Letter of Intent

Senior Project Letter of Intent: Your Project Proposal

Introduction
For most of your high school career you have been subjected to classes you’ve had to take. While you may have had some opportunity to choose certain electives, it is likely that you have had little influence over what you’ve actually been taught. Your teachers—and your school district—have been making most of these decisions for you.

MPHS' Senior Project allows you to finally have direct control over what you learn. The Senior Project gives you the chance to choose a subject that has special interest to you. The first step that you must take toward creating this personalized "class" is to write a letter of intent, which serves as your project proposal.

Letter of Intent
The Senior Project Letter of Intent is a formal letter that is addressed to the Senior Project Coordinator and identifies what you’ll be researching (your paper) and what you’ll be doing or creating (your project) this semester. It also includes your paper's thesis statement. The letter follows a predictable pattern:

1st Paragraph

The first paragraph of the Letter of Intent reflects your interest in the topic you’ve chosen and clearly shows how what you’ll be doing is something new for you. In other words, not only must you describe why the topic is interesting, you must also show how it is a departure from anything you’ve done previously.

2nd Paragraph

The second paragraph of this letter describes—in detail—what you will be researching for your 1800- to 2800-word paper. This paragraph should state your paper’s tentative thesis or topic and begin to identify the various sources you plan on using.

3rd Paragraph

The third paragraph of the Letter of Intent begins with a transitional sentence that shows the correlation between your paper and your project. The rest of the paragraph describes your fifteen-hour project in detail, including what you will be doing to achieve your desired goals, who will be involved as your mentor, how it is a learning stretch and how it benefits the community as well as any other information crucial to the success of this project.

4th Paragraph

The final paragraph of the Senior Project Letter of Intent is your disclaimer against plagiarism and fraudulent behavior. You are to include at least two sentences that touch on your understanding of plagiarism and fraud, and explain that you know the repercussions for these acts.

Click HERE for a link to see basically how it is set up.