Interdisciplinary & Global Studies Division
Global Perspective Program

Chapter 5: How to Write a Project Proposal

Basic sections of a proposal

In addition to specifying the needed allocation of resources to complete the project, proposals have three major sections:

  1. Introduction
  2. Literature Review (or Background)
  3. Procedure (or Methodology)

The "Introduction" tells the reader 1) what the project is about, 2) why the project is worth doing, and 3) why the project is a good topic for fulfilling the objectives of the degree requirement. The Introduction must also state clearly and completely the specific objectives of the project--in some detail, what the students intend to accomplish. Though the reader encounters it first, the "Introduction" should probably be written last since the other parts of the proposal will have to be mastered to provide an effective "Introduction." The "Literature Review" tells the audience (advisors, off-campus sponsors, or sources of funding) what the state of the art in the topic is. The "Literature Review" should probably be tackled first since mastering it will provide the background needed to write other sections. The "Procedure" (also called Methodology) lays out the method that has been selected to conduct the research. The "Procedure" should emphasize how the particular interactions between science, technology and society will be analyzed and how the research plan will enable the project to be completed successfully.

A good project proposal has an additional advantage; with appropriate revisions, the chapters in the proposal can give students a start on similar sections for the final report. Good work on the proposal has two advantages: planning for effective resource use when doing the project, and getting a jump ahead on the final report.

We suggest that the three sections of the proposal be written in this logical sequence: Literature Review, Procedure, Introduction. These guidelines will thus follow that order. Other material which should go into the report, and will be discussed below, are the

  1. Abstract
  2. Title Page
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Footnotes
  5. Bibliography

Literature Review (or Background)

To show their advisor that they know what they are talking about concerning their project, students need to demonstrate that they know the background and context of their topic. Good questions to answer in this section are:

  1. What kinds of research have been done before (including previous IQPs and MQPs which can be accessed through the reference desk at the library)?
  2. What relevant kinds of studies or techniques need to be mastered to do the project?
  3. Where is the state of the art today?
  4. How have others gone about trying to solve problems the project team wants to tackle, and in what ways will their approach build on and vary from previous work?

The background section should be thought of as the place where the most important books, articles, or any other kind of source materials for the project are identified and discussed. To bring another student up to date on what is being done, what would be the most important thing to read? A well written review will provide a sense of critical issues and debates which form the background for the students' own original work.

Everything in the literature review should be mentioned in the bibliography, BUT not everything in the bibliography is important enough to be mentioned in the literature review. In other words, this section is a comment on the most valuable material that has been identified which will need to be assimilated to do the project. The literature review thus provides a guide to all material listed separately as footnotes or bibliography.

Procedure

The procedure or the methodology is the heart of the proposal because it must tell the reader how the students' propose to carry out their project. It must convince their advisor (or in industry their manager or potential client) that they clearly understand their task, have a logical time plan for solving the problems, and have identified all the resources needed.

As the proposal is for an IQP, the project team must take special care to explain HOW they plan to relate some aspect of science or technology to society. Note that "technology" need not be defined narrowly here: 'technology" can mean the techniques used to manage or evaluate any resource efficiently, not just "nuts and bolts" hardware. But the students must explain clearly how their procedure insures that the WPI IQP degree requirement will be satisfied by completing a project which defines, investigates, and reports on a topic relating science or technology to a social need or issue. In short, why is the topic an IQP?

Some of the other questions the reader will expect to be answered in this section are:

  1. What are the tasks and sub-tasks identified to achieve the objectives?
  2. What materials will be needed to carry out the project: equipment? computer support? typing? graphics? others?
  3. 'What data are needed for the project and how will they be collected? If the project requires a survey or interviews, the design of this instrument (especially the selection of participants) must be explained and justified.
  4. What method or process will be used to analyze this data and where else (if anywhere) has this method or process been used?
  5. What time frame will be needed to accomplish the identified tasks or sub tasks? Project schedules may be presented in standard forms like PERT or Task Charts?
  6. If the students are working on a team, which teammates will accomplish which sections?
  7. What costs is the project anticipated to incur--in other words, what is the budget? (A Budget Summary Request Form must be submitted to the Interdisciplinary and Global Studies Division Office as shown in Appendix 1 for IQP Proposals.

Introduction

The Introduction will be the first major section the reader encounters, so it must be made as effective as possible to encourage further interest. The Introduction states the broad problem objectives as well as the project's specific goals, helps introduce the project subject, and explains why the problem is worth solving and who will be interested in the solutions. If the proposal is being prepared for an off-campus project sponsor as well as an advisor, the value of solving the problem must be made clear to the real-world sponsor.

Some questions to cover here are:

  1. What is the project subject?
  2. What are the goals of the project? the sub-goals?
  3. Who is the project audience who wants to use the results: the students? the advisor? off-campus or community groups?
  4. How and when will the results be presented physically?
  5. How will the results be used?
  6. What is the general method or procedure being used to conduct the project?
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Last modified: November 15, 2006 12:09:33