20.345:Final project proposal

From Course Wiki
Revision as of 01:22, 27 January 2011 by Steven Wasserman (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search
20.309: Biological Instrumentation and Measurement

ImageBar 774.jpg

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. Modify the outline to fit the specific circumstances of your project. Assume that the audience for your proposal is fellow students.

Proposals should be less than ten pages long, excluding appendices.

  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.
  2. Background and Motivation
    • Intrest the reader in your project.
    • Explain why the device you are building or the measurement you are making is important.
    • Give the reader an appreciation of previous work in the field.
    • Explain how your project is unique.
  3. Theoretical Framework
    • Explain the method and any relevant theory.
  4. Experimental Goal
    • Give details of what you are going to accomplish and the techniques you plan to use.
  5. Development Plan
    • Explain how you will develop and test your instrument.Detail what you intend to accomplish each week.
  6. Resources
    • Identify resources that must be purchased or obtained from outside labs
  7. References
  8. Appendices