Stacy's ePortfolio

In my Business Communication class our final project was a group business research or group service learning project.  Each person in the class had to come up with a project idea and present it to the class.  My project made it as a finalist but ultimately was not one of projects chosen.  Below is my proposal to create a brochure which would provide information on how and where people can donate to services and charities in need of diapers for underprivileged families. 

This proposal was difficult to do as it was my first time writing an actual business proposal; it was also a proposal for a project that would require me to work with clients outside of school.  It was an intimidating assignment at first because of my inexperience with anything like this.  Overall, I feel like I did a great job and that the grade I received on the assignment reflects this.

Interestingly, I ended up having to write another proposal for another class this semester for a final project.  I had already completed my proposal for Business Communication, and presented my idea, so the next proposal I had to write for Photography was really quite simple.  My Photography final included me working with local businesses as well; so because of my Business Communication assignment, I was able to easily put together a clear, coherent, and detailed plan.

As I progress toward my degree in Environmental Geology, I believe I will be writing many more proposals, more likely geared toward research projects, but the basic skills I learned in writing this proposal will be beneficial in helping me write future papers.

In the course of this class, I learned that good business writing will have a purpose and audience, and a style and tone.   Depending on who you’re writing for, your content, style, tone, and purpose will vary, and will need to appeal to the audience you’re writing for.  I took all of this into consideration when writing my final proposal.  I determined that although much of the class was young, they are all a part of the class, and deserve my proposal to be professional to establish credibility in my idea; it needed to be smart, and show that I had my plan, my ideas, and a specific outcome in mind.  I think that I successfully accomplished this, and used my presentation to draw in my audience by interacting with the class and discussing comment forums which the younger people in the class relate to better.  This allowed me to keep the proposal professional, and then to present it in a realistic context which everyone could relate to.

Overall, I feel like I’ve learned a lot in this class which I will be able to use (given the opportunity) at my current job, in school, and in my future career as a geologist.