recommended guidelines for theses

8/2/2019 Recommended Guidelines for Theses

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Philippine Society of IT Educators Research Committeeas of January 30, 2010


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Software Development

software customization

information systems development for an actualclient (with pilot testing)

web applications development (with at least alphatesting on live servers)

mobile computing systems*** Infrastructure implications with the introduction ofthe system should be clearly specified in the final report


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Title PageExecutive SummaryTable of Contents

List of Figures, List of Tables, List of NotationsIntroduction

Project Context

Purpose and Description

Objectives

Scope and limitationsReview of Related Literature/Systems


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Technical BackgroundMethodology

Method of Development

Requirements Specification Analysis

Design

Testing and Evaluation

Implementation Plan (If needed)Results and DiscussionsSummary, Conclusion and Recommendations


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Bibliography Appendices may include the following

Relevant Source Code

Evaluation Tool

Sample input/output/Reports

Users Guide/Manual

Curriculum Vitae


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Public Presentation is recommended -

School-based presentation open to the public


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Summarizes everything about the project. Itincludes the idea behind the conceptualizationof the project, its significance, the projects

major functionalities, the implementationtechniques, results, conclusions andrecommendations.

By reading the Executive Summary the readerwill already understand what the whole projectis all about.

A one to two page Executive Summary isadvisable.


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This will be the general overview of the project Introduce your project by capturing the readers

interest in the first paragraph. Refrain from placing citations or quotes in this

section. Avoid beginning with This

paper/document/thesis/study/projects, etc. Discuss the problem background and why you

decided to develop your project. Whats wrongwith the traditional method ?


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Provide a short description of the projectbeing specified and its purpose, includingrelevant benefits (or beneficiaries)

What is your main purpose in doing the project?

Who is/are your target clients, end user/s orbeneficiaries of the project?

What are the necessary knowledge, programmingsoftware, APIs, hardware, etc needed?


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Detailed statements or elaboration of theproject goal.

It states the specific steps on how to achievethe goal of the project.

Studying a particular programming language ordevelopment tool to accomplish the objective is

inherent in all projects and need not be included inthe objectives.


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Describe any global limitations or constraints that havea significant impact on the design of thesystem/software (and describe the associated impact).

Describe any items or issues that will limit the options

available to the developers. These might include: corporate or regulatory policies;

hardware limitations (timing requirements, memoryrequirements); interfaces to other applications; specific

technologies, tools, and databases to be used; paralleloperations; language requirements; communicationsprotocols; security considerations; design conventionsor programming standards


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The following are the other possible limitations (the list is notexhaustive): Hardware or software environment End-user environment Availability or volatility of resources

Standards compliance Interoperability requirements Interface/protocol requirements Data repository and distribution requirements Security requirements (or other such regulations)

Memory and other capacity limitations Performance requirements Network communications Verification and validation requirements (testing) Other means of addressing quality goals


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*Choose Literature or Systems depending on what you will be presenting


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Chapter 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE The Review of Literature showcases previous

studies and publications relevant to theproject. This chapter gives light as to whatmotivated the proponent/s in pursuing the

specific field of study.


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Discuss the theories of the concepts that youare going to apply in System Analysis andDesign.

Include in-depth discussion on relevanttechnical aspects of the project


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Briefly describe the method or approach usedfor the software design.

If one or more formal/published methods were

adopted or adapted, then include a referenceto a more detailed description of thesemethods.

If several methods were seriously considered,

then each such method should be mentioned,along with a brief explanation of why all orpart of it was used or not used.


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The following are the requirements specification that canbe incorporated (but not limited to) in this section :

Functional Requirements This section should describe what the system is to accomplish.

This should consist of a list, with the most important items atthe top.

These are the system capabilities that must be present in orderfor the client/user to carry out the services and featuresincorporated to it. It also includes how the system shouldrespond to anticipated error conditions or invalid inputs.

The requirement should be properly described. This willprobably be a couple of lines explaining what you want toachieve. Make sure that you provide sufficient detail.

Discuss also the importance of the requirement Requirements should be concise, complete, unambiguous,

verifiable, and necessary.


