Peer Review of Matthew De Rose Research Proposal

To:                   Matthew De Rose, English 301 Student Writer

From:              Meera Patel, English 301 Student Reviewer

Date:               June 24, 2020

Subject:           Peer Review of Proposal for Determining the Feasibility of Introducing Unit Testing to the Existing Testing Practice for DAB Software Development Team”

Thank you for submitting this proposal for determining the feasibility of introducing unit testing to the existing testing practice for the DAB Software Development Team. Please see suggestions for potential improvements below:

First Impressions:

Excellent work identifying the lack of unit testing for smaller components of the much larger DAB Software, that if feasible can improve the quality assurance process performed of the whole DAB Software. The writer’s in-depth knowledge and expertise of software development are apparent to the reader, thus enforcing that the identified inefficiency is worth researching and of value to the field of software development as a whole.

Introduction Section

The introduction concisely explains software development and the rigorous testing protocol involved. The dependence on automated systems and the desire for time-saving testing protocols foreshadows the problem to be identified in the next section.

• A suggestion is to

Statement of the Problem Section –

Proposed Solution Section

Scope Section

Method Section

My Qualifications Section

Conclusion Section

Restatement of the problem and then following up with the intended results of examining unit testing feasibility successfully enforces the purpose of the proposed research and its intended outcome for the reader. I suggest avoiding the pronouns ‘I’ in this section and condensing wordier parts like “I will be able to” into “will allow” to ensure easier comprehension.

• Current:
  • From this investigation, I will be able to explore the feasibility of adopting unit testing into the team’s standard testing procedures to improve how the quality assurance for this software is being performed.

• Rewrite:
  • This investigation will allow the exploration of the feasibility of unit testing adoption, as a part of the team’s standard quality assurance testing procedures to improve software quality.

Organization

The proposal is well organized in meaningful subsections.

Grammar and Technical Errors

A number of small grammatical errors are present that hinder consistency and readers’ ability to focus. These can be fixed with proof-reading. Two examples are identified below; however, it will be beneficial to examine the document in its entirety.

Example One – First sentence under Statement of Problem:

• Current
  • “In the development team to develop the DAB Online regulatory compliance software currently only tests t our Application Program Interfaces (API)and our end to end (E2E) processes.”

• Proposed Rewrite
  • “The team to develop the DAB Online regulatory compliance software currently only tests our Application Program Interfaces (API) and our End to End (E2E) processes.”

Example Two – Last sentence under Proposed Solution:

• Current
  • “By running unit tests in tandem with API and E2E testing development team have a greater understanding of how and where a bug has arisen thus reducing the time needed to fix it.”

• Proposed Rewrite
  • “By running unit tests in tandem with API and E2E testing, the development teams have a greater understanding of how and where a bug has arisen thus reducing the time needed to fix it.”

• Alternatively
  • “By running unit tests in tandem with API and E2E testing, the development team has a greater understanding of a bug’s location and problem – reducing the time needed to fix it.