The Research Proposal I found is a topic relevant to all residents of California. It is called “A Proposal to Review How Geophysical Precursors Can Help Predict Earthquakes,” proposed by Christopher Gray to the Undergraduate Engineering Review in February of 1995. The question Gray wants to answer is how certain key geological factors can be indicative of large-scale earthquakes. In order to establish the importance of this topic and question, Gray details devastating historical examples such as the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the Yokohama/Tokyo earthquake of 1923. Using the two worst earthquakes of the 20th century as evidence, he explains the importance of earthquake prediction to save lives and infrastructure from natural disaster. Because successful prediction models could have been extremely beneficial to San Francisco and Japan in these instances, Gray mentions the successful Chinese example of earthquake prediction as justification for his research. He discusses the accuracy of Chinese prediction models in predicting earthquakes rated 5.0 or above, and how these models have saved innumerous lives. He also notes that sometimes earthquake predictions yield no results, and people can be evacuated for months despite no earthquake ever occurring. Despite this, predicting earthquakes is still extremely relevant and there are several cases where prior action has saved thousands of lives.
Gray proposes an earthquake prediction model consisting of the following geophysical precursors: ground uplift and tilt, increases in radon emissions, and changes in electrical resistivity of rocks. Gray’s objectives for this research are to describe these factors, show when they happen during the five stages of an earthquake, and explain how they are used for earthquake prediction.
In the planning section, Gray explains the various goals he is trying to achieve with this research, as well as outlines the sources needed to accomplish them. He relies mainly on expert knowledge found in published books, and notes that he will exclude prediction statistics because there is a lack of documented success in predicting earthquakes. He also goes into great detail about his target audiences: engineering students and residents of earthquake-prone areas. He acknowledges that the two groups have different interests in this research and he plans to include relevant information for both.
At the end of his proposal, Gray lays out a two-month timeframe of collecting, organizing, and composing his research. Gray wrote very clearly and gave a thorough explanation of how/what he wanted to research.
Undergraduate Engineering Review. “Sample Proposals.” “Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science “. Last modified February 1999. http://writing.engr.psu.edu/workbooks/proposal.samples.html.
(This research proposal was posted in order to educate potential proposal writers on the Undergraduate Engineering Reviews‘ standards. I could not locate a citation for Gray’s proposal but the attached link includes the proposal and his reference list).