The School of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) administers final year thesis reports in single, combined, and concurrent degree programs for the BE (Computer Engineering), BE (Software Engineering), BE (Bioinformatics), BSc (Computer Science Honours).
| Program | Thesis Part A | Thesis Part B |
| Software Engineering | COMP4930 | COMP4931 |
| Computer Engineering | COMP4930 | COMP4931 |
| Bioinformatics | COMP4930 | COMP4931 |
| Biomedical Engineering (Dual award BE) | BIOM5950 | BIOM5951 |
| Computer Science Honours | COMP4930 | COMP4941 |
First point of contact for all thesis enquiries: office.thesis@cse.unsw.edu.au
The above email goes to Thesis Administration which includes the Thesis Coordinator (Helen Paik) and the Head, Student Services. We will help you through all policy related matters, including thesis extensions, late penalties, result submission and reassessment coordination.
As a general rule, all templates and reference materials regarding the thesis will be made available through WebCMS Web sites created for thesis students. You can also utilize the forum to communicate with your fellow thesis students and the Thesis Coordinator.
For topic selection/registration, submission
of assessment items and marking, we use the myCSE Web
site.
The Thesis Coordinator can also help you with generic academic guidance, any other thesis related matters that you need some advice/discussion independently of your supervisor.
The thesis provides an opportunity for you to bring together engineering principles learned over the previous years of study, and apply these principles to innovatively solve problems such as the development of a specific design, process and/or the investigation of a hypothesis. Thesis projects are complex, open-ended problems that allow room for your creativity, and the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of results. Typically, the project you work with will have multiple possible solutions or conclusions and sufficient complexity to require a degree of project planning. The thesis requires you to formulate problems in engineering terms, manage an engineering project and find solutions by applying engineering methods. You will also develop an ability to work in a research and development environment.
At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:
*Note: cross reference the numbers in brackets to the BE (Hons) Program Learning Outcomes in Appendix A.
Undergraduate theses are unusual (compared to other courses) in that they consist of a single piece of work spread over two courses: Part A and Part B. The two parts have quite different outcomes and assessment, which are described in detail below, but which can be summarised as:
Through the thesis, you will put into practice the knowledge and skills that you've learned in the study up to this point. You do this by investigating a research topic, developing a significant software/hardware system, or some combination of these. All topics will require you to carry out the same basic set of six tasks:
An overview of the assessment items are described below. Refer to the course Web site for full marking criteria details of each assessment item.
For the exact due dates/times, refer to the Due Dates page under Deliverables.
A mark out of 10 will be returned by your supervisor and the assessor. It will contribute 10% towards your final mark for Thesis Part B. In your UNSW academic transcript, Thesis Part A is graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory. You must pass both the written report and the seminar to receive a satisfactory (SY) grade in Thesis Part A.
The mark for Thesis Part B is determined by taking an average of the marks awarded by the supervisor and the assessor for the demo and report components. It is worth 90% of the final mark (Part A is worth 10%).
The final thesis mark is computed according to the following:
Thesis Part A:
ThesisASeminar = mark out of 3 ThesisAReport = mark out of 7 ThesisAMarkSupervisor = ThesisAReport + ThesisASeminar ThesisAMarkAssessor = ThesisAReport + ThesisASeminar ThesisAMark = (ThesisAMarkSupervisor+ThesisAMarkAssessor) / 2 ThesisAGrade = SY, if ThesisAMark >= 5; FL, otherwise
Thesis Part B:
ThesisBDemo = mark out of 20 ThesisBReport = mark out of 80 ThesisBMarkSupervisor = ThesisBDemo + ThesisBReport ThesisBMarkAssessor = ThesisBDemo + ThesisBReport ThesisBMark = (SupervisorMark+AssessorMark) / 2
Final Grade:
FinalMark = ThesisBMark*0.9 + ThesisAMark FinalGrade = HD|DN|CR|PS|FL, determined by FinalMark
For example:
Thesis Part A:
ThesisAMarkSupervisor = 6 + 3 ThesisAMarkAssessor = 5 + 3 ThesisAMark = 8.5 [(9 + 8) / 2]
Thesis Part B:
ThesisBMarkSupervisor = 4 + 12 + 70 ThesisBMarkAssessor = 4 + 15 + 72 ThesisBMark = 88.5 [(86 + 91) / 2]
Final Grade
FinalMark = 88.5 * 0.9 + 8.5 = 88.15 (not including late penalty)
After the Thesis B demonstrations, the Thesis Coordinator will invite students to demonstrate their work at an evening showcase event attended by academic staff, other students and industry representatives. The showcase is scheduled on Thursday evening of Week 13. The showcase students must provide a poster which summarises their thesis work by Wednesday Week 13.
Any student who does not attend their Thesis Part A seminar or submit their report by the due date will receive an Absent Fail grade and will be required to re-enrol the following semester. Special Consideration can be sought in the usual manner, by submitting an application within the required time to Student Central (see below for more details on Special Consideration).
Any student who does not submit their Thesis Part B report by the due date will receive an Absent Fail grade and will be required to re-enrol the following semester.
If you are going to submit your thesis late then you should notify Thesis Administration (office.thesis@cse.unsw.edu.au) by email, stating on what date you will submit. Note that if you submit late then you will automatically incur a late penalty , unless you have specifically applied for and been granted an exemption from the late penalty in advance (see below).
Late Penalty
The penalty for submitting late will be applied as follows:
Application for an Exemption to a Late Penalty
An exemption from the late penalty is only granted in extenuating circumstances, e.g. prolonged sickness or major equipment or supply delays. These circumstances must be documented, and the documentation must clearly show how the work was affected.
