Project 4: Proposal
Worth 25% of final grade
Proposal Assignment Overview
For this assignment, you will write a well-researched and tightly argued proposal. The proposal should be viewed as an opportunity to work through a problem you have encountered in your life--as a student, employee, intern, or a member of an organization or team.
From the start, your proposal should be addressed to a particular audience. This means that you should both 1) formally address a particular person or organization in the memo heading and 2) tailor your writing--your argument, your support, your plan--to a specific person or organization. From here, your proposal should clearly identify and explain a problem. You should think of your problem in terms of dissonance. That is, you should seek to explain an ongoing tension: What is the problem keeping you from doing? Why should your audience care? Why might working toward resolving this problem be of importance for your audience? After identifying a tension, your proposal should offer a proposed solution or set of solutions to the problem. Based on research that you have done, what action will help resolve the problem you’ve identified? Following this statement, you should explore--in depth--how you will carry out the solution you propose. What steps will you need to take? How can the research that you do help provide support for your plan? How can you show your audience that you will provide a solution? Finally, you should explain and support the final costs and resource requirements needed. How can you justify these costs?
Ultimately, your proposal should persuade the person to whom it is addressed to give you the resources needed to carry out your plan.
In sum, the proposal should 1) address a particular audience, 2) identify a problem, 3) offer a proposed solution(s) to the problem, 4) provide a detailed plan for how you will solve the problem, 5) explain the costs and resource requirements.
The proposal assignment will be divided into four major sections:
Proposal Assignment Overview
For this assignment, you will write a well-researched and tightly argued proposal. The proposal should be viewed as an opportunity to work through a problem you have encountered in your life--as a student, employee, intern, or a member of an organization or team.
From the start, your proposal should be addressed to a particular audience. This means that you should both 1) formally address a particular person or organization in the memo heading and 2) tailor your writing--your argument, your support, your plan--to a specific person or organization. From here, your proposal should clearly identify and explain a problem. You should think of your problem in terms of dissonance. That is, you should seek to explain an ongoing tension: What is the problem keeping you from doing? Why should your audience care? Why might working toward resolving this problem be of importance for your audience? After identifying a tension, your proposal should offer a proposed solution or set of solutions to the problem. Based on research that you have done, what action will help resolve the problem you’ve identified? Following this statement, you should explore--in depth--how you will carry out the solution you propose. What steps will you need to take? How can the research that you do help provide support for your plan? How can you show your audience that you will provide a solution? Finally, you should explain and support the final costs and resource requirements needed. How can you justify these costs?
Ultimately, your proposal should persuade the person to whom it is addressed to give you the resources needed to carry out your plan.
In sum, the proposal should 1) address a particular audience, 2) identify a problem, 3) offer a proposed solution(s) to the problem, 4) provide a detailed plan for how you will solve the problem, 5) explain the costs and resource requirements.
The proposal assignment will be divided into four major sections: