FYP/FYT Advisor Preferences

When you write your FYP/FYT reports, remember that you not only have to satisfy the CSE Department requirements but also your advisor's personal preferences. After all, your advisor will be grading your paper. The following are some report preferences, as stated by advisors when they were surveyed. The information is intended to clarify expectations and help both you and your advisor save time.

The preferences were last updated on August 2, 2022, and they are sorted by group code. If your advisor or second reader has not commented on something or if you are still unsure about what your advisor wants, please try asking directly. For further information, see also FYP Grading.

AG

Design vs. Implementation	I expect the design part to dominate the FYP and its report. In the projects that I supervise, the vast majority of the students' effort will be focused on solving algorithmic and mathematical problems. For me, the design part is anything that has a proof and the implementation part is anything that has to do with coding. Coming up with a working solution (e.g. in terms of provable efficiency or security) is by far more important than coding/implementing it. Of course, I expect a working implementation at the end of the FYP, but how the students coded the solution is not nearly as interesting as how they came up with it.
Reference Sorting	I don't have a preference.
Active vs. Passive	None.
No. of Report Pages	I generally prefer short reports but do not have a specific number in mind. For the proposal, the most important aspect is novelty and creativity.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	I always meet the students at the beginning of their FYP and define bespoke [custom-made] and concrete KPIs [key performance indicators] for A/A+ based on their specific project.

AR

Design vs. Implementation	In my view, a report can be organized in many different ways depending on the project.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically, as it makes it easier to search the list of references.
Active vs. Passive	Whatever is natural in the context is acceptable. Generally, this will turn out to be active voice, but I am not too dogmatic about it.
No. of Report Pages	I suppose the number of pages may depend on the project size, which may in turn depend on the number of students involved in the project. I have no strong opinions on this--as long as the descriptions are clear.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Demonstrate either hard work or creativity (ideally, both!)

BL

Reference Sorting	Alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	Active
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Technical contribution, deliverables/demo, efforts, reports and presentation

CD

Design vs. Implementation	The design section is about system description, but the implementation section must use specific programming language.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	For scientific writing, passive voice is better.
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: 6, Progress Report: 10, Final Report: 20
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	The group must have their own ideas in the project. The project should have enough difficulty. The demo should be impressive. The final report must be well written.

CECI

Design vs. Implementation	It depends. But I think design is about the high-level view of the problem, ideas, architecture, etc. Implementation is about the specific details of the tools and steps.
Reference Sorting	No preference, as long as it is clear & correct
Active vs. Passive	It depends on the context. Both and a mix of them are fine.
No. of Report Pages	The number of pages is not important, as long as the report is complete and clear.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	a) Clear and well organized reports, presentation and demonstration b) Completeness of the work c) Innovativeness

CHAR

Design vs. Implementation	Design needs justifications on why a particular choice is pursued. Implementation talks about how such choice is realized.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	Use where appropriate
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: 8, progress report: 20, final report: 40
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Well motivated problem, thorough background investigation, structured writing and presentation, thorough evaluation

CK

All FYP report details	See the preferences of PSAN1 below, since both advisors are pretty much on the same page.

CQF

Design vs. Implementation	Design is about the organization of a system and implementation is usually about the technical components (algorithms, machine learning models).
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	Both are ok.
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: 6 Progress Report: about 10 Final Report: 15-30
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Its impact on society or academia.

CSB

Design vs. Implementation	Design must address the issues and solve the problems at hand. Implementation must address how the particular solutions are instantiated in the real system. For example, if I'm trying to design a system to provide fair access to the network, the design part should be addressing the scheduling as an abstract algorithm that deals with the fairness issue. It could be written in a mathematical form if need be. The implementation part depends on the system on which the algorithm is implemented. For example, if we use Linux we'll be able to use some specific data structures and some specific constructs that are available only in Linux, so the implementation part must describe the way we go from an abstract concept to a real system that can run on a machine.
Reference Sorting	Order of occurrence
Active vs. Passive	Personally I think it depends on the circumstances and the type of text but for our students and for technical writing and especially with their level of English writing, I believe active is easier on them. So let them first learn how to write in the active voice then they can explore the intricacies of the passive voice.
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: <= 10 pages, Progress Report: <= 10 pages, Final Report: <= 20 pages
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Completion of the project against the objectives set in the proposal or revised in the progress report. (I prefer an FYP with fewer realistic and achievable objectives and that is completed to one with a very fancy set of objectives of which may be less than half are achieved). Setting clear targets that are realistic with respect to the duration of the project. Proposing original and effective solutions to the problem (far away from anything too fancy) Concise and to the point presentation of the results with a well organized and readable report. Ability to adapt to the challenges during the course of the project. Mastery of the subject as demonstrated during the presentation and the Q & A. Attitude towards the FYP in general (some students take it as a bitter pill to swallow while others have fun doing their FYP and try to learn from it.)

