A proposal does just what it sounds like it would do: it proposes a project or idea to a reader, often seeking either necessary approval or funding to begin that project.

If you are enrolled in WRIT 3562W, you will create a proposal for your formal report. Your proposal should be a research plan; in it, you ask a question and articulate a plan to investigate that question. Part of this plan includes a detailed description of the types of research you will conduct, an explanation of why that type of research makes sense for your question, and a timeline that shows when you expect to complete different stages or elements of your research project.

Your proposal should start by asking a question or identifying a problem. Your research question–some unknown related to the problem you’ve identified–will then lead your research investigation. The findings of this investigation will make up your report: our next assignment (which is the formal report, described in Section 4.5).

Take another look at our conversation about research in Section 1.5, and consider how the research process begins with an unknown or a question or a dissonance. In your proposal, you get to articulate that question for your reader, and explain why it’s an important unknown, problem, or question that is worth investigating. Part of this work includes situating your research question or unknown in a body of research. In other words, show your reader (and make sure for yourself!) that you are investigating something that is currently unknown but that is connected to other research investigations. Your proposal will include summarizing and synthesizing research so that you can really make sense of how YOUR question fits into an ongoing conversation.

Proposals must articulate a problem but also work to convince readers that the problem 1) exists and 2) matters. Proposals work to persuade as well as inform. Take common problems related to environmental justice or equity, for example. How might you articulate a specific problem related to climate change? How might you convince your audience that the problem is worth investigating? How can you develop a research plan that allows you to address this specific problem?

One challenge of writing a proposal is moving from a big problem, or topic, to a small, manageable question. The scope of your proposal will depend upon the time and resources you are able to allocate to your project. Like with any other genre, proposals respond to a rhetorical situation and are written for a specific audience. Often, your proposal will be tailored to fit specific requirements (for a funding opportunity, from your workplace, or for a specific assignment). For example, if you want to research the declining loon population in Minnesota, you have to first develop a very specific unknown related to that bigger problem. You also have to work–using research and a rhetorical approach–to convince your reader that this specific problem is relevant and important. Some questions to ask as you begin your process of moving from the problem of “declining loon population” to something specific and manageable might be:

• What are some unknowns related to the problem?
• What does current research have to say about the problem?
• What are some specific factors contributing to this problem?
• Who are the key stakeholders (why does this problem matter, and for whom)?

When creating a proposal for your formal report, you will focus on developing a question that grows out of a problematic situation. You will then articulate your research plan and timeline, describing how you will address that specific, nuanced question in your report. You will describe your research methods and approaches and help your reader to understand the work you plan to do.

Young, Becker, and Pike, in their text cited at the end of this section, outline a process for articulating specific, answerable questions, which are the starting points to meaningful research (or to other types of projects). They say that research often begins with a “problematic situation,” or something called a “cognitive dissonance.” A cognitive dissonance describes a situation in which your own experience or worldview “bumps up against” does not align with some new information, experience, or a different worldview. Young et al. argue that many people choose to resolve the dissonance by ignoring or rationalizing the new information in a way that does not require them to revise their own worldview. This approach, as we understand it, goes directly against work towards diversity equity and inclusion. As technical communicators and as problem solvers, your job is to engage diverse perspectives and to reconstruct your understanding of a situation or topic based on new, even conflicting, information. So, this experience of a “cognitive dissonance” can begin meaningful inquiry and work!

Let’s say, for example, that you believe wearing masks are ineffective when it comes to protecting the wearer. You remember hearing that this was the case at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. You also remember reading that the virus particles were so small that they could easily pass through a mask.

Months later, masks are being recommended by most healthcare professionals. Data on masks shows that they are an effective way to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

You might experience this new recommendation as a cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, you remember reading that masks were not effective (unless they were N95 masks). You also remember learning that Covid-19 particles could pass through the masks. On the other hand, you read that masks are recommended and even required in certain spaces, and that data shows they are effective in preventing the spread of Covid-19.

