General information
about Dissertation
BSc (Hons) Software Development
2015 - 2016
Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The Dissertation Process
Literature Sources
What is (not) a valid dissertation?
Past/Current Dissertations
Q&A
The Dissertation Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Contact lecturers
SOI Submission (October)
SOI approval by an institute board.
Tutor allocation
Dissertation Proposal (by end of November)
The Dissertation Process
6. Dissertation proposal approval
7. Dissertation submission (mid-June)
8. External verification of dissertations (EndJune)
9. Communication of results
10. Hardbound submission for archival purposes
Literature Sources
● Use appropriate and credible sources of
literature.
● Although books may be used make sure that
their content is still relevant to your context.
● Wikis, blogs and forums should not be used.
Literature Sources
● Your work should be vendor neutral.
● Be careful when quoting vendor
documentation. Remember, vendors want to
make profit!
● Citeseer, ACM, IEEE, Springer Link &
Google Scholar are good literature
repositories.
Past Dissertations
● Allow your mentors to recommend past
dissertations for your reference.
● Do not just go and pick up random
dissertations from the library.
● Dissertations at the library are not graded!
Invalid Dissertations
● Simple comparison of technology.
○ Java Vs .NET
○ Android Vs iOS
○ Play Store Vs Apple Store
Invalid Dissertations
● Dissertations with the business aspect as
their main focus.
○ The main focus should be the technical element.
○ The business aspect may be used to sustain your
technical argument.
Invalid Dissertations
● Research based solely on interviews and
questionnaires.
○ These tools should be used solely to strengthen your
argument.
○ They should never be basis of your conclusions.
Valid Software Dissertations
● There has to be a research element with
academic value under investigation.
● Apply to a specific scenario
● Question various aspects of an existing
research
● Prototype is just proof-of-concept and not
market ready
Past/Current Dissertations
Some notable dissertations
Using IDS and IPS to improve the
effectiveness of a firewall
Student: Robert Gosney
Mentor: Robert AbelaYear: 2015
Analysis of NAT Traversal Approaches for
P2P Networks
Student: Oliver Ciappara
Mentor: Robert AbelaYear: 2015
Electronic identification for crisis
management
Student: Andrew Quattromani
Mentor: Kevin Borg
Year: 2015
An RFID enabled system for
improved postal logistics
Student: Frank Xuereb
Mentor: Alvin Cardona
Year: 2015
Real-time Pathfinding in dynamic
environments
Student: Owen Attard
Mentor: Frankie Inguanez
Year: 2015
The application of the A* algorithm in different types of
games using different heuristic approaches
Student: Justin Bonnici
Mentor: Roderick Vella
Year: 2015
Using Glowworm Swarm Optimization to Improve the
Selection Process of Genetic Algorithms
Student: Francesco Borg Elia
Mentor: Diane Borg
Year: 2015
The effect of impact-based deformation of
3D-Objects on Computer Games
Student: Rudvic Bonnici
Mentor: Elaine Farrugia
Year: 2015
Procedural Generation of Suburban
City Areas for Games
Student: Stefan Cauchi
Mentor: Elaine Farrugia
Year: 2015
A real time tracking system for
gathering live sports statistics
Student: Lee-Jamie Galea
Mentor: Neil Aquilina
Year: 2015
Scaling the Mathematical Abilities of
Users through User Profiling
Student: Rebecca Mintoff
Mentor: Annalise Sultana
Year: 2015
Investigating the potential of soft computing
techniques in indoor positioning using Wi-Fi access
points
Student: Darren Vassallo
Mentor: Paul Pulis
Year: 2015
Using Soft Computing to recognise license plates and
building an argument on its accuracy
Student: Owen Faenza
Mentor: Paul Pulis
Year: 2015
Text Recognition and Translation of Multi-Oriented,
Multi-Language and Curved Text in Natural Scene
Images
Student: Cristina Vassallo
Mentor: Diane Borg
Year: 2015
Improving music recommendation systems
by considering compression ratios
Student: Danjel Attard
Mentor: Olena Sammut
Year: 2015
Visualizing Connections between Recognized Named
Entities to Improve Digital Reading Experience
Student: Louis Miguel Grima
Mentor: Olena Sammut
Year: 2015
Exploring the Automation of Tree Structures within the
Context of Musical Chords Progression
Student: Stephen Compagno
Mentor: Christine Dimech
Year: 2015
Creating a single metric that measures
website usability by using a testing tool
Student: Vanessa Mangion
Mentor: Gerard Said
Year: 2015
Acoustic Classification of Touch Gesture on TouchEnabled Devices using Own Microphone
Student: Joseph Grech
Mentor: Frankie Inguanez
Year: 2015
Optimizing Lazy Learning Speech Recognition based
on Facial Electromyography
Student: Matthew Buhagiar
Mentor: Frankie Inguanez
Year: 2014
Developing a prototype application as a driving aid by
applying Augmented Reality for parking maneuvering
Student: Jonathan Zammit
Mentor: Silvio Nocilla Year: 2015
Secret Ingredients
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Motivation Motivation Motivation
Dedication
Literature as background
Make good use of Summer
Time management
Q&A Session
Questions?