A common genre of technical writing is the proposal. Typically, proposals encourage an audience to take some form of direct action:

To authorize a project,
To purchase a service or product, or
To otherwise support a specific plan for solving a problem.

Proposals' purposes are ultimately persuasive. You are persuading your reader to follow-up with a specific action by answering questions about the nature of the problem or product; by providing the benefits of a plan or product; and by presenting and explaining the cost, completion date, schedules, etc. of a plan or product.

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For the next several lessons, then, you will compose and submit a proposal to me that addresses a problem in our community and a way that that problem might be solved. Your proposal is ultimately persuasive. You want to introduce me to your problem, defend your solution to that problem, and outline how you would implement that solution.

Specifically, the purpose of your proposal is to convince me that your solution is worth the time and resources devoted to solving this problem and that you're qualified to complete the work. Your proposal will introduce me to the problem and solution, justify your solution, and outline how you're going to complete the proposed project. Your proposal must include at least 1 image and 1 chart that you created.

Typically, the length of a proposal depends on audience, purpose, and objective. For this assignment, your group's proposal will be approximately 8 pages long (about 3200-3600 words). This does not include your works cited pages, which should be at the end of your proposal.

So, your proposal should meet the following requirements:

Sections:
- Project Summary: Briefly summarizes the intent of your proposal. What are you hoping to accomplish and why? Make sure that you directly request authorization to complete the specific project/task/action that you are proposing.
- Project Description: Using multiple subsections, describe in detail what you plan to accomplish.

Introduction: Briefly explores a problem in your community and provides academic research into the nature of the problem. Briefly details how you will solve the problem. You will need to research 2 or 3 nonprofit or government organizations that currently address problems similar to your own. Then, introduce the solution (or plan) that you intend to enact.
Rationale and Significance: Provides detailed research into the background of the problem and argues why your project will help solve that problem. Also explains your project’s benefits. Think about developing this section around the 3 E’s: environmental, economic, and ethical benefits. Be sure to include research from scholarly and outside sources. This is where you justify your proposed solution, so convince me that (1) the project you’ve proposed is the best (most efficient, most effective, least expensive, etc.) way to solve the problem and (2) that you are the right person to implement the project.
Ethical Analysis: Provides a research-backed discussion of the project's ethical considerations. Is there a potential for the misuse of power, funds, time, or other resources, and how will this misuse be avoided? What responsibilities does your team have to the community as you enact your solution?
Plan of Work: Describes your projected schedule and required tasks for the project (this is hypothetical, so how long do you expect such a project to take if this was your job?). Also include in this section an evaluation of the probability of your project’s success by identifying any potential problems or obstacles that you expect you might face (such as time or financial constraints) and your plan for addressing or circumventing those problems.

- Project Costs: Describes the anticipated facilities, equipment, and personnel costs for the project, and proposes a budget. Conduct some cited research into similar projects to help you determine the possible costs of your plan.
- Conclusion: Repeats the project’s main goals and benefits, and sums up major ideas. This is your final chance to persuade your reader of your project’s merits.
- Works Cited: Uses MLA format to cite all sources used in the proposal (these sources should be cited parenthetically within the text as well).

Use at least one image, which should be cited if you did not create it yourself
Include at least one chart, which should be cited if you did not create it yourself
Be at least 8 single-spaced pages (3200-3600 words) long (not including the works cited page).
Follow block/business formatting similar to the other assignments throughout this course (single spaced; blocked, not indented, paragraphs; simple, professional font; bolded section headings; etc.).
Use at least 6 sources that substantially impact the efficacy of the proposal. One of these must be a peer-reviewed academic journal article from an NCTC database (like Academic Search Complete)
Use MLA formatting for all documentation: you need to document everything in the proposal that comes from your research with parenthetical citations. Likewise, appropriately paraphrase your research in your own words and include quotation marks around all direct quotes. If you have any questions about documentation, paraphrasing, summarizing, and parenthetical citations, please review the guidelines at the Purdue OWL (Links to an external site).
- Note: You should only use MLA as a guide for documentation. Use block formatting to format the proposal.
Provide evidence of the writing process by submitting a rough draft of the proposal. Remember, I will not accept a final draft of your proposal if you do not first submit a rough draft.

Would you like to see a complete model? There are two student-created examples below:

Project Proposal Example 1

Project Proposal Example 2

Notice that each example is one student's attempt at a similar proposal assignment. You do not have to format or organize your proposal the same way necessarily. These example is meant to be descriptive and generative, not prescriptive.
Each of these students did a good job addressing a specific problem and offering a specific plan to solve that problem. Likewise, your proposal's focus should be on your own plan: What is your plan, how much will it cost, and how will it be implemented?

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For this lesson's assignments, then, we will:

Explore/Learn
- Read Chapter 9.
Collaborate/Connect
- Complete Lesson 9: Chpt 9 Quiz.
- Complete Lesson 9: Availability and Work Habits Survey