Proposal

Professor’s comments:

Slides look good. Good intro. Make sure you proofread the graphics. News clip is very helpful and illustrates the problem very well. Nice explanation of prevention tips. Installation drawing is also helpful. The budget raises some questions. What are the prices based on? What is the cost for the consumer? This could use more development. In general, the slides are well-prepared.

            The proposal was a fun project to work on and I liked that we had to incorporate teamwork to propose an invention that we all agreed on. This assignment allowed us to develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of the writing processes which we will need in the future as engineers. However, the most difficult aspect of this assignment was actually working together because it was a new experience for all of us. We had trouble finding a way to format all of our work together in a way that made sense and did not repeat. Me and one of my partner had written the same information when one of us was supposed to write an introduction and one of us was supposed to write alternative methods to prevent forest fires. I had written the alternative methods and my partner wrote other alternative methods in the introduction that also included some background on forest fires. So, we had to change the introduction to add more on the history of forest fires and add more graphics to help the reader understand the huge problem in California. It was new for me to add so many images in a piece of writing. It was also new for me to write a proposal.

            Thinking of an idea that did not already exist was one of the most difficult parts of this assignment. Everything we thought of had already existed. However, after some brainstorming and specific details to our invention, like the heat sensor and Phos-Chek instead of water for the repellent made our idea unique. We could have added more information on the budget and explain why we think this would be the price for everything. However, although it was difficult to work with other people and not something we were used to, I think it was very important to develop teamwork and strong communication that is necessary for any job in the future.