Proposal Format - CIS 400/401

The resulting document should be 3-7 pages long and I would suggest using LaTeX since this document will grow and change over the course of the project. Use the following format:

Title Area:
  • Project name
  • Participant names and email addresses
  • Faculty advisor; must be signed before it is handed in

Abstract:
  • 1 or 2 paragraph description of proposed problem. Make sure to describe what your system will do at the end of the project.

Related Work:
  • Summarize existing research, products and systems
  • Explain why the proposed project is better than or different from what already exists.

Technical Approach:
  • Explain how you expect your system to work
  • If applicable provide a block diagram of your system showing the major components and their interaction
  • Identify what you think the principal technical challenges will be and what you will need to do or learn to tackle them

Resources Required:
  • Computers you expect to use
  • Software tools
  • Hardware tools
  • Books or journals you will need
  • Any other resources you anticipate needing to complete your project.

Milestones/Timetable:
  • List the major tasks you will need to perform and when you expect to do them. This timetable should extend to the end of the Spring semester
  • You must indicate in this list a tangible prototype which you will demonstrate at your design review at the end of the Fall semester. Explain what you expect to have implemented or accomplished by then

References:
  • List the web sites, textbooks articles, etc that you consulted during the preparation of your proposal. Try to use a reasonable bibliographic style here

Reminder: It is expected that the project description is entirely your own work - brief quotations may be used if-and-only-if they are properly attributed as per the course plagiarism policy.