Many tutors need their college or university students to come up with essay proposals. This article will show you how to write an essay proposal like a professional. A thoroughly written essay proposal can increase your chances of writing on the topic that interests you the most – at least as per your instructor.
Table of Contents
What Is An Essay Proposal?
So, what even is an essay proposal? It is an outline of what a student will cover in their upcoming written work.
You need to note that writing a good essay proposal is not a walk in the park. It takes time and effort to come up with a winning proposal. The positive side is that when you come up with a robust essay proposal, you’ll end up saving more time for when you write the actual essay. Therefore, it’s a win-win situation once you have submitted a worthy essay proposal.
Proposal Essay Format
A decent proposal essay structure has the following:
- Proposed ideas: These ideas should be about the experiments and methods that you plan to implement throughout the essay. How do you plan to write the essay? What methods and resources will you exhaust during your research? The entire paper should give a good idea of what exactly it is that you plan to share in your essay when you finally put pen to paper.
- Literature review: Have a review of the current literature on this topic that you have gone through during your research.
- Statement of the problem: What is the problem you wish to tackle in your essay? Can you share it clearly based on the topic?
- Statement of your intentions: What is it that you want to study? Why is the essay topic important to you? What makes you enthusiastic and inspired by the topic for a proposal essay?
Note that a literature review is not always necessary/mandatory when writing an essay proposal.
Essay Proposal Example
Now that we’ve gone through all of the essential details of an essay proposal format, it would also be important to look at an essay proposal sample. So, here’s one for you to analyze:
Christianity has not often seen eye to eye with women’s issues, particularly reproductive rights. For many years, Christianity in several forms has suggested that abortion is immoral, considering it to be the termination or murder of an unborn child (Stensvold, 2015). Whilst this terminology helps create an atmosphere of tension between women seeking abortion and their religious views, it needs to be critically examined for how it influences women practising Christians and their attitudes towards their own bodies. The topic of abortion is also important because it has been traditionally seen as immoral, but more and more women (including practising Christians) are choosing to undergo the procedure. It needs to be reevaluated in terms of modern society and understood for its significance in Christianity.
Historically, the Catholic Church has been one of the biggest influencers on abortion (Stensvold, 2015). Despite this, Pope Francis has suggested that priests have the authority to absolve the sin of abortion and that it may not necessarily be one of the church’s biggest issues (Dias, 2015). The Catholic Church is a big player in the general Christian world, and it is important to critically analyse its effects on other churches. The purpose of this research will be to examine the rules and regulations of various forms of Christianity and their views on abortion concerning the Catholic Church as a baseline.
Methodology
The theoretical perspective of structural functionalism will be used to conduct a thorough literature review on the topic. By analyzing several different sources which explore different Churches and their views on abortion, structural functionalism will help to place the Catholic Church and others in the context of a changing society.
As the structure, norms and morality of the outside world change, so too do the attitudes of religious believers. The literature review will focus on changing attitudes and beliefs surrounding abortion and so-called reproductive rights to analyse them in the context of the Church to understand how both society and the Catholic Church influence Christian believers of other Churches. The analysis will include the major denominations in the United Kingdom: Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecostal, Orthodox, and Presbyterian, as well as brief discussions of non-Trinitarian denominations the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Quakers.
Significance
This work is important for several reasons. It will highlight the influence of the Catholic Church on other areas of Christianity, which is important as Catholicism remains the largest denomination. It will also help to highlight the effects of non-religious society on the views of various churches towards sin and absolution, which is important in a rapidly paced, globalized world. It will also help to highlight some of the key differences between denominations of Christianity in the United Kingdom.
These three elements will come together to give a full picture of the controversial topic of abortion and the reasoning that many Christians give for its morality or immorality. Understanding this will help guide the ministerial profession into giving good, moral guidance to followers within the Church and to highlight some of the issues that will likely arise in practice.
Step By Step Writing An Essay Proposal
Before we look at how to start a proposal essay, it would be important that we understand why teachers/professors need it and find it important. An essay proposal aims to showcase what you plan to tackle in your essay. It’s more like an architectural design that precedes the building stage/process. It gives the best mental picture of what your essay will look like.
If you’re looking to learn how best to create an essay proposal and excel in your studies, read this content.
So, here’s how you can write a proposal essay:
- Review Proposal Guidelines from Your Instructor
The first thing you need to do when you want to learn how to write an essay proposal reviews the proposal guidelines from your instructor. Every instructor has their own ask/needs when it comes to essay proposals.
Before you commence the preparation of your proposal, it would be wise to check the guidelines. This will help you follow the right path and deliver what he or she wants/expects from you. Some of the recommendations/guidelines include:- Understanding the audience.
