THESIS DEADLINES

Term                   Degree Date         Deadline
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Summer Session 2007    September 2007      August 21, 2007


Fall Term 2007         February 2008       Friday, Feb. 1, 2008
Spring Term 2008       June 2008           Final Deadline: May 23, 2008
                                           [Prize Nominations: May 9, 2008]
Summer Session 2008    September 2008      August 22, 2008
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THESIS PROPOSALS are due on the last day of classes of the first term of registration for 6.UAP or 6.ThM, but no later than one term before completion of the M.Eng. thesis. For IAP the proposal is due by the last day of IAP, and for Summer by the last day of the Summer Session.

1. Introduction: What is the M.Eng. Thesis?
2. Administration and Registration
3. Off-Campus Theses
4. Classification and Copyright
5. VI-A Students
6. The Thesis Proposal
7. Thesis Grades: The Grade of J or the Grade of U
8. When to Start
9. The First Step: Finding a Topic and Supervisor
10. More Ways to Find a Thesis
11. Working on the Thesis and Avoiding Delay
12. The Thesis Document and Finishing Up
        12.1 Other Documents: MIT's Specifications for Thesis Preparation,etc.
        12.2 Writing an Abstract
        12.3 Word Processors, Printers, and Paper
        12.4 Title Page and Copyright
        12.5 Deadlines and Extensions
        12.6 Supervisor's Signature and Final Grade
        12.7 Copies, Binders, Labels and Clips
        12.8 The Library Processing Fee, Thesis Receipt/Grade Sheet and the Degree List
        12.8 Put Your Thesis in MIT's DSpace Thesis Collection
13. Thesis Prizes
14. MasterWorks: The Oral Presentation
        14.1 Hints for Oral Presentations
Appendix A. Sample VI-A/EIP Proposal Agreement Letters
Appendix B. General Thesis Release Letter and Classification Review Letter
Appendix C. Sample Abstract
Appendix D. Sample Title Page and Title Page with Copyright to MIT
Appendix E. Sample VI-A Title Page
Appendix F. Checklist for Handing in a Thesis

1. Introduction: What is the M.Eng. Thesis?

The thesis requirement gives students an opportunity to develop and demonstrate their ability to carry out and document a reasonably comprehensive project requiring considerable initiative, creative thought, and a good deal of individual responsibility. The thesis may be a design project, an analytical paper, or experimental work of a technical nature.

M.Eng. theses normally involve one or more of the following:

1. Design of a system followed by construction, test, and evaluation;

2. Formulation of an analytical or computational model of a system or process, simulation of the model, and comparison with actual data;

3. Development of a computer program that might:
   1. simulate a real system (e.g. Artificial Intelligence);

   2. aid in a diagnostic procedure;

   3. provide sophisticated, real-time analysis of measured data;

   4. develop and analyze a theory or theorem which is an abstraction or idealization of an actual process or system;

   5. apply some of the standard methods (of communication theory or control theory, for example) to aid in understanding of a process or system.

4. Experimental study of physical phenomena.

Ordinarily the thesis is an individual effort; however, group projects are possible if the work of the individuals can be evaluated separately. Separate thesis documents must be submitted.

The research supervisor is found and the thesis is normally begun during the senior year or the summer after it, and completed during the graduate year. Work may be begun while the student is an undergraduate (for pay or for credit as UROP, or under 6.UAP), but the bulk of the thesis work should be done and registered for under 6.ThM while the student is classified as a graduate student. Unless you are in the VI-A Program, you must do your research at M.I.T., not at a summer or part-time job for which you received pay. Students may use a thesis topic which suggested itself during their summer jobs, but they must have an M.I.T. supervisor and do their work at M.I.T. or one of the M.I.T.-affiliated research labs (Draper, Lincoln, MGH/Harvard Medical, etc.).

2. Administration and Registration: How to Get More Information

The M.Eng. Thesis is administered by Anne Hunter, the Administrator of Course VI Undergraduate Programs. Questions about thesis policies and procedures should be addressed to her. For lots of general information about MIT theses, go to http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/thesis-specs/index.html.

Units and Registration: The M.Eng. thesis requirement calls for exactly 24 units of 6.ThM. Students normally register for 12 units per term. No matter how many units of 6.ThM a student registers for over several terms, no more than 24 units of 6.ThM credit will be awarded. 6.ThM is not affected by the Add Date. It may be added or dropped up to the Drop Date, with an Add/Drop Card. However Anne Hunter's signature is required, not that of your supervisor. Unit adjustment can be made up to the last day of classes.

Students must be registered for thesis in the term in which they complete their thesis in order to receive a final grade. Students who fail to complete their theses on time must therefore register for at least one additional unit of thesis during the subsequent term. Graduate students cannot be on light load, where they pay by the unit. However there is a proration system where by students can pay a prorated amount of tuition if they finish their theses during the first few weeks of a term, if they register for the term immediately preceding or following it. For more details about tuition proration, consult Peter Hayes in the Registrar's Office, (617)258-6406.

