Directive of the Faculty of Informatics of Masaryk University No. 3/2024 creation, submission and evaluation of final (bachelor and diploma) theses (as amended with effect from 11 December 2024) [DEL: :DEL] Pursuant to Section 28(1) of Act No. 111/1998 Coll., on Higher Education Institutions and on Amendments and Supplements to Other Acts (Act on Higher Education Institutions), as amended (hereinafter referred to as the "Act on Higher Education Institutions"), I issue this Directive:[DEL: :DEL] [DEL: :DEL] Article 1 Subject of modification (1) This Directive follows the Study and Examination Regulations of Masaryk University (hereinafter referred to as "SERS"), the Disciplinary Regulations for Students and other internal regulations. (2) The Directive regulates and specifies the procedures for the registration of students on the topic of bachelor's and master's thesis (hereinafter referred to as "thesis"), procedures for the creation of the thesis, procedures for the submission, publication and archiving of the thesis, for its evaluation and for the prevention of plagiarism. (3) The Directive applies to students enrolled in bachelor's and master's degree programmes at the Faculty of Informatics of Masaryk University (hereinafter referred to as "FI MU") and to students of all variants of interfaculty studies who submit and defend their final thesis at FI MU. The Directive also applies to supervisors and opponents of the final theses of these students and supervisors of study programmes. Article 2 Login to the thesis topic (1) During the preparation of the final thesis, students enrol in the SBAPR Bachelor Thesis or SDIPR Diploma Thesis course in accordance with the study catalogue. (2) The student logs in to the topic of the final thesis in the IS MU topic schedule no later than the time of completion of changes in the enrolment in the semester in which the thesis is to be defended. (3) The student chooses the topic of the thesis corresponding to the programme or field of study from the timetable. Students in associate degree programmes that fall under FI may work on a topic that falls under the other faculty of study, provided that the thesis is relevant to their field of study. The selection of the topic in the associate degree is subject to the CPR, Article 24. Article 3 Official assignment of the final thesis (1) The official assignment is filled in by the thesis supervisor in the IS MU Thesis Topics Schedule. (2) The student and the thesis supervisor are obliged to approve and confirm the topic in the IS MU within the deadlines set by the final study schedule. Subsequently, the official assignment is approved by the guarantors. (3) The approved official assignment is the binding text against which the thesis is evaluated by the committee during the thesis defence. (4) Requirements for the assignment: a) the assignment of the thesis must be professionally adequate to the level of study being completed, b) the terms of reference must define specific objectives that the committee can evaluate, c) the assignment must be formally correct, clearly formulated and understandable not only for experts in the specific field (e.g. the use of abbreviations is not desirable). Article 4 Subject matter, structure, format and formal requirements of the thesis (1) The final theses have the following structure (for typesetting it is recommended to use the LaTeX template fithesis available at www.overleaf.com): a) binding and title page the following information is provided: the Masaryk University, Faculty of Informatics, Diploma / Bachelor thesis, the title of the thesis (not mandatory), the student's name and surname, the year of submission, b) declaration of authorship contains a statement that reads, "I declare that this work is my original work of authorship, which I have developed independently. All sources, sources and literature used or drawn upon in the preparation of this thesis are properly cited in this thesis with full reference to the relevant source." or in English "Hereby I declare that this thesis is my original authorial work, which I have worked out on my own. All sources, references, and literature used or excerpted during elaboration of this work are properly cited and listed in complete reference to the due source.", c) Acknowledgements (optional) d) summary and keywords 1. the summary takes up no more than one page, 2. The usual number of keywords is 5 to 10. The keywords describe the problem addressed, they are not a list of technologies used, e) Content f) the actual text of the work 1. the work must be of a good standard in terms of form, grammar and style, 2. the work must be submitted in a high-quality graphic design (usually in black and white with any colour images and usually in A4 format), 3. The minimum length of the bachelor's thesis is 20 standard pages (without appendices), for the master's thesis 30 standard pages (without appendices). One standard page is 1800 characters, and images included in the text are counted in the scope of the written work as an estimate of the amount of text that would cover the same amount of space in the final document. Papers that do not meet this scope are graded as a fail, g) Literature h) attachments 1. contain parts of the work that are not essential for the main idea of the work (e.g. manual for using the developed system, source code fragments, detailed diagrams and detailed descriptions of the solved parts of the project), 2. the implementation part of the work is usually submitted as a separate zip file, i) register (optional). (2) The title of the thesis in the IS MU must be identical to the title given on the official assignment. The title of the thesis must be in the same language in which the thesis will be written. The text of the thesis assignment can be in Czech, Slovak or English (it is not necessary that it is in the same language as the thesis). (3) The thesis can be written in Czech, Slovak or English. The defence usually takes place in the same language in which the thesis is written. A thesis written in English can also be defended in Czech or Slovak. Article 5 Submission of the final thesis (1) A student may submit a bachelor's thesis only after having earned 10 credits for the SBAPR Bachelor's Thesis course. A student may not submit a thesis until he/she has earned 20 credits for the SDIPR Thesis course. (2) The deadlines for the submission of the final theses are obligatorily set by the FI MU Academic Year Schedule. (3) The student submits the thesis by inserting it into the IS MU thesis archive including all attachments, source codes, test data, etc. In the course of uploading the thesis, the student confirms the declaration of the author of the school work (see Annex 1 of this