To achieve at least a minimal standard in the capstone courses, all students are expected to:

• study the concepts taught in the lectures and express those concepts in their design and documentation;
• demonstrate that they are engaged with, and significantly contributing to, the project;
• at the end of 4991, significantly contribute to the provision of a proposal that documents the project plan and product design up to the physical architecture step and demonstrates that the project is ready to go to the materialization step in 4992;
• in 4992, transition from the “proposal” to a reasonable progress on “materialization” without delay;
• at the end of 4992, provide a full account of the work of each team member and proof that the product meets all the requirements outlined in the original description of the project;
• act as a team player who works towards the overall success of the project;
• behave ethically, cordially and in a professional manner.

A special discussion on Academic honesty
Your academic work must be honest; dishonest actions will distract you from achieving your goals and can damage your colleagues. At Bahcesehir University academic dishonesty is defined by “An intentional act of deception in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or effort of another person or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated information in any academic work.” Academic dishonesty includes:

• CHEATING: use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information or study aids or an act of deceit by which a student attempts to misrepresent mastery of academic effort or information. This includes unauthorized copying or collaboration on a test or assignment or using prohibited materials and texts.
• FABRICATION: falsification or invention of any information (including falsifying research, inventing or exaggerating data and listing incorrect or fictitious references).
• ASSISTING: helping another commit an act of academic dishonesty. This includes paying or bribing someone to acquire a test or assignment, changing someone’s grades or academic records, or taking a test/doing an assignment for someone else (or allowing someone to do these things for you). It is a violation of the law to create and offer to sell part or all of an education assignment to another person.
• TAMPERING: altering or interfering with evaluation instruments and documents.
• PLAGIARISM: representing the word or ideas of another person as one’s own OR presenting someone else’s words, ideas, artistry or data as one’s own. This includes copying another person’s work (including unpublished material) without appropriate referencing, presenting someone else’s opinions and theories as one’s own, or working jointly on a project, then submitting it as one’s own.

As well as understanding the above, the department expects each capstone student to:

1. Give credit to and declare (by citation), any work that is not their own (e.g. parts of the report that is copied/pasted from the Internet, design or construction performed by another person, etc.);
2. Not receive unpermitted aid for the project design, construction, report or presentation;
3. Not assign credit for work to another student in the group, and not take credit for work done by another student in the group;
4. Actively encourage others as well as themselves to uphold the spirit of the above guidelines.

Also see the page on Ethical thinking.