Summer Tuition Subsidy: Graduate students who register only for thesis and/or RAship (6.991) for a summer session will receive a full subsidy if they are registered for the preceeding or subsequent term.

3. Off-Campus Theses

Thesis research is usually carried out in laboratories operated by M.I.T. and located on-campus. There are some exceptions to this general rule which do not require explicit approval:

• Students in the VIA Internship Program who are doing their theses at the company need only arrange for the Company Letters (see Appendix A and Appendix B) to be received with their proposals and final documents.

• Students doing thesis research at Lincoln Laboratory or at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory need only arrange for the Company Letters (see Appendix A and Appendix B)) to be received with their proposals and final documents.

• Students in the Joint Program with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution doing research there are also excepted.

All such theses must have a faculty or approved M.I.T. research staff supervisor as well as a supervisor at the off-campus location.

Students not covered by the cases listed above must request permission of the Department Academic Officer to pursue thesis research off-campus. Under no circumstances will projects undertaken at a company be approved as M.Eng. theses after the fact.

4. Classification and Copyright

Faculty rules require that copies of all graduate theses shall be deposited in the Institute Library where they are available to the public. Consequently no student is permitted to embark on a thesis project which might be classified by the government as 'Confidential' or 'Secret' for reasons of national security, or 'Company Confidential' by a company for proprietary reasons. Theses done in classified areas of VI-A companies must be reviewed by the government to confirm that they are unclassified. A statement must be attached to the proposal when it is submitted indicating that in the best judgment of the student and the supervisor the thesis will be unclassified. A sample statement is attached. (See Appendix B.)

Patent and copyright: If the student has received any financial support in the form of wages, salary, stipend, RAship, or grant from M.I.T. administered funds, the thesis is copyrighted to M.I.T. For more information consult the MIT thesis specifications; otherwise, the student may copyright the thesis. Students may consult their thesis supervisor or the MIT Intellectual Property Counsel Office, NE25-230, (617)258-8980.

5. VI-A Students

VI-A students use their final six-month work assignment to do their thesis research. This is an M.Eng. thesis registered for as 6.ThM and subject to M.Eng. thesis policies, not those for the S.M. or Ph.D. theses. VI-A students must find an M.I.T. supervisor before their graduate VI-A assignment, and settle proprietary issues before they begin work on their thesis project. Students should make every effort to arrange their thesis project, find a supervisor and submit a proposal and agreement letter in the Spring of their senior year.

6. The Thesis Proposal

It is very important that the Thesis Proposal be started as soon as a supervisor has agreed to work with you on a thesis. Do NOT wait until the week before the proposal deadline to start. Only when a proposal has been submitted to the Undergraduate Office do you officially have a thesis and a supervisor. Each student must submit a thesis proposal for Department approval before undertaking the major work of the thesis.

M.Eng. students who used an Undergraduate Advanced Project (UAP) instead of an MEng thesis proposal for 6.UAP, must submit a thesis proposal by the last day of classes of the first term in which they register for 6.ThM. This must be in the summer or fall after the senior year and at least one full term before the end of their M.Eng. program or submission of the thesis document.

Failure to meet the proposal deadline will result in the permanent grade of "U" for Unsatisfactory Progress in 6.ThM and may delay graduation.

The proposal must be well-written and substantial (around ten pages, including references) and must be accompanied by a Thesis Proposal Cover Sheet available in the Course VI Undergraduate Office. VI-A students must also submit a proposal accompanied by a company agreement letter. (See Appendix A.)

Background information should demonstrate knowledge of previously-reported, related work in the literature. The proposal should be well-written and explain the background and the purpose of the research and define the scope of the thesis clearly. For appropriate format and style, refer to "The Mayfield Handbook on Technical Scientific Writing". Don't be dismayed if the course of the research seems impossible to predict in detail -- make the best preliminary estimate you can. It is assumed that your thesis project will evolve as it progresses; do not re-submit a proposal or inform the Undergraduate Office of evolutionary or title changes. However, if your supervisor or project changes completely, you should submit a new proposal. Once you have submitted the proposal, NO other interim progress reports need be submitted to the Undergraduate Office. After the proposal is submitted we will be in touch with you within a few days if there is any problem. If you receive no email about it you may assume that your proposal is acceptable.

To use the proposal to satisfy the Undergraduate Advanced Project (UAP) requirement (in order to receive the Bachelors degree before the M.Eng.), students take 6.UAT (Preparation for Undergraduate Advanced Project), normally in the fall of the senior year, and then in the following term register for 6.UAP and submit the formal thesis proposal. To receive the Bachelors degree the proposal must be submitted to 38-476 by the last day of classes deadline, the student must be on the undergraduate degree list and all Institute and Department Bachelors requirements must be completed. Four Engineering Design Points (EDPs) will be granted from the proposal unless other arrangements are made.

