ECE-­‐Specific

 Honors  Thesis  Guidelines:  

Preparation,  Approval,  Submission,  and  Grading  
 
Department  of  Electrical  and  Computer  Engineering  
University  of  Massachusetts  Amherst  
 
For  Spring  2020  Submission1  
 
The  target  submission  date  for  the  ECE  499  thesis/project  manuscript  is  the  last  day  
of  classes:    Friday,  May  15.    The  present  document  provides  ECE-­‐specific  guidance  
on  preparation  of  the  manuscript  (and  artifact  documentation  for  projects),  an  
overview  of  the  pre-­‐submission  approval  process,  an  annotated  checklist  of  items  to  
be  submitted,  and  additional  notes  on  deadlines,  grading,  and  graduation  clearance.    
This  document  supplements—but  does  not  replace—the  instructions  provided  by  
CHC2.  
 
Please  read  these  guidelines  early  in  the  process,  and  plan  ahead  for  timely  
preparation,  review,  and  submission  of  your  thesis/project  document  to  CHC.  
 
1.  General  Notes  on  Thesis/Project  Document  
 
•   Audience:  The  “readership”  for  the  thesis/project  document  consists  of  you,  your  
chair  and  secondary  member,  the  ECE  Honors  Program  Director  (who  is  
responsible  for  approval  at  the  department  level),  the  CHC  Records  Manager  
(who  reviews  the  document  for  adherence  to  CHC  guidelines),  and  students  and  
researchers  who  might  access  your  document  in  the  future.    
 
•   Length:    There  are  no  formal  length  requirements  for  an  honors  thesis/project  
manuscript.    Having  said  that,  it  is  hard  to  do  justice  to  a  year-­‐long  scholarly  or  
technical  endeavor  in  ECE  in  less  than  40  double-­‐spaced  pages—including  
proper  introduction,  figures,  tables,  references,  etc.—and  a  typical  length  is  
55±15  pages.    This  holds  for  both  thesis  and  project  manuscripts  in  ECE;  in  our  
field  there  is  not  a  significant  length  difference  between  the  two.    Be  on  the  
lookout  for  material  that  could  be  relegated  to  appendices,  e.g.  material  that  
supports  the  manuscript  but  that  requires  significant  space  and  would  break  for  
flow  of  the  narrative  in  the  main  body.    This  is  particularly  important  if  the  main  
body  of  your  manuscript  exceeds,  say,  55-­‐60  pages.      
 

                                                                                                               
1  This  is  version  4.24.20.  
2    The  sectioning  and  content  guidelines  provided  by  CHC  are  necessarily  generic  to  

all  disciplines,  and  are  subject  to  departmental  discretion.    This  document  provides  
the  guidelines  for  sectioning  and  content  that  should  be  followed  for  ECE  thesis  and  
project  manuscripts.  
•   Format:    The  title  and  abstract  pages  will  be  automatically  generated  and  
formatted  during  the  submission  process  after  you  enter  the  required  
information  and  text  into  designated  text  boxes.    The  format  and  layout  of  the  
manuscript  body  should  adhere  to  CHC  guidelines.      The  references  should  be  
cited  in  the  document  and  listed  at  the  end  of  the  manuscript,  ordered  and  
numbered  in  the  order  they  are  cited  from  the  main  body  as  per  the  standard  
IEEE  format.    Links  to  information  on  CHC’s  formatting  requirements  and  on  
IEEEs  formats  for  citation  and  referencing  various  types  of  sources  can  be  found  
on  the  course  Moodle  site.  
 
•   Quality:    This  is  to  be  a  high  quality  document,  worthy  of  its  status  as  the  most  
important  document-­‐of-­‐record  associated  with  your  undergraduate  honors  
work.    As  such,  it  should  be  clearly  written  and  carefully  edited  for  correctness,  
accuracy,  grammar,  and  usage  prior  to  submission.    It  will  be  permanently  
archived  by  the  UMass  Libraries.      
 
