Assignment Dates

See the Short Guide for an explanation of these dates.

Two Hokies discussing a proposal pitch in an elevatorWhat I Want You to Do

You and your group will propose the topic for your persuasive recommendation report, which will focus on improvements to a website. In addition to telling me about the website your group has chosen, your proposal will outline details on your project and your group, including a research plan and project timetable.

Why I Want You to Do It

For our course, I want you to provide your group’s topic and plan for the Recommendation Report. Your proposal will give me the chance to ensure your plans will work before you move on to writing your Recommendation Report as well as give your group the opportunity to make preliminary decisions that will be important to your success.

Beyond this course, research proposals are common features in academia. Before a PhD, MA, or MFA candidate begins work on a dissertation or thesis, for example, they will submit to a committee of readers a well-developed plan for that research document. Additionally, in many technical and scientific courses—but even in humanities ones—an upper-division research project is often preceded by such a proposal.

Finally, in the workplace, proposals are a common way to pitch potential ideas for development, projects to potential clients, and possible changes to company processes, equipment, and procedures.

Show/Hide Relevant Course Objectives

Relevant Course Objectives

  • Identify and define a problem or subject related to your particular field (or another specific problem according to your assignment’s directions) and assemble and analyze research related to this problem. [CLO 1]
  • Analyze the context of this problem or subject and determine appropriate audiences for the unit’s deliverables. [CLO 2]
  • Practice workplace genres associated with a team-based research project: a research proposal, meeting minutes, a progress report, a recommendation report or an informational report for non-expert readers, a slide deck presentation of the report, and a video presentation. [CLO 3]
  • Practice team and collaborative work in all phases of project management. [CLO 4]
  • Design strategies for evaluating the overall effectiveness of the suggested approaches to the researched problem. [CLO 5]
  • Illustrate the ethical and human implications of the solutions proposed for solving the problem. [CLO 6]

Where You Can Find Help

New Readings

Example Student Group Proposals

Previous Readings (Review as Needed)

The Scenario for the Project

You work as a Usability Consultant at a Maroon + Orange Digital, where I (Traci) work as a Founding Owner and the Director of Project Development. I’ve asked you and several other people (your project group) to collaborate on a project proposal to improve the usability of an existing website.

Your job as a group is to identify a potential client who owns or manages an online website and then develop a proposal that describes how our consulting company can improve the site. You’ll follow the instructions below in the “How to Do It” section.

Because you’ve never written a proposal before, I gave you this description of the purpose of a proposal to help you and your group collaborate:

A proposal should contain information that would enable the audience of that proposal [That's me—Traci] to decide whether to approve the project, to approve or hire you to do the work, or both. To write a successful proposal, put yourself in the place of your audience—the recipient of the proposal—and think about what sorts of information that person would need in order to feel confident having you complete the project.

—Tech Writing Essentials

How You Do It

Follow the instructions in the four sections below to

  1. Choose a website that the group will analyze.
  2. Plan the work and schedule your group will follow to write the proposal.
  3. Write the proposal collaboratively.
  4. Review the proposal draft and revise/proofread as necessary.

Step 1: Choosing a Website as a Group

Allowed Use of AI

You can use Copilot or another Generative AI tool of your choice on this project in any of the ways listed under the question “What can I use AI for in this course?” in the Course Policies Manual.

Be sure to save the responses AI gives you. It’s your guarantee if any issues about how you used the tool come up.

Prohibited Use of AI

You cannot ask AI to write or revise your drafts or final submissions for you. Doing so directly violates the Cheating and Plagiarism sections of the Virginia Tech Honor Code.

  1. Review the Proposal Criteria and the example proposals linked in the previous section to understand the requirements for the project.
  2. Choose the website that your group will focus on for the Recommendation Report, following these guidelines:
    • Have each group member choose at least one website that meets the Requirements for the Website You Choose. These choices are important since your group will pick one of them as the focus for the rest of the semester.
    • Share your websites with the rest of the group, using whatever strategy your group prefers. Here are some possibilities:
    • Discuss the possibilities that the different sites offer with your group, and decide as a group which to focus on for the Recommendation Report.

