Capstone Project
This is a capstone course ENG 675, taken in the last semester of study. In lieu of a thesis, students design a comprehensive project of their choosing. Typical projects cover a wide range of technical communication outputs, including web sites, web-based training programs, revised corporate documents, scholarly articles for possible publication in peer-reviewed research journals, instructional manuals, etc.
The Capstone is only offered in spring semesters, so plan your schedule accordingly. Besides, in the previous fall semester, you need to submit a proposal in October to be able to register for the capstone course. Here is a link to the Capstone schedule in the spring semester.
Information regarding the MSTC Capstone Project can be found at the following pages:
Students should start considering possible capstone topics by the beginning of their third semester (or after having completed 24 hours of graduate courses). You are responsible for proposing a topic to the MSTC faculty in the fall semester. ENG 675 instructor will send out a Call for Proposal to students around early October and those who plan to defend their capstone projects should respond and inform the instructor of their intention to enroll in the course. The first draft of your proposal is due on October 31. Faculty will respond to your proposals by November 14, and your final revisions should be submitted before November 25. Doing this allows you to take some time in the winter break to work on your project before starting ENG 675 in the spring.
These proposals must be brief and cogent, so they will be a good test of your technical writing skills. Your proposal cannot be longer than two pages, formatted for ease of reading in 11 or 12 pt. type font and one inch margins all around. Proposals that exceed the two page limit and/or are in a font smaller than 11 pt. will be returned to you for revision without being read.
Your ENG 675 project represents the culmination of your work in the MS program in Technical Communication. It should not only solve a communication problem for someone–maybe even a problem that nobody knew existed–but also demonstrate to the faculty the best work you are capable of and how you can apply academic knowledge to practical problems as a “reflective practitioner.”
Title Page and Final Submission Procedures
Projects can take many forms. Those that take the form of an academic essay should have a title page and an abstract of 150-200 words.
Depending on length, the essay could/should have a table of contents, a brief intro followed by section (or chapter) division, a brief conclusion, notes, and works cited. Lengths of essays will vary but will typically be 20-30 pages, including notes and bibliography.
Projects that take other forms, such as user manuals, Web pages, electronic texts, and other options, should also include a title page and brief abstract as well as a short (5-10 pages) written narrative describing the project and its objectives. You should figure out a way to package your multimedia project before submitting it to the Graduate Services Coordinator for record keeping.
You may check the topics of the capstone projects from previous students on the MS Capstone Project Archive page.