CHAPTER 16Writing ProposalsChapter IntroductionUnder

CHAPTER 16
Writing Proposals
Chapter Introduction
Understanding the Process of Writing Proposals
FOCUS ON PROCESS: Proposals
The Logistics of Proposals
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PROPOSALS
SOLICITED AND UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS
The “Deliverables” of Proposals
RESEARCH PROPOSALS
GOODS AND SERVICES PROPOSALS
Persuasion and Proposals
UNDERSTANDING CONTEXTS
DESCRIBING WHAT YOU PLAN TO DO
DEMONSTRATING YOUR PROFESSIONALISM
GUIDELINES: Demonstrating Your Professionalism in a
Proposal
ETHICS NOTE: Writing Honest Proposals
Writing a Proposal
The Structure of the Proposal
SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
GUIDELINES: Introducing a Proposal

PROPOSED PROGRAM
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS Activity: Writing the Proposed
Program
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS Activity: Marketing Proposal
Presentation
BUDGET
APPENDIXES
TASK SCHEDULE
TECH TIP: Why and How to Create a Gantt Chart
DESCRIPTION OF EVALUATION TECHNIQUES
Sample Internal Proposal
WRITER’S CHECKLIST
EXERCISES
CASE 16: Writing an Introduction for a Proposal
Understanding the Process of Writing Proposals
Writing a proposal calls for the same process of planning,
drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading that
you use for other kinds of documents. The Focus on Process box
on the next page presents an overview of
this process.
FOCUS ON PROCESS: Proposals
When writing a proposal, pay special attention to these steps in
the writing process.

PLANNING Consider your readers’ knowledge about and
attitudes toward what you are
proposing. Use the techniques discussed in Chapters 5 and 6 to
learn as much as
you can about your readers’ needs and about the subject. Also
consider whether
you have the personnel, facilities, and equipment to do what
you propose to do.
DRAFTING Collaboration is critical for large proposals because
no one person has the time
and expertise to do all the work. See Chapter 4 for more about
collaboration. In
writing the proposal, follow the instructions in any request for
proposal (RFP) or
information for bid (IFB) from the prospective customer. If
there are no
instructions, follow the structure for proposals outlined in this
chapter.
REVISING External proposals usually have a firm deadline.
Build in time to revise, edit, and
proofread the proposal thoroughly and still get it to readers on
time. See the
Writer’s Checklist at the end of this chapter.
EDITING See Chapter 10 for advice on writing correct and
effective sentences.
PROOFREADING See Appendix, Part C, for proofreading tips.
The Logistics of Proposals
Proposals can be classified as either internal or external;

external proposals are either solicited or unsolicited.
Figure 16.1 shows the relationships among these four terms.
FIGURE 16.1 The Logistics of Proposals
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PROPOSALS
Internal proposals are submitted to the writer’s own
organization; external proposals are submitted to another
organization.
Internal Proposals An internal proposal is an argument,
submitted within an organization, for carrying out
an activity that will benefit the organization. An internal
proposal might recommend that the organization
conduct research, purchase a product, or change some aspect of
its policies or procedures.
For example, while working on a project in the laboratory, you
realize that if you had a fiber-curl
measurement system, you could do your job better and faster.
The increased productivity would save your
company the cost of the system in a few months. Your
supervisor asks you to write a memo describing what
you want, why you want it, what you’re going to do with it, and
what it costs; if your request seems
reasonable and the money is available, you’ll likely get the new
system.
Often, the scope of a proposal determines its format. A request
for a small amount of money might be
conveyed orally or by email or a brief memo. A request for a
large amount, however, is likely to be
presented in a formal report.
External Proposals No organization produces all the products or
provides all the services it needs.