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User Interfaces - Describe the logicalcharacteristics of each interface between thesystem and the users. This may include sample

screen images, any GUI standards or productfamily style guides that are to be followed, screenlayout constraints, standard buttons andfunctions (e.g., help) that will appear on every

screen, keyboard shortcuts, error message displaystandards, and so on. Define the softwarecomponents for which a user interface is needed.


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The following are the requirements .:

Hardware Interfaces - Describe the logical andphysical characteristics of each interface between

the software product and the hardwarecomponents of the system. This may include thesupported device types, the nature of the data andcontrol interactions between the software and thehardware, and communication protocols to be used


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Software Interfaces - Describe the connectionsbetween the system and other specific software

components (name and version), includingdatabases, operating systems, tools, libraries, andintegrated commercial components. Identify thedata items or messages coming into the systemand going out and describe the purpose of each.


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Communications Interfaces - Describe therequirements associated with any communications

functions required by this product, including e-mail,web browser, network server communicationsprotocols, electronic forms, and so on. Define anypertinent message formatting. Identify any

communication standards that will be used, such asFTP or HTTP. Specify any communication security orencryption issues, data transfer rates, andsynchronization mechanisms


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Other Functional Requirements that may beincluded in the manuscript Performance Requirements if there performance requirements

for the product under various circumstances, state them here andexplain their rationale Safety Requirements - Specify those requirements that are

concerned with possible loss, damage, or harm that could resultfrom the use of the system. Define any safeguards or actions that

must be taken, as well as actions that must be prevented. Security Requirements - Specify any requirements regarding

security or privacy issues surrounding use of the product orprotection of the data used or created by the product. Define anyuser identity authentication requirements.


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System Overview

Provide a general description of the softwaresystem including its functionality and mattersrelated to the overall system and its design(perhaps including a discussion of the basic designapproach or organization). Feel free to split this

discussion up into subsections (andsubsubsections, etc ...)


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System Architecture This section should provide a high-level overview of how the

functionality and responsibilities of the system werepartitioned and then assigned to subsystems or

components. The main purpose here is to gain a generalunderstanding of how and why the system wasdecomposed, and how the individual parts work together toprovide the desired functionality.

At the top-most level, describe the major responsibilities

that the software must undertake and the various roles thatthe system (or portions of the system) must play.

Describe how the system was broken down into itscomponents/subsystems (identifying each top-levelcomponent/subsystem and the roles/responsibilitiesassigned to it).


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System Architecture (continued..) Describe how the higher-level components collaborate with

each other in order to achieve the required results. Don'tforget to provide some sort of rationale for choosing thisparticular decomposition of the system (perhaps discussing

other proposed decompositions and why they wererejected). Feel free to make use of design patterns, either indescribing parts of the architecture (in pattern format), orfor referring to elements of the architecture that employthem.

If there are any diagrams, models, flowcharts, documentedscenarios or use-cases of the system behavior and/orstructure, they may be included here

Diagrams that describe a particular component orsubsystem should be included within the particular

subsection that describes that component or subsystem.


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Other System Diagrams (if applicable) thatmaybe included:

Data Flow Diagram (DFD)

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

Class Diagram

Corresponding discussion on the presented diagrams

is necessary Flowcharts (if necessary)


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Discuss in this section how you are going to test the functionality,correctness and reliability of your developed system

Present the result of the testing and evaluation of the project, forsoftware development you may use any appropriate methods (alpha

or beta test, smoke testetc) You may develop a questionnaire for the testing of your software. Let

client (or target audience) and other users do some testing of yoursoftware.

You can get comments on how user-friendly is your system and whatrecommendations they could give to enhance your project. Discusswith your adviser (or consultant/)s on the other criteria that you willuse in the evaluation that you want to test.

Decide on the number of people (respondents) that will do the testing

and you can present a simple statistical computations to use.


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This chapter will present the result of thedevelopment and testing of your system.

Final design, interface, database, etc., can bepresented here Results of test can be presented in tabulated

or graph format (or both). Give your own analysis and views regarding

the results


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Make a conclusion on the efficiency of yoursystem and give a summary of

recommendations for its enhancement. You can give your own recommendations or

you can base it from the comments of yourusers.

recommended guidelines for theses

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