Scholarly Paper Requirement

All students must write and submit an approved Scholarly Paper prior to the end of their final semester to fulfill their degree requirement. Deadlines for all Scholarly Paper requirements and associated graduation paperwork will be announced by the Program Office at the start of each semester. Additional information regarding the Scholarly Paper can be found here.

Scholarly Paper Workshop Requirement

At the beginning of each semester, a Scholarly Paper Workshop will be held to review the requirements of the Scholarly Paper. Students are required to attend at least one Scholarly Paper Workshop before submitting their Scholarly Paper. Students are welcome to attend more than one workshop. The Scholarly Paper Workshop will provide an overview of all attributes of the Scholarly Paper and advice on how to develop a successful Scholarly Paper.

Description
The Scholarly Paper will demonstrate the student’s ability to synthesize technical information in a coherent form. Telecommunications professionals, like most engineers and executives, will inevitably be called upon to compose technical or business documents. The Scholarly Paper is comparable to a “Working Paper” or trade publication.

The Scholarly Paper is not associated with course registration. It would be expected that students complete most of their course work prior to embarking upon the Scholarly Paper so that they have a breadth of knowledge from which they can identify a suitable topic.

Students should begin planning for the Scholarly Paper by the end of their first year. Generally, students will complete the Scholarly Paper during their final semester. Students should submit the appropriate paperwork to the Program Office by the stated deadlines of the semester in which they wish to graduate.

Students choose their own topics. The topic should relate either to the business or engineering aspects of telecommunications. For example, a topic discussed in a course may provide a starting point from which a student may delve deeper; the results of such an inquiry should be suitable for the Scholarly Paper. (Note: Students will be required to verify that the Scholarly Paper does not overlap with any paper previously submitted for academic purposes.)

After choosing a topic, students must submit the Scholarly Paper Topic Approval Form at the beginning of the semester in which they plan to graduate. Any change in topic will require students to submit a new approval form. Once the paper is completed, students must submit the Scholarly Paper Submission Form during the semester in which they plan to graduate. Please see the Graduation section for specific deadlines and more information. Only papers of the highest quality will be approved. If the paper is not approved, the student will not graduate in the intended semester.

In all academic work including the Scholarly Paper, students are obligated to abide by the University of Maryland Code of Academic Integrity. The scholarly paper must consist of original work by the student. Although a survey of current literature and reading the work of experts is strongly encouraged, referencing or including another person’s work (written text, pictures, diagrams, ideas, etc.) without proper citation constitutes academic dishonesty. For more information about academic integrity, please see the Regulations section below and consult the Office of Student Conduct.

Guidelines

The body of the paper should contain an introduction (background), section(s) on the main concepts (primary content), and a conclusion (summary of findings).
Once the topic is approved, the student should work independently. Extensive advising should not be required. Joint papers with other students are not permitted.
The student need not conduct original research. Investigation of the topic using a variety of credible sources should be sufficient. A minimum of three distinct references should be consulted.

Format

The body of the paper should be 8-10 pages in length. (Note: papers with numerous diagrams and images should be closer to 10 pages.)
The paper should be double-spaced and typed in standard 12-point font
The body of the paper should properly cite references
The paper must include a separate title page with a one-paragraph abstract (approximately 50-200 words)
The paper must include a separate references page. A minimum of three distinct references should be included. All references, including Web references, must be properly listed.

Advice

All acronyms and jargon should be defined when they are first introduced
The paper must be written in proper English that is grammatically correct and syntactically sound. Students should ensure that their papers are sufficiently proofread and edited prior to submitting them.
The paper should adhere to a style of proper academic writing and citation. Students should consult and follow IEEE style for the title page, paper, citations and references.
Papers that display poor writing skills and/or typographical errors will not be accepted nor approved.
International students in need of writing assistance should contact the English Editing for International Graduate Students program in advance of submitting their papers.

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