Harty 207-275

Walter E Oliu, Charles T. Brusaw, and Gerald J. Alred

To make the most effective use of visuals and to integrate them smoothly with the text of your document, consider your graphics requirements even before you begin to write. Explain in the text why you’ve included such illustrations. Make sure that you gather the information from reliable sources. Include only information necessary to the discussion in the text and eliminate unnecessary labels, arrows, boxes, and lines. Make sure that you take time to define all acronyms that you use in the text. Specify the units of measurement. Make sure that you position any explanatory text or labels horizontally for ease of reading. Give each illustration a concise caption so that your reader knows what its purpose is. Assign a figure or table number for documents with 5 or more illustrations, and list the illustrations by title. Refer to each illustration by these numbers in the text. Place visuals close to the text that refers to them. Allow enough white space to make the page seem less cluttered.
Tables should include (when appropriate):
1) Table number
2) Table title
3) Boxhead
4) Stub
5) Body
6) Rules
7) Source line
8) Footnotes
9) Continuing tables
Make sure to cite the source of any information that you borrow for a table or graph. Make sure to use horizontal lettering whenever possible for ease of reading.
When making picture graphs be sure to use symbols that are self-explanatory.

David W. Ewing
When reviewing reports, letters, and memoranda that get the intended results, we find a fascinating diversity of approaches
Rules every persuader should know:
1) Consider whether your views will make problems for the reader
2) Don’t offer new ideas, directives, or recommendations for change until your readers are prepared for them
3) Your credibility with readers affects your strategy
4) If your audience disagrees with your ideas or is uncertain about them, present both sides of the argument
5) Win respect by making your opinion or recommendation clear
6) Put your strongest points last if the audience is very interested in the argument, first if not so interested
7) Don’t count on changing attitudes by offering information alone
8) “testimonials” are most likely to be persuasive if drawn from people with whom readers associate
9) Be wary of using extreme or sensational claims and facts
10) Tailor your presentation to the reasons for readers attitudes, if you know them
11) Never mention other people without considering their possible affect on the reader
Philip C. Kolin
Guidelines for writing a successful proposal
1) Approach writing a proposals as a problem-solving activity
2) Regard your audience as skeptical readers
3) Research your proposal carefully
4) Prove that your proposal is workable
5) Be sure that your proposal is financially realistic
6) Package your proposal attractively

The primary purpose of an internal proposal, is to offer a realistic and constructive plan to help your company run its business more effectively
The organization of an internal proposal
1) The introduction
2) Background of the problem
3) The solution or plan
4) The conclusion
A sales proposal is the most common type of external proposal; its purpose is to sell your company’s products or services for a set fee.
Your audience will usually be one or more business executives who have the power to approve or e reject a proposal
Readers often ask the following questions:
1) Does the writer’s firm understand our problem?
2) Can the writer’s firm deliver what it promises?
3) Can the job be completed on time?
4) What assurances does the writer offer that the job will be done exactly as proposed?
A sales proposal can have the following parts:
1) Introduction
2) Description of the proposed product or service
3) Timetable
4) Cost
5) Qualification of your company
6) Conclusion

Richard Johnson-Sheehan
Style is a rather murky concept
Classical rhetoricians like Cicero and Augustine discussed style in three levels
1) Plain style
2) Middle style
3) Grand style
In a proposal the play style tends to be used when the writers need to instruct the readers about a situation or process
The subject should be what the sentence is about
Make the “doer” the subject
State the action in the verb
Put the subject early in the sentence
Eliminate nominalizations
Avoid excessive prepositional phrases
Eliminate redundancy
Make sentences “breathing length”
Paragraphs tend to include for kinds of sentences:
1) Transition : makes a smooth bridge from the previous paragraph to the current one
2) Topic: the claim or statement that the rest of the paragraph is going to prove
3) Support: uses reasoning to make arguments for the readers
4) Point: restate the topic sentence at the end of the paragraph