7. Thesis Grades: The Grade of J or the Grade of U

When you register for 6.UAP, the Undergraduate Office must receive a graded proposal by the last day of classes for that term. If we do not receive a graded proposal by the deadline, you will receive an Incomplete. Students should not generally register for 6.ThM until after the proposal is submitted through 6.UAP.

The grade of U (Unsatisfactory progress) in 6.ThM will be given if the thesis proposal is not submitted by the end of the first term of thesis registration, or if the thesis supervisor informs the Undergraduate Office that he or she wishes to give a student that grade. The final grade in 6.ThM is a letter grade, not Pass/Fail. No Incompletes (I's) will be given in thesis. A grade for 6.ThM is required from a thesis supervisor by the Undergraduate Office ONLY at thesis completion. Unless a supervisor informs us otherwise, the grade of J will be given until thesis completion as long as an approved proposal is on file. For thesis registration, IAP is part of the Fall Term and no IAP thesis registration is usually necessary.

8. When to Start

Start thinking about your thesis research project as early as possible. Be alert to interesting problems that come to your attention in class, personal contacts, or through the technical literature.

The best time to start defining a thesis project is during fall of the senior undergraduate year while taking 6.UAT. Undergraduates planning to continue for the M.Eng. should try to get involved in a research group (through UROP, initially) as early as the sophomore or junior year. It is particularly important for students interested in continuing for the Ph.D. to gain exposure and experience in research. (Being involved in a research group long-term is the best way to improve chances for funding as a Research Assistant for the graduate year.) Some faculty feel that there is a long period of apprenticeship during which the student's training requires more effort than is returned by the student's labor. Only after this period does the 'payback' begin. It is in that 'payback' period that most supervisors expect to find the student's M.Eng. thesis work.

9. The First Step: Finding a Supervisor and Topic

It's not as difficult to find a thesis as many students think. It's a lot like finding any research project. See http://www.eecs.mit.edu/ug/urop.html. For one thing, an M.Eng. thesis supervisor need not be a Course VI faculty member. Students thinking about continuing directly into the Course VI Ph.D. program will find it strongly to their advantage to establish an early research relationship with EECS labs and faculty. However, any School of Engineering or Science faculty member and most Department-affiliated senior research staff members may supervise an M.Eng. thesis. Use the Research Interest Guide to look for non-faculty supervisors. If you wish to be supervised by a faculty member outside the School of Engineering or Science, or by a staff member not listed in the Research Supervisor, you may request permission. Consult Anne Hunter.

Find a project which is of direct and intense interest to you and which will give you a maximum opportunity not only to learn about the subject being investigated, but also about proper methods of technical investigation. If you are already a graduate student in the M.Eng. program, you will want to avoid projects so remote from your current training that acquiring the necessary background will cause excessive delay.

10. More Ways to Find a Thesis

Each student is entirely responsible for finding a thesis topic and supervisor. While many people will be willing to help you, the final responsibility is yours alone.

Even if you aren't VI-A and haven't been involved in a research group where you can do your thesis, it still isn't that hard to find a thesis. If you already have a very specific topic in mind, you may have to talk to many faculty and staff to find one interested in supervising you, so start early.

• You may have done a project in a laboratory subject which you wish to extend, or you may have done well in a subject which needs a lab or lecture demo developed. If so, talk to the appropriate faculty or staff members.
  
  
• Scan the technical journals.
  
  
• Network! Talk to your faculty advisor and any others you know for leads, and to develop and define your technical interest. Ask Ph.D. students to recommend faculty.
  
  
• Browse the Research Supervisors and Recent M.Eng. Thesis Projects, look at their websites and then talk to them.
  
  
• Attend the many colloquia and seminars held by research labs and the Department. Every Fall each Graduate Area has an Open House -- be sure to attend those that might interest you.
  
  
• Narrow your scope to one or two specific research areas, and see faculty and staff in those areas. Skim their recent papers, then ask them what projects they need done, and who else might have suitable research available in the same area.
  
  
• Look at recent EECS theses in the Barker Engineering Library or at MIT DSpace. You will often find definite suggestions in such theses for additional work that needs to be done. If you get stuck, go back to your academic advisor and talk things out again, choosing a different field with new people to contact.

As soon as you have reached a meeting of minds with a supervisor, start work on a thesis proposal to get your topic defined and formalized.

11. Working on the Thesis and Avoiding Delay

Many students fail to graduate on time because their theses are not complete. Some delays are inevitable, but there are ways to minimize them.

1. Unavailable Parts. Special parts which have to be ordered can cause delays of weeks or months. Try to find alternate sources, other ways of coping, and do legwork rather than passively waiting for parts to arrive. Do other aspects of the thesis, like writing, if waiting is unavoidable.

