Knowledge based systems are currently the most marketable products of Artificial Intelligence research. The process of developing a knowledge based system can be very time consuming and costly. This thesis provides an automated, structured, knowledge acquisition methodology for accelerated development of knowledge based systems. This constrained approach leads to considerable savings in development costs, and results in a modular system that is easy to maintain. The system acts as a design consultant' to help the expert in elucidating his knowledge to the end-users. / Master of Science