DAN

Design vs. Implementation	Design is typically a novel methodology that is devised to target critical problems / motivations proposed in the project, while the implementation is to specifically have a prototype of the methodology in an engineering way for evaluation.
Reference Sorting	Both of them are fine to me as long as if the references are comprehensive to reflect the most related works in the literature.
Active vs. Passive	It depends on the context. I do not have any particular feeling about these two.
No. of Report Pages	I think the number of pages should be fine as long as the presentation of the project is clear enough with all necessary details covered.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	The key factor for me is the relevance to the problem / motivation that the project is targeting.

DES

Design vs. Implementation	Design: It is something high-level, which may contain schematic diagrams to describe the overall structure and data flow of the system/app. Implementation is the details about how to achieve what are described in the design section. For examples, the tools, frameworks, or algorithms used.
Reference Sorting	No preference as long as it is consistent.
Active vs. Passive	Active voice is preferred.
No. of Report Pages	The number of pages is unimportant as long as the ideas and details are clearly presented.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Reports with clear structure and logical flow Formatting and typesetting of the reports are aesthetically pleasing Students are actively engaged in working on the project tasks and produce quality work.

DESCECI

All FYP report details	See the preferences above for CECI1-3 and DES1-4.

DI

Design vs. Implementation	It depends on the project.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	Active
No. of Report Pages	No preference. Avoid including too many details, screenshots or code just to increase the number of pages.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	(i) The topic (ii) The quality of the work / creativity / innovation of the students (iii) The clarity and consistency of the writing style (including good use of English) (iv) The oral presentation

DIP

Design vs. Implementation	Although I am not strict on this, I expect the Implementation section to provide detailed technical description of the techniques, algorithms, code, implementation libraries, infrastructure, hardware, etc. used in the project. The Design section should provide a more high level overview of the problem, model adoption, application uses, etc.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	I am fine with active voice; students are working hard on this so there is nothing wrong with writing in this style.
No. of Report Pages	I am not picky about the length as long as the work was done and it is clearly presented.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Use of cutting-edge technologies, great presentation, attention to detail. Overall, I want the students to take the proposed FYP, make it their own, and take it to the "next level."

DY

Design vs. Implementation	Design is the "what," and implementation is the "how."
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically (by author's surname)
Active vs. Passive	Both OK. For active voice, "we" is better than "I."
No. of Report Pages	5-10, 20-30, 40-50, respectively
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	(1) Strong technical content (2) good technical writing and presentation (3) progress managed well

FL

Design vs. Implementation	Design is about how one approaches the problem and has the high level structure of the proposed solution. Implementation is about how one actually implements it with a tool/programming language.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	Both have their roles.
No. of Report Pages	The number of pages is not important to me.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Good ideas, good writing, and technical depth

GCH

Design vs. Implementation	Design is more schematic, while implementation should have more codes and actual implementation.
Reference Sorting	Order of occurrence
Active vs. Passive	Active
No. of Report Pages	As long as it is necessary
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Paper Innovation, writing and results

GIB

Design vs. Implementation	It depends on the type of project.
Reference Sorting	By order of occurrence
Active vs. Passive	Either one as long as it's clear
No. of Report Pages	No. of pages is not important.Completeness of the content is more important. Avoid copying the entire project code to the report.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Excellent demonstration and a complete, working system

GO

Design vs. Implementation	I don't make a distinction.
Reference Sorting	No preference as long as it's consistent
Active vs. Passive	Either is fine as long as usage is consistent through the report.
FYP Presentation Demos	Depends upon the project. I usually suggest a short student-run demo during the presentation and a demo in which the audience participates after the presentation.
No. of Slides in the Presentation	The number strongly depends upon how the slides are structured and how much information the students put on each slide. The more technical the talk, the more reason to use a presentation tool other than PowerPoint. I would strongly recommend that FYT students, at least, not use PowerPoint.

