make an educated choice for the topic
The aim of this document is to provide you with guidelines on how you will write a proposal for Capstone Project II.
1.0 What is a proposal?
A proposal is document whose primary purpose is to outline the topic you intend to spend your time researching during Capstone II. It also includes how you plan to manage your time.
By its nature, a proposal is flexible. Even though you will try your best to follow your proposal, you can make changes if it is necessary and justifiable.
2.0 Choice of topic
The topic needs to represent some Operating Experience (OE) in the nuclear industry. You can either select one major incident or a group of related smaller OEs. If you decide on the latter, you need to explain how these OEs are related. For example, they could have taken place at the same site, relevant to similar systems or components, developed in a similar manner, etc.
Plan for your Capstone Project II to be (strictly) 5000″5000 words long, not including front and back matter.
3.0 Parts of the proposal
3.1 Introduction/background: A brief background and an explanation of the significance of the OE you chose. Information you include here must be properly cited and referenced just like in a regular report.
3.2 Objectives of your report: A list of the objectives you will attempt to achieve in your Capstone II report. As usual, objectives should start with an action verb (e.g. list, discuss, analyze, etc.). Since this is a proposal, the objectives are tentative. You can make changes to them during the first week of the Capstone II semester.
3.3 A timeline: Your proposal needs to include a timeline (preferably a Gantt chart) showing the activities you will undertake throughout the Capstone II semester. Just like the objectives, the chart represents a projected plan and can be changed if necessary. Your project timeline must be consistent with the Capstone II syllabus.
4.0 Organization of the proposal
Your proposal must follow the layout described here.
4.1 Cover page: includes your proposal title, your name and ID, department (Advanced Energy Engineering Technology Department) and supervisor.
4.2 Proposal Content: as described above, this is where you include your intro/background, objectives and timeline.
4.3 References: A standard references page for any information you may cite in your proposal.
