How to write proposal essay

How to write a proposal? | C1 Advanced (CAE)

A proposal may be written for a peer group (such as colleagues or club members), or for a supervisor (such as a boss or a college principal). You will be expected to make one or more suggestions, supported by factual information and evaluation, in order to persuade the reader of a course of action.

How to write a proposal?

Report vs Proposal:

Proposals are often structured in a similar way to reports. Reports are based on current circumstances or situations whereas in proposals you give more space to recommendations for future actions in a proposal.

C1 Advanced (CAE) Proposal: Structure / Format

Subheading 1
Paragraph 1: Describe the current situation

Subheading 2
Paragraph 2: Describe the current situation3. Final Recommendations
Make your recommendations. Write at least 2-3 sentences

CAE, FCE, CPE

More than Practice Tests

C1 Advanced (CAE) Proposal: Writing Guide

1. Title + Introduction

The title is advisable but optional.

Title: How to improve the quality of language classes: a proposal

Start the proposal with an introduction and a clear sentence that states the purpose/aim: The aims of this proposal are to… Introduction: The principal objectives of this proposal are to describe the current state of language teaching at the Pennsylvania State University, identify areas for improvement, and offer recommendations on exactly what improvements can be achieved.

2. Main body: 1st – 2nd paragraph

Group your ideas under headings for each section of your proposal. Remember to answer all the questions that you were asked. Write in a formal and impersonal style similar to a report.

Paragraph 1:

Subheading 1: Current situation

Paragraph 1: At the present moment, Penn State offers courses of several languages on three different levels. One can study modern languages such as French, German, Italian Russian as a beginner, intermediate or upper-intermediate student.

Paragraph 2:

Subheading 2: Issues

Paragraph 2: Following a final year survey among students taking language courses, the following areas for improvement can be highlighted … (here you continue)

3. Final Recommendations

Express opinions and make recommendations in the last section/paragraph of your proposal. Include a final sentence summarising your opinion.

This is a vital part of a proposal, make sure you give enough space to recommendations for future actions in a proposal. Write at least 3 sentences.

I would like to make the following recommendations:

If these recommendations are in place, young people are bound to feel more prepared for their experience and take full advantage of this unique experience.

Get Your (CAE) Proposal Checked!

C1 Advanced (CAE) Proposal: Sample Aswers

CAE Proposal Sample 1

Proposal subject:

Language students – let us improve what we do for you!
Unfortunately, we can’t spend much money, but we’d like to improve what we provide for our language students. Submit proposals to us explaining what is useful about the current facilities we provide, describe any problems you have with them and make recommendations for how we can improve them, giving reasons to support your ideas.

Student’s CAE Proposal Answer:

How to improve the quality of language classes: a proposal

The principal objectives of this proposal are to describe the current state of language teaching at the Pennsylvania State University, identify areas for improvement, and offer recommendations on exactly what improvements can be achieved.

At the present moment, Penn State offers courses of several languages on three different levels. One can study modern languages such as French, German, Italian Russian as a beginner, intermediate or upper-intermediate student.

Following a final year survey among students taking language courses, the following areas for improvement can be highlighted:

1. the number of languages in offer: undoubtedly narrow and restricted to European languages;
2. the structure of the courses is flat: no advanced level
3. little innovation in the language methods utilized: simple, old-fashioned grammar-translation method still reigns supreme.

It is vital to address the issues raised in the student survey. Therefore, the following actions ought to be performed with a view to improving the quality of the courses and their reception:

A. The offer should be increased to include other widely-spoken languages, especially non-European ones, such as Chinese, Arabic and Hindi. These languages are real challenges for the speakers of European languages.

B. It is advisable to expand the course options by offering lessons for advanced students. Only comprehensive offer can motivate students to immerse themselves in language learning.

C. Last but not least, some variety needs to be introduced into the array of teaching methods available to students, e.g. online multimedia lessons. The best method of language learning is using many various methods.