2. Waiting for Other People to do Their Part. Ph.D. students and faculty can operate on a different time-scale than M.Eng. students. Next term can be almost as good as next week. Try to anticipate and work around these problems, avoiding projects that are excessively interwoven with theses that can't really be started until somebody else makes something work. Think flexibly about altering your project to avoid this, but NOT by enlarging it to include other people's projects! Bear in mind that some faculty are accustomed to extensive research masters theses, not the two-term M.Eng. thesis projects.

3. The Incredible Expanding Thesis. Your project will evolve as you progress. But that should not mean that it gets bigger and more inclusive. Negotiate diplomatically.

4. The Alienated Supervisor. Students often think a supervisor has lost patience with the student and the project when it is nothing personal, just the press of other commitments. Don't react to this situation by disappearing. Keep working and keep your supervisor aware of your efforts and progress. They like to know what is going on, and they hate feeling that you've disappeared. Be visible and send email..

5. Writing Delays. Students can be frustrated when they hand their supervisors a chapter or two of write-up, which it took them a few hours to write, and find that it takes the supervisor several days or even weeks to read, correct and return it. Other students find it impossible to start writing. Don't wait until you are finished designing, programming, testing, debugging, etc., to start writing. Go to the Barker Engineering Library and read theses similar to yours for good ideas about presentation, tone, etc. Develop a detailed outline with lots of notes, a list of figures, a reasonable format (there's no single correct format), bibliography. Draft an introduction and first chapter. Listen carefully to your supervisor's suggestions for revision. Don't wait until it is 90% written to show it to your supervisor. Take at least the first chapter to the Writing Center for analysis and assistance.

6. Lack of Discipline and Time Management Skills. Working on a thesis may be different from anything you've done while at MIT; for four years you may have had nothing but short, specific and discrete tasks due at short-term intervals. With the thesis there is a final deadline, a term or more away. This requires a different kind of self-discipline. MAKE A SCHEDULE. Write out a detailed, ordered list of tasks that have to be done, allowing for the inevitable delays and other commitments, and aiming not for the final deadline, but for a week or so earlier. Set specific short-term deadlines and be a hard taskmaster. If you find your hours, days and weeks melting away to no effect, take early action. The UAAP has material and programs available to help you with time management (email: learning-www@mit.edu). Note that many supervisors will expect a first draft of the thesis document well in advance of the deadline.

7. Use the Barker Engineering Library. Barker is eager to help thesis students at every stage of the thesis project. The library can help students to approach topics, to perform on-line searches, and to assist with indexes, abstracts, and citations.

8. Funding and Special Equipment. If you need special computer accounts or equipment for your thesis, ask your thesis supervisor. For thesis word processing or computation, MIT accounts should be satisfactory. If your work is for a sponsored research project or an academic subject, there are funds which should pay for necessary equipment. The use of Department laboratory kits is discouraged. The Department has little or no funding available for general thesis support.

9. If You Just Can't Finish. If you're going to miss the deadline, not by hours or days, but by weeks or months, sit down with your supervisor and agree on what exactly has to be done. Get off the degree list, arrange for housing for extra time, and keep going. It is very difficult to complete a thesis long distance or while working. Students who are sure they have only a few weeks of work left end up graduating several terms later. A few walk away with only the thesis remaining, let that thesis get "old and cold," and get their degrees years later, if at all. Don't let this happen to you!

12. The Thesis Document and Finishing Up

The thesis write-up is considered a major part of the thesis project. The report should include a clear statement of the problem and why it is of interest or importance, a description of the history and background literature on the subject, a statement of the author's work and observations, a discussion of the author's findings in relation to those of predecessors, the author's conclusions and suggestions for further work. Extensive data, code, or mathematical derivations should be in appendices rather than in the body of the report. Specific bibliographic citations should be included whenever reference is made to documents or other communications. It must be well written, clearly organized, and contain no stylistic or grammatical errors. Supervisors are encouraged to require early drafts, to provide criticism of the writing as well as the technical content, to require re-writes, and to insist that the final document conform to accepted standards of technical writing. The final grade should be based in part on the writing quality of the thesis. The Writing Center (14N-317, x3-3090) offers free consultation and advice on writing problems.

12.1 Other Documents: MIT's Specifications for Thesis Preparation,etc.

The Institute publishes an online document, Specifications for Thesis Preparation outlining detailed rules for theses. Be careful when using it to distinguish between the more stringent requirements for Ph.D. theses and those for the M.Eng. thesis. We also recommend The Mayfield Handbook .

12.2 Writing an Abstract

You must include an abstract, which includes your thesis title, your name, your thesis supervisor, the degree and the date (see the sample in Appendix C). Those students who found it difficult to get their thesis title short enough should have no difficulty writing an abstract. Start by writing out a full title, with all the adjectives and phrases you cut from the title. Describe your methods or procedures in a couple of sentences, and your conclusions or results in another sentence or two. It should be no longer than 150 words. It may be helpful to refer back to your Thesis Proposal.

