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Honours Program Outline

This document is only a guide to the Honours program and is not an official description of University regulations. The university regulations are available in the University Handbook.

  • Introduction

    The honours program in computing is open to students who have qualified for a degree with a major in computing. The normal admission requirement is a GPA of at least 2.5 overall and 2.5 in 300-level units. The program is also open to students who have completed a pass degree in computing at an equivalent level elsewhere.

    The program serves two purposes. If you are looking for a career in industry, it allows you to pursue your studies to a more advanced level and to obtain a better qualification. If you wish to undertake research, it provides the normal route to enrolment for an MPhil or PhD.

    The program may be taken full-time over one year or part-time over two years. The full-time option is undoubtedly preferable. As an active member of the academic community, you will benefit from the daily interactions with students, staff and visitors, and this will make your time more stimulating, more enjoyable, and more satisfying. However, if other commitments make this impossible, the part-time option is available. There is also the possibility of starting midway through the year, although special permission is needed; starting at the beginning of the year is also undoubtedly preferable.

  • Requirements

    Your formal commitments are to complete four course units, a seminar component, and a project. The assessment is 40% for the course units, 20% for the seminar component (including intermediate documents and presentations), and 40% for the final project thesis. If you are full-time, the normal pattern is to take three course units in the first semester and one in the second. If you are starting part-time, you should take two in the first semester and at least one, but preferably two, in the second. The 5% unit COMP496, Academic Research Methods and Communication, is compulsory and part of the seminar component.

    Your project is in many ways the most important and challenging part of the course. Full-time students should choose their project by the end of week 1 of the teaching Semester; part-time students within a year. Formal requirements include three seminar presentations, two intermediate documents and a final report, as described below.

    A starting point is the list of projects proposed by staff members. You can choose one of these projects, think about possible related projects, or even just realise that you'd like to do something different from all of them. Choose the areas that interest you most, check web pages, and then ask the appropriate staff members for suggestions.

    You will be required to email your proposed selection of units and your choice of project to the Honours Convener in accordance with a resolution of Academic Senate by the end of week 1 of your first semester. Since honours units tend to be more flexible, you should arrange a time for classes with the unit convenor in advance of that date.

  • Supervision

    To help you with your project, you will have a supervisor and possibly one or more associate supervisors. Your supervisor will be a member of the Department but an associate supervisor may be from another department, or from CSIRO, or from some other organisation. You should meet with your supervisor at least once a week. Since staff members have little time for chasing errant students, the onus is primarily on you to establish suitable times and to maintain the contact.

    Early meetings should focus on preparing a research plan, carrying out the literature search, and ensuring that the required equipment is available. Later meetings will deal with the detailed outworking of the project and, in due course, with the preparation of the final report. It is strongly suggested that you agree on deadlines for various stages of the projects. If you have difficulties with any aspects of your supervision, you should consult the honours convener or, if preferred, the head of the department.

  • Facilities

    If you are a full-time student, you will be allocated a desk with other honours students or within the research group that your project falls. If you are part-time, we shall attempt to find you some (generally shared) space, but this is not guaranteed. You will have access to equipment on the network for honours and postgraduate students. You will be given a code for using the departmental copiers and an allocation for the number of copies that you can make. If you need more equipment, consult your project supervisor and the honours convener.

  • Available Units

    The four course units are drawn from the following groups:

    • 400-level honours units. These units are designed primarily as honours units, though some may also be taken by postgraduate students.
    • 800-level units (subject to approval of the honours convener). These are primarily for postgraduate students and are always in the evening. Mixing with part-time students from industry can be interesting, but the classes are larger, and often assume some industry experience.
    • 300-level units. If you have not completed all of the 300-level COMP units, you may be allowed to take one of these (subject to approval of the honours convener).
    • One-off units. These are provided on an ad hoc basis in response to the enthusiasm of a staff member for a particular topic. They tend to be leading-edge and among the more exciting units.
    • Reading courses. Subject to approval of the honours convener, a reading course can be designed on an individual basis for a student's particular area of interest in consultation with a member of staff.
    • Other disciplines. Subject to approval of the honours convener, you may be allowed to take one or two of 400-level MATH, ELEC or INFO units; relevant units from other Divisions; and in exceptional circumstances, units from other universities or other institutions (such as the Conservatorium).

    Go to Honours Units for descriptions of 400-level units and Postgraduate Professional Development Program for 800-level units.

    A typical pattern is (for a full-time student) to take three units in your first semester, and one in your second. For part-time students, the typical pattern is to take two units in your first semester and two in your second (with your third and fourth semesters for your project).

  • Seminar Component

    The seminar unit has several components that are designed to promote your participation in the seminars and for you to develop "generic skills": planning a project, and explaining your work both in writing and in presentations.

