MSc Project

Each MSc Mathematics student is required to complete a 60 credit (4 course unit) project dissertation.

A student must find a potential supervisor and fill out an MSc Mathematics Project Approval Form (which can be downloaded from here) by the end of Semester B. The supervisor and project must be approved by the MSc Mathematics Exam Board Chair, in consultation with the MSc Mathematics Programme Director, and the process for this, which may involve an interview with the student, takes place as approval forms are submitted. It is advisable to fill in a project approval form as soon as possible, so that official approval can be given in good time for background reading to be started before the examination period.

The main work on the project usually takes place from early June to September (part-time over two summers for part-time students).

A typical MSc project dissertation consists of about 30 word-processed pages, securely bound, covering a specific research-level topic in mathematics or statistics, usually requiring the student to understand, explain and elaborate on results from one or more journal articles. An MSc project may also involve computation. An MSc project should be more advanced than an MSci one, and an MSc student is expected to work with less supervision than an MSci one. An MSc project should help prepare a good student for PhD research and even allow an excellent student the possibility of doing some research.

Each project dissertation must be written in good English and precise mathematics, and include a brief abstract, an introduction, and a thorough bibliography. The MSc Mathematics Programme Director keeps a selection of past project dissertations, which current students may look at to get an idea about what is involved.

You should carefully read the official guidelines on writing the project dissertation. You should also consult Franco Vivaldi's web-book Mathematical Writing, in particular the chapter on referencing other people's work. Also important and useful is the QM Library guide for finding information for MSc Maths and MSci project students.

Students may wish to use the LaTeX system to prepare their project dissertation. Several introductions to LaTeX are available on the web, including Getting Started with LaTeX, by D.R. Wilkins, and LaTeX for Complete Novices, by N.L.C. Talbot.

The deadline for submission of the project dissertation is 10th September 2012, and this deadline is strict. Three neatly bound copies should be given by this date to the Administrative Officer (Postgraduate Studies and Research) in the Maths Office, room 101 in the Mathematical Sciences Building.

Suggestions for MSc projects

The list of 3rd year, MSci and certain MSc projects offered by the School contains many MSc projects. Some of the MSci projects listed there can also be turned into MSc projects.

Feel free to contact any member of the academic staff if you are interested in any project or have ideas for other projects.

Further MSc project suggestions