Introduction
The four areas of a proposal are the current situation, the plan, the qualifications, and the costs and benefits. In this paper, we will study the purpose of writing proposals. We will see why they are important to write before starting work on something. We will examine the four rhetorical elements of a proposal; Invention, Drafting, Revision and Editing. After examining these, we will analytically identify the problems that could occur when writing proposals, keeping in mind these elements.
Discussion
Proposal -What is it?
A proposal is a document written for another party. This document illustrates a plan that a person wishes to carry out. According to Sant (2004), a proposal is a substitute for a person’s ideas, so the more powerful it is, the better he creates an impression. (Sant, T, 2004). So, a proposal should be an influential representation of what a person desire. It could be made for something he wants to sell. It could be made for something he wants to buy. A proposal is made for anything he wishes to do that includes a third party. He will write it so that this third party can see his ideas the way he does.
A proposal should show that it would resolve some kind of a problem (Zimmerman, B.B, 2008.). It should be well-documented and proficiently written. A proposal should have no errors. It should be clear and it should make sense to the reader. Therefore, for the ease of the reader, it should be kept short. Finally, for this purpose again and others, it should follow a standard format (Zimmerman, B.B, 2008.). This is the rhetorical consideration that will be discussed in more detail later.
Writing a proposal is a process. This process has four areas or steps that a person can follow. There is a current situation. This should show where the person stands right now. This could illustrate the problem at hand; its causes and effects can be mentioned. Then there is a plan. This means that a proposal should have a plan about what is going to happen in a project, its funding-, time-, budgeting- needs should be included in this. Other factors that the project’s plan includes must be listed in the proposal like the deliverables it will generate.
Then there are qualifications. These are things that an organization or person (writing the proposal) can work with. These could be assets such as personnel, or expertise that would help achieve the objective of the project. Finally, the fourth part is writing down the costs and benefits. The benefits will be the deliverables of the project. The costs could be all the things that hinder the organization from reaching its objectives.
The rhetorical elements, as mentioned earlier, are Invention, Drafting, Revision, and Editing. Rhetoric is when organizations share detailed ideas with definite audiences. Therefore these elements are the few essentials that have to be carried out for this rhetoric to reach the final draft. These ensure that the text is produced with little or no problems.
Purpose and Problems of Writing Proposals
The purpose of writing a proposal is simple. It should put an organization’s, a person’s, or any party’s ideas across. It is should be written in the hope and plan of solving a problem. Problem-solving, therefore, is the purpose of writing a proposal. Proposals are written by organizations to create impressions about their abilities. Proposals are sometimes written to fulfill the needs of the party. They are also written for the approval of other, more influential parties.
The basic purpose of a proposal is to share ideas about solving problems with others. The purpose is quite clear but what are the problems with writing proposals? There could be many problems in one, some, or all of the four steps of writing a proposal. The most major and also basic problem would be that the proposal doesn’t serve its purpose. A proposal will be problematic if it shares no ideas or desires or if it does not provide the appropriate context to support the research question.
Other problems could occur in the way a proposal is written. It is possible that a proposal uses a lot of technical terms or jargon. This will make it difficult for readers to understand the purpose. It will be a problem if the proposal is blathering because then a sense of direction will be lost and it will digress from its main purpose.
Organizations should avoid being over-ambitious when writing proposals. The qualifications written in the proposal must be practical. Otherwise, it gives the reader an unrealistic idea of the organization. Organizations should never assume that the audience knows about their capabilities; they should always explicitly state them. It should also state the costs (Zimmerman, B.B, 2008.). Hiding them or understating them will only make the achievement of goals impossible.
As a final point, all these factors must be kept into consideration to avoid any kind of downsides or problems. The purpose, above all, should be written clearly in a proposal. Only then the reader will know what you want to share with them.
Bibliography
Johnson-Sheehan, R. (2002). Writing Proposals: Rhetoric for Managing Change. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Sant, T. (2004). Persuasive Business Proposals. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.
Wong, P.T. (2007). How to Write a Research Proposal. International Network on Personal Meaning. Web.
Zimmerman, B.B. (2008). Writing an Effective Grant Proposal. Brigham Young University. Web.