Websites need to be designed, written, and maintained;
inventory databases need to be created; facilities
need to be constructed. Sometimes projects require unusual
expertise, such as sophisticated market analyses.
Because many companies supply such products and services,
most organizations require a prospective
supplier to compete for the business by submitting a proposal, a
document arguing that it deserves the
business.
SOLICITED AND UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS
External proposals are either solicited or unsolicited. A
solicited proposal is submitted in response to a
request from the prospective customer. An unsolicited proposal
is submitted by a supplier who believes that
the prospective customer has a need for goods or services.
Solicited Proposals When an organization wants to purchase a
product or service, it publishes one of two
basic kinds of statements:
An information for bid (IFB) is used for standard products.
When a state agency needs desktop
computers, for instance, it informs computer manufacturers of
the configuration it needs. All other things
being equal, the supplier that offers the lowest bid for a product
with that configuration wins the contract.
When an agency solicits bids for a specific brand and model,
the solicitation is sometimes called a
request for quotation (RFQ).
A request for proposal (RFP) is used for more customized
products or services. For example, if the Air
Force needs an “identification, friend or foe” system, the RFP it
publishes might be a long and detailed
set of technical specifications. The supplier that can design,
produce, and deliver the device most closely

resembling the specifications — at a reasonable price — will
probably win the contract.
Most organizations issue IFBs and RFPs in print and online.
Government solicitations are published on
the FedBizOpps website. Figure 16.2 (on page 426) shows a
portion of an RFQ.
FIGURE 16.2 Excerpt from an RFQ
Unsolicited Proposals An unsolicited proposal is like a solicited
proposal except that it does not refer to an
RFP. In most cases, even though the potential customer did not
formally request the proposal, the supplier
was invited to submit the proposal after people from the two
organizations met and discussed the project.
Because proposals are expensive to write, suppliers are
reluctant to submit them without assurances that they
will be considered carefully. Thus, the word unsolicited is only
partially accurate.
The “Deliverables” of Proposals
A deliverable is what a supplier will deliver at the end of a
project. Deliverables can be classified into two
major categories: research or goods and services.
RESEARCH PROPOSALS
In a research proposal, you are promising to perform research
and then provide a report about it. For
example, a biologist for a state bureau of land management
writes a proposal to the National Science

Foundation requesting resources to build a window-lined tunnel
in the forest to study tree and plant roots and
the growth of fungi. The biologist also wishes to investigate the
relationship between plant growth and the
activity of insects and worms. The deliverable will be a report
submitted to the National Science Foundation
and, perhaps, an article published in a professional journal.
Research proposals often lead to two other applications:
progress reports and recommendation reports.
After a proposal has been approved and the researchers have
begun work, they often submit one or more
progress reports, which tell the sponsor of the project how the
work is proceeding. Is it following the plan of
work outlined in the proposal? Is it going according to
schedule? Is it staying within budget?
At the end of the project, researchers prepare a recommendation
report, often called a final report, a
project report, a completion report, or simply a report. A
recommendation report tells the whole story of a
research project, beginning with the problem or opportunity that
motivated it and continuing with the
methods used in carrying it out, the results, and the researchers’
conclusions and recommendations.
For more about progress reports and recommendation reports,
see Ch. 17, p. 454, and Ch. 18.
People carry out research projects to satisfy their curiosity and
to advance professionally. Organizations
often require that their professional employees carry out
research and publish in appropriate journals or
books. Government researchers and university professors, for
instance, are expected to remain active in their

fields. Writing proposals is one way to get the resources — time
and money for travel, equipment, and
assistants — to carry out research.
GOODS AND SERVICES PROPOSALS
A goods and services proposal is an offer to supply a tangible
product (a fleet of automobiles), a service
(building maintenance), or some combination of the two (the
construction of a building).
A vast network of goods and services contracts spans the
working world. The U.S. government, the
world’s biggest customer, spent over $270 billion in 2015
buying military equipment from organizations that
submitted proposals (USAspending.gov, 2016). But goods and
services contracts are by no means limited to
government contractors. An auto manufacturer might buy its
engines from another manufacturer; a company
that makes spark plugs might buy its steel and other raw
materials from another company.
Another kind of goods and services proposal requests funding to
support a local organization. For
example, a women’s shelter might receive some of its funding
from a city or county but might rely on grants
from private philanthropies. Typically, an organization such as
a shelter would apply for a grant to fund
increased demand for its services because of a natural disaster
or an economic slowdown in the community.
Or it might apply for a grant to fund a pilot program to offer job
training at the shelter. Most large
corporations have philanthropic programs offering grants to
help local colleges and universities, arts
organizations, and social-service agencies.