If you require an extension because of major equipment or supply delays, you should apply for an exemption from the late penalty in the following way:
Otherwise, if you require an extension because of an illness or family circumstances (for example), you should apply for an exemption from the late penalty in the following way:
In all cases, the School will get back to you with a decision via an email to your CSE account.
UNSW Special Consideration Policy
The Thesis Part B mark may be queried by a student. Before doing so, the student should be aware of the following:
Thesis Part B reports are marked by the supervisor and assessor independently. The final mark is determined by an average of these two marks, less any penalties. The supervisor and assessor do not apply any (or exempt) mark penalties for lateness. Late penalties are applied by Thesis Administration after consultation with the Thesis Coordinator after the submission of the marks to the Student Office.
Supervisors and assessors can modify their mark after submission via an email to Thesis Administration (office.thesis@cse.unsw.edu.au), but must justify the change to the Thesis Coordinator once final results have been released to students. The student's CSE weighted average or eligibility for honours are not sufficient grounds to justify a mark change, or a request for revision of the final mark.
An application for review must be made not later than 15 working days from the date of official results notification to students.After a review of the mark, the mark may be either increased or decreased .
Thesis Report Review
If a student feels that en error has been made in marking the thesis report, then the following action should be carried out:
If the student is not content with the result of the Thesis Report Review, then the student should initiate a Thesis Coordinator Review.
Students should be aware that they are always able to submit a formal application for review via Student Central. However, a fee is charged for such reviews, and the scope of the review is far more restrictive than a school-oriented review. It is thus advisable to follow the school's internal review procedures.
UNSW policy on Review of Results
Here is some simple advice that will help you get on well with your supervisor and work effectively:
Meet with your supervisor regularly. Note that your supervisor is not there to tell you what to do, but to advise you. In general, you should take the initiative to organise meetings, and you should drive the work.Manage your time. You are responsible for monitoring your own progress and ensuring that you remain on track to meet deadlines. However, your supervisor should be able to tell you whether you are being too optimistic, or whether you need to do more.
Write-up as you go. Do not under-estimate how much time it will take to write up the work. Writing-up as you go is not only more time-efficient, it also forces you to formulate your ideas more clearly and completely, and this will substantially increase the overall quality of your work. As well, your final mark will depend largely on the quality of the work and the quality of the presentation in the thesis.
Focus the project. Understanding the context of your work is important in placing and motivating the research. However, having a concrete, narrow focus when you are working towards a goal and understanding thoroughly the deeper issues involved is better than working too broadly or tackling too wide a problem. Your supervisor should help you to keep your work suitably focused.
Many students are too ambitious in Thesis Part A and Part B and find they run out of time with a thesis that is nowhere near finished. Make sure that the project is feasible (do this early in consultation with your supervisor), write-up whenever you can, and keep an eye on the plan.
Plagiarism may be defined as "the presentation of the thoughts or work of another as one's own " Examples include:
Students are reminded of their Rights and Responsibilities in respect of plagiarism, as set out in the University Undergraduate and Postgraduate Handbooks, and are encouraged to seek advice from academic staff whenever necessary to ensure they avoid plagiarism in all its forms.
The Learning Centre website is the central University online resource for staff and student information on plagiarism and academic honesty.
The Learning Centre also provides substantial educational written materials, workshops, and tutorials to aid students, for example, in: correct referencing practices; paraphrasing, summarising, essay writing, and time management; appropriate use of, and attribution for, a range of materials including text, images, formulae and concepts.
Individual assistance is available on request from The Learning Centre.
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
Does your thesis involve other people doing something for you?
If so, it may require ethics approval.
The basic principle is that if you want people to provide you with something, even if just 5 min of their time to answer questions, then you should (i) treat them with suitable dignity and (ii) ensure any possibility that they may be badly affected is absolutely minimised. When research at UNSW involves people, then it come under the oversight of the UNSW Ethics Committee which must give approval before it proceeds.
You will need to get approval, if your project involves any of the following (more than one may apply):
a survey, even if done on-line, an interview, focus group, or other such qualitative method, data-mining, when individual identities might be revealed, behavioural observation, e.g. people using something, choices people make, on-line activities recording or photography of people, even if in public spaces experiments on human reactions (or other abilities) human performance, e.g. running, falling, playing music, testing a device, tasting or smelling, e.g. foods, and, of course, drug trials, body tissues and other medical activities.
Also, projects involving animals will need ethics approval. Visit the Human Research Ethics Web site to find out what you need to do.
Human Research Ethics Web Site
The role of the Occupational, Health Safety and Environment team is to provide a professional service to the UNSW, its staff and students on all matters relating to occupational health, safety and environment, particularly in the area of legislative compliance.
All tertiary education institutions have a responsibility to provide the opportunity for students with disabilities to access and participate equitably in tertiary education in order to achieve their individual capabilities. UNSW Australia also has obligations under the following anti-discrimination legislation:
New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 Disability Discrimination Act (1992).
UNSW is committed to the goals of equal opportunity and affirmative action in education and employment. It aims to provide a study and work environment for staff and students that fosters fairness, equity and respect for social and cultural diversity and that is free from unlawful discrimination, harassment and vilification.
More information on Equity and Diversity
BE (Hons) Program Learning Outcomes
Resource created Monday 20 February 2017, 10:02:20 AM, last modified Tuesday 09 May 2017, 11:49:28 AM.