Proposal Rubric

Grading Scale

Since Below a B- is considering failing in the graduate school, we use the following scale for scoring the rubrics

Score	Grade	Category
10	A	Exceeds Expectations, Top Notch
9.5	A	Excellent, shows Mastery
9.3	A	Great, Minor Revisions
9.2	A-
9.0	A-	Very Good, Some revisions needed
8.7	B+	Good. Some Deficiencies, Moderate Revisions needed
8.5	B	Fair, Extensive Deficiencies, Major revisions needed
8.2	B-	Poor
8.0	B-	Just passing, Major Deficiencies
< 8.0	F	Does not meet the minimum requirements

Capstone Proposal Sections

The Capstone Proposal requires the following components:

Title Page

• Title is straightforward, clear, understandable even to non-expert. The punnier the better.
• Title page includes
• the name of the student
• the names of the committee members, their departments, and their emails.

Significance

• Overall scientific premise is clearly stated.
• The background gives enough detail to understand the premise: not overly excessive, nor too sparse.
• The rationale clearly outlines a gap in the field.
• A central hypothesis is clearly stated.
• The specific aims are well designed to test the hypothesis and do not depend on each other

Innovation

• Innovative scholarship, creativity, or any new knowledge created by the project was detailed.
• The outlook of the project is well formulated

Approach

• At least two Specific Aims outlining the methods were detailed.
• Each Aim had a clear rationale and a stated hypothesis.
• Each aim detailed how they would incorporate methods to ensure scientific rigor and reproducibility

Timeline

• A timeline of the project was included
• The Deadlines for the Major Milestones were stated
• The Deadlines for tasks such as Data Collection and Analysis were discussed
• Current progress was outlined

Progress

• The proposal exhibits sufficient progress for the Capstone Progress at this stage of the timeline.
• i.e. The students exhibits a strong grasp of the project, has met deadlines, and is ready to work on the Capstone report