Persuasion and Proposals
A proposal is an argument. You must convince readers that the
future benefits will outweigh the immediate
and projected costs. Basically, you must persuade your readers
of three things:
that you understand the context: what your readers need
that you have already determined what you plan to do and that
you are able to do it
that you are a professional and are committed to fulfilling your
promises
For more about persuasion, see Ch. 8.
UNDERSTANDING CONTEXTS
The most crucial element of the proposal is the definition of the
problem or opportunity to which the
proposed project responds. Although this point seems obvious,
people who evaluate proposals agree that the
most common weakness they see is an inadequate or inaccurate
understanding of the problem or opportunity.
For more about analyzing your audience, see Ch. 5.
Internal Contexts Writing an internal proposal is both simpler
and more complicated than writing an
external one. It is simpler because you have greater access to
internal readers than you do to external readers
and you can get information more easily. However, it is more
complicated because you might find it hard to
understand the situation in your organization. Some colleagues
will not tell you that your proposal is a long
shot or that your ideas might threaten someone in the
organization. Before you write an internal proposal,
discuss your ideas with as many potential readers as you can to

learn what those in the organization really
think of them.
External Contexts When you receive an RFP, study it
thoroughly. If you don’t understand something in it,
contact the organization. People there will be happy to clarify
it: a proposal based on misunderstood needs
wastes everyone’s time.
When you write an unsolicited proposal, analyze your audience
carefully. How can you define the
problem or opportunity so that readers will understand it? Keep
in mind readers’ needs and, if possible, their
backgrounds. Concentrate on how the problem has decreased
productivity or quality or how your ideas
would create new opportunities. When you submit an
unsolicited proposal, your task in many cases is to
convince readers that a need exists. Even if you have reached an
understanding with some of your potential
customer’s representatives, your proposal will still have to
persuade other officials in the company. Most
readers will reject a proposal as soon as they realize that it
doesn’t address their needs.
When you are preparing a proposal to be submitted to an
organization in another culture, keep in mind the
following six suggestions (Newman, 2011):
Understand that what makes an argument persuasive can differ
from one culture to another. Paying
attention to the welfare of the company or the community might
be more persuasive than offering a low
bottom-line price. Representatives of an American company
were surprised to learn that the Venezuelan
readers of their proposal had selected a French company whose
staff “had been making personal visits
for years, bringing their families, and engaging in social

activities long before there was any question of
a contract” (Thrush, 2000).
Budget enough time for translating. If your proposal has to be
translated into another language, build in
plenty of time. Translating long technical documents is a
lengthy process because, even though some of
the work can be done by computer software, the machine
translation needs to be reviewed by native
speakers of the target language.
Use simple graphics, with captions. To reduce the chances of
misunderstanding, use a lot of simple
graphics, such as pie charts and bar graphs. Include captions so
that readers can understand the graphics
easily, without having to look through the text to see what each
graphic means.
For more about graphics, see Ch. 12.
Write short sentences, using common vocabulary. Short
sentences are easier to understand than long
sentences. Choose words that have few meanings. For example,
use the word right as the opposite of left;
use correct as the opposite of incorrect.
Use local conventions regarding punctuation, spelling, and
mechanics. Be aware that these
conventions differ from place to place, even in the English-
speaking world.
Ask if the prospective customer will do a read-through. A read-
through is the process of reading a
draft of a proposal to look for any misunderstandings due to
language or cultural differences. Why do
prospective customers do this? Because it’s in everyone’s
interest for the proposal to respond clearly to

