Developing Proposals

1
Developing Proposals

• Responding to an RFPto establish a contract

2
Proposals as Persuasion

• We write proposals to persuade audiences to act
  in a particular way
• To fund a project (e.g. asking a granting agency
  such as NSF to fund your research)
• To approve a project (e.g. asking a manager
  within your department to approve a process
  modification)
• To accept a product (e.g. trying to win a
  contract for a specific job)

3
Elements of Persuasion

• When responding to a request for proposals (RFP),
  you need to convince them of several things
• That you understand the need defined by the
  client
• That your proposed project meets that need
• That your project is viable
• That the benefits outweigh the costs
• That you are capable of completing the project
• Bottom Line Do the benefits (tangible and
  intangible) outweigh the costs?

4
Expectations Proposal Structures

• Summary (Problem Statement, Executive Summary)
• Brief statement of the need, the project (scope
  of work), the benefits, and the costs
• Provide the big picture or bottom line to
  someone who may not read the rest of the document

5
Expectations Proposal Structures

• Statement of Need an explanation of why the
  work needs to be done
• Contract proposals Review of RFP
  client-defined needs
• Prior work (research, archives, available data)

6
Expectations Proposal Structures

• Project Description Scope of Work
• Design constraints Practical matters that govern
  the possible design options
• Deliverables Concrete, measurable outcomes
• Justification How deliverables meet need
• Benefits Why your plan is best

7
Expectations Proposal Structures

• Safety, Regulatory, and Environmental
  Considerations
• External factors that influence the design
• Laws the design must conform to
• Ethical considerations that must be considered

8
Expectations Proposal Structures

• Project Design
• Implementation Project Plan (phases, big
  picture)
• Schedule Detailed work plan (Gantt Chart
• Project Evaluation
• Mechanisms to determine success

9
Structure of Proposals (contd)

• Literature Review
• Provides necessary background
• Demonstrates your understanding of the problem
• Reviews information necessary for developing
  effective solutions

10
Knowing Your Audience

• To persuade an audience to act, you need to first
  analyze that audience
• Who makes the final decision?
• What is the audiences knowledge base?
• Why does the audience care? What is their stake
  in the outcome?
• What are the criteria (explicit and implicit) for
  decision-making?
• What constrains the decision?
• Is the decision merit-based or competitive?
• What biases, values, predispositions, etc. does
  your audience have?

11
Knowing Your Tools

• Winning proposals rely on three types of appeals
• Appeals to Logic support your claims with the
  facts of the case
• Appeals to Emotion support your claims by
  connecting your work to your audiences value or
  beliefs
• Appeals to Credibility support your claims by
  helping the audience believe you

12
Tips for Developing Content

• Review all relevant documents from your audience
• Research information to support both the need and
  the project description
• Brainstorm all possible benefits and costs, and
  highlight those most important to your audience

13
Effective Research/Design Proposals.

• Support the need for the project with a review of
  the relevant literature
• Provide a concrete set of deliverables in
  response to the need
• Demonstrate a well-thought-out approach to
  meeting the need
• Give the reader confidence in the investigators
  knowledge and ability
• Clearly account for all spending requests
• Build common ground with the audience

14
Building Common Ground

• To reach your audience, you need to think and
  write on their terms
• Use your audiences language
• Explain all unfamiliar terms
• Read between the lines and address the audiences
  values as well as their stated needs or
  expectations

15
Making Your Proposal Readable

• Use meaningful headings and subheadings to
  organize your text
• Meaningless Literature Review
• Meaningful Tillage Research in Undeveloped
  Countries since 1990
• Use lists to help highlight key information
• Deliverables
• Critical needs
• Benefits
• Use graphics to illustrate key concepts
• Use tables and charts to illustrate plans
• Schedule
• Budget

16
Making Your Prose Concise

• Go for the verb
• Avoid passive voice
• The dog was walked by me.
• I walked the dog.
• Avoid nominalization
• The committee makes a recommendation
• The committee recommends
• Avoid expletive construction
• There are five factors that influence
• Five factors influence
• Cut overblown phrases
• http//www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/CCS_wordyphra
  ses.html