12.3 Word Processors, Printers, and Paper

• Wordprocessing. Students generally wordprocess their theses themselves, rather than having someone prepare them. Most theses go through many draft versions, with minor and major revisions. Supervisors don't like handwritten material at any stage. Please note that the "Course VI" thesis documents at mit/thesis/course6/vi-thesis. thesis documents on Athena may NOT be correct, especially for the title page. Check to be sure that your title page is exactly like the one in Appendix D or Appendix E. DO BACKUPS!
  
  
• Printers. There are lots of printers around MIT (such as those in the Athena Clusters) that produce excellent copy. CopyTech has a thesis printer that uses acid-free paper. Whatever printer you plan to use, don't wait until just hours before the deadline, when you haven't slept in a week, to find an alternative. Have a contingency plan ready.
  

• Double-sided Printing. Theses should be doubled-sided, including all prefatory material.
  
  
• Paper. The two original copies that you submit must be on acid-free paper. [Acid-free paper is often indicated by an infinity symbol.] There are thesis printers that use this kind of paper. Otherwise, you can obtain water-marked acid-free paper at University Stationery on Mass. Ave. or the Coop, and put it in your printer for the final few copies.
  
  
• Type. Fontsize should be between ten and twelve, and the bulk of the paper should not be single-spaced, although peripheral parts like the abstract, title page, acknowledgments, and appendices should be single-spaced. All print must be dark black (not gray).
  
  
• Margins. There must be at least one-inch margins on the top and bottom and both sides, with all text, charts, photographs, and code INSIDE the margins. This includes appendices of code (try using a copier to reduce material to make it fit). Lack of control over your formatter (TEX or LATEX, for example) is NOT an excuse for failure to adhere to these rules. Find assistance from on-line consultants, friends, or SIPB (3-7788). For pages of code, remember that there are good quality photocopiers available that will reduce your code so that it fits within the margins.
  
  
• Format. While no specific format is required, it is important to structure your paper clearly and logically.
  
  
• Corrections. Do not use correction fluid; hand-scribbled corrections are never permitted.
  
  
• Figures. Charts, tables, and graphs should be capable of being photocopied clearly, and may not be hand-labeled. No material may be taped or glued to pages. Color figures are permitted, but must make sense when photocopied in black and white.
  
  
• Supplementary Media. You may submit floppies, video cassettes, etc., with your thesis, but the written part must make sense by itself.

12.4 Title Page and Copyright

Make your title page look EXACTLY like the sample one in Appendix D of this guide. Use the name "Arthur C. Smith" for the third signature, precisely as shown. Check that this title is as shown, as online templates are incorrect. If you own the copyright, copyright your thesis by placing a copyright notice on the title page, with your name and the year, as shown on the sample in Appendix D. The author must, as a condition of the degree, grant nonexclusive permission to the Institute to reproduce and distribute publicly copies of the thesis. A statement to this effect must appear on the title page. (See the sample title page in Appendix D.) You must submit correct title pages. If MIT holds the copyright, grant it to MIT and omit the permissions sentence.

VI-A students must have an extra line on the thesis title page for their company thesis supervisor's name and signature, (See Appendix E) and MIT holds the copyright on all VI-A theses.

If you hold the copyright and wish to register your copyright (certainly a good idea if you're planning to use your thesis for commercial purposes), contact the Technology Licensing Office at E32-300, 253-6966, for assistance. If it is not clear who should hold the copyright, seek assistance from the Intellectual Property Office (10-256, 253-1606). Use the date on which you hope to submit the document and don't worry too much about it..

12.5 Deadlines and Extensions

The upcoming deadlines are listed on the front page of this document. Note that the Department's final thesis deadlines are much LATER than the Institute's deadlines. Going past the Institute's Deadline to the Department's Deadline is NOT considered an extension and does NOT require any permission. The Institute Deadline means nothing to Course VI students. Do NOT call us to check the deadline: Trust us!

Here's Why: The Department Deadline is later than the Institute one because the Institute allows ten days after its deadline for supervisors to read and grade theses. We know from experience that by the time they are ready to sign theses, supervisors know the grade. Therefore our deadline for theses is also the deadline for final grades to be submitted to the Undergraduate Office. Students must bring to us the completed grade sheet (available from the Course VI Undergraduate Office) with the final copy of the thesis.