the customer’s needs.
DESCRIBING WHAT YOU PLAN TO DO
Once you have shown that you understand what needs to be
done and why, describe what you plan to do.
Convince your readers that you can respond effectively to the
situation you have just described. Discuss
procedures and equipment you would use. If appropriate, justify
your choices. For example, if you say you
want to do ultrasonic testing on a structure, explain why, unless
the reason is obvious.
Present a complete picture of what you would do from the first
day of the project to the last. You need
more than enthusiasm and good faith; you need a detailed plan
showing that you have already started to do
the work. Although no proposal can anticipate every question
about what you plan to do, the more planning
you have done before you submit the proposal, the greater the
chances you will be able to do the work
successfully if it is approved.
DEMONSTRATING YOUR PROFESSIONALISM
Once you have shown that you understand readers’ needs and
can offer a well-conceived plan, demonstrate
that you are the kind of person (or that yours is the kind of
organization) that is committed to delivering what
you promise. Convince readers that you have the pride,
ingenuity, and perseverance to solve the problems
that are likely to occur. In short, show that you are a
professional.
GUIDELINES: Demonstrating Your Professionalism in a
Proposal
In your proposal, demonstrate your ability to carry out the

project by providing four kinds of information:
Credentials and work history. Show that you know how to do
this project because you have done similar ones.
Who are the people in your organization with the qualifications
to carry out the project? What equipment and
facilities do you have that will enable you to do the work? What
management structure will you use to coordinate
the activities and keep the project running smoothly?
Work schedule. Sometimes called a task schedule, a work
schedule is a graph or chart that shows when the
various phases of the project will be carried out. The work
schedule reveals more about your attitudes toward
your work than about what you will be doing on any given day.
A detailed work schedule shows that you have
tried to foresee problems that might threaten the project.
Quality-control measures. Describe how you will evaluate the
effectiveness and efficiency of your work. Quality-
control procedures might consist of technical evaluations
carried out periodically by the project staff, on-site
evaluations by recognized authorities or by the prospective
customer, or progress reports.
Budget. Most proposals conclude with a detailed budget, a
statement of how much the project will cost. Including
a budget is another way of showing that you have done your
homework on a project.
ETHICS NOTE
WRITING HONEST PROPOSALS
When an organization approves a proposal, it needs to trust that
the people who will carry out the project
will do it professionally. Over the centuries, however, dishonest

proposal writers have perfected a number
of ways to trick prospective customers into thinking the project
will go smoothly:
saying that certain qualified people will participate in the
project, even though they will not
saying that the project will be finished by a certain date, even
though it will not
saying that the deliverable will have certain characteristics,
even though it will not
saying that the project will be completed under budget, even
though it will not
Copying from another company’s proposal is another common
dishonest tactic. Proposals are protected by
copyright law. An employee may not copy from a proposal he or
she wrote while working for a different
company.
There are three reasons to be honest in writing a proposal:
to avoid serious legal trouble stemming from breach-of-contract
suits
to avoid acquiring a bad reputation, thus ruining your business
to do the right thing
Writing a Proposal
Although writing a proposal requires the same writing process
that you use for most other kinds of technical
documents, a proposal can be so large that two aspects of the
writing process — resource planning and
collaboration — are even more important than they are for

smaller documents.
Like planning a writing project, discussed in Chapter 5,
planning a proposal requires a lot of work. You
need to see whether your organization can devote the needed
resources to writing the proposal and then to
carrying out the project if the proposal is approved. Sometimes
an organization writes a proposal, wins the
contract, and then loses money because it lacks the resources to
do the project and must subcontract major
portions of it. The resources you need fall into three basic
categories:
Personnel. Will you have the technical personnel, managers, and
support people you will need?
Facilities. Will you have the facilities, or can you lease them?
Can you profitably subcontract tasks to
companies that have the necessary facilities?
Equipment. Do you have the right equipment? If not, can you
buy it or lease it or subcontract the work?
Some contracts provide for the purchase of equipment, but
others don’t.
Don’t write the proposal unless you are confident that you can
carry out the project if you get the go-ahead.
Collaboration is critical in preparing large proposals because no
one person has the time and expertise to
do all the work. Writing major proposals requires the expertise
of technical personnel, writers, editors,
graphic artists, managers, lawyers, and document-production
specialists. Often, proposal writers use shared
document workspaces and wikis. Usually, a project manager
coordinates the process.
For more about collaboration, see Ch. 4.

