You should approach writing a proposal in stages.

Stage One: Analyze the Rhetorical Situation.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Who is my audience? (What do they know? What do they need to know?)

What is my goal/purpose?

What are my constraints (time, resources, etc.)?

You may want to refer to the Audience Analysis worksheet covered earlier for more help in defining your target audience.

In analyzing your audience, look for ways to create a sense of shared purpose (you both want what's "best" according to certain criteria), and define their needs and concerns as clearly as possible. Your goal is to build their trust in you, demonstrate that you understand not only their needs, but their values and goals, and prove that you are the one best suited for the job at hand.

Stage Two: Draft the Imporant Information.

Do not begin with the title page and write through to the appendix. Rather, begin with the body of the proposal, and build the rest around it.

• Write the description of proposed work and its subsections.

• Start with your conclusion: what needs to be done.

• List the reasons why it needs to be done.

• Address possible objections.

• Draft a summarizing introduction: demonstrate that you understand the problem and know how to solve it. Provide an overview of the project; highlight the proposed solution and the benefits to the audience
  
  In most proposals, the focus on benefits is the most important element; in this course, those benefits are two-fold: 1) the benefit to the target audience for your article, and 2) the benefits to you in terms of meeting course goals.

• Outline your methods: how will you solve the problem. Here, you might list your research sources (primary and secondary).

• Outline your plan: what you'll do, when you'll do it, and how you'll do it. If this were a proposal in the workplace, you would also highlight how much it would cost. Here you might include a schedule or Gantt Chart (a Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that graphically displays the time relationships between the different tasks in a project).
  

• If you want a quick tutorial, visit the following site: Gantt tutorial and sample.

• Explain your qualifications. What are your credentials? Why should the reader believe that you can accomplish the goals/objectives you've outlined? Have you solved similar problems before? Met deadlines?

• Write the sections that function as summaries -- cover letter, executive summary, and conclusion. Unless you have specific reasons to do otherwise, retain parallel structure within sections -- for instance, present advantages in the same order in both the body and the conclusion. As more information becomes available, you will be able to add details to subsequent drafts.

Importantly, while almost every proposal contains the information outlined above, you should refer to your instructor's assignment for additional details on organization, required sections, and other relevant information.

Stage Three: Organize the Information.

You've already examined the structure for a formal proposal and an informal proposal. As you've learned, while there are templates (such as the ones you'll see), these templates are not restrictive. You should modify them to fit your needs and the constraints of the proposal assignment.

In the workplace, instead of assignments from your teacher, you may receive and RFP, or Request For Proposal, from a potential customer; RFPs are essentially longer, more detailed, and more complex "assignments," often with very specific guidelines that you must follow exactly.

In some cases, an informal proposal may be in the form of an e-mail or short memo with no subheadings at all. In other cases, you may find that even for an internal proposal, you need to provide a formal structure. For the purposes of this assignment, you should be able to modify the informal structure easily.

Stage Four: Edit and Revise

At the end of this module, you'll find a checklist for editing your document. Be sure to review the material in the Style Module as well. Remember, the proposal's quality is directly related to ethos as you try to build your own credibility.

Writing Tips: The art of persuasion-->