Selecting Your Masters Project

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Selecting Your Masters Project

• David A Watt

www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/daw/masters-projects
daw_at_dcs.gla.ac.uk
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Masters projects

• Your project will be the single most important
  component of your Masters programme.
• Your project will be preceded by a proposal
  stage, in which you will do the necessary
  background work.
• You will be individually supervised throughout
  the proposal and project.
• Each class has a different type of project
• MRes research project
• MSc development project (application or system)
• MSc-IT development project (application).

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MSc development projects overview
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MSc Development Proposal

• Meet your supervisor once per week in semester 2.
• Study the problem domain.
• Survey relevant literature (articles, books) and
  relevant software systems.
• Prepare a problem statement.
• Develop a suitable approach and work-plan.
• Submit a written report of about 1525 pages.
• Deadline 26 March 2010 at 1400.

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MSc Development Project

• Meet your supervisor once per week in semester 3
  (summer).
• Design, implement, test, and evaluate software to
  solve the problem.
• Submit a written dissertation of about 60100
  pages.
• Deadline 8 September 2010 at 1400.

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MRes research projects overview
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MRes Research Proposal

• Meet your supervisor once per week in semester 2.
• Study the problem domain.
• Survey relevant research literature.
• Prepare a problem statement.
• Develop a suitable approach and work-plan.
• Submit a written report of about 2030 pages.
• Deadline 26 March 2010 at 1400.

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MRes Research Project

• Meet your supervisor once per week in semester 3
  (summer).
• Perform your investigation of the research
  problem.
• Submit a written dissertation of about 60100
  pages.
• Deadline 8 September 2010 at 1400.

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Selecting your project (1)

• Projects suggested by staff are listed at

www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/daw/masters-projects/MSc-MRes-s
election.html
Click to e-mail.
Click to see the project outline.
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Selecting your project (2)

• Study the list of projects.
• Make a short-list of projects that interest you.
• For each project, arrange to meet the project
  proposer. Use the meeting to
• ensure that you understand what the project
  entails
• get to know the proposer (who will probably be
  the supervisor)
• decide whether you have the knowledge and skills
  needed to do the project.

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Selecting your project (3)

• Ensure that the project is within your
  capabilities
• Do you have some knowledge of the problem domain?
• Do you have the necessary technical skills?
• If not, are you confident that you will acquire
  the necessary knowledge and skills before the
  project starts?
• MSc-IT students should be especially careful
  about projects that demand advanced technical
  skills.

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Selecting your project specialisms

• You must select projects marked as suitable for
  you specialism (if any)
• MRes-CS, MSc-CS, or MSc-ITany projects
• MRes-IRS or MSc-IRS only projects marked IRS
• MRes-IS or MSc-IS only projects marked IS
• MRes-MUS or MSc-MUS only projects marked MUS
• MRes-SE or MSc-SE only projects marked SE.

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Recording your selection

• Select 4 preferred projects.
• Send me your selection in this format
• Name Class 1st preference 2nd
  preference 3rd preference 4th preference
• My e-mail address is daw_at_dcs.gla.ac.uk.
• Deadline 7 December 2009 at 1400.

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Allocating projects

• I will allocate projects to students within two
  days.
• I will aim to satisfy your preferences as well as
  possible.
• I will also aim to spread the supervision load on
  staff.
• No member of staff will be expected to supervise
  more than 3 masters projects.

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Defining your own project

• You can define your own project, provided that
• it is suitably challenging (of Masters standard),
  but feasible within the time available
• you can find a member of academic staff who is
  able and willing to supervise it
• any necessary special resources (e.g.,
  specialised software or hardware) are already
  available.
• Send me a written outline of your self-defined
  project, the supervisors name, and details of
  any necessary special resources.
• I will make a final decision on whether your
  self-defined project can go ahead.

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Conclusion

• Your project is very important. Select it
  carefully.
• Use the proposal stage to do all the necessary
  background work. Then you can hit the ground
  running when you proceed to the project itself.
• Your supervisor will guide your proposal and
  project work, and will help with any
  difficulties.
• I will help with any other problems.

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Further seminars

• Look out for further seminars
• Conducting Your Masters Proposal ( 11 January
  2010)
• Writing Your Masters Proposal Report ( 22
  February 2010)
• Conducting Your Masters Project ( 7 June 2010)
• Writing Your Masters Dissertation ( 2 August
  2010)
• I will send you the exact date, time, and
  location of each seminar at least a week in
  advance.