Proposal Essay in College – Learn How to Do It Efficiently

Proposal Essay – The Practical Guide For Writing

All essay types that college students write have their definite purposes. Besides urging to research a particular subject and obtain the knowledge, all essays make you train the precise skills. Some of them are common for each essay type, like critical thinking, analytical, and writing skills. Others are more specific – they aim to teach you to compose documents according to requirements. The proposal essay is such an exercise.

What Is the Proposal Essay and Why We Need It

A proposal essay is a document in a particular format that you write to convince the audience of your rightness. This essay requires that you propose and prove some ideas. It can also be a case of disproving someone else’s opinions.

To do this, you have to research the topic thoroughly, earn a decent level of expertise on the matter, and provide reliable evidence in favor of your statements. To get permission (and resources) for the job, you deliver that proposal essay.

The proposal documents are standard in business and marketing, but the scope is not limited by these areas. Thus, writing proposal essays in college is excellent training for the future.

Besides, this task relates closely to writing the dissertation research proposals. The more you practice doing the proposal essay – the more skills and experience you get.

How to Choose the Most Effective Topic for the Proposal Essay

The first step in doing any essay assignment is the topic choice. No matter if you have the list of suggestions already, or you have only the general field to research, this task won’t be an easy one. The right topic can help you significantly in your work.

Pay attention to the following criteria when you choose what you will research:

  • The topic should be appealing to you. As your goal is to prove your position on the matter, you have to be sure about it. Thus, you need to be an expert. If you are already engaged, further works will be more natural and effective.
  • It should be relevant. Your subject should have value for all people. As you have to persuade your readers or listeners in your rightness, they need to have knowledge and own opinions too.
  • It has to fit the audience. Consider the people whom you will try to convince. Their backgrounds and personal principles will determine your approach. Depending on the target audience, you might need different types of arguments. If you stress the aspects that are not relevant to the public – you won’t get success.
  • Last but not least, the topic must be feasible. There must be enough reliable data for you to get strong evidence in your favor. Besides, one of the essential parts of the proposal essay is the “plan of action.” Thus, you have to introduce realistic actions you can perform. 

Some Suggestions for the Proposal Essays Topics

You can refer to any field for inspiration. Here, we’ve gathered some ideas for you. You can use them directly, or, maybe they will give you a hint of where to find the ideal topic.

Social Issues

  1. The ways to impose more social responsibilities to students.
  2. The potentially threatening subcultures.
  3. Detecting depressive states in close people.
  4. The problem of sexism in mass culture.
  5. The causes of harmful addictions.
  6. The social pressure and its impacts on people of different ages.
  7. Active stereotypes and their impact on art perception.
  8. The phenomenon of “national reputation” and its impacts.
  9. The race for self-development – positive and negative impacts.
  10. The impact of online communication on children.

Business

  1. The role of corporate culture in employees’ motivation.
  2. The most effective initiatives in fighting crises.
  3. Defining the mission and values of a company.
  4. The adverse effects of the employer’s control over the workers.
  5. Time-tracking software solutions and their psychological effects.
  6. Causes of unemployment among the youth.
  7. Time-management courses for business needs.
  8. Methods of restraining qualified employees from leaving the company.
  9. Practical approaches to running a start-up.
  10. Effective methods of teaching children about economics.

Education

  1. The prospects of remote education as the new default way.
  2. College sports: should sports success give students advantages?
  3. The high education propaganda: the most effective approaches.
  4. Revision of the educational program – which new subjects should enter?
  5. IT means for teaching foreign languages.
  6. The impact of educational TV shows on children.
  7. The positive and negative factors in remote education.
  8. The most promising Web solutions for remote education.
  9. Psychological impacts of getting grades in school.
  10. New approaches to evaluating the students’ knowledge and skills.

Technology

  1. Is the dependence on technologies a real problem?
  2. The second Luddite movement.
  3. The impact of technologies on the business environment.
  4. The impact of restricted access to the Internet for people of different ages.
  5. The most promising technological areas for investment.
  6. The “smart city” solutions as a means of surveillance.
  7. The impact of the global crisis on technological development.
  8. Means of personal data protection.
  9. Online identity thefts and ways to fight them.
  10. The danger of cyber-crimes and means of prevention. 

