Research Proposal

For your proposal essay, you may decide to focus on that same topic that you explored in the causal analysis essay, but this time you will propose a solution to the problem. The goal of a proposal essay is to persuade readers that they should implement a specific plan of action in order to solve a particular problem. To construct a successful proposal essay, you will need to provide compelling evidence for your reader in the form of facts, statistics, and examples.

Proposals generally follow the organizational pattern described below:

Thesis statement that asks the audience to take a course of action or adopt a particular position
Explanation of the problem and what causes the problem
Detailed description of the proposed solution
Notes about the feasibility of the solution
Explanation of the outcome or consequences of the proposed solution
The proposal essay and a note on style: When you write your essay, you will want to avoid the personal pronoun “I.” Learning to eliminate personal pronouns (I/me/my/you/we/our) from your writing now will prepare you for other Composition essays and forms of academic writing.

Introduction, topics, and thesis
Make sure you write on a topic from the list below:

How can the United States lessen its dependence on fossil fuels?
What can be done to improve the college graduation rate?
How can a city promote the use of public transportation?
What can be done to promote better health for the American population?
What can be done to address the problem that you discussed in your causal analysis essay (Task 3)?
Be clear about the problem and provide background information that leads to the thesis. The thesis should convey the problem, solution, and feasibility of the solution or how it will work.

The two examples below are useful thesis templates for the proposal essay:

An effective way to address the problem of _______________ is to do __________, _______________, and __________________.

OR

The problem is ________________, and the best ways to solve this problem are _____________, ________________, and ____________________.

Structuring the body paragraphs
The body paragraphs should state clearly the reasons for your proposal. You should offer evidence to support your recommendations and convince your reader that your proposed solution adequately addresses the problem.

Don’t forget to provide a discussion of the feasibility of your proposal: address issues of practicality, cost, or any other factor that may make your audience decide against your proposal.

Below is a useful outline for structuring the body of the proposal essay:

Explain the significance of the problem and detail the problem (this can be a paragraph right after your introduction).
Explain how the first solution you list in the thesis will resolve the problem.
Explain how the second solution you list in the thesis will resolve the problem.
Explain how the third solution you list in the thesis will resolve the problem.
Your body paragraphs should detail all the solutions proposed in your thesis points and explain to your reader why they will be effective. Introduce evidence to support the point, give the evidence, and explain how the evidence supports the main claim. For more information on constructing the body of the essay, review the “Optional reading” section at the bottom of this page. Remember, too, that this essay asks you to incorporate at least three sources in your body paragraph. Cite your sources using APA in-text citations. For help with APA, see Appendix B.

Conclusion
The essay should end with a conclusion that restates the thesis, summarizes the significance of the problem, and reiterates the main points of the argument. Do not introduce any new information in the conclusion. For helpful information and videos on the introduction, thesis, and conclusion, and for more information on organizing, outlining, and drafting an essay, review the “Optional reading” section at the bottom of this page.

Reference page
At least three sources should be cited on your reference page. It’s important that you have 1:1 correspondence in your paper. This means that every time you use an in-text citation to cite a source, that same source must appear on the reference page at the end of your paper. Similarly, if you include a source on your reference page, that same source must appear at least once as an in-text citation in your paper.