CISE Senior Project - Evaluation
You will receive a letter grade for your project that will be based on the following factors:
- Grade returned by your project advisor, based on completeness, complexity, and quality of your effort;
- Grade on oral presentation and examination (oral questions), returned by the course supervisor; and
- Grade on your final report returned by the course supervisor.
Since the grading is essentially subjective, it is not possible to post an exact formula for grade computation that is specified down to the last little detail. Here is how the current semester (Summer-C 2000) evaluation will proceed:
The advisor will return a grade ranging from zero to 50, which can be based on the following partitions. However this is not required, as various advisors may prefer to implement their own grading schemes.
Completeness of Project ..... 10 points Complexity of Project ..... 10 points Quality of Results ..... 10 points Quality of Final Report ..... 20 points
Completeness refers to the percent completion. For example, a project that is 60 percent complete would be scored 6/10 on the completeness category. Project complexity is discussed below.
The grade assigned by the advisor will count as 50 percent of your final score. This grade will be added to the grades assigned by the course supervisor (described below), to yield 100 points as the maximum final score. Late submission of the final report copy signed by your advisor will not be permitted, except for officially documented medical, judicial, law enforcement, or military service excuses.
Your first midterm presentation will not be graded, but your attendance will be recorded and will influence your final grade if you are on the borderline between two letter grades (e.g., between C+ and B). The course supervisor will assign a grade of zero to 5 on your second midterm oral presentation, per the following guidelines:
--------- GRADE ---------- CATEGORY Unacceptable Acceptable --------------- ------------ ---------- 1. Clarity 0 1 2. Organization 0 1 3. English 0 1 4. Speaking Habits 0 1 5. Question/Ans. 0 1 ------------------------------------------- MAXIMUM TOTAL POINTS for first oral = 5This grade will not be changed by your advisor, and will count as 5 percent of your final score. Lateness of presentation will not be permitted, except for the excuses specified previously.
The course supervisor will assign a grade of zero to 30 on your final report, per the following guidelines:
------------ GRADE -------------- CATEGORY E D C B A --------------- -- -- -- -- -- 1. Clarity 1 2 3 4 5 2. Organization 1 2 3 4 5 3. English 1 2 3 4 5 4. Appearance 1 2 3 4 5 5. Discussion or Analysis 1 2 3 4 5 6. References 1 2 3 4 5 ----------------------------------------------------- MAXIMUM TOTAL POINTS from Course Supervisor = 30This grade will not be changed by your advisor, and will count as 30 percent of your final score. Lateness of presentation will not be permitted, except for the excuses specified previously.
The course supervisor will assign a grade of zero to 15 on your final oral presentation, per the following guidelines:
------------ GRADE -------------- CATEGORY E D C B A --------------- -- -- -- -- -- 1. Clarity 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 2. Organization 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3. English 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 4. Personal Ap- pearance 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 5. Question/Ans. 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 ----------------------------------------------------- MAXIMUM TOTAL POINTS from Course Supervisor = 15This grade will not be changed by your advisor, and will count as 15 percent of your final score. Lateness of presentation will not be permitted, except for the excuses specified previously.
The final score will be computed on the basis of a maximum of 100 points (50 points maximum from advisor + 30 points maximum from supervisor for final report + 5 points maximum for first oral presentation + 15 points maximum for final oral presentation). The final grade (A-E, or I with documented excuse), will be determined without curving of any kind, according to the standard University grading system:
93 - 100 : A 4.00 Grade Points 90 - 93 : A- 3.67 Grade Points 87 - 89 : B+ 3.33 Grade Points 83 - 86 : B 3.00 Grade Points 80 - 82 : B- 2.67 Grade Points 77 - 79 : C+ 2.33 Grade Points 73 - 76 : C 2.00 Grade Points 70 - 72 : C- 1.67 Grade Points 67 - 69 : D+ 1.33 Grade Points 63 - 66 : D 1.00 Grade Points 60 - 62 : D- 0.67 Grade Points 0 - 59 : E 0 Grade PointsComplexity of Project
Projects should be significantly complex. A significant project is defined as one that is novel, well-developed and useful to your project advisor.
For example, projects that involve literature searches, in addition to the required software deliverable, are generally considered more complex than projects that involve writing (or rewriting) code that has been written before on a large scale.
For instance, a project entitled "An Object-Oriented Database Design for Manufacturing Schedules" would likely be more novel than "Interfacing Spreadsheet X to Graphics Program Y", especially if the first project requires a careful review of the existing literature and recent software developments.
If you are unsure of the suitability of your project, please talk with your project advisor.