All of these measures, if promptly implemented, are surely going to increase student satisfaction in the area of language courses.

Get Your (CAE) Proposal Checked!

CAE Proposal Sample 2

Proposal subject:

You go to a university that has a high amount of international students and you have realised that the website is not up to scratch. Write a proposal for the University Dean about how it could be improved.

Student’s CAE Proposal Answer:

This proposal is aimed at outlining the way in which the university website could be improved so that it is more user friendly for international students. It will suggest what improvements can be made and also set out how this would benefit the students themselves.

Problems with using the site

A recent study into how easy it is to get around the site has revealed that 70% of students whose second language is English find it difficult to find specific information about their courses. Because of the language barrier, they find it hard to make their search terms clear and this has become a cause for concern. Translating the site is not an option and this can be a big problem, especially at the beginning of the academic year.

Ways the site could address these issues

It has been well documented that the university website has neither a site map nor an introduction video to help novice students to find their way around it. It would make a huge difference if there were some simple instructions to indicate where to find information. It is a delicate balance as we, of course, want international students to learn English, but also want them to navigate the site with ease.

I would like to make the following recommendations:

If these recommendations are in place, young people are bound to feel more prepared for their experience and take full advantage of this unique experience.

Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE): How to Write a Proposal

Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE): How to Write a Proposal

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Introduction

A proposal may be written for a peer group (such as colleagues or club members), or for a supervisor (such as a boss or a college principal). Candidates will be expected to make one or more suggestions, supported by factual information and evaluation, in order to persuade the reader of a course of action. Students should work on functional language for evaluating and for making suggestions, and will need to be able to use a range of persuasive language.

Source: Cambridge English C1 Advanced handbook for teachers

Proposals are part of the section section of the C1 Advanced Writing paper. While the essay task in the first section is mandatory, you can choose if you want to write a proposal or not as you get other options (email/letter, review, report).

What a proposal really is

However, proposals are a lot simpler and more straightforward than you might think. In fact, they are fairly similar to reports, but we’ll get into that a bit later in this post. My point is that there is a certain structure that all proposal tasks follow, which gives you an opportunity to exploit them and get great marks.

Long story short, I’m going to show you a typical task and we will dissect it together in order to give you the insight and tools you need to crush it when you sit down to write CAE proposals so let’s get it.

What a typical proposal task looks like

As I said in the previous section, proposal tasks usually look very similar, which means that you can take advantage of certain characteristics. Here is what a task might look like:

In all of these tasks (and every writing task in C1 Advanced, really) there are two things you need to ask yourself before you even start to make a plan:

Always read the task very carefully and underline the things you are required to write about (hint: there are usually three 😉 ).

The three topic points we need to consider are now nicely highlighted:

The second question for you to consider is who’s going to read your proposal. You might ask yourself why this is important in the first place, but it tells you if you should use formal, neutral or informal language.

In our example task you have to write to the town council, which means that it’s a pretty official proposal. For this reason, formal English is the way to go.

In formal English – and for the purpose of doing the CAE exam – there are a couple of rules that you should follow: no contractions (I’m, don’t, etc.), no colloquial expressions (Hey, what’s up?, I liked it heaps., etc.), and no slang or phrasal verbs that convey informality (I’m bursting vs. I have had enough to eat; carry on vs. continue).

This can vary slightly from task to task. For example, if you are writing for your classmates, you can be a little bit more informal, but, generally speaking, you should always be polite. use your common sense and you’ll be fine.

How to organise your proposal

In this part we are going to look at the structure of a proposal. The good thing is that this organisational pattern works for every proposal you’re going to write on your C1 Advanced journey so you can practise and improve very easily and gain the confidence you need to be great.

I hope you remember the three topic points from our example.