HC

Design vs. Implementation	Design is about ideas, and implementation handles all the details.
Reference Sorting	No preference
Active vs. Passive	Both are fine.
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: 10, Progress Report: 20, Final Report: 30+
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Creative ideas, Innovative technical contributions, Solid solutions

HO

Design vs. Implementation	Not a big concern for me.
Reference Sorting	No preference
Active vs. Passive	Active preferred
No. of Report Pages	I don't have a strong opinion as long as reasonable (not too long or short)
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Outstandingly attractive game and proposal that shows it.

HUA

Design vs. Implementation	Design is more high-level. Implementation is the details about how to implement the design.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	Does not matter. Passive voice is used very often for technical writing.
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: 10, Progress Report: 25, Final Report: 40
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Workload; Cool demo; and polished reports.

JA

All FYP report details	No particular preferences

KAI

Design vs. Implementation	Implementation is at a higher level than design. But they can be mixed together.
Reference Sorting	Doesn't matter to me
Active vs. Passive	Active voice is much stronger.
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: 5, Progress Report: 15, Final Report: 30 But I don't think the number of pages matters.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	The student's own idea and the implementation of the idea.

LEI

Design vs. Implementation	Design is the basic idea, and implementation is about the details, i.e., coding level.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically (by author's surname)
Active vs. Passive	Both are fine.
No. of Report Pages	I think content is more important. I do not have a page limit.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Some new ideas

KWT

Design vs. Implementation	I have covered them in Comp3111. Design is the requirements and architecture of the system (in terms of different diagrams, e.g., ER diagram, Class Diagram, Use Case Diagram...etc). Implementation is the process being used in the development.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically, as it's the usual format being used in academic research.
Active vs. Passive	Both, depending on the context.
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: at least 10 Progress Report: at least 15 Final Report: at least 20
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Technical depth. Effort being spent on the project. A well prepared demonstration of a working and complete system.

LIX

Design vs. Implementation	In layman's terms, Design is what you want to achieve (in a little more detail than the Objectives so it can be distinguishable from them). Implementation is the procedures, steps and plans that have led you to the goal.
Reference Sorting	No strict requirement, but usually alphabetically ordered
Active vs. Passive	Both are fine :)
No. of Report Pages	The length really depends on how much work has been done and how much detail you want to use to describe it. We don't have a strict 'cutting line'. But we do have the guidelines (or suggested report lengths). My experience as a 2nd reader is that usually students tend to make the reports too long to squeeze in many details and fail to highlight the really important aspects.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Reporting is only part of the FYP / FYT grading scheme. Grading of the report may include it's technical contents, writing skills.

LP

Design vs. Implementation	The design section presents a specification of the problem at hand and of its proposed solution. The implementation presents the details on how you realized this specification, usually by describing your work on a software artifact.
Reference Sorting	Sorted alphabetically (by author's last name)
Active vs. Passive	Write concisely and clearly, avoiding passive voice. Also try to avoid the use of "would" unless you are expressing a hypotheses/conditional or using the past tense form of "will".
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: around 6, Progress report: 15, and Final report: 30 pages more or less, though this really depends on the type of project and contents of the report.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	The specified tasks should be successfully completed, without cutting corners, resulting in a practical system or proof of concept; your solutions should be described precisely and comprehensively in the report - ideally, it should be possible to reproduce/replicate them just from reading the report; particular attention to detail and creativity (proposing your own solutions) in solving the problems at hand will be rewarded.

LUO

Design vs. Implementation	Design is about the general idea, an overview, and key technical issues considered and choices made. Implementation details how the design is carried out in a specific hardware and software environment.
Reference Sorting	Sorted by author's last name alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	I prefer active voice.
No. of Report Pages	Any number of pages is acceptable provided that the report gives a sufficient amount of details suitable for the stage.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Technical contribution and a complete, running system

LXM

Design vs. Implementation	Design refers to methodology, Implementation is the experiments. Students should show some results.
Reference Sorting	Sorted by order of occurrence in the report
Active vs. Passive	No preference
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: 5-7 pages, Progress Report: 10 pages, Final Report: around 20 pages
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	If the report shows very good results with many implementation details, it could be A. If the authors showed promising results with more analysis and proposed a new innovative methodology, it could be A+.

LZ

Design vs. Implementation	Design is the "what," and implementation is the "how."
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically
Active vs. Passive	Either is fine
No. of Report Pages	The number of pages is not important. The important things are organization and presentation. A good report should be easy to follow, paint a clear picture of the project, and be as concise as possible.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Attractiveness of final system to targeted users, technical depth, innovativeness

MA

Design vs. Implementation	I believe Design is more about the high level framework for the implementation. In the Implementation Section, students should be more specific in the exact tools, setups, etc. that they finally use.
Reference Sorting	No preference as long as it's consistent
Active vs. Passive	No particular preference
No. of Report Pages	The most important thing is to have real substance.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	They really get something done. I don't mind if the project doesn't work, but they have to show that they have spent substantial effort on the project. Since I have regular meetings (once every 2 weeks) with my FYPs, usually I can tell if they work hard or not.

