CSC 498: Senior Project, Spring 2012

Proposal Writing Guidelines

To pass the senior project course, you must have an approved project proposal by the end of the third week of the course. This section specifies project acceptance criteria and the format required for the written proposal.

Consider the following before you begin to write your proposals and consult this list as you proceed:

• The project should be explained clearly and in sufficient detail for a reader who is not familiar with the project to understand what is being proposed. It is better to include more meaningful information than to assume the person reading your proposal will be able to read those details between-the-lines.
• To an extent, the complexity of a project is a measure of how much it extends the ideas that define Computer Science and our Computer Science curriculum. Complexity, therefore, plays a significant role in the level of a project and, in turn, the maximum grade that can be earned. Your project must be complex enough to be a Senior Project, but should have a scope which allows you to complete it in the given time.
• Be aware of style, including grammar, spelling, sentence construction, and the general "professionalism" of the document.
• Understand the main purpose and focus of your project. For example, if the project mainly involves the design and implementation of complex data structures and algorithms, do not be side-tracked by describing an involved user interface. And as the year progresses, never lose sight of the focus of your project. Note: You should have the background necessary to complete your project by the time you submit the project proposal. Tasks such as learning a new language or software package will not be considered as valid components of project implementation in the fall semester. No such proposals will be approved.
  • If the project involves the design and implementation of a database, then the proposal should clearly explain: (a) the tables and relationships that will drive the database using a formal model such as an ER diagram; and (b) a plan for populating the database with real data before the project is completed.
  • If the project involves writing software for real end users or a client, then there should be clear plans for getting input and evaluation from the client or end users at various stages of the project.
  • The relationship of your project to Computer Science should be clear. The focus of the project could be aligned with one of the content areas of our courses or any other traditional area of Computer Science. As an example, writing a disassembler as a project, would relate to assemblers in "Computer Organization" or perhaps to compilers.

Format of the proposal:

The proposal should include a title page, a table of contents, and a bibliography. If there are any diagrams or figures they must be produced electronically (not hand-drawn). The proposal should be double spaced in 12 point font with 1" margins on all sides. The following parts must be included, however:

Summary:

The proposal should begin with a summary of the project. The summary will typically be one or two paragraphs long (maximum length is one page) and should be suitable for posting on our department web page. At the same time the project proposal is due, you must email an electronic copy of a document consisting of your name, the project title, and the summary to your instructor so that he or she can arrange to have it posted on the web site.

Significance:

Relate the project to an area or areas of Computer Science. This section is generally short, a few paragraphs, and is written in a way that will give the reader a general understanding of the scope, significance, and general complexity of the project.

Required tools and availability:

This section should describe the software and hardware you will need in order to complete the project, and also explain how you will access that equipment. This includes the language or languages you will use to implement your project. Don't just say "C++" - instead explain whether you are using Borland C++ or Visual C++ on a PC, gnu C++ on a Linux machine, etc. If the equipment you need is publicly available at DePauw, say so - if not explain how you will access it. If the platform is not publicly available at DePauw, you must clearly and unquestionably have access to the required platform by the time the project starts.

Demonstration plans:

You will be required to demonstrate your project "live" in room 040, 260, or 278 of the Julian building during our checkpoint meetings. Explain how you will do this - is the hardware/software you need available in that room? If not, what equipment will you use and how will you provide it?

Qualifications:

The proposal should clearly describe your qualifications for completing all work described in the proposal. In other words, you must demonstrate that you have the knowledge and ability to complete the project. This might include stating the relevant course, internship, or experiences you have had that will allow you to complete the project. You should clearly explain where you learned the languages and tools you will be using. For example, if you are using a specific graphics library through C++ you should discuss where you learned how to use that library. If you are using Python, you should explain where you learned Python, etc.

Project Specification:

This section describes what the project will do. In this section you should provide any required background information that motivates your project, and you should explain what the goals of your project are. Depending on the project, this section will likely include:

• Functional Specification: Describe the components of the system and what they do, not how they do it. You will need to be detailed here, providing a specific list of functionality for the system. For example, if you are designing a database for CD's, exactly what operations will the user be able to perform on the database? Just saying "search for a CD" is not enough; you need to specify exactly what criteria the search will be based on.
• User Interface: This section will be detailed or not depending on whether the user interface is critical to or the focus of the project.

Technical Details:

The content of this section will vary from project to project. In general the goal of this section is to explain how you will implement your system. For example, if your project involves the design and implementation of a database, then the proposal should clearly explain: (a) the tables and relationships that will drive the database using a formal model such as an ER diagram; and (b) a plan for populating the database with real data before the project is completed. For other projects it may be important to describe the major data types, data structures, file structures, and algorithms associated with the project. In all cases, justify your choices and mention any tradeoffs used in making your decisions.

Timeline:

The proposal should include a project time line. The time line should contain clear and well-defined descriptions of the work that must be completed before each of four project checkpoints (see syllabus) and before the final project demonstration (see syllabus). One should be able to use the time line to understand the implementation process and also to know the deliverables you will present at each check point. You should spend significant time developing the time line, if for no other reason than to try to determine if the project can be completed in the greater part of a semester.

As you work on the time line, assume you will spend at least 10-15 hours working on your project each week. Thus the amount you can accomplish between checkpoint 1 and checkpoint 2, for example, should require 20 - 30 hours to complete. You must phrase your checkpoint items in terms of tangible deliverables that can be demonstrated. The best way to do this is make a list for each checkpoint of things you will show/demonstrate. Consider the following:

• I will have started my data structure design. NO GOOD. There is nothing tangible to show, so there is no way your instructor will be able to determine if you have completed this task.
• I will demonstrate the insertion of a CD consisting of a title, artist, and year into the database, then I will demonstrate querying the database by searching for all CD's with a specified artist to show that the new CD is found. GOOD!

• Feedback from user will be obtained. NO GOOD. No deliverable.
• I will show typed summaries of the notes I took while meeting with five prospective users to let them experiment with my system and critique the user interface. GOOD!

Bibliography:

The proposal should contain a bibliography that lists all sources. Any material paraphrased or quoted should be cited with an in-text reference.

Examples:

• Proposal 1
• Proposal 2
• Proposal 3

DePauw University, Computer Science Department, Spring 2012
Maintained by Brian Howard (bhoward@depauw.edu). Last updated