The Department's thesis deadline means that students who hand in theses after that date are not guaranteed that their final thesis grade will be posted in time for them to graduate that term. Students who hand in a thesis late may be able to graduate at Commencement but not have their names in the Commencement Book. Students who fail to graduate because their thesis wasn't submitted in time will have to register for the following term, get on that term's degree list, and graduate at the end of it. No extensions of that guarantee beyond the final Department Deadline (as listed on the front of this guide) are possible. No thesis supervisor is empowered to extend the deadline. Since there are no extensions, there are no forms to be filled out to get an extension. Students should NOT give up at the deadline, but should hand in their theses as fast as possible. You may hand in your thesis on any weekday during business hours, at any time of the year. Students who miss the deadline but are very close to finishing should email Anne Hunter (anneh@mit.edu) on the morning AFTER the Final Thesis Deadline, so we can reassure you and encourage you to keep working, knowing we're pulling for you. Please eliminate calls to the Undergraduate Office to inquire about extensions, especially ON or BEFORE the deadline. We save all of our strength and sympathy for those who actually miss the deadline, so that we just don't want to deal with people trying to get extensions on or before the deadline.

12.6 Supervisor's Signature and Final Grade

Try not to wait until the afternoon of the deadline to submit your thesis. Make sure well in advance that your supervisor will be here when you need his or her signature; no thesis can be accepted without a supervisor's original signature on the title pages. The Department signature (Arthur C. Smith) will be furnished automatically later. Be sure to pick up a receipt/grade sheet from the Undergraduate Office before you hand in your thesis. Have your supervisor fill out the grade sheet at the same time that he or she signs your thesis. Remember that your final thesis grade must be handed in with your thesis. In emergencies we will accept phoned-in or emailed grades from supervisors as long as the grade sheet is sent promptly.

12.7 Copies, Binders, Labels and Clips

Submit only two (2) copies of your thesis. They must both be on acid free paper. The title page (see samples in Appendix D and Appendix E) must bear your and your thesis supervisor's original signatures as well as the signature of the VI-A company thesis supervisor if VI-A thesis. The Departmental signature will be provided later. It is customary to give your thesis supervisor at least one copy when you finish.

The copies must be submitted in temporary binders consisting of two pieces of cardboard and binder clips. These are available free in a cabinet outside the Preservation Services Section of the Libraries (14N-0513), and usually in the Course VI Undergraduate Office. Do not hole-punch or bind your thesis in any other way. On the front cover of each binder, tape a label containing your name, thesis title, supervisor, degree and date.

12.8 The Thesis Receipt/Grade Sheet and the Degree List

Before you come to the Course VI Undergraduate Office to submit your thesis, use the checklist in Appendix F to be sure you're ready. You must bring the grade sheet/thesis receipt form with you when you hand in your thesis. Do not trust anyone else to hand carry the white grade sheet copy or let it be sent in the Institute mail. At that time your name will be checked against the Degree List. [If you intend to graduate in that term and you're not on that list (which is maintained by the Registrar) you will be sent to Ms. Marti Ward (5-111, x3-5235), to remedy that.] If you've followed these instructions successfully, your thesis will be accepted, and each copy of your thesis receipt/grade sheet will be stamped with an official Department stamp. Keep your receipt; it is your evidence that you did turn in a thesis.

12.9 Put Your Thesis in MIT's DSpace Thesis Collection

This is not part of submitting your thesis to the Department; it is an optional, additional way of preserving your research at MIT and making it available to the world on line. Follow the Document Services Instructions to do this.

13. Thesis Prizes

The thesis supervisors nominate theses for thesis awards. In the spring term the thesis must be submitted to the Undergraduate Office by May 9, 2008 to be considered for a prize. The supervisor nominates by sending an additional copy of the thesis, with a nominating letter detailing how the thesis is superior, to the Thesis Prize Committee Chairs for this year. This will be announced in late April.. Nominations must be received by the Spring thesis prize deadline. Theses which were submitted earlier, for the previous September and February degree dates, may be considered for prizes in the following spring. Questions from supervisors (not students) about prizes should be referred to the appropriate faculty member.

14. MasterWorks: The Oral Presentation

The Department holds each Spring a special theses presentation event, called MasterWorks, where masters students make presentations of their research to interested Department faculty, students, and guests. We will be in touch with all M.Eng. students at the proper time. Prizes will be given for the best presentations.

If for any reason participation in Masterworks is not possible, students are still required to make an oral presentation of their thesis project. This valuable part of your thesis generally consists of a twenty-minute presentation with a five-minute discussion period with the supervisor and at least one other faculty or staff member. Your supervisor will arrange your presentation. VI-A students completing thesis research at work usually arrange the oral presentation with their company supervisor, even if the final document is not completed there.

Supervisors are responsible for arranging oral presentations. While this presentation is not a 'thesis defense', the supervisor may include the quality of the thesis presentation when assigning the final grade.

14.1 Hints for Oral Presentations:

1. Practice in front of friends, supervisor, and mirror. Practicing gives smoothness and polish. Do at least one complete 'dry run' for timing.

2. Keep it short. Budget your time. Put your watch where you can see it, and stay aware of the time. Don't rush by talking fast. If you're running long, go straight to your conclusions, and omit detail.