Proposal writers almost always reuse existing information,
including boilerplate such as descriptions of
other projects the company has done, histories and descriptions
of the company, and résumés of the primary
personnel who will work on the project. This reuse of
information is legal and ethical as long as the
information is the intellectual property of the company.
For more about boilerplate, see Ch. 2, p. 26.
The Structure of the Proposal
Proposal structures vary greatly from one organization to
another. A long, complex proposal might have 10
or more sections, including introduction, problem, objectives,
solution, methods and resources, and
management. If the authorizing agency provides an IFB, an
RFP, an RFQ, or a set of guidelines, follow it
closely. If you have no guidelines, or if you are writing an
unsolicited proposal, use the structure shown here
as a starting point. Then modify it according to your subj ect,
your purpose, and the needs of your audience.
An example of a proposal is presented at the end of this chapter,
in Figure 16.6 (pp. 439–45).
SUMMARY
For a proposal of more than a few pages, provide a summary.
Many organizations impose a length limit —
such as 250 words — and ask the writer to present the summary,
single-spaced, on the title page. The
summary is crucial, because it might be the only item that
readers study in their initial review of the
proposal.

For more about summaries, see Ch. 18, p. 485.
The summary covers the major elements of the proposal but
devotes only a few sentences to each. Define
the problem in a sentence or two. Next, describe the proposed
program and provide a brief statement of your
qualifications and experience. Some organizations wish to see
the completion date and the final budget
figure in the summary; others prefer that this information be
presented separately on the title page along with
other identifying information about the supplier and the
proposed project.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the introduction is to help readers understand
the context, scope, and organization of the
proposal.
GUIDELINES: Introducing a Proposal
The introduction to a proposal should answer the following
seven questions:
What is the problem or opportunity? Describe the problem or
opportunity in specific monetary terms, because the
proposal itself will include a budget, and you want to convince
your readers that spending money on what you
propose is smart. Don’t say that a design problem is slowing
down production; say that it is costing $4,500 a day
in lost productivity.
What is the purpose of the proposal? The purpose of the
proposal is to describe a solution to a problem or an
approach to an opportunity and propose activities that wil l
culminate in a deliverable. Be specific in explaining
what you want to do.

What is the background of the problem or opportunity?
Although you probably will not be telling your readers
anything they don’t already know, show them that you
understand the problem or opportunity: the circumstances
that led to its discovery, the relationships or events that will
affect the problem and its solution, and so on.
What are your sources of information? Review the relevant
literature, ranging from internal reports and memos to
published articles or even books, so that readers will understand
the context of your work.
What is the scope of the proposal? If appropriate, indicate not
only what you are proposing to do but also what
you are not proposing to do.
What is the organization of the proposal? Explain the
organizational pattern you will use.
What are the key terms that you will use in the proposal? If you
will use any specialized or unusual terms, define
them in the introduction.
PROPOSED PROGRAM
In the section on the proposed program, sometimes called the
plan of work, explain what you want to do. Be
specific. You won’t persuade anyone by saying that you plan to
“gather the data and analyze it.” How will
you gather and analyze the data? Justify your claims. Every
word you say — or don’t say — will give your
readers evidence on which to base their decision.
If your project concerns a subject written about in the
professional literature, show your familiarity with
the scholarship by referring to the pertinent studies. However,

