20.345:Final project proposal

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20.309: Biological Instrumentation and Measurement

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Refer to section 2.6 of the[Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing] for general information about proposal writing. (There is also a very good site about scientific proposal writing here: [[1]].) An outline similar to the one in the sample proposal presented in the Mayfield Handbook will be appropriate for most final projects:

  1. Summary
    • Use nontechnical language to convey the most important information contained in the proposal. The summary should be one or two paragraphs long. Give the bottom line on motivation, goal, key milestones, risks, resources, and previous work.
  1. Background and Motivation
  1. Experimental Goal
    • Give details of what you are going to measure and the technique you plan to use.
  1. Theoretical Framework
    • Explain the method and any relevant theory.
  1. Development Plan
    • Explain how you will develop and test your instrument.Detail what you intend to accomplish each week.
  1. Resources
    • Identify resources that must be purchased or obtained from outside labs
  1. References
  2. Appendices

Feel free to modify the outline for the specific circumstances of your project. Assume that the audience for everything except the executive summary is fellow students. The audience for the executive summary is the Dilbert boss. Proposals should be less than ten pages long, excluding appendices.