The first part of the proposal project is writing the proposal itself. The objective here, first and foremost, is to exercise your creativity. Do not be afraid of putting together an idea that might not work in reality -- but support your idea with concepts covered in class, from class readings, and your own search of the scientific literature. The format should be:
Section Page Limits
Abstract......................................1
Background and Significance.......Min 6-Max 8
Project Description......................Min 6-Max 8
References..................................None
Spacing.......................................1.5-Spaced (single-spaced ok if necessary to fit in the page limits)
Font Size.....................................10-12 Point
Margins.......................................Top 0.75", Bottom 1", Left 0.75-1", Right 0.75"
Figures may be inline with the text or placed at the end of the document (though inline would be preferred). Data from the literature/schematics/tables are a key way to effectively communicate your ideas, but please limit graphics and tables to comprising no more than 1/3 of the total space in your paper. The abstract should provide the motivation for your proposal in 1-2 sentences, followed by a brief outline of the biomaterial/device: the rationale for its design, the approach to fabrication/synthesis, and methods for testing the device.
The Background and Significance should provide a thorough review of relevant prior research in this area -- both of other approaches to solving your problem and a review of the background research relevant to the approach you are taking. In this way you should motivate your approach -- these are the pros and cons of prior approaches, this is what I hope my approach to address. The Project Description will provide the details of how you will design your novel device. If the device has multiple components, provide the rationale for the overall design and each component (this is the most important part of your project description!): why are you choosing this approach? What are its limitations? In what ways does it improve upon existing approaches? Next: What materials will be used? How will the device be synthesized/fabricated? How will you test the device? The description need not be in a grant-proposal style -- no need to develop detailed experimental methods. For example, if you would use scanning electron microscopy to characterize the microstructure of the device, simply state that; there is no need to explain what accelerating voltage will be used and whether samples will be coated prior to imaging! Provide figures to illustrate your concepts, and example data from the literature to support your ideas. Proposals should include a significant number of references covering the relevant background literature.
The second component of the term project is a team peer critique of the projects. Midway through the term, you will break up into small teams of 4-5 people. Each team will receive several of the proposals written by other students (proposals will be provided anonymously). The team will read the proposals and provide a written critique of the approach, based on their own project reading and concepts from class. Each team member will first write their own analysis, then the team will convene to write a 'panel summary' of the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed idea. The peer critiques will be returned with the graded proposals to each student. The objective of this part of the project is to exercise skills in critical reading.
The proposal project will comprise 2 grades: 1 for the proposal, and 1 for each student's contribution on the peer critiques. The Course Instructor will provide the final grade on the proposals; the peer critiques will not be used to assign proposal grades. However, the quality of the peer critiques will be assigned a second grade based on the individual analyses and the panel summary. The proposals will provide 80% of the term project grade and the critiques the final 20%.