Because in these days of economic troubles, all areas of science, social science, and industry must account for and justify more closely what they do and want to do, students of technical writing will receive immediate, practical benefit from learning the theory and practice of writing proposals. Proposals are also marvelously versatile for the teacher, because they can be taught in courses of varying length, and to both homogeneous and heterogeneous groups of students. The greatest advantage in teaching them is that through the various parts of a standard proposal, practically every theoretical and/or expository technique used in technical writing can be discussed and practiced. Indeed the proposal can become in itself a minicourse in technical writing, creating yet another possible avenue for work: private consulting.