Undergraduate theses are unusual in that they consist of a single piece of work spread over three courses: Thesis A, Thesis B, and Thesis C. The three parts have quite different outcomes and assessment, which are described in detail below, but which can be summarized as:
Students with excellent academic records and who perform exceptionally (HD grade) in Thesis A may be permitted to do Thesis B and C together in a single term. However, for students who do both Thesis B and Thesis C in one term there are different deadlines for Thesis B deliverables: in particular the preliminary demonstration is to be done in week 4
The course code for Thesis A, B, and C are as follows:
| Program | Thesis Part A | Thesis Part B | Thesis Part C |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSE | COMP4951 | COMP4952 | COMP4953 |
| Biomedical Engineering (Dual award BE) | BIOM4951 | BIOM4952 | BIOM4953 |
Generally, you should use your time in Thesis A to understand the problem, do a literature review to understand the state of the work, and to come out with a plan which you will implement your proposed solution in Thesis B and Thesis C.
You will then be using your time in Thesis B (10 weeks) and Thesis C (8 weeks) to work out your proposed solution which can include software, hardware, and theory.
Note that the last 2 weeks of Thesis C are reserved for writing the thesis report so you should aim to complete your practical work by Week 8. This means you have about 18 weeks to implement your practical work for your entire thesis. Given that the Thesis is worth 6 UoC per term, we expect you to work at least 10 hours per week for the project, so this means a thesis project should aim to have about 180 hours of practical work at least.
The overall mark of the Thesis is a weighted sum of Thesis A, Thesis B, Thesis C, and participation marks. If this overall mark is 50 or more, then you pass the Thesis.
FinalMark = 0.2*Thesis A Mark + 0.05*Thesis B Mark + 0.7*Thesis C Mark + 0.05*Participation Mark
| Thesis Part | Due Date | Assessment Item | Weight | Total Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thesis A | Week 8 | Seminar Presentation | 25% | 20% |
| Week 11 | Written Report (Literature review) | 75% | ||
| Thesis B | Week 11 | Seminar Presentation | 100% | 5% |
| Thesis C | Week 8 | Thesis Demonstration/Presentation | 10% | 70% |
| Week 11 | Written Report (Thesis) | 90% | ||
| Participation | 5% |
Aims: understand the problem, understand the state-of-the-art through literature review, develop a plan, start working on a solution.
Make a 30-minute presentation about your Thesis A topic and the plan for Thesis B and C.
A mark out of 100 will be returned by your supervisor and the assessor, along with comments on your progress. Your thesis A mark is the average of your supervisor’s mark and assessor’s mark. Overall, Thesis A contributes 20% towards your final thesis mark.
Students provide a written report, between 20 and 40 pages in length, which includes at least a review of the literature relevant to their topic and a plan for solving the problem.
A mark out of 100 will be returned by your supervisor and the assessor, along with comments on your progress. Your Thesis A mark is the average of your supervisor’s mark and assessor’s mark. Overall, Thesis A contributes 20% towards your final thesis mark.
Aims: complete part of the solution, evaluate it, and demonstrate the partial solution.
Make a 30-minute presentation about progress so far and present a (revised) plan for the rest of the thesis.
A mark out of 100 will be returned by your supervisor and the assessor, along with comments on your progress. Your thesis B mark is the average of your supervisor’s mark and assessor’s mark. Overall, Thesis B contributes 5% towards your final thesis mark.
Aims: complete the solution, evaluate it, write up the whole project.
Make a 30-minute presentation about the final outcome of your thesis. This could be a demonstration of a system you built or a presentation of your theoretical work.
A mark out of 100 will be returned by your supervisor and the assessor, along with comments on your work. Your thesis C mark is the average of your supervisor’s mark and assessor’s mark. Overall, Thesis C contributes 70% towards your final thesis mark.
The final Thesis Report is often called simply "The Thesis". It is typically 40-80 pages and consists of a literature review, a description of your solution, and an evaluation of its effectiveness.
Along with the report, you are required to submit a 150-word summary of your thesis. This summary is published in the CSE Thesis Digital Archive.
Participation is a component of Thesis C but assessed by the supervisor only.