Term Project Proposal

Your term project proposal, due on March 4, should follow the format explained below. I will count this assignment as 5% of your grade, assessing it as indicated below. I will ask you to provide a brief --- under one minute --- statement on your topic in class on February 25 --- no exceptions.

Objective

The term project proposal is a crucial step in the development of a high quality research report. Once your proposal is accepted, you can not change your topic without specific approval and the submission of another proposal.

Proposal defined

A useful term project proposal contains these five essential elements:

A title with subtitle which tips off the reader as to your topic and how you approach it.
A carefully crafted theme paragraph with a clear and informative theme sentence, which is highlighted.
An outline and a strategy for the implementation of the project
- An outline lists the sequence of development beginning with an introduction and ending with a conclusion. It's what's in between that really counts. Use the Table of Contents of the PPW nodes as examples.
- A strategy explains in a single paragraph how you will approach your paper, providing enough detail so that your professor can feel confident that you can get the job done.
An annotated bibliography of at least four sources, with an explanation of how each reference supports your work.
A personal statement which explains to me how you feel about the project and how confident you are that you can carry it out.

Grading

As displayed in the syllabus, the term project proposal counts five points, but has strategic value beyond that. Here is how I will grade your proposal:

An outstanding proposal which can fully support a very promising project gets the full five points.
A robust and cogent proposal gets 4.5 points.
A strong but not outstanding or robust proposal gets 4.0 points.
An adequate proposal earns 3.5 points. Generally this is sloppy with an element either missing or poorly done.
A sincere but weak proposal gets 3.0 points. Usually there are major flaws in the elements but the general intention is fair.
Anything below 3.0 must be done over.

The grade indicates the potential of your project as indicated by the strength of the proposal. A point will be deducted for each week the assignment is late.