3. Don't read, but use notes or an outline. Speak clearly and more slowly than seems reasonable. Make eye contact.

4. Be extremely organized and use a logical structure. Avoid getting bogged down in excessive detail. Give the Big Picture quickly, but mostly talk about your thesis project, not the total research project. Consult your supervisor for advice about which parts to cover in more detail. Here is a possible structure:

   Time            Topic
   --------------------------------------------------------------------
   2 minutes       Introduction: [Background, Motivation,  Big Picture]
   
   1 minute        Statement of Objectives, the Problem, the Hypothesis
   
   3 minutes       Overview:  Approach, Methodology
   
   10 minutes      Most Important Thing: More Detail Here
                   [example, substantive accomplishments]
   
   2 minutes       Results
   
   2 minutes       Conclusion: key lessons, need for future research
   --------------------------------------------------------------------
   

   Note that you spend almost half of your time introducing or concluding.

5. Use a few (<10) professional-looking slides. Projectors may be reserved in advance from the Instrument Room, 38-501, 3-4675. You don't have TIME to use the blackboard. Don't clutter up slides with many equations; keep them simple. Use figures, diagrams and pictures.

6. It's better to be too formal than too casual. Dressing up and speaking properly may help cover lack of sleep and nervousness. This doesn't mean your speech has to be humorless or lifeless.

7. Your target audience is neither your supervisor nor a freshman, but your fellow Masters students in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science, as well as other interested faculty and staff.

Appendix A.

Sample VI-A Thesis Proposal Agreement Letter

Subject: Master of Engineering Thesis of [Student]

Dear Professor Smith:

The attached Thesis Proposal Form entitled [Thesis Title] describes a research study that [Student] will carry out as an MIT VI-A student using, at least in part, the facilities of [Company]. [Student] intends to prepare a thesis based on this VI-A assignment to be submitted as one of the requirements for the Masters of Engineering degree. We understand that, if such a report is to be acceptable to MIT, faculty regulations require that:

1. The written presentation of the work must be approved by a member of the MIT staff who can have full access (during the course of study and in confidence) to the pertinent background, methods of investigation and results.

2. Research studies and thesis topics involving subject matter (including data, results, or methods) subject to restriction for reasons of either proprietary interest or national security are unacceptable as the basis for a thesis.

3. The actual thesis document becomes the permanent property of MIT, and will be placed in the MIT Library within one month of the date of submission.

4. For the thesis to be accepted, [Student], as copyright owner must give MIT the right to reproduce and to distribute publicly the thesis. If the student has assigned the copyright to [Company], [Company] agrees that MIT shall have the nonexclusive right to reproduce, publish and distribute the thesis.

We believe the proposed research can be carried out and an acceptable thesis prepared under these conditions. We understand that the thesis will not be accepted by MIT unless accompanied by a letter from an authorized official of [Company] confirming that the thesis is within the approved scope, and does not contain details objectionable to [Company]. A copy of the thesis will be submitted by [Student] to [Company] sufficiently in advance of the date of submission to permit review.

We also understand that except as noted above, and provided that [Student] is not associated with any government or other sponsored project at M.I.T. in the field of the research study and does not make significant use of M.I.T. funds or facilities, all rights in the results of the research including any inventions or software developed by [Student] in the course of this research study and thesis preparation, belong either to [Student] or [Company] as his or her assignee.

________________________  _________________________  ______________________
Direct Company            Authorized Company         Student
Supervisor                Official

Sample Non-VI-A Company Thesis Proposal Agreement Letter

Subject: Master of Engineering Thesis of [Student]

Dear Professor Smith:

The attached Thesis Proposal Form entitled [Thesis Title] describes a research study that [Student] will carry out at least in part, at the facilities of [Company]. [Student] intends to prepare a thesis based on this work to be submitted as one of the requirements for the Masters of Engineering degree. We understand that, if such a report is to be acceptable to MIT, faculty regulations require that:

1. The written presentation of the work must be approved by a member of the MIT staff who can have full access (during the course of study and in confidence) to the pertinent background, methods of investigation and results.

2. Research studies and thesis topics involving subject matter (including data, results, or methods) subject to restriction for reasons of either proprietary interest or national security are unacceptable as the basis for a thesis.

3. The actual thesis document becomes the permanent property of MIT, and will be placed in the MIT Library within one month of the date of submission.

4. For the thesis to be accepted, [Student], as copyright owner must give MIT the right to reproduce and to distribute publicly the thesis. If the student has assigned the copyright to [Company], [Company] agrees that MIT shall have the nonexclusive right to reproduce, publish and distribute the thesis.

We believe the proposed research can be carried out and an acceptable thesis prepared under these conditions. A copy of the thesis will be submitted by [Student] to [Company] sufficiently in advance of the date of submission to permit review.

We also understand that except as noted above, and provided that [Student] is not associated with any government or other sponsored project at M.I.T. in the field of the research study and does not make significant use of M.I.T. funds or facilities, all rights in the results of the research including any inventions or software developed by [Student] in the course of this research study and thesis preparation, belong either to [Student] or [Company] as his or her assignee.

