Project Proposal Overview

Introduction

A proposal may be defined as an offer or a bid to complete a certain job or project for someone. Essentially, the purpose of a proposal is to ask for approval, permission, and/or funding to do the proposed work.

Proposals play a major role in everyday industry practices. Today, a company's survival may depend on its ability to write convincing external proposals. Similarly, an employee's career advancement within an organization may depend largely on his/her ability to generate ideas and to communicate them effectively in internal proposals.

All proposals are not the same - nor should they be. Some are relatively informal internal documents, although internal does not necessarily equate with informal; others are directed to external organizations and are often quite formal and lengthy. Some proposals (bids, for example) require a specific format that must be followed exactly; not following a specified format, even though you may not agree with or see the value of certain requirements, may result in elimination of your proposal from the consideration/ competition. Undoubtedly, you learned various ways to write proposals in school; however, once in the work force, you must adapt to company policy and use whichever format/style is the norm and/or is appropriate to the situation.

Procedure

As part of the requirements for MSTM 4100 and 4200, you are required to develop a project concept and write a proposal for that project. The purpose of the proposal is to explain what you plan to do for the MSTM 4200 project; specifically, the proposal must identify the project, define and characterize the issue or problem, indicate the source(s) of data to be used, and contain a timeline for completion of the project and report.

Like any industry document, your proposal must contain technically correct and complete information; and it must be well written and appropriately documented according to a standard documentation style. (The APA Documentation Style is one of the most commonly used styles; it is the preferred style for this course.) While there is no one right way to write a proposal, the format presented below is widely used. The sections identified in this sample outline may not be presented as separate sections in all proposals, the actual wording for section headings may differ, and the sections may not appear in the order presented here. In addition, it is possible that other kinds of information (hence, other sections) may be appropriate to include.

Project Proposal Guidelines and Format

The Project Proposal will be developed from the Project Concept Paper, taking into account feedback from the Instructor and Supervisor. The following information indicates a structure of any standard paper.

Title Page

Provide complete academic information, as you would for any formal assignment: title, author's name/student number/program, recipients' names/positions/organizations, date, and so forth. Use an attractive, easy-to-read format.

Table of Contents

Provide a standard Table of Contents for the proposal, complete with page numbers.

1.0 Introduction

The Introduction of the proposal should contain a statement of the report's purpose/explanation of the problem, appropriate background information, a concise statement of scope, and a statement of methodology. This Introduction will, with some refinements and additions, become the Introduction of the final MSTM 4200 report. This first section of the proposal will be titled 1.0 Introduction (see above), and it will have four separate subsections, as illustrated below.

1.1 Background

You must demonstrate that a problem exists in order to justify your proposal, and you will need to provide background information to acquaint the reader(s) with the problem (since writers generally have more insight into the problem than readers do). Therefore, in this section you will define the problem and provide appropriate background to it. By way of providing background, you might decide to provide a description of the existing situation (history of the problem/ brief review of the literature on the topic) and/or a discussion of previous approaches to the problem. You might also discuss the advantages/benefits associated with completing this project. (Since your proposal is designed to sell someone on your idea for a project, this would be a reasonable thing to do.)

In most cases, this section will include information from research sources; this material must be properly documented according to the APA documentation style. (The APA Style Manual can be purchased at the MUN bookstore; it is on Reserve at the Marine Institute library. Be sure to consult one of these sources; documentation should not be guesswork. It is very precise, and you will be expected to produce error-free documentation to ensure that your paper is as credible and professional as it can be. Please consult your MSTM 4100 Instructor if you are in doubt about how to cite a source after having consulted the appropriate reference tools available.)

1.2 Purpose

The reader(s) must understand the purpose/objectives of the project; therefore, a clear and precise purpose statement is required. Writers often begin with some general comments about the topic and lead into a specific statement of purpose. Some writers actually use the words "The purpose of this report will be to ..."; others use a question to indicate the purpose, and so forth. Whatever will do the best job of explaining what you propose to do is what you want. Specific objectives are often included or stated within this section as well.

2.0 Scope

Scope means the boundaries of the project. Here you tell the reader(s) exactly what will be covered in the report. In the statement of scope, you will identify the report's main sections in the order in which they will be presented. (This means, of course, that you need to have your report outline decided upon by this time.)

In some cases, you may need to explain limitations; that is, you should mention anything you feel the reader(s) should know that might explain possible (or perceived) shortcomings in the report. (Budget restrictions or time might be limiting factors, for example.) Do not feel you have to invent limitations, however.

3.0 Procedure

Proposal writers generally tell the reader(s) how they plan to go about doing the proposed work; in other words, they explain their methodology. You should explain how you plan to go about collecting information for the report. You might indicate, for example, that you have already gathered and will continue to gather secondary research information through library research and/or primary information through interviews, experimentation, questionnaires, and so forth. If you expect a good deal of information to come from a couple of sources, you might name those specific sources; however, this report will be a lengthy one, and it is expected that there will be a substantial References list. You might refer the reader to the References list (partial though it may be) at the end of the proposal.

If your project will involve experimentation, here is the place to discuss the procedures or technology you plan to use. You should provide a reasonably detailed description of what you plan to do/what is involved in the experimentation. Include as much detail as is necessary to gain reader confidence in your work. This description of your proposed approach to the project should help convince the reader(s) that you have a logical, carefully prepared plan in mind.

4.0 Time Schedule

The reader(s) must know how long it will take you to complete the project. A work schedule (sometimes called a timeline or a critical path) is essential for any project; it is impressive in a proposal because it shows how thoroughly you have planned the project. It should include projected completion dates for key parts of the project. You must indicate the time required to complete each phase of the project using a Gantt Chart or some other straight-forward critical path analysis tool.

5.0 Facilities and Equipment Requirements

Here you identify any facilities and/or special equipment you will require for your project. (Do not discuss cost in this section.) This is a standard section in an industry proposal, and while it my not seem appropriate for this type of academic proposal because the institution is not responsible for providing facilities and equipment, this section may help the Program Committee determine where or not your proposal is a reasonable one.

6.0 Budget

Readers are generally interested in the cost of a project certainly this is true in industry. Even in academic settings such as this, an itemized list of prices for everything involved in the project is reasonable to expect. This information may help the reader(s) decide whether or not this proposed project is feasible. (Present this information in an easy-to-read format.)

7.0 Summary

In the conclusion, the important points should be reviewed and the importance/benefits of doing this project emphasized. You should demonstrate that this project will have a positive impact and/or will solve the problem.

References

This proposal must have a properly formatted, error-free References list. The list may not be complete, but the sources consulted to date (both secondary and primary) must be included.

Appendices

Appropriate material which might be of interest, but which is not absolutely essential to gaining an understanding of the project concept, may be included in an appendix. Some items appropriate for an Appendix might be a glossary, a large table, a list, a sample survey or questionnaire used in the research.

Students are required to include a special appendix in the Project Proposal containing information about themselves, such as:

• name and complete mailing address
• telephone number(s)
• email address
• educational background
  • diploma received/date (prior to enrollment in Bachelor of Technology or Bachelor of Maritime Studies Program)
  • Institution's name and address (city and province)
  • Bachelor of Technology or Bachelor of Maritime Studies Program courses completed to date