"But Dad," you argue, "having my own car at school will make it so much easier for you. You know how much you hate driving on I-81 and how difficult it is for you to get that extra time off work. If I have my own car, you won't have to come get me every time I need to come home for a visit or a school vacation. Plus, I'll be able to get back and forth to my job easily. I'll use part of the money I earn every summer to pay for the insurance and upkeep, and I promise I'll drive responsibly."

Whether you're now driving around town in a Toyota 4Runner or riding your Schwinn, what you did, in short, was make a proposal. And like any good proposal, it focused on your audience's needs rather than your own. That is, you didn't point out that the real reason you want a car is so that you can drive to JMU every weekend to visit your significant other or drive to the river every afternoon to go fishing. Instead, you focused on what good a car would do your parent. You also set out a plan for paying expenses, and tried to establish your credibility (though how well that works depends in large part on your past history).

Goals
After completing this module, you should be able to:

• Analyze the rhetorical situation (goals and context) for different types of proposals.
• Identify the key components and basic formats for formal and informal proposals.
• Write an effective, persuasive proposal.

Proposals in the workplace-->