Proposal Memo: Rough Draft

Overview

• This is an activity related to the Proposal Memo: Assignment.
• The activity is worth 300 points. I will add the points to your grade after checking your draft.

Goals

• Analyze the rhetorical situation and determine the appropriate audience or users of written communication, considering the needs of global audiences and people with disabilities. [CLO 1]
• Use conventions of various workplace genres, such as proposals, instructions, correspondence, reports, and slide decks, with understanding of how the genre conventions can be used as heuristics and as principles of arrangement. [CLO 4]
• Apply principles of effective visual design for print and electronic presentation, including hierarchical, chronological, and spatial arrangements. [CLO 6]
• Identify and apply the principles of effective style in the composing of usable, reader-centered written communications. [CLO 7]

The Task

For this Major Writing Project Activity, create a rough draft of your project in your word processor. 

Getting Started

Complete these activities to gather information and prepare to write your draft: 

• Proposal Memo: Generate Ideas about Your Topic
• Proposal Memo: Complete an Audience Profile Sheet
• Proposal Memo: Outline Your Memo

You are not required to complete the activities above, but they can help you prepare your draft.

Composing Your Draft

Create a rough draft of your project in your word processor. Keep the following Project Requirements in mind:

• Focuses on a kind of writing from your Analysis of Writing in Your Field project that you have not written before.
• Is a document in memo format created in a word processor.
• Provides a specific subject line for the document.
• Includes the following sections, in this order, in your memo:
  • Begins with a clear statement of purpose.
  • Provides a brief summary of the information in the document.
  • Explains the areas to be studied in your recommendation report, including the ethical issues you will consider.
  • Explains your research strategy, providing your initial plan for finding information about the kind of writing.
  • Ends with a request for approval.
• Use professional design and formatting that does the following:
  • Makes information easy for readers to find and read.
  • Emphasizes important information.
  • Makes a good first impression as a polished, professional document.
• Use accurate/appropriate grammar, spelling, punctuation, mechanics, linking, and formatting.

Read additional details on the project assignment, Proposal Memo: Assignment.

Requirements

1. Create your document in your word processor. 
2. Include a rough outline of the entire Proposal Memo.
3. Complete at least the first two required sections
   • Begins with a clear statement of purpose.
   • Provides a brief summary of the information in the document.
     TIP: Include enough information for me to tell what type of writing you will focus on. Giving me these details lets me tell you if there is an issue with your focus before you complete your Formal, Finished Draft.
4. Make sure your draft is clear, but don’t need to worry about spelling, grammar, and punctuation since this is a rough draft. 

Grading Process

I will award the points for this activity after I check your draft and ensure that it meets the basic requirements listed above. Note that your draft need not be complete to earn the points for this activity, but I do expect to see that you put some effort into beginning the project. 

If I have a question or concern about your draft, I will add a comment to the draft. Check the help link in the #TuesdayTutorial: Resources on How to Use Canvas DIscussion for information on how to read comments on your work.

I will not provide individualized editing or revision feedback on rough drafts. Instead I will provide collective feedback to the class that goes over the issues that I see in the drafts all members of the course submit. I may use excerpts from your draft to provide collective feedback to the class, based on the Anonymous Use of Student Texts policy Links to an external site..