MSc Computing Project

LD7029
Dissertation

Student Name

Supervisor Name

Dissertation Title

2017-2018
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Declaration
I declare the following:

1. that the material contained in this dissertation is the end result of my own work
and that due acknowledgement has been given in the bibliography and references
to ALL sources be they printed, electronic or personal.
2. the Word Count of this Dissertation is ...
3. that unless this dissertation has been confirmed as confidential, I agree to an
entire electronic copy or sections of the dissertation to being placed on
Blackboard, if deemed appropriate, to allow future students the opportunity to
see examples of past dissertations. I understand that if displayed on Blackboard
it would be made available for no longer than five years and that students would
be able to print off copies or download. The authorship would remain
anonymous.
4. I agree to my dissertation being submitted to a plagiarism detection service,
where it will be stored in a database and compared against work submitted from
this or any other Department or from other institutions using the service.
In the event of the service detecting a high degree of similarity between content
within the service this will be reported back to my supervisor and second marker,
who may decide to undertake further investigation that may ultimately lead to
disciplinary actions, should instances of plagiarism be detected.
5. I have read the UNN/CEIS Policy Statement on Ethics in Research and
Consultancy and I confirm that ethical issues have been considered, evaluated
and appropriately addressed in this research.

Signature:

Date:

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Abstract
This document provides the correct format that should be used for the MSc
dissertation. Some example text has been included to demonstrate how the
document should be used. This sample text should be replaced by your abstract. The
abstract is usually about 200 words long and summarises the motivation for the
project, the work done, and the key results.

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Contents
Declaration.................................................................................................................................. 1
Abstract........................................................................................................................................ 3
1 Introduction........................................................................................................................ 6
1.1 Aims.................................................................................................................................................. 6
1.2 Background.................................................................................................................................... 6
1.3 Objectives....................................................................................................................................... 6
1.4 Work Done and Results............................................................................................................7
1.5 Structure of the Report.............................................................................................................7
2 Formatting........................................................................................................................... 8
2.1 Headings.......................................................................................................................................... 8
2.2 Contents page............................................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Ordinary text................................................................................................................................. 8
2.4 Page layout..................................................................................................................................... 9
3 Using sources................................................................................................................... 10
3.1 Referencing................................................................................................................................. 10
3.2 Paraphrasing.............................................................................................................................. 10
3.3 Quoting.......................................................................................................................................... 11
3.4 The bibliography.......................................................................................................................12
4 Miscellany......................................................................................................................... 13
4.1 Style................................................................................................................................................ 13
4.2 The file........................................................................................................................................... 13
4.3 Good luck......................................................................................................................................13
Bibliography............................................................................................................................. 14
Appendix A. Research Proposal.................................................................................. 15
Appendix B. Figures and diagrams............................................................................16
Appendix C. Other stuff...................................................................................................... 17

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1 Introduction
This chapter is normally the last thing to be written and summarises the entire
project. Someone reading this introduction would not, in most cases, need to read the
rest of the dissertation unless they were interested in specific aspects.

1.1 Aims
In this section, set out the main aim(s) of your project and explain what they mean.
The aim is the fundamental purpose of what you were trying to do – to find out
something, to make something, to test something. There is usually only one or two
aims and they are often expressed in terms of a hypothesis or research question.

1.2 Background
This should explain the background and motivation of the project: why did you do it,
and why should the reader be interested in what you did.

1.3 Objectives
In this section, explain the objectives of your project. These are the sub-goals you
needed to achieve in order to complete your project. There will be several objectives
– typically around eight.

An objective should be a definite statement that can be clearly identified as

“complete” or “not complete”. A statement like “To improve my understanding of
programming” is too vague, as it is not clear whether it is complete or not. A
statement like “To learn how to use dynamic memory structures in C++” is clearer.

You may also wish to include objectives that discuss the parts of your dissertation,
like “To produce a literature survey on the subject of…” or “To write a discussion of
the implementation of the system”.

It is fine to include objectives that you did not complete. Explain why you did not
achieve them. Also make clear any new objectives that you have added since writing
your research proposal.

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1.4 Work Done and Results
Here you should explain the research you carried out, the methodology chosen and
the reason for that choice, and the main results and conclusions drawn from those
results

1.5 Structure of the Report

Here you should briefly explain the structure of the report so that the reader knows
what issues are discussed where.

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2 Formatting
It is strongly suggested that you use this template to format your document. Replace
the headings and text with your own words, but use the same presentation style. Do
not modify the font size or style. Instead, make use of the “style” drop-down box to
select the style of the text you are about to write. The use of styles makes it easier to
produce a more readable dissertation, and to structure it clearly.

2.1 Headings
You can make use of headings and sub-headings to structure your dissertation.
Rather than setting the format manually, using the font options, you should instead
choose a “style” from the toolbar. The template should automatically number your
headings and sub-headings using the recommended numbering system. There is also
an ‘Appendix Heading’ format that will automatically label your appendices.

Chapter titles are style “Heading 1”. Sub-headings are style “Heading 2”. Sub-sub
headings are style “Heading 3” and so on. You should not really be using anything
beyond “Heading 3”.

2.2 Contents page

If you use inbuilt styles correctly then the contents page will be generated
automatically for you. If it does not come out right, it is because you have used the
wrong format in sections of your text. Change your text, not the contents page.

If you want to use a header that has no number use the style “unnumbered header”.

2.3 Ordinary text

The text that you type should be style “Normal”. This is set to 12-point Cambria, with
1.5 spacing between lines. Do not change this setting.

2.3.1 Lists
Bulleted lists should be used for lists in which the order of items is not relevant.
Numbered lists should be used only where the order is important.

