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Guidelines for graduates

Diploma Assignment Formation

Deadlines

The thesis's completion deadline is according to the timetable for the respective academic year.

Choice of supervisor

The choice is made on the initiative of the graduate and with the agreement of the preferred supervisor. Any specialist with higher technical education may be selected as the supervisor of the thesis. In cases where the thesis supervisor is not a lecturer at FCST, it is mandatory that such a lecturer be selected as the thesis advisor.

Approval of the thesis assignment

  • The diploma assignment is prepared by the supervisor in two versions in Bulgarian and English.
  • The assignment should be completed, printed and signed by the graduate, supervisor and advisor (if any !).
  • An approved thesis assignment is valid for one academic year from the date of submission.
  • A change of graduate supervisor, after an already approved assignment, is allowed, but after submitting and approving an application to the Dean, which must be accompanied by the written agreement of the current graduate supervisor for the change.
  • The completed form has to be printed into three copies. It is signed by the supervisor and the graduate. It is left in the student's office to receive an approval and "Semester completition" stamp.
  • Two passport-size photographs of the graduate on matte paper are placed in a mailing envelope, labeled with the graduate's full name, faculty number, email address, and cell phone number are left in Room 1322a at the time of thesis assignment admission.
  • The thesis assignments are approved by the signature and stamp of the Dean and Head of Department.
  • The graduate receives PERSONALLY one copy of the approved thesis assignment from the technical assistant of the department, Room 1322a which he is obliged to attach to the documentation of the finished thesis and to bind it together with it.

Thesis submission

The completed documentation, printed and bound together with the approved thesis assignment and declaration of authorship, must be handed in two weeks before the announced date for the defense in Room 1201 between 1:30 and 4:30 PM.

 

Formation of thesis

Formation of the assignment

  • Topic. The topic contains as a title the immediate task to be solved by the graduate.
  • Initial setup. In the initial setup are set the necessary hardware and software, which the graduate must use in his work: - element base, electronic and digital devices, other machines and devices; - programming environments, programming languages, design automation software, simulators, etc. It is also possible to set as objectives in the initial setting some basic parameters that the graduate should have to achieve in the process of his work.
  • Explanatory note. The explanatory note presents the content of the thesis by chapters.
  • Experimental part. The experimental part of the assignment specifies the type of experiments that will be conducted and the format in which the results of the experiments will be presented (timelines, tables, graphs, etc.)

Formation of the thesis content

  • Recommended thesis length:
    • 40 - 50 pages for the Bachelor's degree
    • 50 - 60 pages for the Master's degree
  • Structuring:
    • Front page
    • Approved thesis assignment
    • Contents
    • Introduction
    • Statement of the thesis by separate chapters
    • Conclusion
    • List of literature sources used
    • Appendices

The introduction contains a summary of the activities carried out by the graduate during the thesis design process. The thesis chapter by chapter statement presents the process of thesis development. It accurately states the engineering problem to be solved and the requirements that the presented solution must meet. The graduate should mainly emphasize the engineering aspect of the specific work carried out by him/her, in the process of design and implementation of the problem set in the assignment. Subsequently, he/she must present and analyse the results obtained.

The thesis presentation for Master's students should additionally contain a literature review as well as an analysis of multiple possible solutions and a justification of the specific choice made.

Examples of structuring the thesis presentation:

  • for development of hardware devices: goal and objectives; synthesis of the device block diagram; justification of the choice of the element base; design of the electrical circuit; design of the printed circuit board; testing and settings.

  • for development of a programming system: goal and objectives; synthesis of structure, system functions and user interfaces; design of block diagrams of algorithms, database formats, timing diagrams of communication protocols; program implementation- general structure, class hierarchy, commentary of the program source; experimental results.

The conclusion summarizes the main characteristics and features of the presented engineering solution, its advantages and disadvantages, the results of the experiments, their engineering interpretation and suggestions for further work on the solution of the given problem. The appendices contain source text of programs, formats of data structures, screen forms, obtained results, wiring diagrams, graphic originals of printed items, reference data, etc.

