(as of 16 November 2006)

These guidelines are for students who select the Masters program Professional Option, which in addition to coursework, requires a graduate project. Graduate project proposals are considered twice per year by the School of Computing Graduate Committee, once during the Fall term and once during the Spring term. Students who select the Professional Option MUST establish their project director from among the School of Computing Graduate Faculty during the term prior to the term they intend to enroll in CIS 6910: Project. Under the guidance of the project director, the student must prepare a proposal according to these guidelines and present the proposal to the School of Computing Graduate Committee on the date established by the Graduate Committee for that term. The Committee will either permit the student to proceed with the project, possibly with stipulations, or turn down the project, as noted below. Students are reminded that equipment and software resources provided by the School of Computing in support of individual student projects are subject to the following restrictions: the resources to be employed must already be operational when the project is proposed the use of the resources will not disrupt or substantively interfere with scheduled work of other authorized users. Special support needs are the responsibility of the student. Any staff support provided for an individual project is limited to time-available regardless of the deadlines under which the student may be operating. Student access to equipment, software, and the campus network in support of such projects is subject to School of Computing staff supervision and scheduling, and is limited to the permissions granted. The time-line for an individual project should have enough flexibility to accommodate delays caused by unanticipated events such as product failures. A proposed project should not rely on anything that has not been installed and tested for the project's hardware and software requirements. If a project has special needs, the proposer must state how those needs will be met, whether through School of Computing equipment and software or otherwise.

Format and Presentation Considerations Graduate project proposals should be no more than 10 pages long, organized as follows: Title page (with your name and that of your project director) Table of contents Introduction Address the motivation for your project; why what you are proposing is worth undertaking; why you believe your project is of graduate merit; the application of your project; and the deliverable from your project (Note: this contrasts sharply with thesis work, which typically includes "proof of concept" software rather than a finalized, documented, state-of-art deliverable) Body of Proposal A description of the deliverable Plan for accomplishing the project work (steps to be taken and the methodology to be used) Timeline with project milestones Hardware/software constraints or requirements Conclusions References (known or anticipated) In order for the Graduate Committee to preview proposals prior to presentation, proposals must be emailed to the Graduate Director by the deadline established by the Committee (see the "Important Dates for Masters Students" section of the School of Computing web page). Submissions must be in a format accessible by standard word processor (such as Word) or browser (such as .html or .pdf). Proposal presentations The date for proposal presentations is established by the Graduate Committee early each term (Fall and Spring) and included within the "Important Dates for Masters Students" section of the School of Computing web page. The presentation is to last no more than 20 minutes (during presentations, the 15 minute point will be flagged to insure that by the 20 minute mark, you are able to complete your presentation to your own satisfaction) There will normally be 10 minutes for questions, after which the next scheduled presentation will commence The presentation is expected to be carefully prepared, succinct, and professional in appearance. Appropriate presentation software should be employed (e.g., Power Point) and any software demonstrations (e.g., Visual C++) must be carefully coordinated within the presentation Handouts or similar items may be distributed to assist in fully communicating the intent of the proposal It is important for the project director to be present since prior to rendering its decision the Committee may need the benefit of the project director's input regarding the project's viability Outcomes Within two days, the graduate student will receive via email a formal statement from the Graduate Committee, which will stipulate one of the following: Acceptable The student may obtain permission to register for the course CIS 6910: Project during the next academic term Conditionally Acceptable The Graduate Committee has found elements of the proposal that need revision and adjustment. The recommendations and suggestions must be incorporated into the proposal for a 2nd review by the Graduate Committee by the date stipulated (usually within one week). If the Graduate Committee is satisfied with the revisions, the student may obtain permission to register for the course CIS 6910: Project during the next academic term Unsuitable In this case, the Graduate Committee has found the content of the proposal to be unworthy of characterization as graduate project work. It may be that the proposal as presented has been found to be any of too simplistic, ill-defined, lacking in academic merit, too similar in outcome to existing products, or proposing an inappropriate (or unrealistic) deliverable, among other possible deficiencies. In this case the student needs to work with the project director towards development of an enhanced or entirely new proposal, to be presented during the following semester's proposal cycle.