don’t just string together a bunch of citations.
For example, don’t write, “Carruthers (2012), Harding (2013),
and Vega (2013) have all researched the
relationship between global warming and groundwater
contamination.” Rather, use the recent literature to
sketch the necessary background and provide the justification
for your proposed program. For instance:
Carruthers (2012), Harding (2013), and Vega (2013) have
demonstrated the relationship between global
warming and groundwater contamination. None of these studies,
however, included an analysis of the long-
term contamination of the aquifer. The current study will
consist of ….
You might include only a few references to recent research.
However, if your topic is complex, you might
devote several paragraphs or even several pages to recent
scholarship.
For more about researching a subject, see Ch. 6.
Whether your project calls for primary research, secondary
research, or both, the proposal will be
unpersuasive if you haven’t already done a substantial amount
of research. For instance, say you are writing
a proposal to do research on purchasing new industrial -grade
lawn mowers for your company. Simply stating
that you will visit Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and Home Depot to see
what kinds of lawn mowers they carry would
be unpersuasive for two reasons:
You need to justify why you are going to visit those three

retailers rather than others. Anticipate your
readers’ questions: Why did you choose these three retailers?
Why didn’t you choose specialized
dealers?
You should already have determined what stores carry what
kinds of lawn mowers and completed any
other preliminary research. If you haven’t done the homework,
readers have no assurance that you will in
fact do it or that it will pay off. If your supervisor authorizes
the project and then you learn that none of
the lawn mowers in these stores meets your organization’s
needs, you will have to go back and submit a
different proposal — an embarrassing move.
Unless you can show in your proposed program that you have
done the research — and that the research
indicates that the project is likely to succeed — the reader has
no reason to authorize the project.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
After you have described how you would carry out the project,
show that you can do it. The more elaborate
the proposal, the more substantial the discussion of your
qualifications and experience has to be. For a small
project, include a few paragraphs describing your technical
credentials and those of your co-workers. For
larger projects, include the résumés of the project leader, often
called the principal investigator, and the
other primary participants.
External proposals should also discuss the qualifications of the
supplier’s organization, describing similar
projects the supplier has completed successfully. For example, a
company bidding on a contract to build a
large suspension bridge should describe other suspension
bridges it has built. It should also focus on the

equipment and facilities the company already has and on the
management structure that will ensure the
project will go smoothly.
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ACTIVITY
Writing the Proposed Program
The following project description is excerpted from a sample
grant proposal seeking funding to begin a
project to help police officers stay healthy. The questions in the
margin ask you to think about how to
describe the project in a proposal.
1. The writer has used a lettering system to describe the four
main tasks that will be undertaken if the
project receives funding. What are the advantages of a lettering
system?
2. How effective is the description of Task A? What factors
contribute to the description’s
effectiveness or lack of effectiveness?
3. The descriptions of the tasks do not include cost estimates.
Where would those estimates be
presented in the proposal? Why would they be presented there?
4. How effective is the description of Task D? What additional
information would improve its
effectiveness?
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ACTIVITY
To analyze a proposal delivered as a Prezi presentation, go to
LaunchPad.

Marketing Proposal Presentation
BUDGET
Good ideas aren’t good unless they’re affordable. The budget
section of a proposal specifies how much the
proposed program will cost.
Budgets vary greatly in scope and format. For simple internal
proposals, add the budget request to the
statement of the proposed program: “This study will take me
two days, at a cost of about $400” or “The
variable-speed recorder currently costs $225, with a 10 percent
discount on orders of five or more.” For more
complicated internal proposals and for all external proposals,
include a more explicit and complete budget.
Many budgets are divided into two parts: direct costs and
indirect costs. Direct costs include such
expenses as salaries and fringe benefits of program personnel,
travel costs, and costs of necessary equipment,
materials, and supplies. Indirect costs cover expenses that are
sometimes called overhead: general secretarial
and clerical expenses not devoted exclusively to any one
project, as well as operating expenses such as costs
of utilities and maintenance. Indirect costs are usually
expressed as a percentage — ranging from less than
20 percent to more than 100 percent — of the direct expenses.
APPENDIXES
Many types of appendixes might accompany a proposal. Most
organizations have boilerplate descriptions of
the organization and of the projects it has completed. Another
item commonly included in an appendix is a
supporting letter: a testimonial to the supplier’s skill and

