1) Being specific – your assignment directions (located in the assignment area of the classroom) give you good examples of ways in which you can make sure that you are proposing a solution to a specific problem. You must answer the question, “How will MY workplace or community (this should be narrowly defined as your neighborhood, apartment community, base housing community, etc.) be made better by the solution(s) I recommend?” 2) Identify a specific decision maker (or makers if, for example, you are proposing a solution to a workplace issue in your department that might require action by the HR director as well as your dept. head). Examples of such persons might be your apartment community manager, the director of base housing where you are stationed, your department head in your workplace, or your commander for your military unit. 3) Use some primary research – interviews with co-workers, photographs showing a problem like the need for recycling or going to a paperless office, screen captures showing the large numbers of emails employees must deal with on a daily basis. 4) Use a visual of some kind – you could make a simple table, chart or graph (your own original creation, not simply copied from a secondary source such as a book or article) or photographs (that can easily be taken with your phone).
