Proposals and Progress Reports From Chapter 9 of “The Essentials of Technical Communication”

What does a proposal do? Persuasion “Write to persuade your reader that you have a good idea, a good method for implementing the idea, and the experience necessary to manage the implementation” (190).

What does a progress report do? Persuasion “Write to persuade the reader either that you are making good progress on your project or that you realize you aren’t making good progress but know why and are taking appropriate steps to fix the problem” (190).

Proposal contexts A proposal offers to provide a service or product for money. Often, this is a bidding process. Bidding comes after a RFP (request for proposals), an SOT (statement of work) or RFQ (request for qualifications)

Proposal sections Project summary Project description Intro Rationale Plan Scope Methods Tasks Potential problems Equipment Personnel Budget Conclusion Appendices