________________________  _________________________  ______________________
Direct Company            Authorized Company         Student
Supervisor                Official

Appendix B. General Thesis Release Letter and Classification Review Letter

Subject: Master of Engineering Thesis of [Student]

Dear Professor Smith:

I have reviewed the attached thesis of [Student] on behalf of [Company]. The thesis is within the scope of the thesis proposal as previously approved and does not contain any material that is objectionable to [Company]. It is also approved for its technical content.

It is understood that the actual thesis document will be the permanent property of M.I.T. and will be placed in the M.I.T. Library within one month after the date of submission. [Company] agrees that M.I.T. shall have the nonexclusive right to reproduce, publish, and distribute the thesis.

_________________________________________
Authorized Official of Company

Professor Arthur C. Smith
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Room 38-476, M.I.T.
Cambridge, MA 02139

Subject: Master of Engineering Thesis of [Student]

Dear Professor Smith:

I have reviewed the attached thesis of [Student] on behalf of [Company]. The thesis is within the scope of the thesis proposal as previously approved and does not contain any material that is objectionable to [Company]. It is also approved for its technical content.

It is understood that the actual thesis document will be the permanent property of M.I.T. and will be placed in the M.I.T. Library within one month after the date of submission. However, the thesis will not be given general circulation until a review by the Office of the Secretary of Defense has been completed and the thesis released by the sponsor for general use. I will inform the Department of the results of such review as soon as possible. [Company] agrees that M.I.T. shall have the nonexclusive right to reproduce, publish, and distribute the thesis.

_________________________________________
Authorized Official of Company

Appendix C. Sample Abstract

The stratigraphic model editor provides a convenient and efficient tool for geophysicists manipulating the complex models used in ray tracing and other forward modeling techniques. The editor allows the user to build a model of the earth on a Symbolics Lisp Machine screen using the mouse. The earth models manipulated by the program represent a two-dimensional slice of the earth, typically extending three or four miles down and having 10 to 50 layers. The layers need not be flat, but can contain features such as reefs and salt domes. These models are important in exploration geophysics. The editor generates data files representing this model that can be used as input to a ray-tracing program. The description of the file format is written in a high-level declarative language, so that the editor can be easily modified to support other formats.

Thesis Supervisor: Roger Turpening
Title: Associate Director, MIT Earth Resources Laboratory

Appendix D. Sample Title Page for Student Holding Copyright

Author______________________________________________________________________
                   Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
                                                                May 17, 2007

Certified by________________________________________________________________
                                               [Supervisor's Name and Title]
                                                           Thesis Supervisor

Certified by________________________________________________________________
                                             [Co-Supervisor's Name and Title]
                                                         Thesis Co-Supervisor

Accepted by_________________________________________________________________
                                                             Arthur C. Smith
                                         Professor of Electrical Engineering
                           Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Theses

Appendix E. Sample VI-A Title Page with Copyright to MIT

Author______________________________________________________________________
                   Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
                                                                May 17, 1998


Certified by________________________________________________________________
                                               [Supervisor's Name and Title]
                                              VI-A Company Thesis Supervisor


Certified by________________________________________________________________
                                            [Co-Supervisor's Name and Title]
                                                    M.I.T. Thesis Supervisor

Accepted by_________________________________________________________________
                                                             Arthur C. Smith
                                         Professor of Electrical Engineering
                           Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Theses

Appendix F. Checklist for Handing in a Thesis

Read over this checklist before you hand two identical copies of your thesis in at the Undergraduate Office.

• Are your margins at least one inch on top and bottom and both sides? If your thesis is two-sided it must be two-sided throughout the document, including the prefatory pages. Odd-numbered pages should be on the right, even-numbered pages on the left.

• Does your title page look exactly like the sample in Appendix D or Appendix E? Check the copyright and the sentence right after it that starts "The author hereby...".

• Only one title page and abstract are now required for each thesis copy. The abstract must look a lot like the one in Appendix C?

• Make sure that there is only one continuous sequence with the title page counting as page 1. This includes all appendices, etc. Check that all of your pages are included, in the right order. It's easy and extremely common to miss a few pages deep in the middle of the document. Count all the way through it.

• Make sure you have printed your two final copies on watermarked acid-free paper. There is a 'thesis' printer at CopyTech that provides this paper automatically.

• Are your submission copies properly covered in cardboard, held together only with clips, with the front covers clearly labeled? [See Section 12.7]

• Have you and your supervisor signed the title page of the submission copies? The third signature (Prof. Smith's) will be provided later. [See Appendix D] If VI-A thesis, has your company thesis supervisor also signed the title page and do you have your release letter? [See Appendix E]

• Have you and your supervisor completed your thesis grade sheet/receipt form? (Available in the Course VI Undergraduate Office) [See Section 12.8]
  
  Then come on in to 38-476!