In the 2nd semester of Year 3 all B.Sc. in Computer Applications students must carry out a 3rd-year project. These pages give information about the process of submitting your proposal, conducting your project and a timetable of deadlines for carrying out your project.

3rd year projects must be done by a team unless a very good case is made otherwise. The norm will be a 2 person project. If a 1 person project is proposed, we will need to be confident that you can do it alone and you will need to make that case. In practice, we expect:

• 1 person projects - very small number
• 2 person projects - almost all
• more than 2 person projects - none, so don't even ask.

Submitting a Proposal

In the 1st semester you have to submit your project proposal. This will be assessed by the staff, and your proposal must be approved before you can do the project. You must discuss your proposal with a member of staff before you submit it. A completed and signed project proposal form must be submitted no later than 5pm on Monday 17 November 2008. See Documentation section for detail on contents of project proposal. 

Any proposal form which is submitted and is not signed by a member of staff will be deemed to be automatically rejected. Therefore, please do not submit a project proposal form without signed staff approval in section B.

If you fail to submit a signed project proposal form by the deadline, you will be automatically assigned a supervisor and project that you must complete. You will have no choice in this matter. Therefore, you are strongly advised to submit a suitable project well in advance of the submission deadline.

How to submit a proposal

You submit a proposal by completing the following steps:

1. Make contact with a potential supervisor and agree a project
2. Fill in section A of the proposal form AND attach a project description, as described in  the Documentation section.
3. Have your supervisor complete and sign section B of the proposal form.
4. Email the following information (the same day as paper copy is submitted) in plain text in the body of the email to ca3project AT computing.dcu.ie
   • Name, ID number and stream of all team members
   • Project title
   • Supervisor name
5. Submit your proposal form to project coordinator Dr. Geoff Hamilton
   • In person
   • Via the designated project box in L114

Proposal Approval Process

The project proposal approval process contains two phases:

1. A staff member approves a project and signs section B of the proposal form to attest to this.
2. All project proposals may be subject to ratification by a school review panel.

When a project has been submitted and approved, if will appear on the Proposal Status page. If your project does not appear on the list of approved projects 3 working days after project submission to the coordinator then email a status enquiry to ca3project AT computing.dcu.ie

Supervisors

You will either submit an approved project in association with a supervisor, or you will be assigned a supervisor and a project if you do not make the submission deadline. The following are some notes on the student-supervisor relationship

• Students must make contact with their supervisor immediately upon one being assigned
• Students must remain in regular contact with their supervisor (you have access to the  email system - use it) throughout their project. Not just at the beginning and end.
• A supervisors job is to supervise, not to do the work.
• Supervisors expect students to be honest when reporting on their progress. If you are falling behind, tell your supervisor
• Supervisors expect students to follow the advice that they give
• When in doubt, consult your supervisor

Deliverables

• Proposal
  • Submission deadline 5pm on Monday 17/11/08
  • Submitted to project coordinator
• Functional Specification
  • Submission deadline 5pm Thursday 15/1/09
  • Submitted to project coordinator and supervisor
• The project
  • Submission deadline 5pm Thursday 26/3/09
  • Submitted to supervisor only, not to project coordinator
  • The project consists of  the following
    • The System (ie. code, etc.)
    • Technical Specification
    • User Guide

See the Documentation section for further details.

Marking Scheme

If you fail to submit a signed project proposal form the deadline you will be automatically assigned a supervisor and that supervisor will specify a project that you must complete. You will have no choice in this matter. If you do not accept / complete this project you will be automatically deemed to have failed CA326.

All projects will be marked on 4 main sections as follows:

1. Functional Specification
   • 10% of the overall mark is allocated for this deliverable. If you do not submit a functional specification by the deadline (5pm Thursday 15/1/09) you will automatically receive a mark of 0 out of 10. There will be no exceptions to this.
2. The System (or research in the case of non-development based project)
3. Documentation (Technical Specification and User Guide)
4. Demonstration

Demonstration

All projects must be demonstrated. Demonstrations will be scheduled starting at 9am Monday  30/3/09 until Friday 3/4/09. All students must be available from 9am to 6pm each day to demonstrate their project. A timetable will be made available a week in advance. 

Any project which is not demonstrated will automatically receive a mark of zero (FAIL). There will be no exceptions to this. If you have a specific reason (e.g., illness) for not demonstrating you may write to the Programme Board explaining the situation and enclosing appropriate documentation (e.g., a doctor's certificate). This can be done by submitting a letter to the Faculty Office and sending a copy to Dr. Geoff Hamilton (project coordinator). Under such circumstances you will still be awarded a mark of zero, but your case will be discussed by the Programme Board.

Further details on demonstrations and tips, etc. will appear here at a later date.

Results

The results of CA326 will be made available at the same time as all other semester 2 results. Please see official University timetable for exact date.

You will be deemed to have failed CA326 and required to repeat it if:

• Students who were assigned a supervisor / project (by coordinator) must have made contact with assigned supervisor and agreed a work plan by the given deadline (5pm Monday 8/12/08). Students who fail to make appropriate contact with their supervisor will be deemed to have failed CA326.
• You do not submit a project
• You do not demonstrate your project
• Your projects is awarded a mark of less than 40%
  • Please note, it is not possible to compensate CA326 as it is a 15 credit module.

Repeating the Project

As with any other module, students who fail CA326 may repeat over the summer months. Details of this process appear here.

If you do not submit and demonstrate a repeat project as specified by the project coordinator and your supervisor you will fail CA326 and must repeat the following year. In this case you will not be allowed to progress into 4th year.

Deadlines

• General policy
  • Deadlines are set so that there is sufficient time for the tasks to be completed and submitted. Therefore, deadlines will be rigorously enforced.
• Proposal deadline
  • You are strongly advised to start work on your proposal as soon as possible and not leave submission to the last moment.
  • If you fail to submit a signed project proposal form by the deadline, you will be automatically assigned a supervisor and that supervisor will specify a project that you must complete. You will have no choice in this matter. 
  • Therefore, you are strongly advised to submit an suitable project well in advance of the submission deadline.
• Functional specification
  • 10% of the overall mark is allocated for this deliverable. If you do not submit a functional specification by the deadline (5pm Thursday 15/1/09) you will automatically receive a mark of 0 out of 10.
  • There will be no exceptions to this.
• Project submission and demonstration deadline
  • All projects must be demonstrated during the allocated time.
  • If you have a specific reason (e.g., illness) for not demonstrating you may write to the Programme Board explaining the situation and enclosing appropriate documentation (e.g., a doctor's certificate). This can be done by submitting a letter to the Faculty Office and sending a copy to Dr. Geoff Hamilton (project corodinator). Under such circumstances you will still be awarded a mark of zero, but your case will be discussed by the Programme Board.

IPR

Please see Statement on Intellectual Property Arising from Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Student Projects

Plagiarism

Please see the policy on plagiarism

Questions, Clarifications and General Assistance

See FAQ

All questions should be emailed to the year 3 project coordinator Dr. Geoff Hamilton by email to  ca3project AT computing.dcu.ie or by personal contact during office hours.