As researchers, encountering a cognitive dissonance like this one might lead you to identify some specific unknowns. Unknowns that are contributing to the dissonance describe here might include:

• How do cloth masks work?
• How do Covid-19 viruses spread or travel?
• What does data look like in masked vs unmasked instances?
• What factors changed the recommendation from healthcare providers?

Each of these unknowns can lead to a proposal, which would sketch out a plan for research. These unknowns would be revised into research questions that lead to a specific route. The way that a question is phrased determines the type of research you would do (for example, asking “what do parents think about mask mandates in schools” leads to very different research from something like “are cloth masks effective measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in school settings”).

Let’s work through another example of a cognitive dissonance that can lead to formulating a research question. A problematic situation might be one describe above in the caption under the image for the common loon. A dissonant situation might be something like, on the one hand, wildlife preservation efforts often focus on the actions of individuals. Public campaigns to save the loon’s habitat in Minnesota emphasize the importance of consumers to make better choices and to keep the lakes clean by not feeding wildlife and picking up their own trash. On the other hand, research indicates that specific events, such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizons oil rig explosion, make the most significant negative impacts on wildlife habitats. The actions of individuals make little difference in preservation efforts. The cognitive dissonance might lead a researcher to question: what factors most significantly contribute to the disappearance of the loon’s habitat? Some unknowns include:

• What are the main factors contributing to the disappearance of the common loon in Minnesota?
• What factors contribute to disappearance or destruction of the loon’s habitat?
• What factors are related to individual decisions, and which are tied to the actions of major organizations, corporations, or government entities?

These are just some of the potential unknowns that can lead to specific, nuanced, and manageable research questions. Consider how questions that are too “big” (like “How can we save the Minnesota loon?”) can make a research project unmanageable. Consider, too, that some questions are more difficult to answer, especially questions that lead to “yes” or “no” or “black and white/all or nothing” types of answers.

Finally, along with explaining how research questions evolve out of cognitive dissonances, Young et al. say that there are no problems existing out in the world waiting to be solved; technical communicators solve problems, but they also must explain and convince WHY something is problematic in the first place. Do not assume that your reader already understands or knows why a situation is problematic or why an unknown is worth investigating. Part of your job, in a proposal, is to demonstrate THAT a problem exists and to explain WHY this problem is worth addressing.

How can you consider diversity, equity, and inclusion when creating a proposal?

Proposals are engaged with social justice, and the work of creating a proposal is concerned with diversity, equity, and inclusion, because a proposal works to solve a problem. To solve or address a problem, keep in mind who the stakeholders are: whom does this problem affect? Who stands to benefit, and who stands to lose? Why are you working to address this problem, and what perspectives are you considering when you do this work?

Another way that proposals engage diversity, equity, and inclusion comes into play in how proposals engage other texts and use research. Part of the work of a proposal includes 1) articulating an unknown or a problem and 2) situating that problem in a body of research. Remember that citational practices are one way to engage equity and inclusion. Which voices do you include in your research and in your approach to answering a question? Which perspectives can you consider as you engage a question or a problem from various perspectives?

As you come up with a topic for your proposal, try to think through a problematic situation or cognitive dissonance that you have experienced. Perhaps there was a time when you read something for a course that conflicted with your own experience of the world. Or, perhaps a friend or roommate shared an experience that did not match your own. Or, perhaps you read or experienced something that didn’t “add up” based on your understanding of the world. Engaging a dissonance–rather than dismissing it or rationalizing it away–is one way to work diversity, equity, and inclusion into a proposal from the very beginning. Because a dissonance happens when two conflicting world views or experiences “push against” each other, engaging that dissonance through thoughtful research means engaging different perspectives and voices. Work to address your own biases and to recognize where and how you can seek out information and expertise. Take another look, too, at Section 1.5 and consider how you can work DEI into your research plan. Remember that it’s important to consider whose voices are included when conducting both primary and secondary research.

Section 4.5 discusses formal reports; in this genre, you get to follow through on the research plan created in your proposal.