 

REQUIREMENTS FOR FORMATTING THE THESIS TEXT

General requirements

  • The pages must be in A4 format (21.0 cm x 29.7 cm).
  • Each section of the thesis should begin on a new page, and should be written on the first line, centred in capital letters, in bold.
  • Each paragraph and sub-paragraph is written on a new line, with tabbing. 
  • All text must be double-spaced, with no syllable transpositions. 
  • The margins on each page should be as follows:
    • top 2.5 cm; left 3.0 cm
    • bottom 2.5 cm; right 2.0 cm. 
  • Formatting of the text shall respect the following parameters:
    • Font: Times New Roman, size 12 point (12 pt.), style Regular, Italic for key concepts only; 
  • Line spacing: 1.5 lines; 
  • Each paragraph begins with an indent (First line) of 1.25 cm; 
  • Footnotes: Times New Roman font, size 10 pt., single spacing; 
  • The main text and footnotes to be double-sided (Alignment: Justified);
  • Pagination: bottom right, in Arabic numerals;
  • No text such as author's name, thesis title, chapter headings, etc. in the top margin (Header) and the bottom margin (Footer).
 
Title page
  • The inscription "TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY - SOFIA" shall be in capital letters, size 18 pt, bold and centred. 
  • The inscription 'FACULTY OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES' must appear in capital letters, size 16 pt, bold and centred. 
  • The title of the thesis must be in capital letters, size 20 point, bold and centred. 
  • The text under the title is 14 pt, bold. 
  • The year in which the dissertation is to be defended is indicated at the bottom of the title page. 
 
Contents
 
In the Table of Contents, the titles of all sections, e.g. "INTRODUCTION", " REFERENCES", etc., must be in capital letters and 12 pt. font size. , bold.
 
 
Headings of sections, paragpraphs and sub-paragraphs
  • Sections shall be numbered in Roman numerals, capitalised, centred and in bold type, size 14 pt. 
  • Paragraphs shall be numbered in Arabic numerals, reordered in 14 pt. font size, bold, indented 1.25 cm from the left margin of the page. 
  • Sub-paragraphs shall be in font size 13 pt., bold, indented 2.0 cm from the left margin. 

Example:

I. SECTION TITLE (Bold, 14 pt.) 

Paragraph heading (Bold, 14 pt.) 

Exposition text ................ 

Sub-paragraph heading (Bold, 13 pt.) 

Text from exposition .......................... 

Sub-paragraph title (Bold, 13 pt.) 

Text from exposition ................................ etc.

 
Styling of tables
  • Tables in the statement should be numbered and headed.
  • Number the tables consecutively in Arabic numerals for the whole statement to establish the total number (Table 1, Table 2, ...).
  • The table number should be placed immediately before the title, which should be worded concisely and clearly, in bold and double-spaced. 
  • The font size of the table shall not be smaller than 10 pt. and not larger than 12 pt.
  • It is obligatory to have a commentary and a reference to the tables in the thesis - for example: (Table 3).
  • Each table should be set out on one page if possible. If it is necessary to carry on to the next page, 'continued' should be written in the top right-hand corner.. 
 
Styling of figures
  • Each figure (diagram, chart) should have a sequential number, a clear, concise and accurate title. 
  • The numbering and title should be similar to tables, except that they should be centred below the figure. 
  • A legend is needed to read the figures. 
  • A commentary and reference to the figures in the thesis is required in the text.
    • For example: (Fig. 7).​ 

Printing and binding

  • Binding is done with a plastic comb (spiral), transparent colourless foil and black spine.
  • The bound thesis is presented to the supervisor, who signs it at his/her choice.
  • Two weeks before the defence, the thesis is handed in to the technical secretary of the department to be made available to the members of the committee..

 

Conducting diploma defences

Appointment and approval of a reviewer

  • The reviewer of the thesis is appointed by the head of the department on the proposal of the thesis supervisor.
  • Any specialist with higher technical education, possessing the necessary knowledge in the relevant field, may be selected as a reviewer of the thesis. In cases where the supervisor of the thesis is not a lecturer at FCST, it is mandatory that such a lecturer be selected as the thesis reviewer.
  • The thesis supervisor writes his/her proposal for a reviewer on the back of the initial page of the thesis.
  • After the reviewer has been approved by the head of the department, the graduate submits the thesis to the reviewer.

The thesis defence procedure

  • The thesis defense procedure is initiated on the schedule set for the FCST, after the submission of the completed thesis and the review to the department office.
  • The graduate is referred to the relevant examination board by the dissertation supervisor or the head of the department.
  • The date of the diploma defense is set by the chair of the examination commission.
  • For the defense, the graduate must prepare:
  • Multimedia presentation about the essence of the thesis (~ 7- 8 minutes).
  • Live demonstration of the product created (~ 3 - 4 minutes).