COSC 4347 Project Information

COSC 4347 - Senior Project Requirements

The following is a list of the requirements for completing the Senior Project course and each of these will be graded.

Writing an acceptable Project Proposal
Creating Project Website
Keeping a Project Journal - ON WEBSITE AND UPDATED weekly
Creating a Project Implementation Plan - on website.
Providing and describing Project Results - on website.
Formal Presentation of Project to the class at end of semester
Attendance and class participation.

All proposals will be reviewed by the Instructor and other Computer Sciences Faculty for appropriateness and significance. Before proposing a project in a formal written form, students must consult a faculty advisor that will act as the project supervisor (most likely but not always the course instructor) and will give approval to a possible proposal.

Project Proposal

The formal proposal document should demonstrate that the student has put care and thought into the project selection and its consequences. This is only a proposal, so it does not require complete knowledge about the project path. However, students should include the following general ideas in the proposal to demonstrate that they have given the project a good deal of thought.

What is the question to be answered, or the problem to be solved.
What is the rationale for the project.
What are the anticipated results of the project.
What tools/skills will be required to complete the project.
What results will be analyzed to determine the outcome of the project.

Project Website

Students must create a website that contains the documents required in the project. This website should include a TITLE for the project, a brief description of the project, the project's proposal drafts, the project journal which should contain a week by week set of entries, at least a paragraph per week entered.be 1 week at a time, project documentation, and project results. This website should be easy to maneuver and well-designed with the required documents linked, as web pages, NOT as word documents.

Project Journal

A good researcher will always keep a journal of their day-to-day work on a project. This journal consists of ideas, whether they are carefully thought out or random thoughts about what might work, unanswered questions, information acquired, tasks attempted, sources consulted, collaborations, failed tasks, and future direction, etc.

However, this practice of keeping a journal is an equally important tool for any project, not just research projects. It not only serves as a history of the project development, but provides a great resource to the author of the journal when their memory eludes them or when they need to reflect backwards and summarize their efforts.

Students in COSC 4347 are required to maintain a journal, which will also be available to the instructor. The journal should have a minimum of 100 words in at least 1 entry per week for the duration of the project. This journal should include the final results of the project, the success or results of the project should be described along with future plans.