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How to Write a Proposal?
Dr. Nor Muzlifah Mahyuddin
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When to Start Writing?
Start as early as possible !
Write all chapters as youwork along...
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Proposal Writing
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Sequence
of
Proposal
Presentation
INTRODUCTION
LITERATURE REVIEW
METHODOLOGY (H/W &S/W)
GANTT CHART/MILESTONE
EXPECTED
OUTCOME/CONTRIBUTIONS
ABSTRACT/ PROJECT
SUMMARY
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Writing Process for Proposal
1. Literature Review describes previous related works &subjects
2. References
whenever required3. Methodology hardware
4. Methodology software
5. Expected Outcomes/Contributions/Conclusions
6. Introduction briefly introduces the title & areas background
7. Abstract/Project Summary summarizes theproposal/work
Limitation is required
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Proposal Writing
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Abstract/ Project Summary
Summarizes the entire contents i.e., describing the work done.
Write concisely and clearly about:
what your project title related to
why is your project important and worth working on
what are the existing problems related to your project areas
how you go about doing the work to solve the problem
what are the results you obtained, and
what can you conclude from the findings i.e., how yourresearch could contribute to the society, industry or country
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Abstract/ Project Summary
Write the summary using consistent tensethroughout, i.e. present, present participle or
past. Do not mix tenses.
In writing, link each item so that there is a
smooth transition and flow.
Must not be longer than 2 pages
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Proposal Writing
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Introduction
Introduction aims to:
1. Introduce the background of research areas involved in your workscope, focusing on specific/narrow subjects.
2. Explain the motivations or importance of the work. This may include itsusage and impact towards society, industry, economy, and country.
3. Explain the current problems of the subject area; conceptually ortheoretically.
4. List your objectives in solving the mentioned problems.
5. List the scope of your work if it involves a broad scope optional
6. List the requirements; user or device requirements optional
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Background
Introduce the research area generally and then
specifically.
The flow of background must be written in such away so that it later flows into explanation of
motivation and importance of the research
project.
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Explains the importance of theproject area so that the readers(particularly the examiners) feel that
they want to read or they have toread your thesis.
Must demonstrate why a projectwork is worth doing.
Can also explain and highlightwhat are the gaps in the areathat is important to be filled.
Project Motivation
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Problem Statements
From motivation, briefly explain
about the existing/current relatedworks which you would like to
highlight their problems.
Due to the problems, your research
objectives will be the next step with
the aim of addressing the problems.
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Objectives
It is wise to start your objective sentence with To.
Do not write objectives in paragraphs. Instead, list out your
objectives. Use result oriented (i.e., measureable) wordings such as:
To define the theoretical formulation for..
To develop a communication system
Objectives should be specific, well defined and must relateto the solution of the problems mentioned.
Although more than one objectives, all of them must berelated to one scope of research
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Project Scope
This is optional.
It describes the boundaries of a wide-scope project.
For example a project that: involves setting optimum values of many (i.e., more than 20)
parameters, so you are only focusing on finding the optimumvalues of 10 parameters only, whilst the other values arerandomly chosen or fixed.
requires testing a proposed system within 10km range in aremote area. Due to constraints, you are testing only within1km range around the campus.
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Proposal Writing
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Progress story related to the subject area that you are working on.
Written with the aims of:
Providing background about similar work - highlighting
advantages & disadvantages (problems) of previous works
Providing background on related subject areas discuss relatedtechniques only
Hence, in writing literature review, you need to ask yourself,Has similar study has been done before?.
Literature Review
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Discussion of previous works in chronological (time) order.
Literature Review
WHO?
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Literature Review
Literature search should be done by searching for info and facts fromany of the following source of references:
Journals in the area of research
Conference paper
Edited book/article in an edited book
Magazine article
Thesis/Report/Review
Websites
The above is in order of decreasing priority.
Each time a study is described, cite reference(s). This is done to givecredit to the researchers.
Reference citation is also needed for figures/pictures or tables takenfrom any source of reference. This is done to avoid plagiarism.
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Literature Review
Citation involves author names and year only, all in brackets.Different styles of author naming depends on the number ofauthors; one (author, year), two (author1 and author2, year) ormore than two (author1 et al., year).
If more than one reference for the same fact or info, use ; toseparate each one.
Optical tomography is suitable when.high-resolution images are required
(Jackson, 1995), but this tomographic technique is costly due to its large
equipment. The high-resolution X-ray technique (Miller and Linn, 1995) is not
suitable for real-time applications because it is slow...The ray tomographic technique is faster
and can be ...applications (Johansen et al., 1995; Gladden, 1994).
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Reporting verbs are used to introduce quotations in academic writing
Reporting verbs When do we quote?
1 X suggests that .
In 2010, X commented that .According to X, ..
Research in 2012 showed that .
To introduce a point or view point
2 Therefore X concludes: . To conclude a discussion, analysis,
etc.
3 X explains it as follows A recent study by X shows that
To explain a point, item, etc.
4 As X observed/suggested/
indicated/noted/pointed out
To support an argument or point
of view
5 For example, X argued that .
Thus, for example
To exemplify a point being made
Literature Review