MXJ

Design vs. Implementation	Research methodology is about the general principle of design and implementation. Implementation methodology is the actual methods used.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically, by the last name
Active vs. Passive	Perhaps active. As long as it is consistent, it may not be a big concern.
No. of Report Pages	Perhaps it depends on the type of projects.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Novel idea, solid design and implementation, high-quality demo

NGOK

All FYP report details	No particular preferences stated

PSAN

Design vs. Implementation	Design is the general idea and plan of attack; implementation is the details on how to program them.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically, but no strong preference
Active vs. Passive	Indifferent, as long as it is consistent
No. of Report Pages	Usually, 20, 40, 60, respectively, but this highly varies from project to project, especially on the final report. For a results-heavy project, lots of additional pages are needed for detailed results analysis.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	1. Work hard throughout the year. 2. Get a complete system working. Even if they don't implement all the features, get a basic set that fully works and achieves the basic goals. It is better than going on multiple fronts and not having time to combine it all at the end (which happens quite often).

QIAN

Design vs. Implementation	Design handles more on the idea and architecture; implementation cares more about the how to make a particular solution work in the real system.
Reference Sorting	By order of occurrence in the report
Active vs. Passive	A mixed one [with both active and passive] is fine with me
No. of Report Pages	No preference. The key is have the key points clearly stated; avoid pasting the source code and screen copies for the demo system.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Creative idea, nice final result, good presentation

QUAN

All FYP report details	Currently unknown

QYA

All FYP report details	Currently unknown

RAYW

Design vs. Implementation	Design corresponds to the conceptual idea for the project. Implementation corresponds to the concrete software/hardware for the project.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically (by author's surname)
Active vs. Passive	I have no special feelings.
No. of Report Pages	The total number of pages should satisfy the requirement set up by our department.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	(a) The technical content should be good (b) The group should spend a lot of time on this project (c) The presentation of the report should be clear (d) The oral presentation should also be clear

RIC

Design vs. Implementation	Design, we usually refer to the design of the environment, or architecture. Implementation, we usually refer to the implementation that we think of to solve the problem.
Reference Sorting	Usually, easier to arrange by order of occurence.
Active vs. Passive	No preference
No. of Report Pages	No preference, as long as they can explain what is needed to explain.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	I don't think there is a standard scheme. I prefer to make this flexible. :->

RO

Reference Sorting	By order of occurrence in the report
Active vs. Passive	Should be passive in general
No. of Report Pages	Unlimited in my opinion

SAI

All FYP report details	Currently unknown

SC

Design vs. Implementation	Design refers to the architecture by which the target system is to be implemented. Implementation refers to the techniques and approaches by which the FYP is to be carried out.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically (by author's surname)
Active vs. Passive	It is fine to write some sentences in passive voice.
No. of Report Pages	10-20, 24-40, 30-60, respectively; larger groups should submit reports with richer content
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Demonstrate good problem solving techniques, good presentation and well-written reports.

SCH

Design vs. Implementation	In the "Design" section I expect a discussion of the input representation, internal data representation, and output representation. In the "Implementation" section, I expect a high-level description of the solution strategy.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically (by author's surname)
Active vs. Passive	Passive voice should be avoided as much as possible.
No. of Report Pages	<= 10, 10, 20, respectively
FYP Presentation Demos	Snapshots in the middle and full demo at the end
No. of Slides in the Presentation	<=20 (not counting extra slides for animation and effects)
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Success of the project, quality of work per student, technical depth

SW

Design vs. Implementation	Overall, students shall put the design (high-level workflow, reasons of taking particular design decision, etc.) and implementation (e.g., versions of particular tool, any patch to some tools or systems, APIs) into two separate sections.
Reference Sorting	I have no preference. I am totally OK as long as the references are organized in a clean and consistent manner.
Active vs. Passive	Passive is more desired, although I don't take that as a particular grading criteria.
No. of Report Pages	I will need to first hash out how many students are in the group. I would say for the Proposal probably 15 pages, then the progress report 15 + 10 and the final report 45 pages.
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	1. How much engineering effort has been put into the project. 2. What was the most difficult task in the project and how did they address that? 3. Whether the report is written in a clean, scientific manner.

