Subject: First draft UROP proposal guidelines.
From: Bill Cattey <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 01:10:21 -0400 (EDT)

Here is a first draft of guidelines for writing a UROP proposal.

mbarker:  You and I will refine them for later use.
rcaileff, montwill: you get to be the guinea pigs -- use this first
draft as your guide -- because, even though I've started you guys
working, you really SHOULD write a UROP proposal ASAP.

----

What is a UROP Proposal?

Well, philosophically, its a mini-research proposal.  The UROP concept
is that undergraduates do research.  So even though you write it AFTER
you've decided what to do, it is supposed to give you a flavor for
proposing some research.  It's an exercise in organizing your ideas and
telling them coherently enough to someone that they would actually plunk
down dollars for what you propose to do.

That philosopy isn't followed very closely.

In previous years, UROP proposals out of DCNS had degenerated to saying
little more than "I will work for DCNS."

The reality is that the proposal gets accepted no matter what you write.
 But now at DCNS we are choosing to try and make the proposals useful
and meaningful.

In principle what we want you to achieve with the UROP proposal is to:
	take a little time and THINK about the job you are about to do.
	work at improving your skill at communicating what you thought.

So think about the following questions and write a thing titled "UROP
Proposal" that tries to answer them in a couple short, clear paragraphs.

1.  What work will you be doing? 
	What is the big goal of the project?
	What short term tasks will you do to move that goal forward? 
	What will you DELIVER?

2. What do you think you will learn from this work? 
	What skills? 
	What broad areas of study will you visit?

3. How might this work affect the rest of your life?
	How might this job improve your course work?
	How might this job improve your career?

You will know you are getting the maximum benefit from the exercise if
you find it difficult.  Identify the sources of the difficulty and ask
for help.

-wdc