Capstone and Thesis FAQ

1. What goals are common to the undergraduate thesis and the Systems Engineering capstone project? Both require you to demonstrate technical competence, professional orientation, and the ability to communicate effectively. Both are designed to help you focus, synthesize, and apply the knowledge and skills you have gained through your undergraduate curriculum. Both treat constraints in areas such as economics, the environment, ethics, politics, sustainability, and social considerations as integral parts of engineering problem solving and decision-making. In the typical case where a student uses the capstone as the basis for the thesis, both draw on a common body of experience and expertise.

2. How do the two projects differ? The undergraduate thesis is a school requirement (administered by STS) that stresses individual competence and independent thought and reflection. The capstone is a department and accreditation requirement that stresses group solutions to client problems. The most obvious distinctions between the two show up in the final reports that each requires. The capstone project culminates in a report written jointly by the capstone team and presented by the team to the project's client. The capstone report is impersonal, written in a neutral voice, and directly addresses the specific issues and concerns of the client. In contrast, the undergraduate thesis culminates in a report written by the individual team member and presented by the individual to the STS class. This report maintains a professional tone but is written in the author's individual voice, emphasizing independent thought processes and unique points of view. This report may address issues and concerns apart from those of the client. In sum, the final reports for the two projects package your experience and expertise in different ways and have a different focus. These differences are designed to allow you to demonstrate the ability to function effectively in both group and individual contexts and to maximize the value derived from the investments you make in the capstone project.

3. What are the roles of the technical and STS advisors in assigning grades? The STS advisor assigns grades in STS 401/402, including on thesis assignments. In grading the proposal and final report, the STS advisor takes the technical advisor's evaluation into account. The systems faculty assign grades for the proposal, oral presentations, and other reports produced in the capstone courses. Note: For most students involved in capstone projects, the capstone project faculty advisor will also be the technical advisor. The Undergraduate Thesis Manual describes the technical advisor's role in more detail.

4. Might I receive different grades on the thesis and the capstone? Yes.

5. What should I submit for the statement of topic assignment in STS 401? Ideally, the name of your project and client along with a brief description of your project. If you have not been assigned to a group, you should submit a ranked list of capstone preferences along with the reasons for the rankings.

6. Is confidentiality a problem for a senior thesis? A thesis is a public document. A thesis may be based on a project that is confidential, but the thesis itself cannot be confidential. Another way of putting this is to say that you are not compelled to present any particular information in either your written or oral reports for the thesis; however, the reports you do present should be substantial, coherent, and complete.

7. In the opening weeks of the semester, what should I do to advance my capstone and thesis projects while I await meetings with and direction from my client or advisor? Although in a group, you bear individual responsibility for your thesis. While you are waiting for meetings to be held or for direction from your client and advisor, it is possible to make significant progress in doing background research. Before meeting with your client, you should have researched your client, the industry in which the client is involved, and the topic areas associated with your project. You should also familiarize yourself with the strategies used and problems encountered by previous capstone groups. Capstone groups should take collective responsibility for the leadership of the project at every stage of its development.

8. In my proposal, should I introduce the overall capstone project (its goals, client, members, and advisor) as well as discussing my own specific projects or responsibilities within the capstone? Yes.

9. In the proposal describing my thesis project, must I take responsibility for particular topics within the overall capstone project? No, though it is acceptable to do so. You may propose the capstone project as a whole. As your project evolves and your group moves through the problem definition process that will occupy most of the first semester for most capstone groups, you should be alert to possible areas of focus for your undergraduate thesis. It is important to remember that the thesis requires independent thought, reflection, and writing; it does not require you to do independent technical work or to define some aspect of the project as belonging to you alone. You should recognize that it is a hard requirement to define a distinctive focus for the thesis by the time you submit the progress report at the beginning of STS 402.

10. In thesis documents (proposal, report, etc.) may I use jointly authored material originally produced for or by my capstone group? Yes, so long as you credit the sources(s); however, you should avoid extensive direct quotations and take advantage of the opportunity to improve your own grasp of the capstone by articulating your own descriptions of the context, concepts, and challenges of the project. Selected capstone documents may be used in an appendix to the thesis, provided these appendices do not substitute for a thorough discussion of important points in the text. Portions of individual theses may be used in the final group capstone report. The thesis and the capstone project overlap, but each requires work the other does not. Viewed and managed properly, the two projects add value to each other.

11. By the beginning of STS 402, should I have a defined an area of primary responsibility within the capstone? It is up to the capstone groups and their advisors to determine how and when responsibility will be allocated within the group. What is essential for the undergraduate thesis, however, is for each student to define a distinctive focus for his or her technical report by the time the progress report is submitted in STS 402. Defining the distinctive focus for the thesis is easiest when the capstone group members have defined an area of responsibility for each group member. In circumstances where the group does not find it desirable to allocate individual responsibility within the group, students may create an individual focus for the thesis in one of three ways: (1) use the project as a whole and the group's experience with it as a case study in some important issue; (2) select an aspect of the work, perhaps a technique used to solve a problem, to explore in more depth through extended examination of the literature or testing; or (3) identify a related topic or possible extension of the group's work that was not explored extensively by the group but whose significance was revealed through the group's work.