I’m studying for my Writing class and need an explanation.

The proposal project plan establishes the step-by-step plan for (re)solving the issue/problem/opportunity you’ve identified. This section is typically written using an intro-body-conclusion format, where a) the intro frames the overall plan and includes the major steps, b) the body details the major and minor steps of the plan, and c) summarizes the plan’s main points and stresses its importance to readers.

The plan should be detailed, providing reader-users a thorough understanding of what is necessary to successfully move forward, resolving the problem/issue/opportunity, and meeting your Top Ranked Objective (TRO). You’ll want to consider strategies discussed in Chapter 5.

As you draft, your project plan should address the following points:

1) Identify your overall solution. Provide an overview of your plan and what it will do. Briefly discuss the major steps of the plan.

2) Provide a detailed step-by-step plan. Partition each step into its minor steps (e.g. What needs to be done to complete each step?).

3) Summarize the final deliverables or outcomes of your plan. What will be created or achieved when your proposed plan is completed? How does it address the problem/issue/opportunity?

While the project plan follows this intro, body, conclusion format, it can be helpful to consider headings and subheadings for this section. Using lists is also a useful strategy when creating the step-by-step plan. For example, your project plan might following this structure:

1. Step 1: Overall Summary of Step: A narrative that describes the first step’s overall purpose and frames the minor steps involved.

A. First: Including a narrative that describes this minor point.

B. Second: Including a narrative that describes this minor point.

C. Third: Including a narrative that describes this minor point.

2. Step 2: Overall Summary of Step: A narrative that describes the second step’s overall purpose and frames the minor steps involved.

….and so forth.

That’s just one suggestion, of course; but having that level of organization can make it easy for reader-users to follow your logic for the plan.