    It includes:

    • a compulsory Academic Research Methods and Communication (ARMC) unit which takes place in first semester and is worth 5%.
    • a 10% project presentation component consisting of: 1% for the initial presentation, 3% for the progress presentation, and 6% for the final presentation.
    • a 5% intermediate project document component consisting of: 1% initial proposal document and 4% progress document.

    The Department holds regular seminars, which you are expected to attend. The various research groups also hold occasional seminars. Depending on the nature of your project, you will be attached to one these groups and, if you are a full-time student, you will be expected to attend its seminars.

    1. As part of your project work, you are required to make three seminar presentations (further details are given in the section on Presentations):
      • The first is a project proposal and should be accompanied by a written document setting out the proposal. This is worth 1%.
      • The second is a half-year progress presentation outlining the background and objectives of the on-going project, with some of your initial results. It is expected that by the time of the seminar you will have made some progress. This is worth 3%.
      • Your final project presentation is worth 6%.

    The aims of the seminar component are to promote thoughtful attendance at research seminars, to widen the range of topics which you deal with during your honours program, and to provide experience and training in research methods and in writing and presenting technical English.

  • Presentations

    The three presentations are an important part of your work and, as stated above, count as part of the Seminar Unit.

    Make sure that you use your presentation time wisely. Do not spend time giving a tutorial-style explanation of the background. Even though some members of your audience may not be familiar with your topic, you do not have time to enlighten them. Your aim is to convince everyone that you have formulated a good project, with clear, interesting, achievable goals. You should then be able to benefit from feedback, either in the question time or later.

    You are strongly encouraged to use slides. Some basic rules are: keep your transparencies clear and simple; avoid typographical errors at all costs; when you have put the slides up, stand back so that people can see them.

    1. Project proposal presentation (1%): semester 1, week 4

      The presentation lasts ten minutes, followed by time for questions. As mentioned above, the aim of this presentation is to demonstrate that you have a viable proposal and to provide staff with the opportunity to comment on it. It will be accompanied by a written proposal (see Project Documents).

    2. Progress presentation (3%): semester 2, week 1

      This presentation will be accompanied by a progress report of no more than 20 pages (see Project Documents) including a complete literature review. Its aim is to ensure that you are making good progress and to let other people contribute ideas and suggestions. It will last fifteen minutes, followed by time for questions.

    3. Final presentation (6%): semester 2, last week of semester

      This presentation will describe what you have achieved in your project work. It will be accompanied by a final version of your thesis (see Project Documents). The program typically schedules 30 minutes for each presentation. You should therefore allow 25 minutes for the main part, leaving 5 minutes for introductions and questions.

      In particular, it should include (when appropriate):

      • the general nature of your project,
      • its relevance and why you chose it,
      • your specific goals,
      • the relevant highlights from your literature review,
      • your choice of methods, equipment and techniques,
      • the experiments you conducted and present their main results,
      • your insights and conclusions,
      • some ideas for extending your work.

  • Project Documents

    1. Project proposal (1%): semester 1, week 5.

      No more than 10 pages, including at least the following items:

      1. Name of Student.
      2. Supervisor(s).
      3. Title of Project.
      4. Introduction. This briefly sets the proposed project in the context of existing work and describes the fundamental problem to be investigated.
      5. Aims, Relevance and Significance of Project.
      6. Research Plan and Methods.
      7. Expected Outcomes. This section can include any preliminary results which you (and sometimes, your supervisor) have already obtained.
      8. Timetable of Activities.
      9. Project - marking criteria chosen
      10. Facilities Required.
      11. Initial Bibliography.

      It should be pitched at an audience who you can expect to know about computing generally, but not about your specific topic or area of research. See an example here.

      When you submit this document, you should also construct a basic webpage. This webpage only needs to be fairly basic: it should contain your name and a few details about yourself, preferably a photo, and most importantly (from my point of view) a link to a PDF version of this project proposal. When you submit your progress and final reports, these should also be linked to your webpage. Of course, you can make a more elaborate webpage if you like. To see how to set up a webpage from your account in ICS, read this.

    2. Progress report (4%): semester 2, week 2.

      The main purpose of this document is to describe the aim of the project and how far you are towards achieving that aim. The associated seminar should outline the background and objectives of the proposed research project, and give a detailed plan. It is expected that by the time of the seminar you will have a clear idea of the work done and the work ahead of you. You are expected to have made some progress towards your goal. You will be expected to include a literature review which (in a revised form) will become part of your thesis. This document also provides an opportunity for you to receive advice and suggestions. It is hoped that potential difficulties may be thus identified and avoided.

      See an example from 2004.

