Although there are many genres of writing that might benefit from a proposal, we are going to consider only three: literary text, persuasive text, and expository text. Most academic writing is either persuasive writing (which includes academic argumentative writing) or explanatory writing (which includes reports and summaries).
To start yourself thinking about types of writing and their purposes, use the Venn diagram below to sort out some made-up essay titles about dogs. You will probably be able to sort the titles fairly easily, but at the same time, it might occur to you that some titles fit into more than one category. This is the reason for using the diagram with overlapping circles. For now sort each title into the most obvious category, but be aware that the categories will often overlap in your own writing.
Drag and drop each title below into the correct circle in the Venn diagram.
Now let’s look more closely at how we might use literary, expository, or persuasive writing. If you were writing about your dog dying, you could start your proposal with any one of the following sentences:
Using the literary, expository, and persuasive methods, write the purpose for an essay entitled “The Best Breed.” You might start your proposal statement with, “In this essay, I will describe/discuss/defend.”
Type in your answers in your notes.
Sample Response:
Literary purpose: In this essay I will describe my experiences with the noble and loyal breed of dog—standard poodles.
Expository purpose: In this essay I will discuss the ways in which standard poodles require special treatment.
Persuasive purpose: In this essay I will defend my conviction that standard poodles are as suitable for self-consciously masculine men as are rottweilers or pit bulls.
CloseWhat about audience? You will need to adjust your writing for the age, educational background, interests, and motivations of your readers. In academic writing, your primary purpose will be to demonstrate competent skills, in both content and writing, to an evaluator. Some teachers will welcome originality and humor; others will require strict adherence to codes of correctness and appropriateness. There is no ideal reader that you can count on because each reader is different.
Your best bet is to (1) take into account what you know about your teacher, and (2) be conservative rather than daring.
Some teachers will ask you to write as if you are writing for a specific audience. In this case, your task is to demonstrate to the teacher that you can adjust your writing for a specific audience.