Engineers write project proposals to seek funding from academic and government sources or to describe a project to potential clients. “Selling” a customer on a project is thus an important function of an engineer’s job. Many proposals are written with cross-disciplinary teams including sales, marketing, production, and legal departments. A proposal for a client may include a price quote or estimate, also called a “bid.”
For your classes, you may write proposals for laboratory projects or to suggest solutions for a hypothetical client (usually your professor) who has given you a technical problem or design problem. Prepare your proposals with sufficient research, appropriate graphics, careful organization, and neat presentation to assist your readers and show them that you are credible.
To make it easy for your readers to say yes to your proposal, give them clear, sufficient information about the project. Begin with an introduction that includes a brief project description and lays out the cost, completion date, and rate of return on investment. In the body of the proposal, provide the following:
background and rationale for the project, describing the need to be met or the problem to be solved
how the project will be accomplished
expected outcomes
materials and methods
method of evaluation that will be used to determine that the objectives have been achieved
timeline (sometimes presented in a Gantt chart, a graphical representation of the overlapping deadlines and milestones for all aspects of the project)
budget, including deadlines and a list of items that must be funded
You can assume that your readers are receiving other proposals, so you might also provide a résumé or a section describing your skills and experiences that qualify you for the project.
O’Bryan, “Site Stabilization Plan for Erosion Control”
Related topics:
Project notebooks
Laboratory reports
Technical reports
Progress reports