Final Year Projects

Overview

This page contains information common to all final-year project/dissertation modules.

All BSc, MSci and MSc students undertake a substantial Computer Science project in their final year. The project is guided by at least one supervisor from the School, over a length of time that depends on the particular project module.

The development and supervision process is decided by student and supervisor but will involve regular meetings to decide direction and monitor progress. Each student is responsible for managing and completing their project.

There are deliverables due at fixed points through the year, but marking is holistic. The outcome will be an artifact such as a product, software, or a formal system. Although many projects involve software development, this is not a requirement.

Although projects often create exciting new results, an undergraduate or Masters project is not expected to advance the state of the art to the extent expected of a PhD thesis. However, it is important that it is challenging enough and demonstrates your ability to apply CS skills gained throughout the degree to a large, complex problem.

MSc dissertation projects will involve various sets of skills and explore various areas of computer science. They may be very technical, or very mathematical, or involve design and interviews, focus on system building, or involve detailed analysis of existing solutions. However, they are all expected to be equally difficult, and of equal quality. The dissertation also has to be clearly related to the specific MSc programme, e.g. an MSc AI dissertation has to fall broadly into the area of AI, and an MSc HCI dissertation should be related to human-computer interaction.

See the notes on selecting a project and project supervision.

Project types

See the notes on project types.

Deliverables

The deliverables for final-year projects/dissertations are:

• DOER planning document
• Letter of agreement (Joint project module only)
• Plan and context survey (60-credit modules only)
• Interim demo
• Final submission
  • Project report or dissertation
  • Related materials
• Final demo

See MMS for deliverable deadlines.

AI use

You are not permitted to use generative AI tools at any stage of your final-year project—including planning, research, analysis, drafting and final deliverables—except where at least one of the following applies:

• the use is explicitly permitted in your disability support plan
• the use is permitted under the Policy on Language Correction
• the use has been approved in advance by the Projects Coordinator—such approval will only be granted for projects in which generative AI forms a core aspect, and will not be granted where the project could reasonably be completed without it

Incidental exposure to AI-generated content (for example, AI-generated summaries in search engine results) does not constitute use of generative AI for the purposes of this policy, provided such content is not incorporated into your work.

Any use of generative AI under one of the exceptions detailed above must be explicitly documented in the Declaration section of your final report/dissertation, stating which exception applies and describing how the tool was used.

Good academic practice

It is, obviously, particularly important to be careful in observing Good Academic Practice in your project writing, since your degree is likely to depend on passing the project module. Note that:

• Unauthorised use of AI is considered a very serious form of academic misconduct.
• Project/dissertation submissions will be processed via the Turnitin plagiarism checking tool.
• The likely penalty for academic misconduct in the project/dissertation is a mark of zero, leading to the Honours or Masters degree not being awarded.

Assessment

Final-year projects and dissertations are assessed via a double marking process. Assessment is based on the report/dissertation, the demonstration, and the quality and scope of the submitted artifacts. The supervisor and a second marker evaluate the work independently and then agree a final mark and combined feedback. The second marker is usually not an expert in the particular area of Computer Science. Feedback is released to students after final module grades are published.

CS4796 projects will also have a marker from the other school.

Extension requests

Some people may need to request an extension for the final submission deadline. The usual process applies: submit a self-certificate and complete the extension request form, taking care to select the Dissertation option for the first question (if a different option is selected, the request will not be routed to the Projects Coordinator, and a delay in processing is likely).

Requests should be made in good time: last-minute requests made on the deadline day are unlikely to be granted. Retrospective extension requests submitted after the deadline will not be approved.

Extensions are not granted for for deliverables with zero credit weighting, i.e. all deliverables before the final deadline. Since they carry no credit, they have no lateness penalties. If you are late with a zero-weighted deliverable, do not submit an extension request, but expect follow up via email and academic alerts.

A request for an extension longer than five days will not normally be approved without supporting medical evidence or input from Student Services. If you are experiencing mental health issues and are not already in contact with Student Services, you should do so now. Remember that the CS Welfare Officers (student-welfare-cs@st-andrews.ac.uk) are also available if you need support.

Location of studies

The policy on Location of Studies applies for the entire duration of all degree programmes. In particular, for MSc programmes this includes the summer dissertation period.

Under the policy, you must live within “commutable distance from St Andrews” over the dissertation period, which is loosely defined as you being able to attend the School on a daily basis if required, and more formally as within 75 miles of St Andrews.

If you wish to be further away from St Andrews for more than 10 consecutive days, you must obtain formal approval in advance via the Director of [Postgraduate] Teaching, having first obtained the approval of your supervisor.

Note also that the policy states that “Overseas students must seek expert advice on the conditions of their visa prior to leaving the UK for any reason”.