Quick Guide to Write a Project Proposal

Four: Structuring the Proposal

Once you have your key questions, you can start structuring your proposal. Think of it as a mini roadmap that shows how you’ll approach the problem without going into heavy detail just yet.

Tip: If this project is also tied to your coursework, and the assignment brief gives you a structure that fits, use that directly and go to the next step.

Example structure

(using the brand storytelling project):

• Introduction
• Brand storytelling elements
• Brand storytelling in the fashion industry
• Eco-fashion
• The storytelling framework

At the proposal stage, you don’t need to dive deep into every subtopic. For example, in brand storytelling, elements like “story structure” or “story touchpoints” will eventually matter, but you don’t need to unpack them in your proposal.

Five: Standing Out with Your Resources

Here’s the modern reality: companies know that students (and honestly, anyone) can type their project brief into ChatGPT and get a passable answer. So why should they collaborate with you instead of relying on AI? The answer lies in your resources.

AI has its limits, i.e. it doesn’t have access to premium data, the latest academic research, or the contextual understanding that you, as a student, can bring. Universities usually provide access to valuable tools and databases, and showing that you’ll use these in your project makes you stand out immediately.

Here’s how to do it:

• Under the proposal structure, mention the relevant academic resources, frameworks, and data you plan to use
• Distinguish between secondary (case studies, industry reports, surveys, statistics, news articles) and primary research (interviews, focus groups, surveys)
• Be realistic about time and workload when suggesting primary research