Graduate Project Outcomes The graduate project has outcomes similar to those for the Masters thesis. It is the content that is different. In contrast to a thesis, which presents a research outcome, the project write-up presents a working deliverable. The write-up must both motivate and document the project deliverable. The final draft of a project write-up, formatted as specified in the School of Computing Thesis Guidelines and observing commonly accepted standards for technical writing, is due on the day presented, and no later than noon on the last day of classes for the term. The paper submitted must be accompanied by a signed Editorial Certification Form for it to be reviewed by the School of Computing staff and the University administrators whose names appear on the signature page. A signed Editorial Certification Form does not assure that the paper will clear subsequent review. Once a paper has cleared the review process, the student will be notified by the School of Computing Office to proceed with printing final copies on paper approved for archive and binding. If there are minor errata present in the paper, the School of Computing Office will also inform the student of these so that they can be corrected before printing. Students who submit a project write-up after the deadline should not expect to graduate until a subsequent term. Any reviewer may return a paper for correction of deficiencies with the write-up; for example, grammatical problems, content problems such as failure to properly cite sources, or failure to observe formatting specifications. Papers with significant deficiencies are unlikely to be reviewed in their entirety. Papers with deficiencies will be returned to the project director, who will contact the student regarding the needed corrections. Once corrected and re-submitted, the paper will be re-entered in the review process (at the end of the queue) as a late submission, with graduation likely delayed until a subsequent term. Before the student can be cleared for graduation, the following steps must be completed: Presentation of the final project before the School of Computing Graduate Committee The date for project presentations is established by the Graduate Committee early each term (Fall and Spring) and included within the "Important Dates for Masters Students" section of the School of Computing web page. In order for the Graduate Committee and the School of Computing faculty to preview project write-ups prior to presentation, a preliminary draft of the write-up must be emailed to the Graduate Director in a format accessible by standard word processor (such as Word) or browser (such as .html or .pdf) the Monday preceding project presentations. The Graduate Director will make the draft available for School of Computing faculty review. Submission of the project write-up to the School of Computing Office Contact:     Jeremy Hoyt, Advising Secretary Telephone: (904) 620-2985    Email: . With the exception of the signature page, the format used for the project writeup must follow that given in the School of Computing Masters Thesis Guidelines. In contrast to the Masters thesis, the signature page should only include signature/date lines for the following: ___________________________________ <name> Project Director __________________     ___________________________________ <name> Graduate Director of the School of Computing __________________     ___________________________________ <name> Chairperson of the School of Computing __________________     A template for the signature page is at http://www.unf.edu/ccec/cis/SoCdocs/SoCProjectSignaturePage.doc Under no circumstances should the project write-up be submitted to the School of Computing Office until it has been cleared for this step by the project director. The School of Computing Office staff will not accept any paper submitted that is not accompanied by a current Editorial Certification Form. The project director may require that the student contract (at their own expense) a professional editor to assist with the editorial process for the project write-up. As with a Masters thesis, the project write-up will be reviewed by University administrators whose names appear on the signature page. The write-up will then be reviewed by the School of Computing Office for conformance to guidelines and suitability for submission to the UNF Library for binding. Submission of the project write-up to the UNF Library for binding At least four copies on thesis quality paper must be submitted for binding, to be distributed as follows: two for the UNF Library archive one for School of Computing records one for the project director others as the student desires Preparation of all project materials in electronic form to be stored on a CD to be pocketed with each bound volume, file folders named as follows: Documentation the write-up in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat, which includes PDF Writer software as a print option for many software products, is installed on at least one machine in the School of Computing lab) the presentation slides Source Code The deliverable's source code Executable A complete, ready-to-use package for the deliverable and its executables, to include installation software as necessary plus a "readme" file providing directions for installation Each CD must be labeled with the student's name, project title, and the year. Final project review and clearance for graduation is subject to approval by the Graduate Director. It is the student's responsibility to see that logistical details (such as obtaining signatures) and ancillary costs associated with the project (including copying charges, paper and media costs, and binding fees) are taken care of. The School of Computing will see that the CD's are pocketed with the bound copies upon their return from the bindery (the cycle time is about a month).

