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.