state of the art research report in Mechanical engineering field

Request for Proposal (RFP)

EGR 3350 Formal Report (Summer Semester 2015)

All students in EGR 3350/5350, Summer Semester 2015, are hereby notified to submit individual proposals and annotated bibliographies for their formal reports.

Objectives

The requested proposal serves two purposes.

1. It constitutes a graded proposal assignment worth 15% of the course points to provide EGR 3350 students with minimal experience and familiarity in writing proposals.

2. It provides a coherent mechanism by which EGR 3350 students can develop a topic for their formal report assignment, select an appropriate report type, and receive critical feedback.

Topic Constraints

The formal report is the capstone assignment of EGR 3350 and accounts for 40% of the course points. The proposed formal report topic should be selected from the student's major field of study, should be at a level of complexity appropriate for the student's knowledge and skill in the field, and should be substantial enough to qualify for a formal report.

Report Type Constraints

Students may propose a formal report type from the following list:

· Proposal (see course text, p.81).

· Feasibility Report (see course text, p. 127).

· Progress Report (see course text, p. 111).

· Laboratory or Project Report (see course text p. 151).

· Research or State-of-the-Art Report (see course text p. 197).

EGR 3350 Proposal Tasking Sheet, cont.

Proposal Content

To be acceptable, proposals submitted in response to this RFP must follow Outline 6.1 for Informal Proposals in the course text, pp. 86, and must contain the following:

Introduction

· A Purpose Statement clearly stating that the proposed topic will fulfill the Formal Report requirement for EGR 3350, Spring Semester 2015.

· A Background Statement that provides information on the proposed topic, and that demonstrates the efficacy of this topic for the EGR 3350 Formal Report assignment.

· A Scope Statement that clearly defines what will and will not be treated in the proposed formal report.

Discussion

· An Approach Statement that details specifically what the proposed paper will contain and how the research will be conducted.

· A Result Statement that describes the benefit of this report in terms of providing information and fulfilling course requirements.

· A Statement of Work that lays out the major tasks for completing the formal report assignment, including the primary deliverables: the Formal Report Briefing and the Formal Report Document. Each task statement also should clarify why the task is needed.

Resources

· A Personnel Statement specifying who will be doing the work or providing other resources, and why these people are qualified.

· A Facilities and Equipment Statement specifying what physical resources will be required and how they will be obtained.

Costs

· A Fiscal Statement showing the proposed budget for the project, including such costs as labor, travel, materials, and computer access, and a table summarizing costs.

· A Time Statement showing the hours required to complete the proposed formal report. Note: this information may be included in the Statement of Work.

Conclusion

· A Contact Statement listing a name and e-mail address or phone number where more information about this proposal can be obtained.

Annotated Bibliography

· Must include a minimum of 8 viable and credible sources

· Must follow guidelines in the Annotated Bibliography Tasking Sheet

EGR 3350 Proposal Tasking Sheet, cont.

Proposal Format

To be acceptable, proposals submitted in response to this RFP must follow the format requirements specified in the EGR 3350 Course Syllabus for Spring Semester 2015. The proposal must be at least four pages long, not counting visuals.

Proposal Documentation

To be acceptable, proposals submitted in response to this RFP must provide any required documentation using one of the formats provided in the course text, Chapter 14, p. 255.

Proposal Checklist

To be acceptable, proposals submitted in response to this RFP must be consistent with the Proposal Checklist in the course text, p. 104.

Deliverables and Schedule

Students will provide for the following deliverables in their Proposal:

· Formal Report Presentation (briefing) dealing with some aspect of the Formal Report at a time and place to be determined.

· Formal Report Document to be delivered via upload to Pilot Dropbox by midnight Thursday, July 30, 2015.

References

Course Texts

Finkelstein, Leo, Jr., Pocket Book of Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists, 3rd. Ed., Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008. (ISBN: 0073191590)

Finkelstein, Leo Jr., Pocket Book of English Grammar for Engineers and Scientists, 1st Ed., Long Grove: Waveland Press, 2006 (re-release 2013). (ISBN: 1577667379)

Course Syllabus

EGR 3350 Annotated Bibliography Tasking Sheet

Annotated Bibliography Assignment

You are required to append an annotated bibliography of at least 8 entries to your topic proposal paper. An annotated bibliography is very similar to a bibliography; the main difference is that each bibliographic entry includes a short prose description of what the source is about and how it will be specifically used in the creation of your paper. You may use any acceptable citation style—be consistent.

You should use academic sources from the library’s databases or commercial sources from companies’ websites. Use of commercial sources should be appropriate and relevant. For example, a company website may be the ideal place to find technical specifications for a product. However, material posted in the public relations areas of a commercial website should be considered biased and must be used sparingly and judiciously. When in doubt, ask your instructor.

Some sources that we commonly use at the beginning of the research process are not appropriate to include in an academic research paper. Examples include Wikipedia, HowStuffWorks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and materials intended for a consumer audience, including magazines and websites intended for a general audience. If you use these sources to get started, you may list them under “Works Consulted.” You should avoid referring to or quoting from these sources in your final document. Any exceptions should be discussed with and approved by your instructor. These sources do not count toward your required 8 sources.

Sample Annotated Bibliography

Cherry, Steven. "Blu-ray's Empty Victory." IEEE Spectrum 45.3 (2008): 16.

This is an electronic journal about the victory of BLU-RAY over HD-DVD and the relative worthless meaning of that victory. This will be used in closing comments of the research paper to show the movement away from such media, signaling the death of optical disc media.

Gregg, David P. Disc-shaped Member. Patent 4893297. March 8, 1989.

This is the patent giving more technical specifications for the CD-ROM. This will be used to help describe how a CD-ROM works.

Ko, JW. "Optical storage system for 0.4 mm substrate media using 405 nm laser diode and numerical aperture 0.60/0.65 objective lens." Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Part 1-Regular Papers Short Notes & Review Papers 40.3B (2001): 1604-608.

This is a technical document with much information about BLU-RAY technology, its associated uses, and physical specifications of the BLU-RAY discs. This will be used as the primary BLU-RAY source for the research paper and will show the advantages of BLU-RAY technology as well as the common uses.

Kobota, T. "IT to HD: Visions of Broadcasting in the 21st Century." 30 Nov.-1 Dec. 2004:

This is an article about HD technologies such as BLU-RAY and HD-DVD. This will be used in conjunction with other sources for BLU-RAY background and will be the main source of technical specifications for the HD-DVD.