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Department of Computer Science and Technology

 

Submission

Before submitting your final draft to your supervisor, please observe the M.Phil project guidelines or Part III project guidelines for page and word counts.

Penalties for exceeding the word count will be imposed by the Examiners. The Examiners advise candidates for the M.Phil to not exceed 50 pages for the body of the project report, while Part III students should not exceed 40 pages.

 

The absolute deadline to alter the title of your project is 16:00 on Monday 20 May 2024.

The absolute deadlines to submit your ANONYMISED project reports are:

  • Part III: 11:00am on Tuesday 28 May 2024
  • MPhil in Advanced Computer Science: 11:00am on Monday 3 June 2024

The deadline for submitting your source code and NORMAL copy of the project report are:

  • Part III: 12:00 pm (noon) on Tuesday 28 May 2024
  • MPhil in Advanced Computer Science: 12:00 pm (noon) on Monday 3 June 2024

Project reports are marked anonymously. This means that you will need to submit two versions of your project:

  • An anonymised copy which should contain no information which might easily identify you. 
  • normal copy which contains your title page and declaration

Both copies of your project MUST be identical except for the first few pages:

ANONYMISED version of project

  1. ANONYMISED cover sheet which should include
    • Your candidate number
    • The title of your Project Report
    • The Examination for which you are a candidate (Master of Philosophy in Advanced Computer Science or Computer Science Tripos, Part III)
  2. Word and page count including an explanation of the methodology you used to generate the word count. 

NORMAL version of project

  1. The Front cover which should include 
    • Your name, as recorded on CamSIS
    • The title of your Project Report
    • The Examination for which you are a candidate (Master of Philosophy in Advanced Computer Science or Computer Science Tripos, Part III)
    • Your College, and the month and year in which you are submitting the Project Report.
  2. Declaration of originality (please print your name at the bottom and date it)
  3. and, if appropriate, a page of acknowledgements.

You must also submit, via Moodle, any source code that you wrote for the project (as a .zip file)

AFTER submission, you must email the Postgraduate Education Office (acs-admin@cst.cam.ac.uk), from your @cam account, your Confirmation of Authorship.

Late submissions

Late submissions are not permitted and failure to submit will result in the student failing the course. In the case of acute medical problems, family emergencies and so on which cause problems with completion of the project, the student's college must be informed so that they can raise the case with the Examiners.

Report presentation

There's some advice, including a template, on preparing suitably formatted documents here.

If you would prefer to use a word processor instead of the LaTeX template, the report should follow these rules:

  • formatted for A4 paper;
  • Typeset in 12-point font - Times New Roman or Ariel;
  • Line spacing is 1.5 for text, with single-spaced block quotations
  • Top and bottom margins should be 20mm, left and right margins should be 25mm

Please refer to the example for suggested formatting of the report. Please use this fillable coversheet for your ANONYMISED front cover page.

The manner in which the report is presented, and the care with which it has been prepared and illustrated, are in themselves evidence of your capabilities, and will receive consideration as such. You are strongly advised to check your reports carefully, prior to submission, for typing errors, spelling mistakes and poor English. The report, apart from quotations and recognised technical formulae, must be written in English.

When you submit your report, you must state, generally in a preface and specifically in notes or in a bibliography, the sources from which your information is derived, the extent to which you have availed yourself of the work of others, and the portions of the report which you claim are your own original work. Please read the University's advice on plagiarism and the Faculty's advice.

[MPhil students only] When submitting your report you must declare for what purpose, if any, other than for the M.Phil Degree (one-year course), the whole or part of it has already been or is concurrently being submitted. The University cannot accept a report that is substantially the same as one that you have submitted, or are concurrently submitting, for any other degree, diploma, or similar qualification at any university or similar institution, except as declared in the preface and specified in the text.

Binding

At present, bound versions of project reports are not required.  However, if you wish to submit a bound version, it should be comb-bound with a clear plastic cover and black backing, and should be double-sided. Please avoid wire binding.

You may like to use the University Information Service's Printing Service: the UIS Reception Desk is located on the ground floor of the Roger Needham Building (behind the WGB) and you may need to complete a print-room job sheet before the work can be done.

The alternative is to print and bind your projects through stationery companies such as Rymans.

The Postgraduate Education Office holds small stocks of comb binders, plastic covers and backs but you should not rely on this. We strongly advise against leaving your binding, or indeed printing, to the last moment as the PEO's binder and the various printers are frequently in use by other students.

Viva voce examinations (oral exams)

Viva voce examinations, if deemed necessary, will be held via video conference or in person if all participating agree. They will take place from Monday 10 - Thursday 13 June 2024 (TBC) for Part III students and from Monday 24 - Thursday 27 June 2024 (TBC) for MPhil students. If called, the Examiners will arrange a convenient time. You should make sure to be available if called.