integrity, written by a reputable and well-known
person in the field.
Two other sections commonly found in proposals can be
positioned either in the appendix or in the main
body of the document: the task schedule and the description of
evaluation techniques.
TASK SCHEDULE
A task schedule is almost always presented in one of three
graphical formats: as a table, a bar chart, or a
network diagram.
Tables The simplest but least informative way to present a
schedule is in a table, as shown in Figure 16.3.
As with all graphics, provide a textual reference that introduces
and, if necessary, explains the table.
FIGURE 16.3 Task Schedule Presented as a Table
Although displaying information in a table is better than writing
it out in sentences, readers still cannot
“see” the information. They have to read the table to figure out
how long each activity will last, and they
cannot tell whether any of the activities are interdependent.
They have no way of determining what would
happen to the overall project schedule if one of the activities
faced delays.
Bar Charts Bar charts, also called Gantt charts after the early
twentieth-century civil engineer who first
used them, are more informative than tables. The basic bar chart
shown in Figure 16.4 allows readers to see
how long each task will take and whether different tasks will
occur simultaneously. Like tables, however, bar
charts do not indicate the interdependence of tasks.

FIGURE 16.4 Task Schedule Presented as a Bar Chart
TECH TIP
Network Diagrams Network diagrams show interdependence
among various activities, clearly indicating
which must be completed before others can begin. However,
even a relatively simple network diagram, such
as the one shown in Figure 16.5, can be difficult to read. You
would probably not use this type of diagram in
a document intended for general readers.
FIGURE 16.5 Task Schedule Presented as a Network Diagram
A network diagram provides more useful information than either
a table or a bar chart.
DESCRIPTION OF EVALUATION TECHNIQUES
Although evaluation can mean different things to different
people, an evaluation technique typically refers to
any procedure used to determine whether the proposed program
is both effective and efficient. Evaluation
techniques can range from writing simple progress reports to
conducting sophisticated statistical analyses.
Some proposals call for evaluation by an outside agent, such as
a consultant, a testing laboratory, or a
university. Other proposals describe evaluation techniques that
the supplier will perform, such as cost-benefit
analyses.
The issue of evaluation is complicated by the fact that some
people think in terms of quantitative

evaluations — tests of measurable quantities, such as
production increases — whereas others think in terms
of qualitative evaluations — tests of whether a proposed
program is improving, say, the workmanship on a
product. And some people include both qualitative and
quantitative testing when they refer to evaluation. An
additional complication is that projects can be tested while they
are being carried out (formative evaluations)
as well as after they have been completed (summative
evaluations).
When an RFP calls for “evaluation,” experienced proposal
writers contact the prospective customer’s
representatives to determine precisely what the word means.
Sample Internal Proposal
The following example of an internal proposal has been
formatted as a memo rather than as a formal
proposal. (See Chapter 17, Figure 17.4, on pp. 457–64, for the
progress report written after this project was
under way and Chapter 18, Figure 18.8, on pp. 490–513, for the
recommendation report.)