SYQ

Design vs. Implementation	The design section mostly describes the global picture of a project and lists the novelty and comprehensive overview of the project. The implementation section describes the project in more details, e.g., each of the tools/algorithms used in each component.
Reference Sorting	Either one should be fine.
Active vs. Passive	Both should be fine. Usually in CS papers we just use active voice.
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: About 5-10 pages. (If there are many figures, better to have 10-15 pages) Progress Report: Depends on the progress. Final Report: 15-30 pages. (If there are many system/demo figures, better to have 30-50 pages)
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Writing (typesetting and formatting): 20% Structure and logic: 30% Technically sound: 20% Comprehensiveness (systematic work): 20% Novelty and nice final results: 10%

TA

Design vs. Implementation	For most graphics projects (not game projects), there is no "Design" section. The students are asked to implement a system proposed in a recent research paper.
Reference Sorting	No preference
Active vs. Passive	Active voice mostly - concise and easy to read
No. of Report Pages	~10, 20, 30, respectively
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Accomplish something that is technically challenging or come up with an innovative idea.

TM

Design vs. Implementation	As the nature of projects varies, we should allow different structures/sections in the FYP reports.
Reference Sorting	I personally prefer by order of occurrence in the report. But in general any order should be OK for me.
Active vs. Passive	In technical writing, active voice is preferred.
No. of Report Pages	In general, I prefer concise reports. Proposal: 3-5 single-spaced pages Progress Report: 5-10 single-spaced pages Final Report: 15-20 single-spaced pages
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Accomplish something that is technically challenging or come up with an innovative idea.

TONG

Design vs. Implementation	Design, or description of methods, needs to be clear. The Implementation section needs to be comprehensive in terms of empirical comparisons.
Reference Sorting	Either is fine.
Active vs. Passive	No preference
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: 1-2 pages Progress Report: 4-5 pages Final Report: 8-9 pages (in the style of a NeurIPS conference paper) (Note: Please also submit a second report to the FYPMS that follows the CSE report structure.)
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	A: reproducing nontrivial methods of existing paper, and can state the student’s own insights. Demonstrate grasp of the paper, and can explain pros and cons and possible ways to tune the method on some specific examples. A+: In addition to A, can improve the existing methods, and the newly proposed method is sufficiently novel and significant so that it is at the quality of publications in a major AI conference such as AAAI.

TRBR

All FYP report details	Currently unknown

XZ

All FYP report details	Currently unknown

YIKE

Design vs. Implementation	Just follow what taught; students having their own ideas certainly get higher marks.
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically (by author's surname)
Active vs. Passive	I personally prefer active voice.
No. of Report Pages	5-10, 10-15, 15-30, respectively (for a group of 2-3 students; the length depends on the size of the group.)
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	A+: Innovative ideas A: Having done all the tasks assigned perfectly, but may not have new ideas

WEI

Design vs. Implementation	In my opinion, the Design section plainly states what has been done in the proposed system, including but not limited to the overview of system architecture, the detailed design of each system component, and how these components interact with each other. In the Implementation section, justifications of the major system design choices could be provided, e.g., why the system is designed the way it is; any pros and cons in the design; what tradeoff has been made in the design space. Also, I expect to see some discussions on the limitations and potential extensions of the system.
Reference Sorting	By order of occurrence
Active vs. Passive	In CS, we recommend using the active voice in writing, which makes the report more engaging to read.
No. of Report Pages	Proposal: < 5 Progress Report: < 10 Final Report: No page limit
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	1. Does the project solve an interesting and relevant problem? 2. Is the proposed solution novel and practical? 3. Is the proposed solution/system well implemented with a good amount of engineering efforts? 4. Has the solution/system been thoroughly evaluated in various scenarios and settings? 5. Is the report well written?

WIL

Design vs. Implementation	Design - system overview, data view, e.g.. ERD, DFD, etc.; implementation - approaches, plan of experiments, using the models
Reference Sorting	Alphabetically (by author's surname)
Active vs. Passive	No problem for both but try not to use 'I' in active voice. In scientific work, we use 'we' in active voice.
No. of Report Pages	10-20, 20-30, 30-40, respectively (but it really depends on the nature of the topics)
FYP Presentation Demos	At the end
No. of Slides in the Presentation	20-30
Key Factors in A or A+ Paper	Innovations, well-presented everything in demo, good command of English

All others

All FYP report details	Currently unknown

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