I guess it makes perfect sense to give each of those three points a separate paragraph. Add to this a title/introduction and a conclusion / final sentence and we’re at five. Putting everything together it looks like this:

In proposals we also give each section a heading, which makes it very similar to a report. The big difference is, however, that a report makes recommendations based on past events while a proposal talks about something that hasn’t happened yet.

This structure can be applied to every single proposal writing task and it should give you the confidence to get started.

Always make a plan before you start writing

This one drives me crazy. I see it all the time that students give me their writing tasks and I find that certain topic points are not covered or the organisational structure is chaotic and all over the place. The reason is almost always lack of planning, which is just mind-boggling to me as it only takes a few minutes to come up with a little list of bullet points and some ideas.

Please don’t make the same mistake. Always make a plan before you start writing. It can save you a love of time and headaches because everything you need is right there in front of you so you can focus on good content and language.

The different parts of a proposal

In this part we are going to look at the example from the beginning of this post again and I’m going to walk you through writing a proposal step by step so you know exactly how this whole thing works. Of course, the topic changes from task to task, but if you understand the essence, you will be able to apply this knowledge to every future task.

Introduction

A proposal is a rather factual and informative piece of writing so it is not your job to make it sound happy or sensational (as you would in a review or possibly an informal email). Therefore, your introduction should get straight to the point. Say what the proposal’s purpose is and what you are going to include. It is also important to note that you should never just copy the words from the task, but paraphrase them and use your own words instead.

Some useful language for an introduction includes (but is not limited to) the following phrases:

Let’s have a look at a possible example:

Proposal to modernise the old brewery

This proposal is intended to outline why the old brewery on ABC Street should not be demolished and is worth protecting, how it could be turned into a valuable asset for the town and in what ways it could be of use for the residents of the town.

You see that the intro doesn’t have to be very long or detailed. What I have done is that I simply followed my own advice stating the purpose of the proposal and explaining what is included paraphrasing the task. That’s it.

Topic paragraphs

In your topic paragraphs you deal with the three different main points from the task. As mentioned above, you are not required to make this sound sensational, but rather informational and factual.

At the same time, however, you’re trying to convince the local council to consider your proposal so you need to use language to make suggestions and to be persuasive.

As we said earlier, your paragraphs should get headings so it becomes evident very easily what you are talking about in each section.

The old brewery building with its central location and unique architecture is still a focal point of the town centre for many people. While it has not been in use for some years, everyone has fond memories of the annual summer celebration. Therefore, it would be very sad to simply demolish the building when there is an opportunity just waiting to be taken.

How to modernise it

It is apparent that the modernisation of a building this old can be a challenge as everything from the ground up needs renovating. However, some of our local architects would be willing to work together and develop a design that takes into account the financial constraints of the public budget as well as environmental factors.

I strongly recommend turning the brewery into a co-working space so the rent will offset some of the costs and give our town a modern touch on a historic site.

It benefits everyone in town

If the council decides to follow my suggestions, there will be great benefits for everybody involved. The town would create another source of income, the space would attract creative professionals and not only would it benefit them, but local residents would also be able to keep their beloved brewery in the town centre.

In these three paragraphs you can find everything that’s important when writing a proposal for C1 Advanced. There are clear headings that tell the reader what to expect in each section of the text and I used some persuasive language which I highlighted for you. Obviously, there are tons of expressions that you can include, but the list is too long for this post. I’m sure, however, that you get the idea.

Conclusion

Last but not least, we need a nice and short conclusion to give a last recommendation. Make sure that you try to convince the reader of your idea one more time.

In my opinion, the brewery should be modernised and turned into a co-working space, and I strongly urge the council to consider this proposal.

Nothing fancy, just straight to the point giving your opinion and pushing the issue again.

If you put all the different parts together, you’ll get a solid proposal that ticks all the boxes in terms of structure, language and ideas. The examiner will be happy and you’ll get high marks.

Time to practise

Now it is up to you to get started. You can find a lot of example tasks in books or online so practise as much as you can to become more familiar and more confident with proposals.

