Project Proposal Report Template and Guidelines

Project Proposal Report
Template and Guidelines

The Proposal Report is one of the most important deliverables of any project. Its intention is to define the scope, approach and plan of work which must be undertaken for successful completion of the project. It provides a firm foundation for executing the project and acts as a baseline for monitoring and managing progress, thus improves the possibilities of a successful project completion.

Project Proposal Report should clearly describe the following:
What you are planning to do.
Why you have chosen to do it.
How you are planning to achieve it.
Who will be doing what?
When you are planning to do it.

Proposal Report Specification:
Length: 2,500 words long (excluding References and Appendices)
Line spacing: 1.5 lines
Font type: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, or Times New Roman.
Font size: 11.
Page Margins: top 2.5 cm, bottom 2 cm, left 2.5 cm and right 2 cm.
1 empty line must be left between paragraphs
Upload the Project Proposal Report on Moodle (Turnitin submission)
Name the file as: StudentID-Surname-Firstname-Project-Proposal

1.Introduction and Project Context

In this section you must:
Introduce your project (what is it about), the type of applied project it may be (academic, consultancy, practical), and define any terminology if required (briefly explain it).

Provide an in depth focus on the background circumstances which indicate a need for the specific applied project that you propose and discuss the importance of the problem, issue, need, opportunity, requirement, shortcoming, impairment, etc. that you intend to tackle here. If done for a client, introduce the client as well and what they hope to achieve.

Address the current body of knowledge concerning the topic proposed to demonstrate that you know a great deal about the specific issue that you focus on. Bring forth information from existing sources (cite them) regarding the specific topic (such as graphs, charts, and statistics, if available).

Provide justification on the choice and its importance, who will benefit, what is the specific purpose.

Ethical, Social, Legal, Professional Issues.

2.Aims and Objectives

Here, you must identify and explain the scope and overall aims of your project. The Aims should be followed by a list of objectives which should collectively describe what the final deliverables and achievements of the project will be.

This section must include:
Introduction to the overall intention behind the project
Aims (4 to 5 aims each focusing on a specific part of the project)
Objectives (3 to 5 objectives for each Aim thus providing enhanced focus and clarity on the direction to be followed)
Deliverables (what the final outcome of the project will be)

Aims and Objectives

When putting together the list of Aims and Objectives, you must start by clearly understanding what is the intention behind the project. The title must represent very clearly the focus of the project (by reading the title, a reader must know clearly what the project is all about).

In order to satisfy the title you must perform several tasks. Split the requirements of the title down to 4 or 5 major tasks. These are your Aims. In order now to satisfy each Aim, several tasks must be performed which once completed will satisfy the requirements of that specific Aim. These are your objectives. 

Dissertation Report
Guidelines and Template

The Final Year Dissertation / Project Report is a major work that students are required to undertake in order to complete their degree. This will be the largest piece of work that a student is expected to produce as an undergraduate. The outcome will not only be the production of a sizeable piece of work to add to their portfolio, but will also guide the student towards achieving greater self-direction, autonomy and personal satisfaction.

The aims of this exercise are to extend the students in a particular field of interest related to their studies, to develop critical faculties and to produce training in research methods. The project should provide the students with the opportunity to bring together the academic knowledge and skills acquired from the previous study.

Through the project, the students are expected to:
Demonstrate depth of understanding of a broad range of skills and knowledge.
Explore an idea, problem or area of study that is of special interest to them.
Gain an insight into the complexities of real-world problems.
Develop new skills.
Demonstrate independent learning and self-management.

Dissertation Report Specification

The Dissertation must be compiled in the following way:
Length: 10,000 to 11,000 words long (excluding References and Appendices).
Line spacing: 1.5 lines.
Font type: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, or Times New Roman.
Font size: 11.
Text Alignment: Justified.

Page Margins: top 2.5 cm, bottom 2 cm, left 2.5 cm and right 2 cm.
1 empty line must be left between paragraphs
Each chapter must start on a new page.
Use page numbers with the font size set to 10.
Name the file as: StudentID-Surname-Firstname-Dissertation
Upload the Dissertation Report on Moodle (Turnitin submission)

Sectioning the Final Year Project Report

The report must be presented in sections, each one identifying a major part of the report. It must be obvious where each section begins and ends, and which sub-section is connected to which major section. Thus, headings must be linked in form and layout to a notation system which is itself logical and easy to use.

Writing a Good Dissertation Report

When writing your Final Year Project Report, always bear in mind that a good report is easy to recognise:
The title is precise and informative,
The layout and format are well organised.

Reading a well-written report is pleasurable:
The style is accurate, fluent and concise, with headings to indicate the content of each section.
The diagrams, which can include non-verbal material such as tables and graphs, are well presented and clearly labelled.

There are no absolute rules about the details of report production. Every report must be totally adapted to the needs of its reader. However, the IEE in its ‘Technical Report Writing’ guide suggests the following:

1.The reader is the most important person.
2.Keep the report as short as possible.
3.Organise for the convenience of the report user.
4.All references should be correct in all details.
5.The writing should be accurate, concise and unobtrusive.
6.The right diagram with the right labels should be in the right place for the reader.
Summaries give the whole picture, in miniature.

8.Reports should be checked for technical errors, typing errors and inconsistency.
9.The report should look as good as it is.
10.The reader is the most important person.

Writing the Report

The writing should be accurate, concise and unobtrusive! If the objectives of the report have been clarified, the writer will know the appropriate level of technical language and the correct tone for the readership. The style will be formal because reports are formal documents, but the exact degree of formality will have been decided with the writer/reader relationship in mind.

The accuracy of the document is the responsibility of the writer. Most students word-process their own reports, but as they are not usually trained typists, careful checking is essential. When the student has completed a section of the report, it should be checked for spelling and typing errors. Most of these will be picked up by the computer dictionary / spell-checker, but there are some problem areas.