Final Project: Research Proposal Tectonic Geodesy

Purpose If you go on to a career in science, your career will live or die based on your ability to write research proposals. Scientific writing is a critical skill that is not exercised enough in coursework. Writing a proposal on a topic forces you to do intensive research and critical thinking about your proposed research topic.

Important Elements Hypothesis to test –Best if it is a real test and not just a strawman –Exploratory proposals (what will we find) can work but you have to make a good argument that convinces people there will be something interesting found. Provide motivation (Why should we care?) Describe previous work, needed background Provide a coherent work plan Provide a realistic budget

Characteristics of a Bad Proposal Can’t see the forest because of all these danged trees. It’s so obvious why my idea is important that I don’t have to tell you why. I wrote the Project Summary and Introduction at the last minute, and hoped you wouldn’t notice. The science-free proposal: A detailed description of what I plan to do will be compelling even if nobody can tell if there is a question to be answered or whether anything important will be learned. A vague description of what I will actually do is fine because you know I will do the right thing.

Characteristics of a Good Proposal Clearly poses an important question that must be answered. Conveys a sense of excitement about the problem. Project Summary is your first impression. As with meeting people, you want to make a good first impression (“first meeting”). The first few paragraphs are critical in confirming that first impression (“first date”). Background clearly presented, and work plan clearly desribes the steps that the work will take (the analogy gets dodgy about now).