A Model of the Proposal Writing Process

It’s hard to describe an essay proposal without actually looking at one. So let’s work through writing a proposal. As we go through the process, you will see how the decisions discussed in the previous section work with the other parts of the proposal.

For this lesson, assume that you’ve either chosen or were assigned to write an essay in response to a statement by John Paul Stevens
US Supreme Court Judge, John Paul Stevens on ignorance and prejudice: “Ignorance, that is to say fear of the unknown, is the source of the most invidious prejudice.” The assignment asks you to relate this statement to the concept of tolerance.

You should prepare for writing your proposal by putting some ideas on paper. Putting them down and arranging them will help you wrap your mind around the assigned topic. In other words, you need to do some prewriting. The proposal itself is not a prewriting activity. Prewriting activities firm up your ideas in an organized way before you actually start drafting.

Once you have done some prewriting, you can start the proposal. The first step is to paraphrase the thesis, which in this case is the quote by Stevens and the connection to tolerance. Try rewriting the quote without using Stevens’s exact words. This is a necessary step, but won’t be the first sentence of your proposal.

Write your paraphrase of the Stevens’ quote using your notes.

Check Your Understanding

Sample Response:

model paraphrase: Being afraid of the unknown leads to the worst kind of
bias — a barrier to tolerance.

Close

A good second step in preparation for the actual writing of the proposal is to make a cluster that provides a map of what the subtopics of your essay will be. Use the cluster chart below to practice. Choose the thesis of the essay (the main point) from the list of possibilities and drag it into the box in the largest circle in the cluster. Then choose the three most likely subtopics and drag them into the other three circles in the cluster. Notice that some of the possibilities below will not be used.

Once you have finished planning and know what subtopics will be in the essay, you can start writing your proposal. We will start with a broad statement that gives a general idea of what type of essay you will write and what the content of the essay will be. After your broad statement of purpose, you need to write a thesis statement, indicate the subtopics that you will address, and make the subtopics connect to the thesis. Let’s see how that looks:

Let’s look at the proposal to see how each part helps us understand what the proposed essay will be like. Click on parts of the text to see how I have broken the proposal down into sections and discuss each.

Topic of the essay

In this essay, I will discuss the meaning of John Paul Stevens’ s statement “Ignorance, that is to say fear of the unknown, is the source of the most invidious prejudice” and explore its application to the concept of tolerance.

The first sentence states the topic of the essay: an application of the quoted material to the issue of tolerance. This will be an explanatory essay in a summary and response format.

Background information

Stevens made this statement in discussing the opposition of some New York residents and others across the country to the building of an Islamic community center and mosque a few blocks from the site of the 9/11 tragedy. As a former Supreme Court justice, Stevens is used to looking at things analytically and making carefully considered judgments. I want to “carefully consider” how Stevens’ s statement can apply to situations other than the mosque placement controversy. I think that Stevens is focusing not only on people’s unwillingness to open their minds to new experience and alternative possibilities, but also their fear of even considering possibilities other than those with which they are familiar.

In this section, background information on the passage is given along with information about Stevens. In this section, you should make clear that you have already thought through what you will write about; your comments should indicate not only an interest in the topic but also an understanding of the topic.

A plan for the essay

I will use some examples from my own experience and also hypothetical ones to show the ways in which ignorance blocks tolerance. There will be a section on ignorance blocking tolerance of cultural difference, a section on ignorance blocking tolerance of religious conviction, and a section on ignorance blocking tolerance of other people’s life priorities. In each section I will explain what the “unknown” is that is feared, how I experienced or could experience this in my life, and how I attempted or could attempt to overcome the fear and grow more tolerant.

In this section, a plan for the essay is given. The essay will take up three types of ignorance and relate each to the concept of tolerance. The examples are not given, but it is noted that some will come from personal experience. This is an indication of the tone of the essay. It will not be an impersonal study but, at least in part, a personal reflection.

Desired effect

Through the descriptions of what I have lived through, the hope is that I will be able to open a discussion in the minds of other people about how they might reconsider their own experiences.

In this section, the writer suggests the hoped-for effect of the essay on a reader. Beyond just giving information, the writer wants to encourage reflection.

There are no hard-and-fast rules for writing a proposal. If you are writing it as a required part of an essay assignment, you will probably have an assignment sheet that specifies what needs to be included. If you are writing it for your own use, you can write it in whatever way seems most useful to you. It is, however, probably a good idea to keep these four components in mind:

1. The topic of the essay: Be as specific as you can.
2. Background information: This section should answer the question, “Who cares?”
3. A plan for the essay: You shouldn’t just ramble about the topic; there should be definable subtopics presented one at a time.
4. A vision of the effect on the reader: This relates to the earlier discussion of purpose in this lesson.