Step 2: Planning the Work and Schedule for Your Proposal

  1. Make a backup of the website your group has chosen. One group member can make the backup of all the pages and then share the links or files with the rest of the group. Here are some ways to make a backup:
  2. Decide on the roles that each of you will take on in the group. Each of you must be responsible for at least one job. Use the Group Roles page for help identifying roles.
  3. Use the information in the readings and Proposal Criteria to divide the work for your group’s proposal, considering the two basic ways to work.
  4. Plan your group schedule for the rest of the term—including draft due dates, meetings, and status updates—with one another. Here are some tips:
    • Create your schedule to finish the Proposal by the Target Due Date. If your group gets down to the last minute and needs to use the Checkpoint Deadline, that’s fine; but plan to be on time.
    • As you plan your project timeline, pay attention to the way that sections of the Recommendation Report rely upon one another. For instance, it‘s hard to write a conclusion before you have written the rest of the proposal .
    • Consider the tips on how to Plan a strategy for scheduling from UNC’s Writing Center.
  5. Set up a Google Doc or shared Word doc for your group’s proposal. Share the document with everyone in your group, so that you can all edit. Also share the Doc with me (tengrrl@vt.edu). Find additional ways to share your document and related information in this UNC Writing Center Tip Sheet.
  6. Decide on the documentation style that the group will use for the proposal so that group members can add footnotes in the right format. You can use whatever style your group is most comfortable with. Consult the Citation and style manuals guide from the library and the Documentation and Citations page for help.
  7. Make any other preliminary decisions necessary to ensure that all sections flow in a coordinated way. For example, make decisions about how you will refer to your website: will you use its full name or a shortened version?
  8. Group Leader: Make an Announcement in your Group that provides the link to your Proposal document, your group’s decision on documentation style, and any other decisions you’ve made. Placing this information in an Announcement ensures that everyone has access to the link and other important details.

Collaborating to Write Your Proposal

  1. Write a memo that proposes your group’s topic and plan for the Recommendation Report, following the instructions in the Annotated Proposal Template. Include these required sections in your proposal memo:
    • Section 1: Memo Headers
    • Section 2: Introduction
    • Section 3: Overview and Rationale
    • Section 4: Methods and Resources
    • Section 5: Project Audience
    • Section 6: Personnel
    • Section 7: Timetable
    • Section 8: Conclusion
    You can also use the Proposal Template (Format Only) as you work to see an example of the layout and formatting.
  2. Add headings in the document for each of the required sections of the proposal (listed above). Use the styles in the word processor your group has chosen to format all of the headings consistently, following the relevant documentation:
  3. Format the proposal with design elements that will make the subject and the document itself more visually enticing to the reader and hold their attention. These can include:
    • bullet lists
    • headings and subheadings
    • color
    • font type, weight, and size
    • horizontal rules
    • boxes
  4. Add at least one illustration (e.g., a photo, a drawing), following these criteria:
    • Use as many visuals as needed to make the subject compelling.
    • Do not add decorative illustrations.
    • Include textual references to visuals.
    • Wrap text around visuals.
  5. Use footnotes to cite any sources used in the proposal, using whatever style system your group is most comfortable with. Be consistent, and use the same style throughout. In other words, don’t use MLA in the Introduction and then switch to APA in the Justification section.
  6. Add page numbers to your proposal to organize it fully.
  7. Save your proposal as a PDF to ensure that its layout and design are preserved when you upload the file to Canvas.

Checking and Revising Your Proposal

  1. Assemble all parts of the proposal if you have worked separately so that you have one document.
  2. Review the document to ensure that the text is clear and complete, using these Revising, Editing, and Proofreading Tips
  3. Check your spelling and grammar, and update your group’s proposal with the review tools in your word processor, using the following links if you need instructions:
  4. Check your proposal for accessibility and update it as needed, using the following links if you need instructions:
  5. Success Tip
    You should be able to answer “True” to each question in the Self-Check before you submit your project. If you do not meet each of the criteria listed, your draft will be marked Incomplete and you’ll need to revise.
    Decide whether to submit your project based on your Self-Check:
    • If you answered “True” to every question, move on to the next step (#18). You’re ready to submit your work.
    • If you did not answer “True” to every question, follow this process:
      • Return to your draft and revise it to meet all of the criteria.
      • Review your draft with the Proposal Self-Check after you revise.
        • If you answered “True” to every question, move on to the next step (#8). You’re ready to submit your work.
        • If you did not answer “True” to every question OR AI said you did not meet all the criteria, continue revising until you can.
  6. Submit your group‘s proposal here once you are ready. Only ONE member of the group needs to submit the proposal. See How do I submit an online assignment? if you need help with Canvas.

How to Find Feedback After Your Submit Your Work