ENGL 1102 - Comp II - LEJEUNE: Start here

Write a formal proposal addressing a need on campus or your community. Your primary audience will be the decision makers that are in a position to address the problem you’ve identified. Other members of your audience will probably include other members of the community and other administrators, managers, or committee members. Keep the attitudes and interests of your entire audience in mind. 

4 pages, double spaced, 12pt font, MLA citations. (2 pages for the proposal and 2 pages for the break down and reflection.)

The audience and context you are addressing in the proposal is your choice, just be sure there is a clearly defined problem you are addressing through your proposal.

Consider these elements and write a summary explaining each at the end of your paper. 

1) Audience. Analyze your audience.   You may want to break the audience down into the categories of initial, gatekeeper, primary, secondary, and/or watchdog.   Describe the defining characteristics of each segment of your audience:   How much do they already know about this subject? What aspects of the topic or information will they be most interested in? What is their attitude likely to be?   What questions are they likely to ask while reading what you've written?

2) Purpose. Define your purpose.   Exactly what are you trying to accomplish with this specific audience?   What do you want this piece of writing to enable them to do? What are you trying to convince/persuade them to do or believe?   How will you try to ensure that your final draft accomplishes these purposes?

3) Ethos/Persona. How should you present yourself in order to best accomplish your purpose?   Is there anything about yourself or your attitude that you need to downplay or edit?   Is there anything you should emphasize?

4) Information. What information do you need to include to accomplish your purpose(s) with your audience?   If you do not already have all the necessary information, how will you obtain it?

5) Overcoming Obstacles.   What obstacles might get in the way of your message accomplishing your purpose with your audience?   Will any readers have objections to what you have to say?   If so, how can you overcome them? Is there anything about your message which will seem negative to readers?   If so, how can you de-emphasize the negative aspect or help readers see it in a more positive light?   How else can you influence readers to be open to your message and purpose?

6) Context. Analyze the context within which you are writing (and within which your audience will read your writing).   Context could include the amount of time you have, the time of year, current events that affect your audience's perspective on various issues, etc.   What constraints may limit your ability to accomplish your purpose?   What aspects of your overall context may affect the way you go about accomplishing your purpose?

It is important to map out how you will go about searching for research materials on your topic prior to beginning your search. 

Steps for Creating a Search Strategy

1. Summarize your topic
2. Identify main concepts (keywords)
3. Identify synonyms, alternate words and/or related words
4. Try different combinations of keywords

Example: How does exposure to smokers affect children who have asthma?

What are the main concepts or keywords?
.....smoking, children, asthma

Think of synonyms, alternate words or/and related words.
.....secondhand smoke, smokers..... toddler, pediatric, child .... allergies, breathing problems

Develop your search strategy using the terms above.

Mix and match terms. If one keyword doesn't work, try to vary your keywords with synonyms.

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators help to narrow or broaden your search. The most useful are AND, OR, NOT which help to connect keywords or concepts.



You can use more than one Boolean connector in the same search statement:

• Depression AND Teenagers OR Adolescents

You should have a research topic and a list of some keywords as well as a search strategy. 

*Adapted from McKillop Library 

Pre-search is the process of using familiar sources to explore topics and gather basic background info on a topic before delving into further research. Pre-search is an important stage in the research process! Trying looking in these places for ideas. 

• Google

• Wikipedia (not to be used as a source for your paper)

• Social Media

• News Sources