- Researching.
- Pre-writing.
- Revising.
- Pick a Topic
The next step on how to write a proposal for an essay is to select the right topic. Here, you’re at liberty to be creative and choose something that ignites your interests. Nonetheless, the topic you select needs to be by the subject area. It should also be one that you can harness enough information on.
Enthusiasm about a topic should be a major guide to your selection. The golden rule of thumb here is that if it doesn’t excite you, don’t select it. Here are some examples of topics that you can choose from:- Why is global warming important, and how will it affect humanity?
- Modern technologies can increase creativity.
- Why prohibiting kids from using modern means of communication is a bad idea?
- Gather Research
Research is an integral part of how to write a proposal essay. When conducting research, you can look at both print and online resources. The research should actually be part of selecting the topic. You don’t want a scenario where you choose a complex topic with little information available. Most instructors even need you to add the resources in your proposal.When gathering research, you also need to remember that you will have to support your essay with facts. You can even give personal accounts that support your statement alongside those you have discovered during your research.
For example, if your topic is “A school or class should only hire teachers who have specific experience in subjects that they teach”, then you will need to provide resources that back the topic. You will need to prove that students taught by teachers with specific experience in certain subjects they teach do better and attain excellent grades.You can also use anecdotes that help support your topic and give the instructor more details.
- Come Up with an Elaborate Explanation
Now comes the part where you give sufficient information that supports your topic and essay. You should come up with several sentences that help back the topic at hand.For instance, you can provide one or two sentences showing how the topic you selected is related to the entire subject. This is also the point where you tell your instructor what you plan on sharing throughout the essay. It should be persuasive enough. Therefore, discussing the positive aspects of your opinion can help you a lot when you’re learning how to write a proposal for an essay.
For example, suppose you’re discussing the need for privacy rights for teenagers accessing online social networks. In that case, you could show how allowing this right can help them become more responsible in their early lives. You should also show why you believe allowing them to access social networks early won’t lead them down an unwise path.Another way to come up with an elaborate explanation is by sharing some of your personal experiences or habits related to online usage of social media sites. Do it in a way that sheds more light on what teens can do when given freedom and a chance.
- Give a Short Summary
The next thing you need to do is provide a brief summary of what your research has yielded for the essay. What information have you gathered that backs your topic or subject? You can then hand in your concise explanation of how you will prove your argument within the essay.Even though you might not have to add direct quotations, provide a paraphrase of the relevant information that’s present in each source. This will give your teachers a perfect understanding of your essay. - Use Correct Syntax and Clear Language
Don’t be ‘misleading’ with your language. Sometimes it’s not what you write but how you write it. As we have stated earlier, the tone you should use when writing a proposal essay is formal and academic.
You need to avoid casual writing and slang as much as you can. If you don’t do this, your statement can actually appear immature to your readers.Also, don’t stray away from the main topic or subject.Avoid addressing unrelated issues when writing your essay proposal. It is essential that you ensure all of your sentences are complete and in a professional manner. Otherwise, the reader might think that you don’t have proper thinking. If this seems too complicated for you, you can always turn to the best essay editor, where your work will be transformed.
- Conclude with a Bibliography that has Your References
Whichever citation style you want to follow, you can do so when coming up with the bibliography. Sometimes, it is the tutor who states the kind of citation style they need – then, you will need to follow it.
In this section, you will need to add a list of all the sources you plan to use throughout the essay. - Proofread and Edit Your Proposal
Your proposal needs to get to the reader’s hand in good shape and order. This is often the last step you will need to undertake before handing it over. Check spelling, grammar, and even punctuation mistakes to ensure that the content that you deliver is excellent and helpful. You must also go through all the sentences for complete words or lack thereof. The organization and flow of ideas should be logical. And at the same time, you should have used punctuation marks accordingly. Editing is part of a good proposal.If you follow these steps diligently, you’ll have curated a perfect essay proposal. This will also help you come up with strong arguments for your essay. Remember to keep in mind that essay proposals need to be very persuasive. Anything that can help you achieve this should be part of your writing plan.
So What’s The Purpose Of An Essay Proposal?
We have now come to the end of this guide, and we are confident that you are now ready to create your custom essay proposal. So briefly, what is a proposal essay meant to achieve, and how do I write my essay proposal? The main purpose is to show/prove what you will tackle within your essay. We have shared a successful essay proposal outline in this guide, which you can follow confidently. But if you feel like you want a US essay writing service to assist you, we are here to lend you a hand. We are a secure and trustworthy service ready to help you out with our knowledgeable writers.