Graduate Project Final Presentations Date Final project presentations are normally made to the Graduate Committee on the Friday of the last week of classes. Time Presentations normally are for a maximum of 20 minutes and should include a short demonstration of the project deliverable as appropriate. An additional 10 minutes for questions should be anticipated. It is strongly suggested that all presenters "dry run" their presentations to peers, project director, or other sympathetic listeners to insure compliance with this guideline. Handouts Handouts for any observing faculty and students that assist in following the details of the presentation are encouraged. Time and Place The time of each presentation will be established by the Graduate Director in consultation with the student, the project director, and the Graduate Committee. Presentations are normally held in the School of Computing Graduate Seminar Room (15/2203). Presentations need to be thoroughly professional, making use of the available computer technology and projection system. Students should test out their presentations in this room ahead of time to confirm that all equipment (hardware and software) necessary for the presentation is operational in advance of the formal presentation. Procedure Upon conclusion of the presentation, the student and any members of the audience not on the School of Computing Graduate Faculty will be excused from the room. The Graduate Committee and the project director will confer regarding the project and its presentation. The student will be informed shortly thereafter as to the acceptability of the presented project, which the project director must rate at a level of B or better for graduation. Grade The project grade is determined by the project director and may be any of A, B, C, D, or F. As with any 6000-level course, applicability for satisfying program requirements can only be met by achieving a grade of B or better. The student is responsible for arranging meetings with the project director and for adhering to a schedule of project milestones that result in completing the project on time. In the (unhappy) event that circumstances mitigate against the student finishing during the project semester, then the student should see the project director and request a WP grade for the project course. If the project director agrees, then the student may register again for CIS 6910: Project without a repeat presentation of the proposal, or may start over with a new proposal. If the student receives an unsatisfactory grade for the graduate project, the student may continue in the program only with the consent of the Graduate Committee, in which case the student must repeat the whole graduate project process.

Graduate Project Summer Considerations Policy The graduate project process is not normally supported during the Summer term. Any graduate project presentations for August graduation are by exception only and require approval from both the project director and the Graduate Committee in advance of the Summer term. Note: this policy is due to the nature of the Summer term, during which many faculty (including members of the Graduate Committee) are not under contract and so are not available. With the approval of the project director, a student may sign up for the course CIS 6910: Project during the Summer term with the understanding that the presentation is to occur in December. If in the project director's judgment, the project work is satisfactory, the write-up is in final draft form, and the CD package has been fully assembled short of minor adjustments that may be necessary following the December presentation, then at the student's request, the Graduate Director will issue a letter to this effect to any designated current or prospective employer. Dates The project proposals presentation date for students who wish to enroll in CIS 6910: Project in either of the Summer or Fall terms is the same; namely, the Spring term presentation date.

Notes Logistical problems with the Graduate Project requirement of the Professional Option for the Masters program in Computer and Information Sciences can be avoided by being cognizant of the following: The project proposal must present an idea that the Graduate Committee can agree is "worthy" of graduate credit. Remember that the operable word for this option is professional and extend that not only to the idea, but also to its presentation, development, and deployment. Early each term, all significant dates for School of Computing graduate students are posted electronically under the "Important Dates for Masters Students" section of the School of Computing web page. It is the graduate student's responsibility to become familiar with the resources posted on the page and take the necessary steps when nearing completion of the degree. Dates of interest include: DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR THIS TERM'S GRADUATION DEADLINE TO SUBMIT A MASTERS PROJECT PROPOSAL DATE FOR PRESENTATION OF MASTERS PROJECT PROPOSALS DATE OF MASTERS PROJECT PRESENTATIONS (also the due date for the write-up)