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2.4 Page layout
Note that the page layout has been set with a 3 cm margin on the left and a 2.5 cm
margin on the right (known as a gutter margin). This is to allow for printing and
binding. Do not move these margins. Similarly, do not move the margins that have
been set for the top and bottom of the page.

2.4.1 Page numbering

Page numbers have been set. Do not tinker with them, or add any headers and
footers.

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3 Using sources
Note that a new chapter must always start on a new page. This should happen
automatically when you select “Heading 1”.

If you use material from anywhere else, you must reference it. The dissertation
should be written by you. You must not copy text from anywhere else, unless you
have clearly indicated that it is not your own work. See the pamphlet ‘Cite it Right’
available from the Northumbria Library, for more details.

3.1 Referencing
The best way to use sources is to simply refer to what someone else has said without
actually quoting. If possible, give your own opinion on what they have said, with
reasons. You should reference using a standard referencing system such as the
Harvard system, as discussed in your handbook. An example is given in the
paragraph below.

It is stated by Hallam (1994) that probabilistic determinants are only valid in

circumstances where overview statistics are available. The reasoning for this in
not given. However, Mannick (1992) also seems to be arguing the same point
with some good reasoning.

The references used in the above paragraph are fictitious and the text is meaningless.
However, they serve as examples of how to reference. Check the Bibliography for the
(fictitious) sources, referenced using the Harvard style.

3.2 Paraphrasing
“Paraphrasing” refers to writing out what someone else has written in your own
words. This should be avoided, since it does not get you many marks. If you are
paraphrasing, make it clear that you are doing so. If you do not, you may be accused
of misconduct.

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3.3 Quoting
If you wish to insert someone else’s words into your dissertation, you may do so. Do
this sparingly. A good quote can make things more clear, but using it too often is
unwise. All text in the dissertation should be your own. If you wish to quote some
text from another source, it must be clearly indicated, or you will be considered to
have plagiarised.

To quote text from another source:

Small Quotes: This applies if you wish to quote a single sentence, or less. Include the
text inside your own words inside quotation marks. Italicise the text and put the
reference in brackets afterwards. For example:

It is indisputable that “ACS is more effective if the ants start at different cities”
(Rook 1999).

Large Quotes: This applies to any quote that is more than a single sentence. The text
should be inserted as a separate paragraph to your own text. The paragraph should
be indented by at least 1.5 cm. The quote should be clearly referenced at the bottom.
You can do this automatically by using the “block quote” style. For example:

The following is a taken from a paper describing research on artificial

intelligence.

It is easy to modify the experiment above to the case in which the

bridge’s branches are of different length [60], and to extend the model of
Equation 1 so that it can describe this new situation. In this case, because
of the same pheromone laying mechanism as in the previous situation,
the shortest branch is most often selected: The first ants to arrive at the
food source are those that took the two shortest branches, so that, when
these ants start their return trip, more pheromone is present on the short
branch than on the long branch, stimulating successive ants to choose
the short branch. (Dorigo and Di Caro 1999)

Very Large Quotes: Quotes of more than six sentences should not be used, unless
your supervisor has indicated that it is safe to do so.

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3.4 The bibliography
Note that all your references should be included in the bibliography. An example of a
bibliography is included at the back, but only contains a few papers. Your
dissertation will probably use over 20-50 references.

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4 Miscellany
4.1 Style
The dissertation should be written in a formal style if possible. If you cannot do so, it
will only lose you a few marks, so don’t be tempted to plagiarise to compensate.
Plagiarism will cause you to fail.

Some advice to consider is:

 Never use the first person (e.g. 'I', 'me' etc.) or the active voice (e.g. 'I wrote the
program'). Write in the third person passive voice (e.g. 'The program was
written'). The only place where the using the first person is acceptable is in the
"personal reflections" section which I don't think should be there anyway.
 Avoid underlining, bold or italic.
 The text should be one and a half spaced. Code can be single spaced.
 Rarely use indefinite articles (i.e. 'it', 'they' etc.) as it can cause confusion. Repeat
yourself if necessary. Never, ever, start a sentence with an indefinite article.
 Never use contractions (e.g. "it's", "don't", "can't" etc).
 All chapters (apart for the first) should be topped and tailed. In other words, the
first paragraph of a chapter should say what the chapter is about; the last
paragraph should summarise what the chapter was about.
 Anecdotal evidence is not evidence.

4.2 The file

You will be asked to submit a soft copy of your file. Name the file after you, for
example: “FredBloggs.doc”. That way I don’t forget who it is from.

4.3 Good luck

Enjoy writing your dissertation and do your best. Make sure you consult your
supervisor to discuss what your chapters should be about. You will certainly need a
final chapter called “Conclusions and suggestions for further study”.

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Bibliography
Dorigo, M. and Di Caro, G. Ant algorithms for discrete optimisation. Artificial Life. Vol
5 No 3 pp 137-192 1999.

Hallam, F. Some journal paper title. Journal Name. Vol 6 No 12 pp 12-17 1994

Mannick, Q. Another journal title. Different Journal No 121 p 16 1992

Rook, C. Investigation into the use of Ant Algorithms for the Travelling Salesman
Problem and Game Playing. MSc dissertation, Northumbria University, 1999.

(Your bibliography will be considerably longer than this.)

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 Appendix A. Research Proposal
Insert your research proposal here.

Note that the appendix heading uses the ‘Appendix Heading’ style

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 Appendix B. Figures and diagrams
Put your pictures, charts and tables here. Number them and refer to the number in
your text, so we can find them easily.

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 Appendix C. Other stuff
You may need to include other appendices. Code? Design diagrams? Whatever.

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