Proposal Paper

The purpose of the proposal paper is to demonstrate that you can:

collect, clean, and organize large datasets.
create and format word documents.

In addition, this proposal paper has the following goals:

Demonstrate that you have found an acceptable dataset which can be used for the semester project.
Demonstrate that you have sufficient understanding of the dataset to begin investigating this dataset.
Propose a basic question involving your dataset.

The proposal document should be of sufficient length to document the above objectives and to fully describe your project.

You should begin by locating a dataset which is appropriate for the semester project. This dataset should be sufficiently large (at least 100 records) and should include raw data, or data on individual items which has not been summarized. Finally, your dataset should probably contain multiple fileds of numeric data. You need not collect this data yourself, you are free to use an existing dataset. Please make sure to document the source of your data as you will need to cite this in several reports.

Your proposal should include a introduction section providing an overview of the proposed project.

Your proposal should document this dataset including:

The source of your dataset. This should include both a description of where you obtained the data as well as some information on how the data was collected if this is available. For example, if you use the Avocado Prices dataset from kaggle, you should note this, but you should also provide a summary of the original source.
An overview of the data contained in your dataset. This should be a description of the data contained in the dataset. It should be a high level description of the dataset.
Summary information for your dataset. This should include information such as the file type, the size of the data file, and the number of records in the dataset. Please make sure to define any specialized terms associated with the dataset.
A basic data dictionary which describes the fields in the dataset. This does not need to be complete, but should contain sufficient details to show that there is potential for investigation into this dataset.
Sample data from your dataset.

You should also include a section discussing the basic question you wish to investigate. This can be a very general description of what you wish to learn or a question you wish to answer involving this dataset. This section may be somewhat difficult to write at this point but do your best.

Many portions of this document will be resued in future portions of the project. It is acceptable that some of these portions are only partially complete at this stage. Items such as the data dictionary and the question will be refined as the semseter progresses.

To meet the computer skills objective, your document should include the following technical aspects:

Multiple sections, including front matter, main text and end matter.
Headings for each of the above required items.
Appropriate citations should be included using the style associated with your discipline. If you do no know the style for your discipline, please select either APA or MLA. Citations should be created using the citation manager.
A bibliography in the appropriate style. This should be created automatically using the bibliography tool. The bibliography should be in a separate section and should contain no page numbers.
A cover page with no page numbers.
A table of contents which is part of the front matter. This should start with page number ii, which should be located at the bottom center of the page. This table should be automatically generated.
The main document should be numbered with Arabic numerals in the upper right hand corner of the page.
The normal text for the document should be double spaced.
At least one well formatted table containing example data from your dataset.
Formatting should be performed at the document level whenever possible.

Please do not begin detailed analysis of your data at this point. You will probably be lacking basic techniques of data analysis at the time the report is due. The main goal of this report is to encourage you to obtain a dataset which is likely to produce some success in the analysis phase.

Item	Weight	Full	Partial
Contents
Data source documented	5%	Appropriate description of original and any secondary sources. Link(s) included.	Some description of source provided.
Overview of dataset.	5%	A thorough description of the dataset is provided.	The dataset is described, however critical information is missing.
Data Dictionary	10%	Most fields in the dataset are described.	Part of the dataset is described.
Summary Information	5%	Meta-information for the dataset is supplied.	Some meta-information is provided.
Question or area of investigation.	10%	The area of investigation is described or a question is provided.
Example Data	5%	Provided
Formatting
Use of Sections	10%	Sections are used to divide document appropriately	Some sections are employed.
Citations/Bib	10%	The citation manager is used, citations contain accurate data, Bib is complete and constructed using the Bib tool. Citations are employed.	Some citations are present, citation data is incomplete. Bib constructed using Bib tool.
Cover Page	5%	Present, well formatted, complete.	Blank fields are visible, missing information
Table of Contents	5%	Contains all headings and subheadings. Generated automatically.	Contains some headings. Generated automatically.
Page numbering	5%	Pages are numbered as directed, using the page numbering tool.	Consistent page numbering using the page numbering tool, some formatting errors.
Double Spaced	5%	Normal text style has been changed to accomplish this.	Paragraph/Character level formatting.
Example Data Table	5%	Well formatted, labeled and readable.	Minor formatting problems.
Other
General Formatting	15%	The document is well formatted, contains no errors in grammar or spelling, and is attractive.	The document contains minor flaws in formatting, spelling or grammar.

This document should be submitted to the D2L folder Project Proposal Report.