FIGURE 16.6 Sample Internal Proposal
WRITER’S CHECKLIST
The following checklist covers the basic elements of a proposal.
Guidelines established by the recipient of the
proposal should take precedence over these general suggestions.
Did you consider the context of your proposal and make it clear
to your readers? (p. 428)
Did you describe to your reader what you plan to do? (p. 429)
Did you demonstrate your professionalism? (p. 429)
Did you write an honest proposal? (p. 430)
Does the summary provide an overview of
the problem or the opportunity? (p. 432)
the proposed program? (p. 432)
your qualifications and experience? (p. 432)
Does the introduction indicate
the problem or opportunity? (p. 432)
the purpose of the proposal? (p. 432)
the background of the problem or opportunity? (p. 432)
your sources of information? (p. 432)
the scope of the proposal? (p. 432)
the organization of the proposal? (p. 432)
the key terms that you will use in the proposal? (p. 432)
Does the description of the proposed program provide a clear,
specific plan of action and justify the
tasks you propose performing? (p. 433)

Does the description of qualifications and experience cl early
outline
your relevant skills and past work? (p. 433)
the skills and background of the other participants? (p. 435)
your department’s (or organization’s) relevant equipment,
facilities, and experience? (p. 435)
Is the budget
complete? (p. 435)
correct? (p. 435)
accompanied by an in-text reference? (p. 435)
Do the appendixes include the relevant supporting materials? (p.
435)
Did you include other relevant sections, such as a task schedule
or a description of evaluation
techniques? (p. 436)
EXERCISES
For more about memos, see Ch. 14, p. 376.
1. Study the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Grant
Proposal Guide
(http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg).
In what important ways does the NSF’s
guide differ from the advice provided in this chapter? What
accounts for these differences? Present your
findings in a 500-word memo to your instructor.
2. TEAM EXERCISE Form groups according to major. Using
the FedBizOpps website
(https://www.fbo.gov), find and study an RFP for a project

related to your academic field. What can you
learn about the needs of the organization that issued the RFP?
How effectively does the RFP describe
what the issuing organization expects to see in the proposal? Is
it relatively general or specific? What
sorts of evaluation techniques does it call for? In your response,
include a list of questions that you would
ask the issuing organization if you were considering responding
to the RFP. Present your results in a
memo to your instructor.
3. Write a proposal for a research project that will constitute a
major assignment in this course. Your
instructor will tell you whether the proposal is to be written
individually or collaboratively. Start by defining
a technical subject that interests you. (This subject could be one
that is relevant to your job or that you
have encountered in another course.) Using abstract services
and other bibliographic tools, compile a
bibliography of articles and books on the subject. (See Chapter
6 for a discussion of finding information.)
Create a reasonable real-world context. Here are three common
scenarios from the business world:
Our company uses Technology X to perform Task A. Should we
instead be using Technology Y to
perform Task A? For instance, our company uses standard
surveying tools in its contracting business.
Should we be using 3D-equipped stations instead?
Our company has decided to purchase a tool to perform Task A.
Which make and model of the tool
should we purchase, and from which supplier should we buy it?
For instance, our company has
decided to purchase 10 multimedia computers. Which brand and
model should we buy, and from whom

should we buy them? Is leasing the tool a better option than
purchasing?
Our company does not currently perform Function X. Is it
feasible to perform Function X? For instance,
we do not currently offer day care for our employees. Should
we? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of doing so? What forms can day care take? How
is it paid for?
Following are some additional ideas for topics:
the value of using social media to form ties with students in a
technical-communication class on
another campus
the need for expanded opportunities for internships or service -
learning in your major
the need to create an advisory board of industry professionals to
provide expertise about your major
the need to raise money to keep the college’s computer labs up
to date
the need to evaluate the course of study offered by your
university in your major to ensure that it is
responsive to students’ needs
the advisability of starting a campus branch of a professional
organization in your field
the need to improve parking facilities on campus
the need to create or improve organizations for minorities or
women on campus

CASE 16: Writing an Introduction for a Proposal
You work for a company that provides web-development
services to external clients. Your job is to seek out
requests for proposals (RFPs) posted by organizations looking
for companies like yours. You have found an RFP
posted by the borough council of a small town, seeking help in
updating and enhancing the town’s website. You
know that your company is capable of providing these services.
Your supervisor agrees and asks you to draft an
introduction to the proposal while other team members work on
incorporating boilerplate language and handle
the scheduling and budgeting details. To get started drafting the
introduction, go to LaunchPad.

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