Proposal Subject and Research Plan

Note:  The Proposal Subject and Research Questions assignment is the first of three proposal-related assignments, including:

• Proposal Draft 1 (Due Week 7)
• Final Proposal (Due Week 8)
Purpose:  A proposal is an offer to carry out research or to provide a product or service.  

The proposal may be written as an Internal Proposal(an offer writers submit within their own organization) or as an External Proposal(an offer writers submit in response to requests made by the government/other organizations in competition with other offers). 
 
The FinalProposal should be formatted like a memo and should include the following parts:

•  a statement of purpose
•  a summary section
•  an introduction
•  a proposed tasks section that includes numbered steps
•  a timeline for completion presented in the form of a Gannt chart
•  a budget
•  an experience section—an explanation of the author’s (your own) credentials,
•  an APA style Reference section.

Tasks:
1)   Choose a subject for a proposal that interest you.  I welcome creative proposal topics that will be of practical use to you. Consider writing an internal proposal directed at improving student services at Portland Community Collegeor improving a daily task in your workplace.
Or consider writing an external proposalin response to an IFB (Information For Bid) or RFP (Request for Proposal).  Search for organizations like the PGE Foundation or the Bill Gates Foundation that publish requests for proposals.  Or search the FedBizOpps website for government requests. 
 Does your program offer money to fund student projects or participation in a conference?  Consider writing a proposal to obtain that funding.

2)  Write a paragraph explaining your interest in the proposal and why you have chosen it.  
List at least three specific research questions that you will need to answer in order to develop your proposal. 
 For example, if you are writing about building a community garden for your apartment complex, you might research the cost of soil, plants, and building materials.  You might want to find out more about how other community gardens are managed successfully.  You also might want to research plants—to find out what kind of plants would thrive in that garden.