Contract Template

The project contract is typically about three pages in length. It is prepared by the student with required input from their faculty project supervisor. It has the following layout:

Course: CSE4080

Academic Year: e.g. Fall 2012

Project title: < title >

Supervisor name (email): < name > (< email >)

Student name: < name >

Student number: 123456789

Student's email: < email >

What the project is to achieve, a half to one page. Please describe the educational component of the project.

Prerequisite courses: list the courses and the minimum-mark requirement for each

Corequisite courses: list the courses to be taken concurrently

Other experience: technical know-how needed, familiarity with languages and systems, mathematical background, etc.

These should be spelled out because they may be more helpful to the student in choosing a project than the project description.

Software: list of programming languages, tools, operating systems, etc.

Hardware: list of computer and other needed devices.

A short list of research papers/books that could/must be studied or referenced for the project, that can help give some idea of what the project is about and the background required.

List of artifacts to be completed by the final due date; includes programs, documentation, reports, user guides, etc. One of them is your final project poster presentation on a date around the end of term, usually during the exam period or at the start of the next term.

Milestones to be reached during the project. Useful for the project contract and progress evaluation. The following is an example:

1. by <date>: Background reading completed.
2. by <date>: Preliminary project description document due. Background summary (2 pages). Specification of the work to be performed in terms of technical milestones (4 pages). Rationale for the approach and expected intellectual contribution (2 pages).
3. by <date>: Progress report due. Summary of achievements so far, difficulties encountered, possible change in the technical milestones. Prototype implementation.
4. by <date>: Preliminary draft of the final documents. Implementation work done except for bells and whistles.
5. by <date>: Project due. All deliverables completed.

Indication as to how the project will be evaluated. For example, the project can be marked on the basis of the progress towards stated goals, and the clarity and completeness of programs, documentation and reports. It is strongly recommended and encouraged that evaluation has a number of components and not just a grade at the end. Grades can be associated with different deliverables or their parts. Components could include: documentation, programming style, quality of the interface design, project proposal presentation, project status presentations, and overall evaluation.

At least 20% of the evaluation should be available before the drop date.

The following is an example. Note that all projects must have a requirement for a poster preparation and presentation. The grading of this requirement is worth 30% of the final grade and is assigned by the CSE4080 seminar committee. By signing this contract both student and supervisor agree to participate in the seminar day which will be typically scheduled during the exam week or in the first week of class following the term that student is enrolled in CSE4080. Students and supervisors should check the course web page for the current term to find the date scheduled for the seminars.

• Mid-project status report – ?%

• Final documentation & reports – ?%

• Programming and technical work – ?%

• Poster presentation – 30% (required component)

• Meeting milestones – ?%

Student

Supervisor

Course Director