Project: Proposal Progress Report

(Minimum text length: 250 words)

For this project, you will be preparing either a memo or letter reporting your progress on the work that you previously proposed. Here we enter the world of pure fiction, as, in reality, you will have neither received approval for your proposal nor begun working on what you proposed.

If your original proposal was internal, you will prepare a memo; if your proposal was external, you will prepare a formal letter. In either case, make sure your progress report is addressed to the authorizing agent, not to me. You will be reporting on the progress of the work you have theoretically undertaken for the agency to which you made the proposal. In other words, you will pretend that you or others have actually started the work that you proposed to do.

Progress reports, real or fictional, include all or at least some of the following:

• a mandatory introduction in which you identify the project
• a section in which you summarize what you have accomplished to date
• a section in which you identify any problems you have encountered and how you have either solved or are attempting to solve them
• a section in which you indicate whether or not you are progressing on schedule
• a section in which you indicate whether or not you are staying within your budgetary guidelines
• a section in which you recommend and justify any changes to your original proposal
• a mandatory conclusion in which you evaluate the current status of the project

Although your memo or letter may be relatively brief, make sure that it is not cryptic or merely dashed off. Imagine what your professional responsibilities would entail if you were writing such a letter or memo for real–and write accordingly.

To meet the checkpoint requirement for your progress report, you must present it, at the latest, at the beginning of class on the scheduled checkpoint date. You may, of course, submit it before then, but it must still be hard copy turned in during a class meeting. Also, as with all documents, you must submit your progress report in both ms.and c-r versions, and you must provide a cover sheet that identifies both you and the project.