Writing Reports and Proposals By: Nicole Neil

       To begin planning a proposal, remember the basic definition: a proposal is an offer or bid to do a certain project for someone. Proposals may contain other elements—technical background, recommendations, results of surveys, information about feasibility, and so on. But what makes a proposal a proposal is that it asks the audience to approve, fund, or grant permission to do the proposed project.
If you plan to be a consultant or run your own business, written proposals may be one of your most important tools for bringing in business. And, if you work for a government agency, nonprofit organization, or a large corporation, the proposal can be a valuable tool for initiating projects that benefit the organization or you the employee-proposer (and usually both).
       A proposal should contain information that would enable the audience of that proposal 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 to feel confident having you do the project.

Internal, external. If you write a proposal to someone within your organization (a business, a government agency, etc.), it is an internal proposal. With internal proposals, you may not have to include certain sections (such as qualifications), or you may not have to include as much information in them. An external proposal is one written from one separate, independent organization or individual to another such entity. The typical example is the independent consultant proposing to do a project for another firm.

Solicited, unsolicited. If a proposal is solicited, the recipient of the proposal in some way requested the proposal. Typically, a company will send out requests for proposals  through the mail or publish them in some news source. But proposals can be solicited on a very local level: for example, you could be explaining to your boss what a great thing it would be to install a new technology in the office; your boss might get interested and ask you to write up a proposal that offered to do a formal study of the idea. Unsolicited proposals are those in which the recipient has not requested proposals. With unsolicited proposals, you sometimes must convince the recipient that a problem or need exists before you can begin the main part of the proposal.

When writing your reports or proposals you want to adapt to your audience, Long or complex reports demand a lot from your reader.

1. the introduction or the opening is the first section in any text or proposal ( your introduction needs to be put in your report , introduce the subject , preview main ideas, and establish the tone of the document.
2. The body presents , ananlyzes , and interprets the information gathered.
3. Lastly is the conclusion the close might be the only part of your report where some readers have time for, so make sure it makes sense, and it conveys the full entity of you message.
And as you close your report or proposal you want to do a revision checklist to make sure you:

Make sure you use the right format. Remember, the memo format is for internal proposals; the business-letter format is for proposals written from one external organization to another. (Whether you use a cover memo or cover letter is your choice.)

Write a good introduction—in it, state that this is a proposal, and provide an overview of the contents of the proposal.

Make sure to identify exactly what you are proposing to do.

Make sure that a report—a written document—is somehow involved in the project you are proposing to do. Remember that in this course we are trying to do two things: write a proposal and plan a term-report project.

Have a great day at work and remember B.N.G. Consultants is always here to help.


http://www.prismnet.com/~hcexres/textbook/props.html#introduction

Excellence In Business Communication/ John v. Thill, Courtland L. Bovee. 9th edition