How To Write A Proposal Essay

How To Write A Proposal Essay (Writing Guide)

Briefly, a proposal essay is an essay which puts forward an original idea, and then defends it through the use of well-backed up research and personal opinion combined to try and persuade whoever is reading it of the advantages\disadvantages of the idea.

Proposals are mainly found in three fields: education (it is a good way to teach and learn critical thinking), business (as a way of showing why particular moves would be a bad idea, or a good one, respectively), and economics, for much the same reason. This of course does not mean that they are limited to these areas – proposal essay writing is something which can be useful for many fields.

How to Start a Proposal Essay

Much of the work which goes into a good proposal essay is done ahead of time; as the following paragraphs will show, being able to persuade others of your point of view is as much to do with the quality of the research being done, and the ways in which you pitch your argument as it does with the writing style. Writing is (it should go without saying) important, but it can only do so much.

Knowing the audience for your work is incredibly important – the audience will determine the overall tone of the paper, as well as possibly influence the types of sources which can and should be used to back up the arguments made in the paper itself. For example, if the paper is aimed at business people, then arguments should revolve around the financial benefits or drawbacks of the situation being proposed. Alternatively, academics should be tackled by using strictly academic sources and previous academic theories, whether to agree with them or disagree.

Don’t skip over the research. This is the most important part of the process, even more so than having polished writing; less than stellar writing and good research will stand up to scrutiny far more easily than perfect writing and a lack of research will. Good research also makes it more likely that the essay will fulfill its purpose in persuading other people to the point of view it discusses.

Before writing the essay, start by creating a list of your ideas, and forming them into an outline. This outline does not need to be fixed, but it will you to organize your thoughts and the essay so that they both flow coherently in the writing.

An introduction in an essay is how you introduce the topic to whoever is reading. Not only is it the place to lay out the arguments which you will be relying on throughout the essay, but also gives space for any necessary history or important people to be mentioned and discussed before the actual essay begins. The introduction is possibly one of the most important parts of the essay, as it sets up what is to come, and begins the work of persuading people of a particular point of view by convincing them to read on. Outside of an educational setting, proposal essays are generally only written as a means of solving a problem or showing one potential way to solve a problem. Therefore, they highlight the problem which they are attempting to solve within the introduction itself, so as to ensure that the audience understands.

How to Write the Main Part of a Proposal Essay

An outline will be featured at the end of this article, which will show the relevant parts of a proposal essay – note that depending on the context, some parts may need to be taken out or rearranged to better suit what it is trying to convey.

The Proposal

The proposal should act as a statement of purpose, something which explains the purpose behind writing the essay. It can be anything from a few lines long to an entire paragraph – it depends on the length of the essay itself – but it should contain the problem\opinion\topic which is under discussion, and an explanation of why it is worth debating.

Body Paragraph One – First Argument

This is the paragraph where you lay out your first argument for or against the proposal. Make sure that the writing is good, clear, and doesn’t go off into unnecessary tangents. Similarly, make sure that everything is referenced properly, and prepare to back up every argument (including any follow-up arguments) with well-checked facts.

Body Paragraph Two – Second Argument

This should be the same as above, except with an entirely new argument.

Body Paragraph Three – Third (Opposing) Argument

Again, this should be the same as above, although many people use it as a means of expressing an opposing opinion to the one they hold. It is entirely up to the writer as to how to use this paragraph, though it should be noted that devoting time to debunking the more common arguments or opposing opinions in the essay will tell the audience that the research into the problem has been thorough and well-done.

