A Quick Guide to Writing a Proposal By Dr. Jennifer L. Bowie For Electronic Writing & Publishing

What is a proposal? A common business document An attempt to persuade the audience to take some form of direct action Developed to sell the idea Has a primarily persuasive purpose Provides persuasive answers to basic question (Lannon, 571) Is informative, clear, and realistic

What are the major sections: Summary or Overview –includes Statement of Problems and Objective Description of the Proposed Project Statement of Work/ Work Plan Qualifications/Personnel/Facilities Budget Conclusion

What do we need to include? Summary or Overview: a paragraph or so summarizing the whole proposal, which includes a concise statement of problem(s) and objective [for this project your problem will be the need in the community for the website] Description of the proposed project with a detailed discussion of the: –Problem (statement of problem): What is the problem you hope to solve (or need you hope to repsond to)? –Project goal/ purpose/objective: What is the purpose? What do you plan to do? What is your objective? [hint: use Jeney’s Purpose Analysis on page 37 may help] –Plan/proposed solutions to the problem (which may be combined with the goal): How will this solve the problem? –Audience: Who is the site for? Provide a detailed audience profile, perhaps even niches and personas of audience [hint: use Jeney’s Audience Analysis on page 38] –Use & goals: How will the audience use the site? What will they do? What tasks can the complete? What goals will they come to the site with? –Website plan: what do you plan to do? What will your website look like? What will it include? Discuss the proposed outline or possibly a site map (which can be attached) –Genre: what genre(s) is the website? How will it fit within the genre? What ways, if any, will it differ? Statement of Work/ Work Plan: Provide a plan, with dates and roles, of your work Qualifications/Personnel/Facilities: Optional, as needed Budget: Optional, not needed for this proposal Conclusion: a paragraph or so which includes –A summary of the proposal –A statement on why the audience (of the proposal (in this case me), not of the site) should accept your proposed proposal idea

Good luck & have fun