# Written Proposal Skeleton

This is *not* a grading rubric, but a scaffold to help you organize your written proposal. Create a Proposal by filling in each section below. One-to-three paragaphs is probably the right amount of text for each. Export your markdown to pdf via pandoc.

## 1. Title

A concise, descriptive title. Someone skimming a list of titles should know roughly what your project does. If this could be a marketable product, use a product name. This title should be the first line in the markdown file above.

## 2. Motivating Question / Problem Statement

What real-world problem or gap are you addressing? Convince the reader this is worth solving. Who is affected, and why does it matter?

## 3. Background / Related Work

What already exists that's close to your idea? List a few (at least 3-4) papers, products, or projects, and briefly explain how yours differs, extends, or combines them. This is where your background papers get distilled down to the most relevant ones.

## 4. Research Question / Hypothesis

State a specific, testable question or claim. Not "I will study X" but "Does X improve Y?" or "I predict that X will result in Y because Z." Some projects are more "researchy" than others so you may not exactly have a hypothesis. But there should be a clear thing you are trying to prove, or discover, or make.

## 5. Proposed Approach / Methodology /Data

What technical tool(s) -- algorithm, sensor, model, dataset, etc. -- will you use, and how will you apply them to your problem? What data or materials do you need, and where will they come from? You **must** prove that you have access to sufficient data to accomplish this project especially if it has a significant machine learning component. If you have an online data source, provide link(s).

## 6.  Milestones / Variations

Identify 4-6 concrete checkpoints across the year. You don't need exact dates, but this should keep you busy until May. What are the big pieces that need to fit together, and in what order will you tackle them? Also give two alternatives -- an easy and a hard version of your project. Prove that there is not just *one* path to success.

## 7. Expected Outcomes / Significance

What does success look like? If you can't **measure** it, you can't research it. Furthermore, if it works, why does that matter? Be specific rather than just "it will help people."

## 8. Risks / Open Questions

What could go wrong or fail to work? What don't you know yet that you'll need to figure out along the way? This shows you've thought past the easy parts.

## 9. References

List the background sources you cite above and other related papers. Use a consistent citation style (see [Zotero](https://www.zotero.org/) for managing these). The **right** way to do this is with BibTeX, which we will learn, or you can look up. But for now, just any formatted list is fine.