    3. Thesis (Final report) (40%): semester 2, Monday of last week of semester (firm deadline).

      You are required to submit

      1. three hardcopies and
      2. a pdf version

      of a written project report by 10.00 am. Later sections give advice concerning your presentations and the format of your final report. Here are some basic requirements:

      • The report should be printed on A4 paper, single-sided, with a clear font such as Times Roman 12 point. A good size for margins is 2.5 cm top and bottom, 2 cm on the right and at least 2.5 cm on the left (maybe more, depending on the binding process).
      • The title page should contain the project title, your name, the purpose of the project (it is submitted as part of the honours requirements), the submission date (month and year), and the department (Department of Computing, Division of ICS, Macquarie University).
      • The next page should contain an abstract.
      • A page may be included for acknowledgements.
      • The table of contents should list the chapters, sections and subsections (if any), each with their page number. Do not subdivide any further.
      • A separate list of figures, tables and code segments may also be included at this point.
      • The chapters constitute the main body of the report. In all, they should occupy about 40-60 pages (single-spaced). Writing more than 60 pages will typically not be looked on favourably by your examiners.
      • A list of references, and possibly an annotated bibliography, should follow the main body. References should use the commonly used styles (author and year).
      • Appendices may be added, containing relevant but secondary material -- for example, program listings. This helps to keep the main part more focused.

    Note that unsatisfactory submissions of proposal and progress reports may be returned for rewriting. Submit a draft of any document to your supervisor in advance of the deadline for review. The draft gives your supervisor an early opportunity to comment on your writing style before you begin to assemble more crucial documents. You must also agree with your supervisor(s) about the project marking criteria.

  • Project Milestones

    As stated above, your project is worth 40% of the honours assessment. It also provides the main evidence of your ability to do research; it is therefore particularly important if you are planning to do a research degree. Specific dates will be given for each year, but the following are the essential milestones:

    1. Semester 1, week 1: Project and unit selection. The sooner you select your project, the better. Choose it in the previous December or January, if you can. You will typically begin working on it in February. By the end of week 1, you must have chosen it and register it with the honours convenor, who will need to know the title, the supervisor, and the associated research group. You will then belong to that research group and will be expected to attend its seminars. You must also select all the units you will attend this semester.
    2. Semester 1, weeks 4+5: Initial presentation and proposal. The initial presentation should be backed up by a written proposal (see above). The aim of this is to demonstrate that you have a viable proposal and to provide staff with the opportunity to comment on it. You should also set up a webpage.
    3. Semester 2, weeks 1+2: Progress presentation. The initial progress presentation should be backed up by a written progress report (see above) including a literature review. You must also select all the units you will attend this semester.
    4. Semester 2, Monday of last week of semester (10am): Final report. You are required to submit three copies of a final written project report to the honours convener.
    5. Semester 2, last week of semester: Final presentation. During the exam period of the second semester, you will give the final presentation at a departmental seminar, describing what you have achieved.
    6. Approx. two weeks after semester 2: Bound thesis. Individual examiners may provide lists of corrections required to be made to the final version of the thesis. These corrections must be made by the student in consultation with the supervisor, and the corrected copies returned to the Honours convener. Your grade will not be relayed to the University administration until the necessary corrections to your thesis are completed to the satisfaction of the Honours convener and the Head of Department.

  • Project - Marking Criteria

    Projects will be marked according to the following criteria, with percentages showing the proportion of the marks that might be allocated to each:

    • 10-20% : Literature review.
    • 30-60% : Quality of the work achieved, including the quality of the programming and the results.
    • 10-30% : Creativity, originality, insight.
    • 20-25% : Presentation of the report.

    The actual percentages will depend on the nature of the project, but will normally be chosen from the given ranges and will add up to 100%. At the time of your initial presentation, you will be asked to consult with your supervisor and nominate the values that you consider most appropriate. On completion of the project, the three examiners will be asked to follow that recommendation.

  • Assessment

    As stated at the start, assessment is based on 40% for the coursework units, 20% for the seminar component, and 40% for the project's thesis. The Department considers this assessment, and then awards a standardised grade for Honours in accordance with the following University Senate table:

    High H1 96+
    Mid H1 90-95
    Low H1 85-89
    H2(i) 75-84
    H2(ii) 65-74
    H3 50-64

    These guidelines should not be interpreted too rigidly. On the contrary, marks up to 2% either side of a category division should be interpreted as "borderline -- closer evaluation needed".

    An overall mark is obtained by summing the marks for the individual components multiplied by their weights. If you take more than four course units, your best four marks will be used. The overall mark provides a provisional indicator of your performance. However, as indicated above, your final grade will be decided only after a thorough review of all aspects of your work by the Department. Your final grade will reflect your performances in each component.

  • Mark Dras, Honours Convenor

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