PROPOSAL

WRITING
DEFINE PROPOSAL
Any properly conceived idea, service, project or plan,
whether theoretical or practical in nature, put forward for
approval of action or implementation is a proposal. It could
be for carrying out research on a specified topic,
manufacturing of a product, setting up a plant, etc. Thus,
PROPOSAL can be defined as
‘A written offer to undertake a project for
designing, creating, something new or for
changing or modifying an existing
procedure, method, system or structure
within a specified period of time.’
HOW MANY TYPES OF
PROPOSALS ARE
THERE?
Types of Proposals are based on three
different criteria and they have been specified
by various labels.
Criteria: Content and Format
TYPES

NON-FORMAL FORMAL

BUSINESS RESEARCH TECHNICAL

PROPOSAL PROPOSAL PROPOSAL
 NON-FORMAL: They are meant for
departmental use.
 FORMAL: They are meant for intra official
purposes or such proposals can be sent to
other organizations as well.
 Business Proposal: Proposal which deals with
business, commerce or industry.
 Research Proposal: Proposal which requires
scientific enquiry or systematic investigation.
 Technical Proposal: Proposal with the objective
to modify or create something requiring technical
knowledge and skills.
Criteria: Nature Of
Audience

TYPES

INTERNAL EXTERNAL
 INTERNAL PROPOSAL
Addressed to readers within the organization.

 EXTERNAL PROPOSAL
Communicated to people outside your own
organization
Criteria: Source of Origin

TYPES

SOLICITED UNSOLICITED
 SOLICITED PROPOSAL
Written in response to a request for proposal.

 UNSOLICITED PROPOSAL
Written with self-initiative in order to solve a
specific problem or to meet a specific need.
One does not receive any request for writing
such a proposal.
STRUCTURE OF
FORMAL PROPOSAL
PARTS OF A FORMAL
STRUCTURE
 Title Page
 Table of Contents
 List of illustrations
 Executive Summary
 Statement of the Problem
 Introduction
 Proposed Plan or schedule
 Conclusions
 Cost Estimate
 Recommendations
 Appendices
WRITING TIPS FOR
A PROPOSAL
Proposal writing is persuasive writing which
should involve three stages of writing, i.e.,
 Pre-writing
 Writing
 Post-writing
 PRE-WRITING
 Purpose Identification
 Audience Analysis
 Project Analysis
 Scope Determination
 Analysis of the action desired
 WRITING
Writing a proposal involves organizing the data that has
been collected, outlining what will be presented in the
proposal and writing the first draft.
 POST-WRITING
Post writing involves revising, editing and evaluation in
order to improve its content, layout and structure. It
should further involve editing of the text for grammatical
and lexical accuracy. It should also be evaluated critically
to ensure that the proposal can achieve its purpose.
Finally, the final draft is prepared.