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Specification and schedule

You must produce a written specification of the elements that will be completed and a schedule for when they will be done.

The specification must be approved by the supervisor and examiner before the pre-study begins. For external degree projects, the principal must issue the CSC supervisor with confirmation that they have read the specification and are agreed that it describes the plan for the degree project (*).

The specification should be submitted no later than about two weeks after the degree project has been started.

Specification

The specification shall contain:

FORMALITIES

  • Preliminary title, that indicates what the degree project will be about.
  • The degree project student's name and e-mail address
  • Name of the supervisor at CSC
  • Name of the principal and name of the supervisor at the principal's workplace
  • Current date

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

  • Description of the area within which the degree project is being carried out (e.g. connection to research/development, state-of-the-art, scientific and/or societal interest).
  • The principal's interest. The background of the specific assignment to be conducted.
  • Objective. What is the desired outcome (from the principal's side and from the perspective of the degree project)

RESEARCH QUESTION & METHOD:

  • The QUESTION that will be examined. Formulated as an explicit and evaluable question.
  • Specified problem definition (e.g. what does the assignment entail and what are the challenges involved?)
  • Examination method. Preliminary description of, for example, algorithms that will be tested, data that will be used.
  • Expected scientific results. How is the work scientifically relevant and what is the hypothesis being tested? How is this hypothesis being tested?

EVALUATION & NEWS VALUE

  • Evaluation. How is it determined if the objective of the degree project has been fulfilled and if the question has been adequately answered? Preliminary report on the evaluation method, measures and data.
  • The work's innovation/news value. Why does someone want to read the finished work? And who are these people?

PRE-STUDY

  • Description of the literature studies. What areas will the literature study focus on? How shall the necessary knowledge on background and state-of-the-art be obtained? What preliminarily important references have been identified?

CONDITIONS & SCHEDULE

  • List of the resources expected to be needed to solve the problem (unless the degree project involves investigating what equipment should be used). This can be technical equipment, but also experiment and interview subjects.
  • Defined limitations on what is to be done (so that it is clear what is not included in the degree project)
  • Collaboration with the principal (external supervisor). Describe the way in which the principal will be involved in the project and what the external supervisor has undertaken to do (e.g. in terms of discussion, implementation, report reading).
  • Schedule showing not only the order in which elements will be performed, but also the scope of elements and when they will be performed (calendar week number or date). The schedule should contain clear intermediate goals.

Schedule

The schedule is to take into account the weeks you can dedicate full-time to the degree project and the periods you totally or partially devote yourself to other things. It should also be noted that, in the case of degree projects carried out with an external principal, the supervisor there can require work that the supervisor at CSC does not consider to belong to the degree project. Likewise, CSC can require certain things for the work to be accepted as degree project work which the principal does not consider essential. It is this work that CSC considers to be work with the degree project corresponding to 30 credits.

Remember to set aside enough time for report writing. This tends to take longer than expected.

(*) For external degree projects you should, where practical, arrange a meeting where the supervisor of the principal, the supervisor at CSC, possibly the examiner and, of course, yourself establish that all parties are in agreement on the specification. If a meeting is not possible, the principal should confirm (e.g. by e-mail to the supervisor) that the specification is consistent with the principal's goals and plan for the work.

Circumstances may dictate that you must deviate from the specification/schedule. Such deviations are not at all unusual or remarkable. However, you need to discuss any deviations with the supervisor at CSC and get them approved by him/her.