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Undergraduate FAQ

Capstone Courses

What is a capstone course?

All honours plans in Computing have a "capstone" course that integrates material from previous courses; only internship students are exempt from these courses. Each can potentially have a "customer" or co-supervisor from outside the School. This is a guide for potential supervisors and customers as to what sort of work is appropriate for each, to help you chose which course might be suitable for the work you would like to have done.

Which courses are capstone courses?

  • CISC 496 for the Game Design option in Software Design (SODE), involves small teams cooperating to develop a computer game over four months. Typically, these are all supervised by the instructor.
  • CISC 498 for the Software Development option of SODE, involves three (sometimes four) students developing an information system following a particular software development process over eight months, involving a supervisor from the School of Computing and an external customer. The course web page lists a few of the most successful projects of recent years. Proposals must be posted by the first day of classes.
  • CISC 499 for most honours plans, involves one student over four months, without any constraint on the process other than what is agreed to with a supervisor. It can involve research or a software project or both, and can have a co-supervisor from outside of Computing. Sometimes a CISC 498 project can be cut down to roughly 1/6 to 1/4 of the original size to create a CISC 499 project. Proposals must be posted by the end of September, to be carried out in the following Winter term.
  • COGS 499 for the Cognitive Science plan, is similar to CISC 499 but requires a supervisor from CISC, LING, PHIL, or PSYC.
  • CISC 500 requires individual research by one student over eight months to produce an undergraduate thesis. Software development, if any, is incidental to the research. It is restricted to students with a 3.5 cumulative GPA. Students must submit a proposal by June 15.

Is there a substitution for a capstone course?

With the permission of the Undergraduate Chair, an independent study course can be substituted for CISC 499.

I have an idea for a research or development project. Who do I contact?

Please contact the appropriate coordinator:

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