Suggestions for Drafting Effective CCCC Proposals

Joseph Janangelo
Loyola University of Chicago; jjanang@luc.edu
Immediate Past President, Council of Writing Program Administrators, wpacouncil.org
Member, CCCC Newcomers’ Committee

Here are some questions and suggestions intended to help you write your CCCC proposals. Good luck!

1. What is your general topic? What are the two or three things that interest you the most about it?
     
2. Who else would or could be interested in your topic? What would interest your readers the most? Why?
     
3. What have other scholars written about your topic? You might begin by searching through issues of College Composition and Communication, College English, Teaching English in the Two-Year College Journal, The Writing Center Journal, and WPA: Writing Program Administration. Also consult other professional journals (perhaps on JSTOR – http://www.jstor.org), listservs, web sites (e.g. CompPile – http://comppile.org/search/comppile_main_search.php, the WAC Clearing House – http://wac.colostate.edu), and books to become familiar with scholarly conversations pertinent to your topic.
     
4. In the context of what others have said or written, what would you like to say? What is “new” about your idea, approach, data, or argument? Are there specific ways that you are countering, qualifying, exploring, or extending other scholars’ work?
     
5. What kind of intervention will your project make? For example, will your work inspire your CCCC colleagues to reconsider accepted theories and practices? Does your project offer compelling case studies that chart new pedagogical or theoretical directions?
     
6. What do you want CCCC members to learn from your work? Are you proposing a plan of action?
     
7. Once you draft your proposal, send it to your colleagues for peer review. Ask them if they think your proposal’s title accurately and compellingly reflects its content.
     
8. After you revise in light of colleagues’ feedback, consider the most appropriate “area cluster” in which submit your work.
     
9. Before you send your proposal to the CCCC readers, read it aloud for clarity and concision.