Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
EEC 693/793, ESC 794
Special
Topics: Population-Based Optimization (4 credit hours)
Fall
2008
Term Project Guidelines
Important Items:
Letter of Intent This is a one- or two-page letter that comprises an
extended abstract of the proposed project. I will give you feedback on your
letter that indicates whether or not your project idea is acceptable. Late
submissions will be penalized. This must be submitted by email in MS Word or PDF format
to the instructor. If you are not sure how to write a letter of intent, I have
a letter of intent template
available on the Internet that may help. Although your letter of intent does
not necessarily have to follow the template, you will be in good shape if you
do follow it. The filename of your letter of intent should be
<LastName><FirstName>LOI.doc – for example, SimonDanLOI.doc.
Proposal The
proposal should be between 3 and 6 pages long. Late submissions will be
penalized. This must be submitted by email
in MS Word or PDF format to the
instructor. The filename of your proposal should be
<LastName><FirstName>Proposal.doc – for example,
SimonDanProposal.doc.
Oral Presentation Students will be allowed between 10 and 20 minutes for
their presentations, depending on how many presentations there are in the
class. Helpful examples of both good and bad oral presentations can be found at
Eastern Illinois University’s Speaking Across
the Curriculum Web site.
Written Report There is not a set limit for the length of the written
report. The written report should be long enough to be complete but not so long
that it contains superfluous material. I typically expect written reports to be
anywhere between 15 and 75 pages long, depending on the length of software
listings, number of graphics, etc. Longer is not necessarily better. Late
reports will not be accepted. If you are not sure how to write a technical
report, I have a report template
available on the Internet that may help. Although your report does not
necessarily have to follow the template, you will be in good shape if you do
follow it. The written report must be submitted as a hard copy. Email will not be accepted.
Common
writing problems are discussed in CommonProblems.html.
Read about them and avoid them in order to improve your grade. Here are some
good examples of written reports that were submitted in the Embedded Systems
course. They are all written in somewhat different styles and formats, but they
all have the qualities that comprise an excellent term paper.
·
Samarth Mehta, Spring 2008 - Samarth’s report is notable in that it
includes an excellent literature review. His report is about robotics, so he
talks about what technologies others have used for robot control and gives
journal references. A good literature review should actually be more complete
and extensive than what Samarth did, but his literature review is one of the
best I’ve seen up until now. Samarth received 49 points out of 51 possible. He
lost one point because his introduction was not extensive enough. For example,
it did contain motivativation for the project, and did not summarize the
results of the project. He also lost one point because his software flowchart
was not detailed enough.
·
Matt Dolloff, Spring 2008 - Matt also has a good literature review.
Matt received 48 points out of 51 possible. He lost one point because his
hardware block diagram was not complete, and it also had a typo. He lost one
point because his future work was written in bullet points rather than prose
(remember that a written report is not a Powerpoint presentation). He lost one
point because his references did not contain any books or journal papers.
·
Gaurav Konchady, Spring 2008 - Guarav received 47 points out of 51
possible. He lost three points because he did not have a literature review, and
he lost one point because his reference list was not formatted correctly. For
example, he did not include publisher or date information for the books in his
reference list.
·
Bill Lane, Spring 2008 - Bill received 48 points out of 51
possible. He lost two points because he had hardly any literature review in his
introduction. His future work section was not great because he used bullets
instead of paragraphs, but he did not lose any points for that because his
future work items were still discussed in enough detail. He lost one point for
not having enough comments in his software listing. For example, a computer
program should begin with comments discussing what the program is, what it
does, how it works, assumptions, limitations, etc.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism
is a serious offense that can jeapordize your grade, your degree, and your
career. Before handing in a written report, make sure you understand what
plagiarism is and how to avoid it. Here are some resources:
·
Purdue University’s
Plagiarism Web Site
·
Indiana University’s
Plagiarism Web Site
·
An article about a Masters
student who plagiarized
·
The CSU
ECE Department’s Ethics Policy
Project Grade:
Each of the
subtasks listed below is graded on a scale from 0 (low) to 4 (high). The
written report can be based on the template at http://academic.csuohio.edu/simond/courses/ReportTemplate.pdf
although this is not required.
|
Task |
Subtask |
Points |
|
Letter of Intent |
|
4 |
|
Proposal |
|
16 |
|
|
Abstract |
|
|
|
Project Description |
|
|
|
Expected Results |
|
|
|
Timeline |
|
|
Project |
|
24 |
|
|
Interest Level |
|
|
|
Motivation |
|
|
|
Features |
|
|
|
Success |
|
|
|
Results |
|
|
|
Scope |
|
|
Written Report |
|
28 |
|
|
Abstract |
|
|
|
Introduction |
|
|
|
Figures and Graphics |
|
|
|
Organization |
|
|
|
Clarity |
|
|
|
Conclusion |
|
|
|
References |
|
|
Oral Presentation |
|
28 |
|
|
Introduction |
|
|
|
Correct Length |
|
|
|
Organization |
|
|
|
Clarity |
|
|
|
Visual Aids |
|
|
|
Audience Interaction |
|
|
|
Conclusion |
|
|
Total |
|
100 |
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Last Revised: August 11, 2008