How to Conclude a Proposal Essay

The conclusion should not be a simple re-statement of the introduction, with all of the relevant history and essay points, but it should contain some elements of it all. You should include just enough to serve as a reminder of why the proposal was deemed appropriate in the first place, without any in-depth knowledge of the introduction. The main arguments being made in your proposal should also be reiterated. Once this is done, there are two ways in which a proposal essay can be ended, and it depends on what type of proposal essay was being written. If the proposal essay was written in an educational setting, then the conclusion should wrap up all the research done and deliver the final conclusion, along with any last pieces of information which might be appropriate at this stage. The other kind of proposal essay, the one did in a professional setting, should have several more strands to it.

For people who are giving a professional proposal essay: state the goal of the proposal, just to ensure that everybody who reads the essay knows what it is handling, and then focus on why the proposal will work, with reference to any previous moves in this direction, or any potential assets to the proposal which would particularly suit your audience.

How to Write An Essay Proposal In 2022

Proposal essay! What’s that? Oh god! I don’t know how to write an essay proposal.

Where can I find the knowledge of it?

These questions arrive in the students’ minds after they get the proposal essay writing task. Don’t worry! Here you will get the answer to all of your questions.

To write a high-quality proposal essay, one needs three main components that their teacher wants to see in their proposal essay. Let’s discuss all three components in this how to write an essay proposal blog.

To write a good proposal essay, three major points are-

Now you know the main components of the proposal essay. Let’s go further with the definition of the proposal essay and how to write an essay proposal effectively.

Table of Contents

What is a Proposal Essay

As the name tells, it suggests an idea and provides evidence to convince the reader why that idea is good or bad. Proposals are mostly part of the business and economic transaction, but they are not limited to those two fields.

This blog will combine all the important aspects to answer how to write an essay proposal.

Students need to understand the structure. A proposal essay includes the classic structure of an essay in which you have to write a catchy introduction, body paragraphs, and a solid conclusion.

The structure is elaborated for a better understanding later in the blog. But first, you should follow the pre-writing strategies for how to write an essay proposal.

Pre-writing strategies for essay proposal-

1 Recognize your audience

You have to know who you are writing for. Are they government officials? Business people? Academics? Try to understand your audience’s interest because they will read your essay.

2 Do proper research

Spare your time to read the other essay samples or experts’ work. Having any secondary sources that will support your claims will influence others toward your proposal.

3 Write a rough draft

Before starting writing a proposal essay, contribute time brainstorming good ideas. Once you find many good ideas, think about how you will write them in your essay.

4 Revise your essay

Never think that your first draft will be perfect. Take the help of peers and teachers in reading your essay and get feedback from them. After that, make changes accordingly.

Structure for writing an essay proposal

Essay proposals need to be eye-catching, and the outline plays an important part in readers’ interaction. The reader will not show any interest in the essay proposal if it is not organized properly.

Here are some parts that help make your essay proposal effective and easily understandable.

The main parts of the proposal essay are given below:

Introduction

You can write an introduction to get the reader’s interest. Preferably, you can start with a hook. Asking a question is also a great way to get the reader’s attention.

Proposal

This part should be described briefly and only discuss your actual proposal. It is okay for this section to be only a few sentences long if the proposal is short. In this section, don’t add details about how you will carry out the proposal.

Plan of Action

It is an important part, as you have to go into detail about how you will implement your proposal here.

You need to make sure that your plan of action contains answers to these questions, such as how you will conquer your proposal, what you will do for an audience to understand that you are prepared for the solution, and how the solution will efficiently solve the problem.

Here are some points included in it-

Convince the reader

Present the facts and evidence to make the solution more efficient than the existing solution. You need to convince your audience not because the plan you are about to execute is awesome but because you are the person who can do it efficiently. Highlight your qualifications and show why you are suited for the plan.

Explain your plan in detail.

Provide complete step-by-step plan details that will make the process easy for your audience to understand.

Your anticipation for the plan

In this, you have to ensure that the complete implementation is carefully planned and that you will complete the process in advance and solve the problems that will come across.

Desired results

Set your desired results and show the purpose of your proposal. The final goal is to make everything clearly defined in your proposal.

