if you are using the LaTeX or the Microsoft Word templates, so you must not change the pre-defined margin in these templates. In OpenOffice or a similar software, you will have to setup the margin manually as well as the paragraph separation. If Helvetica font is not available on your software, you should use Calibri or Carlito at size 12pt.
The report must start with a title page, containing title, author, date, supervisor and wording to the effect that it is the report on a project submitted for the degree of such-and-such in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York.
Subsequent pages must show the contents of the report; this must include a table of contents showing the title and page number for each chapter and section (or each section and subsection). The executive summary should appear just after the tables and before the main body of the report. Where appropriate, appendices may start with their own table of contents. Each main subdivision (chapter or appendix) should start on a new page. The bibliography must be after the appendices. Refer to the examples provided with the templates given below.
All tables, figures and equations should be labelled or numbered. Where appropriate, separate lists of tables, figures and equations should be included at the start of the report. Conventions for labelling or numbering tables and figures should be applied consistently.
Numbering of subsections to one level of decimals (e.g. 2.1) is desirable; numbering to two levels (e.g. 2.1.2) is acceptable. Numbering to further levels (e.g. 2.1.2.3) is not normally desirable. Conventions for headings and indentation at various levels should be applied consistently.

Sample Marking Form

View the sample marking form

Templates

While correct formatting is your responsibility, the Department provides the following templates:

Electronic Submission System

All project work is submitted through the Computer Science Teaching Portal.