Directive) and the declaration of authorship (see also Article 4, paragraph 1, letter b). (4) The submission of the thesis also includes the creation of its annotation in the Thesis Archive in IS MU. The annotation must clearly and concisely describe the subject of the thesis, the methods used and the aim of the thesis and the method of its fulfilment. Article 6 Acceptance and inspection of the final thesis (1) The thesis is taken over by an authorised employee of the Study Department in IS MU on the next working day after the deadline for submission of the thesis. The condition for taking over the thesis is the award of credit in the SBAPR/SDIPR course with full credit value. (2) The thesis supervisor confirms in the relevant IS MU application that: a) verified the readability of files stored in the thesis archive in IS MU using commonly available software tools, b) checked the thesis stored in the thesis archive using the IS MU application for detecting plagiarism and checked the compliance of the title of the thesis according to Article 4(2), c) checked the scope of the parts of the work that will not be published in accordance with the provisions of the law and the setting of a date by which the whole work will be published. Article 7 Archiving and publication of the thesis (1) It is not possible to tamper with a thesis entered (submitted) into the MU IS, even if the thesis will not be or has not been defended. The submitted thesis will be defended. (2) The submitted thesis is published in the IS MU immediately after it has been entered into the thesis archive. Exceptions are cases where the hiding of the thesis or certain parts of the thesis has been discussed and approved in advance by the Vice-Dean for Undergraduate Studies. (3) A request to hide a thesis or part of a thesis must be submitted via IS MU so that it is processed upon receipt of the thesis in the IS MU thesis archive. The thesis or part of it may be hidden for a maximum of three years in accordance with the law. (4) In the case of a hidden thesis, the study department will print the thesis and send it to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in accordance with the law. Article 8 Evaluation of the final thesis (1) The submitted thesis is reviewed by the supervisor and at least one independent opponent who has not participated in the supervision of the thesis. The thesis consultant may write a statement. This statement is not considered a separate and independent opinion and is included as an appendix to the supervisor's opinion. (2) The thesis opponent is proposed by the thesis supervisor. The head of the department approves the thesis opponent on the basis of this proposal or appoints another opponent. (3) A thesis may be assigned multiple opponents. Especially for works with an artistic focus, a separate opinion is prepared for the computer and graphic part. (4) Opinions are loosely structured and must be of high quality in terms of content and form. The assessment evaluates the quality of the work, including verification of the functionality of the implementation and review of electronic attachments (especially source codes), the quality of the text, specifically the content, overall consistency of the work, the use of literature, the quality of citations, language accuracy, typographical and graphic design. (5) The report must include: the title of the thesis, the name of the student, the verbal evaluation, the date of the report, and whether it is the opinion of the opponent or the supervisor. It is recommended to use the LaTeX template available at www.overleaf.com to prepare the report. (6) The assessment is further expected to: a) a brief summary of the topic of the thesis and its results (it is not necessary to repeat the information given in the assignment or in the thesis itself), b) a verbal commentary on each aspect of the work, it is appropriate to list both the strengths and weaknesses, c) specific comments from which the student can learn, d) an explicit proposal for an overall assessment that reflects the above verbal commentary and relates to the form of the thesis at the time of the assessment (the assessment cannot be conditional on a successful defence), e) if the proposed assessment is "passed with flying colours" and the assessor considers the thesis to be particularly outstanding, the thesis may be proposed for the Dean's Award, f) any questions for the defence. (7) The report is submitted by the thesis supervisor and the thesis opponent no later than five working days before the defence date by inserting it into the thesis archive in the IS MU under their own identity. Supervisors and opponents who do not have access to the IS MU deliver the report to the study department. (8) The final evaluation of the final thesis and its defence is decided autonomously and finally by the State Examination Board; in its decision it takes into account the evaluation of the proposed assessments and the course of the student's defence of the final thesis. (9) The supervisor or the opponent may nominate an exceptionally high quality thesis for the Dean's Prize in his/her review or during the defence by any member of the examination committee. The nomination, which will be confirmed by the State Examination Board, must subsequently be stated in the protocol of the State Final Examination. The award is then decided by the Dean of the Faculty. Article 9 Avoiding plagiarism (1) If the supervisor or opponent of the thesis, who is an employee of FI MU, reasonably suspects that the thesis shows signs of plagiarism, he/she is obliged to submit a complaint to the Dean of the Faculty without undue delay to initiate disciplinary proceedings. The Chair of the Examination Committee is obliged to initiate disciplinary proceedings in the event that a reasonable suspicion of plagiarism arises from the opinion of the thesis supervisor or opponent who is not an FI MU employee. (2) Theses showing signs of plagiarism cannot be defended and are graded "failed". Article 10 Final provisions (1) On the effective date of this Directive, Directive No. 02/2024 Creation, Submission and Evaluation of Final (Bachelor's and Master's) Theses, as in effect from 23 September 2024, is repealed. (2) I entrust the interpretation of the individual provisions and the continuous updating of this Directive to the Vice-Dean for Undergraduate Studies. (3) Compliance with this Directive is monitored by the Heads of Departments and the Head of the Study Department. (4) This Directive shall enter into force on the date of its publication. (5) This Directive shall enter into force on 11 December 2024. Jiří Barnat Dean FI signed electronically Attachments: No. 1 - Declaration of the author of the school work