Related work

Settle on a single project idea. You can change later if you really need to, but you should avoid that if possible.

Create a Google Doc to hold your thesis writings. In it, add a section called "Introduction and background". Write a brief summary of your proposed project (what it is and what problem it solves).

Next, add in a survey of related work—this is any work (research, algorithms, products, etc.) that solve the same or similar problems. If you can imagine someone saying, "Isn't this what X is for?" or "How is your project different from Y?", then you should include X and Y as related work. 

All references to other work (in and outside of the introduction and background section) need to be cited. Most computer science papers use a custom numeric citation system (e.g., IEEE or ACM format), but those are difficult to use without something like LaTex/BibTex. Instead, use footnotes and use Chicago format (usually used for scientific work). It's easy to cite a reference in Google Docs; see this page for instructions Links to an external site..

Copy your "Introduction and background" and copy it in your post below.