COURSE SYLLABUS
CPSC 6985 - Research and Thesis - FALL 2014
INSTRUCTOR - Dr. Shamim Khan
EMAIL – s.khan@ColumbusState.edu
HOMEPAGE: http://csc.ColumbusState.edu/khan
PHONE –
Office phone: (706) 507-8184
School phone: (706) 507-8170
OFFICE HOURS AND LOCATION – MWRF 11:00-12:00, MWR 2:00-4:00 PM; CCT 444
CLASS MEETING TIME AND PLACE – CCT 405 MWF 10-10:50 AM
COURSE INFORMATION
COURSE CRN NUMBER/TITLE CPSC1301 – Research and Thesis (CRN 82788)
CREDIT HOURS/PREREQUISITES (3 credits). Prerequisite: None
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is required by all students completing the thesis
option of the MS in Applied Computer Science. It involves completion of a research
project and defense of the project thesis in adherence to the School of Computer
Science MS thesis policy. The project is to be designed in consultation with a thesis
advisor who is a member of the graduate faculty of the School of Computer Science.
May not be taken more than twice for credit. (S/U grading) (Course Fee Required).
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK AND MATERIALS
None.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Course Objective: Upon completion of this course, the student will have sufficiently
demonstrated an understanding of a significant and current problem in computer
science as well as its potential solutions both orally and in writing.
Course Outcomes:
The student will demonstrate the ability to:
 recognize a significant and current problem in computer science;
 perform research on a significant and current problem in computer science;
 apply previous coursework, past research, and current research to resolving the
significant and current problem in computer science; and
 to produce, following published School of Computer Science guidelines, a
research thesis describing the work done by the student to a standard
acceptable to the thesis committee;
COURSE ASSESSMENT
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
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Implementation of research plan to address the research questions as described in thesis
proposal approved by the thesis examination committee
Development of an experimental system following the methodology described in the proposal
Analysis of experimental results
Evaluation of the system developed according to the research plan
Presentation of research findings
Writing up of a thesis following the Master’s thesis preparations guidelines
Preparation to defend the thesis before the thesis examination committee
Presentation of thesis to the thesis examination committee
COURSE EVALUATION
Other than the oral defense of thesis before the thesis examination committee, this course has no
assessment methods.
ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES AND ACADEMIC RESOURCES
CSU DISABILITY POLICY
If you have a documented disability as described by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, you may be eligible to receive accommodations
to assist in programmatic and/or physical accessibility. We recommend that you contact the
Office of Disability Services located in Schuster Student Success Center, Room 221, 706-5078755 as soon as possible. Students taking online courses can contact the Office of Disability
services at http://disability.columbusstate.edu/ . The Office of Disability Services can assist you
in formulating a reasonable accommodation plan and in providing support. Course requirements
will not be waived but accommodations may be able to assist you to meet the requirements.
Technical support may also be available to meet your specific need.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
All students are expected to recognize and uphold standards of intellectual and
academic integrity. As a basic and minimum standard of conduct in academic matters
that students be honest and that they submit for credit only the products of their own
efforts. Both the ideals of scholarship and the need for fairness require that all
dishonest work be rejected as a basis for academic credit. They also require that
students refrain from any and all forms of dishonorable or unethical conduct related to
their academic work.
Students are expected to comply with the provisions of Section III, "Student
Responsibilities," of the Columbus State University Student Handbook. This specifically
includes the sections on "Academic Irregularity," and "Conduct Irregularity." In
particular, the Columbus State University Student Handbook states:
“No student shall give or receive assistance in the preparation of any assignment, essay,
laboratory report, or examination to be submitted as a requirement for any academic
course in such a way that the submitted work can no longer be considered the personal
effort of the student submitting the work.”
Examples of Academic Dishonesty include but are not limited to: Plagiarism (see
definition below), giving or receiving unauthorized assistance on exams, quizzes, class
assignments or projects, unauthorized collaboration, multiple submissions (in whole or
part) of work that has been previously submitted for credit.
Plagiarism is any attempt to represent the work or ideas of someone else as your own.
This includes purchasing or obtaining papers from any person and turning them in as
your own. It also includes the use of paraphrases or quotes from a published source
without properly citing the source. All written assignments may be submitted for
textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism
STUDENT COMPLAINT PROCESS
Information and resources for student complaints and academic appeals are located at
the following link on the Columbus State University website
http://aa.columbusstate.edu/appeals/.
COURSE ATTENDANCE POLICY
Other than regular meetings at mutually agreed times, no class attendance is required
for this course.
OTHER
How to Access the Course
You can access the course through CougarView at: http://colstate.view.usg.edu/
At this page, select the "Log on to" CougarView link to activate the CougarView logon
dialog box, which will ask for your CougarView username and password. Your
CougarView username and password are the same as your Cougarnet username and
password:
Username: lastname_firstname
Password: XXXX
Default password is your birthday in the format of DDMMYY.
If you try the above and CougarView will not let you in, please use the
"Comments/Problems" link on the CougarView home page to request help. If you are
still having problems gaining access a day or so after the class begins, please e-mail me
immediately.
Once you've entered CougarView, you will see a list of courses you have access to which
contains some combination of the phrases "CPSC 6985" and "Fall 2014." If you don't see
this entry in the list, please e-mail me.
Once you have clicked on the course's name and accessed the course, you will find a
home page with a navigational bar displaying the course title and a set of links that is
used to navigate between tools and homepages. Each course and home page has its
own navbar that links to relevant tools and contents.If you try the above and
CougarView will not let you in, please use the "Need Help with CougarView?" link below
the username and password textboxes to request help. If you are still having problems
gaining access after a few days in the class, please e-mail me.
Student Responsibilities
As a student in this course, you are responsible to:
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manage your time and maintain the discipline required to meet the course
requirements;
work with your thesis advisor to develop a thesis proposal;
perform the necessary research to fully understand the problem and to
recommend possible solutions;
communicate regularly with your thesis advisor;
prepare a research report in accordance with the School thesis standards that
describes the problem, the research, and the possible solutions;
coordinate with the thesis supervisor to establish an agreed upon location and
time for the thesis oral defense;
prepare and present an oral defense of the research effort; and obtain the
necessary approval signatures following a successful defense of the thesis.
Instructor Responsibilities
As your instructor/thesis advisor in this course, I am responsible to:
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work with you, the student, to develop a thesis proposal;
work to form a thesis committee for examining your thesis ;
assist you in your research efforts and provide guidance as necessary;
respond to your emails and other communications promptly;
work with you in ensuring the thesis meets the School thesis standards; and
coordinate with the thesis committee members to provide guidance on the
research effort, written document, and oral defense as necessary;
COURSE SCHEDULE
The following is the tentative schedule for the course. It is subject to change.
DATES
October 10, 2014
November 3, 2014
November 24, 2014
December 10, 2014
MILESTONES
Experimental work completed
Thesis initial draft submitted
Thesis final draft submitted
Thesis oral defense