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Proposal Guide

This will serve as an aid whenever writing formal applications and proposals in school , work, and college settings.

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phumelelamatsebula4
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15 views3 pages

Proposal Guide

This will serve as an aid whenever writing formal applications and proposals in school , work, and college settings.

Uploaded by

phumelelamatsebula4
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Proposal guide

A proposal generally consists of:

• Introduction: A brief overview of the problem, solution, costs, and benefits.

• Issue: The main definition of the issue, including subject, purpose, main argument,
background information and importance.

• Solution: The main definition of the solution, including your step-by-step plan, the
benefits, and how potential obstacles will be overcame.

• Qualifications: Overview of the personnel required, experience.

• Conclusion of the costs and benefits, and wrap-up: Balance the cost against the
benefit, reinforce your point one last time.
1. Identify and define your reader

Just like with any kind of persuasion, it helps if you understand how to appeal to your audience. Who will
be reading your proposal and deciding if it’s accepted or rejected? What do they care about? What kind
of language and benefits would resonate with them? This is the first step because it’s an important thing
to keep in mind as you go along and as information that informs the way you write from here on.

2. Define the problem your proposal will solve

Who: Who will the proposal affect?

What: What’s the reason for you to write the proposal in the first place? Explain the current situation and
the problems that come with it.

3. Define the solution

How: How are you going to solve the problem? Explain step-by-step in detail.

Who: Identify the personnel you need, along with their prior experience to add persuasion to the proposal

4. Conclusion: costs, benefits and wrap-up

Reiterate: The purpose and main argument

Costs: Break down the projected costs involved for different elements of the project

Benefits: Break down the benefits to the organization, monetary and non -monetary, to persuade the
reader there’ll be a return on investment

Thanks: Thank the reader for their time.

Contact information: Where can the reader get in touch with you? Make sure to be crystal clear to make
the details easily discoverable .
Last steps before submitting the proposal

Clear writing is your best friend when you’re trying to write persuasively. For that reason, there are a few
checks to run before you submit your proposal.

Remember, what’s clear to you might not always be clear to other people.

1 .Check for jargon (then destroy it)

Although jargon is popular in the business world, not everyone shares the equal love for it. It’s terms like
right-size, blue sky (verb), turn-key, and synergize. They might mean something to you, or make you feel
intelligent, but there are simpler alternatives that will help people understand what you mean!

2. Change the passive voice to the active voice

The passive voice is defined as:

“The noun or noun phrase that would be the object of an active sentence (such as Our troops defeated
the enemy) appears as the subject of a sentence with passive voice (e.g. The enemy was defeated by
our troops).”.

It’s a long-winded way of expressing something that could be expressed in simple terms.

The passive voice sounds distant and even deceptive, and, since the reader might even just be skimming
your proposal, you don’t want to add extra words to cloud your point.

3. Proofread the proposal

Install a tool like Grammarly and check the proposal in an online text editor. Grammarly will manage to
pick up on anything that is grammatically incorrect and sometimes even fl ags up stylistically poor
phrases. Poor spelling and grammar will only discredit the value of what you’re saying and could be
a problem that leads to your proposal being rejected.

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