•   Organization  and  Content:    Appropriate  sectioning  of  an  ECE  thesis  or  project  
manuscript  is  described  below.    Remember  again  that,  although  each  section  
plays  a  specific  role,  the  document  as  a  whole  should  tell  a  coherent  story:  Here’s  
what’s  going  on  in  a  particular  field  and  why  it’s  important;  here,  roughly,  is  
what  I  have  done  and  where  it  fits  in  to  the  big  picture;  here’s  what  others  have  
done;  here’s  specifically  what  I  did,  how  I  did  it,  and  what  I  found;  and  here’s  
what  I  have  concluded.        And  remember  that  in  this  document  you  are  telling  the  
“final”  story—the  story  you  are  able  to  tell  at  the  end  of  your  year-­‐long  
experience—not  a  diary  of  your  experience  describing  all  twists  and  turns,  
misunderstandings,  failures,  and  obstacles  encountered  along  the  way.    The  
thesis  or  project  manuscript  addresses  the  problem  that  you  state  in  the  
introductory  sections  of  the  manuscript,  and  need  make  no  reference  to  earlier  
versions  of  that  problem  statement,  your  499T/P  proposal,  your  499Y  semester  
plan,  etc.  
 
2.  Parts  of  the  Thesis/Project  Document  
 
1. Title  Page    
 
A  properly  formatted  title  page  will  be  generated  by  CHC  Paths  upon  your  
entering  all  required  information  at  the  time  of  submission.    
 
2. Abstract  
 
A  properly  formatted  abstract  page  will  be  generated  by  CHC  Paths  upon  your  
entering  your  abstract  text  into  a  text  box  at  the  time  of  submission.    Your  
abstract,  which  should  not  exceed  350  words,  should  clearly  and  concisely  
summarize  your  work,  your  findings,  and  their  implications.    It  should  be  self-­‐
contained,  and  generally  should  not  include  abbreviations,  overly  obscure  
technical  jargon,  a  section-­‐by-­‐section  overview  of  the  document,  or  references.  
  
3. Introduction    
 
Start  with  a  broad  description  of  your  work,  understandable  to  non-­‐specialists,  
that  provides  context  and  motivation  and  then  funnels  down  to  a  more  specific  
technical  description  of  the  problem  you  are  solving  and  how  it  fits  in  to  the  
bigger  picture.    This  should  lead  the  reader  right  to    your  objective,  a  clear  
statement  of  which  should  be  part  of  this  section.    Finish  the  Introduction  with  a  
one-­‐paragraph  section-­‐by-­‐section  overview  of  the  proposal  document.    (Other  
common  titles  for  this  section  are  Introduction  and  Motivation  and  Introduction  
and  Overview.)  
 
4. Technical  Background  
 
Provide  a  narrative  description  of  the  relevant  work  of  others,  citing  it  properly  
and  including  a  full  list  of  all  literature  cited  at  the  end  of  the  document  (see  Sec.  
9  below).    Like  any  good  literature  review,  you  should  include  a  mix  of  sources  
that  provide  general  background  and  review  and  sources  that  provide  specific  
details  or  results  related  to  the  thesis.    This  section  can  also  provide  other  
technical  background  that  would  be  important  for  a  reader  who  is  qualified  to  
understand  your  work  but  who  may  not  be  familiar  with  the  specific  
terminology  and  techniques  that  you  employ.    You  may  also  reiterate  your  
objective  after  providing  technical  background  in  this  section,  stating  it  in  a  way  
that  is  more  meaningful  for  the  reader  after  they  have  been  presented  with  this  
background.    This  section,  including  the  literature  review,  is  an  integral  
component  of  the  story  that  your  manuscript  tells  and  it  should  read  that  way:  it  
should  be  well  integrated  into  the  narrative.    Needless  to  say,  any  text  used  
directly  from  other  sources  must  be  clearly  identified  as  such  (e.g.  with  offsetting  
and  quotation  marks)  and  properly  cited.    Figures  reproduced  from  other  
sources  that  appear  here  or  elsewhere  in  the  document  must  be  identified  as  
such  by  referencing  the  source  in  the  figure  caption.    (Other  common  titles  for  
this  section  might  be  Previous  Work  or  Review  of  the  Literature.)  
 
5. Methods  
 
Whatever  you  are  doing—proving  something,  fabricating  something,  
characterizing  or  testing  something,  designing  something,  evaluating  something,  
simulating  something,  searching  for  something,  coding  something,  doing  some  
combination  of  the  above  and/or  something  else—this  is  the  section  where  you  
describe  clearly  and  in  detail  how  and  (if  relevant)  “where”  you  are  doing  it.    
Refer  to  well-­‐known  methods,  techniques,  processes,  software  packages,  or  
pieces  of  equipment  you  are  using  by  their  recognized  names  where  relevant,  
including  manufacturers  and  model  numbers  for  major  equipment  (e.g.  for  a  
spectrum  analyzer  or  workstation,  but  not  for  a  common  voltmeter  or  pocket  
calculator).    Refer  to  laboratories  or  other  facilities  where  you  do  you  work  by  
name  wherever  possible.      Here  you  may  also  include  data  or  other  results  that  
 you  obtained  for  the  purposes  of  demonstrating  or  calibrating  equipment,  
measurement  setups,  models,  or  simulations  that  you  use  to  obtain  the  core  
results  of  your  work.    (Other  titles  for  this  section  might  be  Experimental  
Methods,  Theory  or  Theoretical  Approach,  Simulation  Techniques,  etc.)  
 
6. Results  and  Discussion  
 
Systematically  present  the  key  results  of  your  work,  focusing  on  those  most  
relevant  to  your  objectives.    You  should  not  “cherry  pick”  results  to  present,  i.e.  
omit  contrary  but  unexplained  results,  but  at  the  same  time  you  should  not  
present  all  of  the  data  you  took  just  because  you  have  it.    Your  chair  can  help  you  
select  the  highest  quality  representative  results  to  present  in  your  manuscript,  
and  directly  address  discrepancies,  outliers,  or  unexplained  results.      Lead  the  
reader  carefully  through  the  results,  explaining  clearly  what  is  being  shown  in  
each  figure,  table,  or  diagram,  and  draw  attention  to  significant  features  that  you  
want  the  reader  to  notice.    As  the  results  are  presented,  or  in  a  separate  
subsection,  discuss  the  results  in  detail.    Guide  the  reader  through  the  
interpretation  and  meaning  of  your  results,  and  be  clear  about  the  role  that  they  
play  in  supporting  your  objectives  (answering  a  question,  characterizing  a  
material  or  device,  demonstrating  the  desired  functionality  of  a  hardware  
prototype  or  a  software  package,  etc.)  
 
7. Summary  and  Conclusion  
 
Begin  this  section  with  a  summary  that  recapitulates  what  you  have  done,  both  
in  general  terms  and  via  a  section-­‐by-­‐section  overview  of  the  document.    This  is  
typically  written  in  the  past  tense,  and  from  the  “end-­‐of-­‐the-­‐road”  perspective.    
Then  state  the  conclusions  in  a  form  appropriate  to  the  nature  of  what  you  have  
done,  i.e.  what  you  confirmed,  revealed,  characterized,  proved,  produced,  etc.    
This  section  is  required  for  research  theses,  and  should  be  quite  thorough.    It  is  
optional  for  projects,  although  at  least  a  brief  summary  is  recommended  for  
project  manuscripts.      
 
