IS102 CAT

Guideline for CAT Project Proposal and Proposal Presentation

A. Project Proposal
A project proposal (hardcopy) is required for the course. It is a simple one (or two) page writeup that
has the title of your project, the names of the group members and the sponsor where applicable. A
writeup may consist of:

1. a short description of the problem and what your group intends to accomplish in this project
2. brief description of model where applicable
3. indication of sources of data and its availability
4. suggestions for data collection and analyses
5. perceived difficulties faced, if any
6. timeline for completion of project and milestones
7. roles (responsibilities) of different team members

Email your proposal writeup to me before the proposal session. A hardcopy/printout is to be handed in
during the Proposal Presentation session (which is usually held on Week 09, right after the term-break).

B. The Proposal Presentation (approx. 5 min each group)

The purpose of the proposal presentation is to seek feedback and help to complete the CAT project.
This is a "group learning" and "peer help" in action. Through the eyes of your colleagues you have a
chance to understand how your fellow students view your project. In turn, students get to understand
where their projects stand in relation to others. This might spur some on to revise their projects to do
more, or in some cases, it might help them reduce their project to more manageable expectations.

Advice on Proposal Presentation

1. Keep in mind that this is NOT your final presentation - you will still be presenting that. So, keep
your presentation short and go quickly to the point - which is to establish a quick understanding
of your projects so that others can comment.
2. One good guide is to keep your presentations to no more than 5 slides.
3. Focus on what you're going to do in your project - have a timeline if feasible. Plan it such that
you can complete the project in the time allocated. Describe the "strength" of your project.
4. Students often start by explaining the problem (short) and then move on to the dataset -
explaining what they expect to get out of their data.
5. Don't go overboard explaining limitations and caveats - you have enough time in the final project
presentation and report.
6. Watch out for trying to do too much be conscious of comments but in the end it is your decision.