Required Resources

There are some resources required for the completion of the proposal. Include material (money, computers, paper, etc.) and time.

Conclusion

In this, you will summarise the points mentioned in the essay. Don’t restate the theme of the introduction. If your essay needs any historical reference in the essay proposal, you can provide it here.

Moreover, mentioning the references in your essay helps prove the purpose of the proposal.

All the above points in the structure help you know how to write an essay proposal properly.

How To Write An Essay Proposal

Topics ideas for proposal essays–

Here are some topic ideas for the proposal essay; check it out-

Wrap up!

If you still don’t know how to write an essay proposal, you can contact us at any time and from anywhere in the world, and we will help you with your essay proposal.

You may need to write an essay proposal at any time, so we have put all the information about the essay proposal together. You just need to go through this piece of information, and then you will be ready to write an astonishing essay proposal.

Students should understand some frequently arising questions in their minds related to this topic, like what is an essay proposal, how to write an essay proposal, etc.

Proposal Essay Topics And Ideas for Students

What Is A Proposal Essay?

When you have to write a proposal essay, it is essential to understand that it is not like a proposal to become a nurse in the future or a wedding proposal. It is also not exactly the same thing as a research paper proposal. The reasoning here is to provide a certain problem or pose an argument that highlights some issue or phenomenon. Your proposal must meet various challenges and address the questions that are often posed by the sceptics. For example, if you believe that school uniforms lead to equality, you must provide an extensive research where both cons and pros are explored. While you may have a certain bias towards your solution, it is vital to provide arguments and information that would support your opinion with the facts.

How To Write A Proposal Essay?

Before you choose proposal essay topics by narrowing things down a little bit, do your best to define a problem by using several sentences. Imagine that you are talking to a good friend and want to tell them about a great idea that you would like to explore. The next element to consider is a workable, realistic solution that will fit the problem. It can be an assumption or even a case study that you would like to include. It will also be helpful to add analysis with an explanation of why your solution is the most efficient.

Summing things up, we should have:

If it all sounds way too challenging, you can approach a trained essay maker and address all the issues that you may have. Remember that structure should always come first. That it is recommended to have three key elements where you pose a problem, solve it, and explain why it should work!

100 Best Proposal Essay Topics And Ideas

— Proposal Argument Topics

The purpose here is to present some argumentation that is already contained in your proposal. For example, you believe that there is not enough coverage about electronic waste issues in China. It can be a proposal topic for your essay. As long as you have some strong points in your topic for a proposal essay, it will work.

— Proposal Essay Topics

When you have to provide a proposal essay topic, ask yourself a question and think about why something matters or what problem can be addressed. It will help you narrow things down. Below are some topic proposal ideas to consider:

— Proposal Essay Topics For College Students

Some topics are more suitable for college students. The trick here is to focus on something that you can relate to as a college learner. See these proposal paper ideas below for inspiration:

— Proposal Solution Essay Topics

When your grading rubric mentions a proposal solution essay writing, it means that your main thesis should offer a solution. For example, you can state that reducing the online time that children spend online can improve their sleep patterns. It should be a problem with a solution already in the “punch line” of your subject. Just like with proposal argument essay topics seen before, you should not forget about defining your problem to match it with a solution.

— Research Proposals Ideas

As a rule, one may start with research proposals for more serious projects. See these examples and remember to cite your sources to avoid plagiarism issues:

Remember that these are only the starting points and you can and should explore more essay proposals by turning to our helpful examples. Let your creativity flow, see what is trending, and explore the solutions!

How To Make Proposal Essay Work?

While there is no universal formula to make things perfect right away as our college and school professors may have their opinions, it is always possible to get help with essay and check on things like grammar, structure, and plagiarism risks. Moreover, an expert will always help you correct the wording in your topic and provide you with excellent sources. If you are running out of time or feel stuck, let us handle your proposal essay task and help you earn the best grades!