MEng Thesis

    Your MEng thesis describes the original research that you contributed to your MEng project. Though the document itself is not due until the end of your MEng, you should be working towards your thesis each semester that you are a registered MEng student. You can read more about what comprises a thesis at the Office of Graduate Education’s website.

    Getting Help with Your Thesis

    Throughout your MEng, you should be in continual conversation with your thesis research advisor about your progress as well as the thesis itself. For additional support, consider some of the following resources:

    If you are struggling to make progress on your thesis, you are also welcome to meet with someone in the EECS Undergraduate Office.

    Copyright

    All graduate theses are required to be submitted to Institute Library where they are available to the public. Theses classified by the government as ‘Confidential’ or ‘Secret’ for reasons of national security, or ‘Company Confidential” by a company for proprietary reasons will not be accepted. Theses completed in classified sections of 6-A companies, Lincoln Laboratory or Draper Lab must be deemed unclassified by the government. If you are working with one of these companies, be sure to discuss thesis copyright with your research advisor early in your MEng.

    Formatting and Submission

    MIT Libraries maintains formatting guidelines for all MIT theses. It’s especially important to make sure your title page and abstract look exactly like the examples shown there. Many students start by using the Unofficial Thesis template, but remember to double-check against the official formatting guidelines. Check out the Thesis Checklist from the Libraries to help keep on track.  Submit your title page information. This is important for ProQuest selections and for speeding up thesis processing for the MIT Libraries.

    For EECS MEng theses

    • Make sure to include your SB degree information (see the title page example), even if you’re getting SB and MEng concurrently. Include double major, if applicable.
    • The department is “the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science”
    • The degree is “Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science” unless you are part of the 6-7 MEng program, in which case it’s “Master of Engineering in Computer Science and Molecular Biology” or the 6-14 program which is “Master of Engineering in Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science”. (Note, in all cases, “Master” not “Masters”)
    • The degree date for this term is May 2024 no matter what month you submit your thesis. The only possible degree date months are May, September, and February.
    • From June 2023 on, all students will hold copyright to their theses. There will no longer be MIT copyrights. This applies to all future degrees.
      • All theses should have this new copyright legend statement exactly:
        • The author hereby grants to MIT a nonexclusive, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to exercise any and all rights under copyright, including to reproduce, preserve, distribute and publicly display copies of the thesis, or release the thesis under an open-access license.
    • The name/title for the “Accepted by” line on the title page is “Katrina LaCurts, Chair, Master of Engineering Thesis Committee”

    For the electronic submission, your title page should include no signatures; not even your own, and no lines for signatures. When you are ready to submit your thesis, you can do so here; the deadline for submission is set by the registrar each semester (see here). 6-A students must also submit a thesis release letter that matches this template. These letters should be sent to ug@eecs.mit.edu.

    Thesis Holds

    Under certain circumstances – most commonly for issues related to patents or security clearances – you can arrange for a brief delay of the official publication of your thesis in the MIT Libraries. Please see The Office of Graduate Education’s page for more information.

    Guidelines for the use of ChatGPT when writing your EECS thesis (MEng, SM, PhD)

    ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that assists with the composition of text, such as text found in emails, essays, and code. Text is also found in the thesis that is required as one deliverable of an advanced degree in EECS. The EECS Department views a “thesis” as a compilation of the contributions made to the field by the author, or a discussion of the knowledge acquired in answering the research questions. The student is the authority of the material contained or described in the thesis and is the sole author. The EECS Department expects the author of the thesis to compose original drafts of the text to convey accurately and completely the work accomplished for the advanced degree in EECS. Once a final draft of the thesis is obtained, ChatGPT may be used to improve the grammar or to provide a manner of proofreading of the draft. The EECS Department does not allow the use of ChatGPT to compose text starting from bulleted text or from an arrangement of phrases. If ChatGPT is implemented in the creation of a final thesis, that is submitted to DSpace for archival storage, the EECS Department requests that the use of ChatGPT to be acknowledged, or referenced, in the submitted thesis manuscript. (Effective April 20, 2023)