Psychology

  1. The role of instant messengers in changing teenagers’ behavior.
  2. The problem of “burning-out.”
  3. The most efficient motivation approaches.
  4. Is learning from other people’s mistakes a myth?
  5. When does perfectionism become a psychological problem?
  6. Emotional exhausting and ways to prevent it.
  7. Psychological practices for accepting their own failures.
  8. Building trust between parents and children.
  9. The origins of the abusive behavior and ways to detect it at the early stage.
  10. Psychological pressure in families and ways to treat it.

Agreeing on the topic is just the start of the work. Now you have to research it. The theme defines the direction and the right angle of view, and you are to find more information. You get the vision of the current status of the problem, formulate your thesis, and gather the evidence. Then you proceed to the proposal essay composition.

Peculiarities of the Proposal Essay Structure

This essay type differs from the other papers you did. It still has the mandatory Introduction and Conclusion parts, and you’ll present the thesis statement. However, there are strict requirements for the Main Body area.

The structure of the proposal essay includes six necessary parts:

  • Introduction
  • Proposal
  • Action Plan
  • Desired results
  • Resources
  • Conclusion

Introduction

The opening of the proposal essay has a common goal – to get the attention of the audience. Here, you introduce the problem that you will prove, explain its importance, and tell how you plan to resolve it. This part can be more expressive, you may use emotional language, refer to exciting facts and citations. All means help you to make the audience interested.

Proposal

The Proposal stands for the thesis statement. You present the central idea that you consider to be right (or wrong, if you are going to disprove some authority). The “Proposal” part is concise, you should not go into details. More information will come further.

Action Plan

The proposal essay must include an explanation of how to resolve the issue. If you are going to prove that your point of view is correct, you are supposed to know how to convince the other people. Focus on the following aspects:

  • The possibility to fulfill the proposal under realistic conditions.
  • The resources needed.
  • Your advantages as the best performer to do the task.

The Action Plan should present you as the most qualified candidate. Also, it has to ensure that you possess the necessary resources to start the job. Thus, you should include the details proving your competence:

  • Show understanding of the whole process and controlling it;
  • Include some technical details stressing your expertise;
  • Describe possible pitfalls and explain how to overcome them.

Desired Results

The section should explain which goals you plan to achieve. You should describe them briefly and stress the positive practical outcomes that your research will bring.

Resources

List the things you need for efficient researches. Any types of resources can fit here – financial assets, hardware and software, time, and so on.

Conclusion

In this section, you stress the importance of the problem and your capabilities of resolving it again. You can provide more context for the issue and some humor to get positive reactions from the target audience.

Writing Tips

The proposal essay must convince the audience. Hence, you need to make this document convincing. The writing style is critical, and your target audience will perceive your reasoning via the written text. So, take the time and make this essay polished.

  • Do in-depth research and select the most persuasive arguments. Also, make sure to include additional explanation information – it helps people with a vague understanding of the problem get more precise vision.
  • Prepare well for the writing. Outline the essay to organize the information. You may need to do this several times and try different orders of elements to find the most impressive logical sequences.
  • Focus on no more than three ideas. If you have too many suggestions, your proposal essay will be too large, and you won’t explore them all correctly. Instead, present the most essential and elaborated concepts.
  • Find trustworthy arguments and factual evidence for your thesis statement. Assign the facts to the claims and note the references at once. Make sure to include the data about the source – you must cite each source precisely. Further, it will help you to locate the in-text citations and compile the bibliography section properly.
  • Sort the sources. You need only relevant and reliable data to convince the audience. Use the academically recognized works and avoid any biased opinions or articles from the source not credible.
  • Pay attention to the vocabulary. It should demonstrate your knowledge on the topic, but it must not be overcomplicated. Don’t use too many specific terms as they perplex the audience.
  • Write in the academic style. Get rid of any traces of slang or informal speech.
  • Revise and proofread the essay. You can’t do it per one run – the eye and mind get tired. So, give yourself some rest, return to the document, and read it attentively. You will find weak fragments and issues. Make sure to correct them all. Then leave the essay aside for some more time, and then make the next revision.
  • Collect feedback from trusted people. Such remarks have an exceptional value of the “outside-in” perspective – they detect the issues you might miss.

The Proposal Essay Is Demanding, but You Can Do It!

Despite the specific requirements of this essay type, the work is feasible. The essence is to know your topic and feel it. Then you can share your feelings with the audience. When you make them feel as engaged as you – you will get their support. You’ll master the art of writing this proposal essay and always provide accurate and impressive papers.

However, if you are not sure about your own skills, and this paper is too essential for you to take chances – you can get it done by essay professionals. Let us know the requirements, and we’ll work to meet them all. The professional proposal essay is the most convincing argument.