Instructions for the English 352 Proposal

First you need to decide what you are going to write a proposal about. Choose something you would like to fix or change or a proposal geared to an organization for a product or a service). Then you start with the Annotated Bibliography.

Parts for your Proposal

Every proposal is different. Listed below are the mandatory and optional sections. Overall, your goal is to make it as clear, understandable, attractive and persuasive as possible. For those of you who don't want to do your own formatting here is a Proposal Template.

• Cover letter*
• Title Page*
• Executive Summary (at least 2 paragraphs - state the problem and then the solution)*
• Table of Contents*
• Background (describe the situation you hope to remedy)*
• Objectives (optional)
• Technical Details (optional)
• Personnel (optional)
• Budget (optional)
• Time Line (optional)
• Conclusion (a persuasive reiteration of the proposal)*
• "References" or "Works Cited" List (bracketed numbers in the text should map to numbered sources)*
• Annotated Bibliography*
• Supporting Materials (Appendix)

* required

The final proposal needs to be at least 6 pages with numbering starting AFTER the table of contents. The layout should be professional, with heading levels, indented text, illustrations. All sources must be cited if you are using them within the body of your text: How to Cite Sources within your Text.