Transcript Proposals for CIEG 461 - University of Delaware

Planning and
Writing Proposals
Prof. Stephen A. Bernhardt
Dept of English
University of Delaware
September 2006
Writing and Science
Thinking, planning, coordinating,
proposing,
tracking, running,
ScienceScience
Writing
recording, reporting, concluding
Writing
Types of Documents





Plans to govern work
Memos and letters to
keep work flowing
Proposals to describe
and persuade
Presentations to
deliver
Reports to detail,
analyze, and interpret
Plan example
Planning document




What are you trying to do?
Purpose, goals, deliverables
Who will use the document?
Your team, your manager, your
agency
What is the best approach?
Detail on tasks, roles, & deadlines
How should it be designed?
Graphic, organized, explicit
Planning document
Project overview
 Team and contact info
 Goals and deliverables
 Tasks, milestones, critical path
activities
 Team rules
 Schedule, time allocation
 Budget

Why plan?
Teams with shared visions (in
writing) work better.
 Teams need rules and schedules
(and wiggle room).
 Teamwork demands complex
resource planning.

Nutshell the Proposal








What is your purpose?
Who is the audience?
What is your plan?
What will you deliver?
When?
By whom?
With what resources?
At what cost?
Proposal Quality
Responsive to RFP—shared
mission
 Clear need
 Quality of deliverables
 Credible expertise: ability to
perform
 Realistic schedule and budget

Be Deductive and Explicit
Purpose and scope up front
 Preview main messages and
issues
 Lead sentences on sections and
paragraphs—top line skim
 Plenty of navigation devices
 Emphasis on most important sell
points

Two Organizational Schemes
Deductive
Inductive
Main Point
Main Point
Organization




Main messages, summary statements, or
conclusions appear at the beginning of
sections and paragraphs
Document sections are organized
deductively, from general to specific, from
most important to least important
Procedural steps are sequential
Organizational devices are used to guide
the reader
Elements of Design
Effective formatting, layout,
and design
 Headers and footers
 Page numbers
 Consistent use of styles
 White space for separation
and emphasis

Front Matter
Orients the Reader



Cover with title, date,
sponsor, proposer
Executive summary
or abstract
Table of contents for
organization
Summaries




Summaries provide broad, descriptive
coverage of development activities and
outcomes.
Summaries attempt to show the whole and
its parts.
Summaries work at a coarse level of detail,
at coarse grain, but are still completely
representative.
Summaries should be visual: easy to
skim/scan.
Body of Proposal
Provides Main Elements







Introduction and overview
Statement of problem
Proposed solution with objectives
Methods and materials
Work plan: milestones, deliverables,
checkpoints
Schedule (high level graphic)
Budget: costs and benefits
Introduction

Reviews the project context:
Who requested the work?
 Why?
 For what outcome or benefit?


Overviews the plan of this
proposal
Statement of Problem
Provides clear and compelling
description of the problem
 Defines the need
 Discusses any critical issues
associated with the problem
 Details any constraints on the
problem's solution

Proposed solution
Identifies broad strategy or
planned approaches
 Lists specific, measurable
outcomes to be accomplished
 Ties objectives clearly to
problem

Methods and materials
Describes in detail what the
team proposes to do to find a
solution (action steps)
 Includes specifics—amounts,
numbers, locations, tools,
instruments, etc.

Work Plan (in proposal)
Focuses on management of the
project
 Shows how the team will be
coordinated, scheduled, and
monitored
 Commits to dates (aggressive or
realistic or both)
 Works at high level for client

Schedule
Presented in visual format
 Places all activities on a timeline
 Highlights critical or key
activities
 Convinces audience that the
timeline is realistic
 Serves as the proposal
“at a glance”

Budget
Presented in visual format
 Provides rationale and
commentary (budget narrative)
 Forecasts/determines costs for
staff, materials, support, and
overhead

Back Matter/Appendices
Bibliography or references
 Computer documentation
 Instrument descriptions or sources
 Full resumes
 Raw data to back up summary
points made in the body of the
proposal

Writing Resources

UD Writing Center (831-1168), basement of
Memorial Hall

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Writing
Proposals.

Brusaw, Alred, and Oliu, Handbook of
Technical Writing

Diane Kukich (CEE) [email protected]

Steve Bernhardt [email protected]