8. Appendices  and  Artifact  
 
Include  as  appropriate.    Present  as  appropriately  titled  subsections  of  a  single  
“Appendix”  or  “Appendices”  section  (e.g.    Appendix  B:  Proof  of  Theorem  2  or  
Appendix  C:  Feature  Extraction  Algorithm).    Appendices  are  appropriate  for  
space-­‐intensive  material  that  supports  the  rest  of  the  document  but  that  need  
not  be  presented  in  the  main  body.    This  could  include  large  sets  of  raw  data,  
long  computer  codes,  long  derivations  of  formulae  used  in  the  work,  detailed  
information  that  others  would  need  to  reproduce  your  results,  etc.      
 
Note:  For  honors  projects,  artifact  documentation  is  required  and  may  be  
included  in  an  appendix  and  so  labeled  (e.g.  as  Appendix  A:  Artifact  or  as  
 Appendix  A:  Artifact  Documentation).    However,  the  artifact  documentation  may  
also  be  uploaded  as  a  separate  document  on  PATHS  if  you  prefer.    (See  Sec.  3.)  
 
9. References  
 
Provide  a  numbered  list  of  the  literature  cited  at  the  end  of  the  document,  
adhering  precisely  to  the  IEEE  format.  
 
3.  Submission  and  Approval  Processes  
 
All  thesis  and  project  manuscripts  must  be  submitted  electronically  via  CHC  
PATHS,  with  the  manuscript  body  (including  references  and  appendices)  
uploaded  as  a  single  document  in  pdf  format.    Artifact  documentation  for  
projects,  if  uploaded  separately  rather  than  as  part  of  the  thesis  document,  can  
take  other  forms  (audio,  video,  image)  in  appropriate  digital  formats.    Thesis  
manuscripts  and  artifact  documents  are  uploaded  on  the  DOCUMENT  UPLOAD  
tab  in  PATHS,  where  acceptable  file  formats  for  artifact  submission  can  be  found.      
(Artifacts,  if  uploaded  here,  are  uploaded  under  OTHER  DOCUMENTS.)    Once  all  
information  has  been  entered,  all  documents  have  been  uploaded,  and  
submission  has  ben  completed,  your  thesis  will  automatically  be  routed  to  your  
chair,  your  secondary  member,  the  ECE  Honors  Program  Director,  and  ultimately  
CHC  for  approval.  
 
Note  that  you  can  preview  the  full  submission  process  on  CHC  PATHS  by  selecting  
the  “Thesis  Submission  (DH)”  link  on  the  “Contract/Form  Demos”  menu  after  
logging  on  to  PATHS.  
 
The  deadline  for  completing  submission,  extended  this  year  because  of  COVID-­‐19,  
is  Friday,  May  15  2020.      Extensions  are  possible  with  chair,  CHC,  and  HPD  
approval  under  extenuating  circumstances,  but  will  require  submission  of  an  INC.    
The  INC  will  be  replaced  by  a  letter  grade  once  the  thesis  is  submitted  and  
approved,  but  delays  of  more  than  a  few  weeks  may  result  in  your  forfeiting  the  
May  2020  graduation  date.  
 
4.  Grading  and  Graduation  Clearance  
 
When  your  thesis  or  project  has  been  completed  to  your  committee’s  
satisfaction,  your  chair  will  assign  letter  grades—perhaps  in  consultation  with  
the  secondary  member—for  the  spring  semester  and  retroactively  for  the  fall  
semester  (to  replace  the  fall  Y  grade).    You  must  receive  a  B  or  better  for  both  
semesters  to  graduate  with  ECE  Departmental  Honors.    If  you  have  concerns  
about  this,  you  should  clarify  expectations  for  achieving  a  B  or  higher  with  
your  chair.    Information  on  the  relationship  of  your  grade  to  graduation  with  
various  levels  of  honors  with  distinction  can  be  found  on  the  CHC  web  site.      You  
should  review  this  page  carefully.    Note  that  the  deadline  for  faculty  to  submit  
letter  grades  to  the  Registrar’s  Office  is  Tuesday,  May  12,  2020.