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Projects 2011-2012

Mathematics, Statistics, Applied Mathematics,
Financial Mathematics, Computing Studies

The final year project is an extemely important component of most degree programmes. As well as carrying a significant number of marks, it is used by external examiners to decide borderline cases, it is used by lecturers when writing job references for students, and it is used when deciding on admissions to postgraduate study and research. It is the component which, more than any other, provides an opportunity for independent and original work.

Some students may wish to participate in the Undergraduate Ambassador Programme in place of a traditional style project. The scheme involves working with local schools and has a limited number of places. Those interested in this option should contact Dr Rachel Quinlan immediately.

The following are some important dates and details concerning undergraduate projects in 2011-2012. The details for masters projects are slightly different and can be found here.

• 5th - 9th September: Students should discuss project topics with potential supervisors. The School home page is a good way to find the areas of particular interest to staff. Some supervisors have posted specific ideas for projects on their web pages, others have listed ideas on their office doors, others have scheduled information sessions. Many supervisors are keen for students to suggest their own ideas for project topics. The following links contain loads of project ideas.

• 12th - 16th September: During this week students will need to persuade 3 potential supervisors to provisionally agree to take them on as a project student, or to gain provisional admittance into the Undergraduate Ambassador Scheme.

  Each student must submit a list of those provisional agreements, in order of preference. Both, student and supervisors should sign this list. The deadline for submissio to the School office is 5pm on Friday 16th September. Students who fail to submit a signed list of preferences will be allocated to a supervisor "at random".

• 19th September: The final student-supervisor pairings will be made available here.

• 21st October: A mid-project report should be submitted to the School Office by this date. A penalty (typically 5%) will be applied to late submissions. The mid-project report should be about 5-10 pages, and should include: names of the supervisor and student, a title, detailed aims of the project (against which the final project can be assessed), the scope for independent and/or original work (against which the final project can be assessed), a description of the work done so far. This report should have a bit of substance, so feel free to include equations, diagrams, references etc. It can be a useful exercise to browse through previous years' project reports (available in the School office) to get a feel for what is expected of a project. The mid-project report will be assessed with the final project report and will count 10% towards your final mark.

• 27th January, 5pm: Three bound (spiral binding suffices) printed copies of the final report should be handed in to the School office, and an electronic copy should be e-mailed to your supervisor and Claas Roever by this deadline. A penalty (typically 5%) will be applied to late submissions. This report will count for 80% of the final mark. It is fine for the final report to re-use material from the mid-project report. Details on the required format for the final report are given below.

• 2nd February 2012: All students will be required to give a 15 minute presentation on their project. This presentation should allow for questions from examiners. That means that you should only talk for 10min, so there is time for questions and transition between speakers. The presentation will count for 10% of the final mark. A detailed schedule is here.

Final Report Format

The final report should be typed and normally of the following length (excluding the title page, bibliography and any computer printout).

• MA/MSc – 25 to 35 pages (maximum 40)
• 4H, CS, HDip – 20 to 30 pages (maximum 35)

The cover page of the final report should contain (in this order) (view an example):

• The title of the project.
• The full name of the author.
• The type of project, e.g. 'Final year project' or 'Masters project'.
• 'National University of Ireland, Galway'
• The full name of the supervisor.
• The month and year of submission.

The next page should contain these words, and the submitted copies should be signed:

It is important that the final report conveys clearly to any reader the extent to which the work was independent and or original. The report often includes three main sections (which are often subdivided):

• The introduction: a clear explanation of the context, motivation, objectives etc.
• The body of the work: an account of the main results, including maybe some proofs, examples/counter-examples, algorithms, ...
• The conclusion: a summary of what has and has not been achieved, suggestions for further work.

Assessment Procedures

The typed reports will count 90% and the presentation will count 10%. Further details of the assessment procedure are currently under review by the School. The outcome will be published here in due course.

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