For instance, let’s say that you work at a major airline and that you’ve noticed that the way passengers board your planes is an inefficient use of time and resources. In this case, you might begin your problem statement by describing an ideal situation where the boarding system isn’t inefficient that the company should shoot for, like this: “The boarding protocols used by ABC Airlines should aim to get each flight’s passengers aboard the plane quickly and efficiently so that the plane can take off as soon as possible . The process of boarding should be optimized for time-efficiency but also should be straightforward enough that it can be easily understood by all passengers. "
Let’s say that you think you’ve developed a quicker, more efficient system for getting passengers aboard our planes than the typical “back to front” seating system. In this case, you might continue with a few sentences like, “However, ABC Airline’s current passenger boarding system is an inefficient use of the company’s time and resources. By wasting employee man-hours, the current boarding protocols make the company less competitive, and by contributing to a slow boarding process, they create an unfavorable brand image. " Try to stress the problem’s urgency in your explanation. [2] X Expert Source Joe SimmonsCorporate Trainer Expert Interview. 29 June 2021.
For our airline example, you might proceed to explain the problem’s financial cost like this: “The inefficiency of the current boarding system represents a significant financial burden for the company. On average, the current boarding system wastes roughly four minutes per boarding session, resulting in a total of 20 wasted man-hours per day across all ABC flights. This represents a waste of roughly $400 per day or $146,000 per year. "
In some corporate and academic situations, you may need to explicitly reference your evidence in the text of your problem statement, while in other situations, it may be enough to simply use a footnote or another form of shorthand for your citations. If you’re unsure, ask your boss or teacher for advice. Let’s reexamine the sentences used in the previous step. They describe the cost of the problem but don’t explain how this cost was found. A more thorough explanation might include this: “. . . Based on internal performance tracking data,[1] on average, the current boarding system wastes roughly four minutes per boarding session, resulting in a total of 20 wasted man-hours per day across all ABC flights. Terminal personal are paid an average of $20 per hour, so this represents a waste of roughly $400 per day or $146,000 per year. " Note the footnote — in an actual problem statement, this would correspond to a reference or appendix containing the data mentioned.
In our airline example, our solution to the problem of inefficient boarding practices is this new system you’ve discovered, so you should briefly explain the broad strokes of this new system without getting into the minor details. You might say something like, “Using a modified boarding system proposed by Dr. Edward Right of the Kowlard Business Efficiency Institute which has passengers board the plane from the sides in rather than from the back to the front, ABC Airlines can eliminate these four minutes of waste. " You might then go on to explain the basic gist of the new system, but you wouldn’t use more than a sentence or two to do this, as the “meat” of our analysis will be in the body of the proposal.
In our example, you might briefly describe how our company could conceivably benefit from the money saved with our solution. A few sentences along these lines might work: “ABC Airlines stands to benefit substantially from the adoption of this new boarding program. For instance, the $146,000 in estimated yearly savings can be re-directed to new sources of revenue, such as expanding its selection of flights to high-demand markets. In addition, by being the first American airline to adopt this solution, ABC stands to gain considerable recognition as an industry trendsetter in the areas of value and convenience. "
In our airline example, you might conclude like this: “Optimization of current boarding protocols or adoption of new, more-effective protocols is crucial for the continued competitiveness of the company. In this proposal, the alternative boarding protocols developed by Dr. Right are analyzed for their feasibility and steps for effective implementation are suggested. " This sums up the main point of the problem statement — that the current boarding procedure isn’t very good and that this new one is better — and tells the audience what to expect if they continue reading. Be sure to mention the possible consequences if the solution isn’t implemented. [5] X Expert Source Joe SimmonsCorporate Trainer Expert Interview. 29 June 2021.
For instance, let’s say you’re writing a paper on the problem of academic essay mills — companies that sell pre-written and/or custom works for students to purchase and turn in as their own work. As our thesis statement, you might use this sentence, which acknowledges the problem and the solution we’re about to propose: “The practice of buying academic essays, which undermines the learning process and gives an advantage to rich students, can be combated by providing professors with stronger digital analysis tools. " Some classes explicitly require you to put your thesis sentence at a certain place in your problem statement (for instance, as the very first or very last sentence). Other times, you’ll have more freedom — check with your teacher if you’re not sure.
For instance, let’s say that we’re asked to write a problem statement for a report on the importance of religious symbolism in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. In this case, our problem statement should identify some poorly-understood aspect of the religious symbolism in the novel, explain why this matters (for instance, you might say that by better understanding the religious symbolism in the novel, it’s possible to draw new insights from the book), and layout how you plan to support our argument.
A problem statement is no place to add your own personal commentary or “flavor”, as this makes the problem statement longer for no practical purpose. You may or may not have the opportunity to be more long-winded in the body of your document, depending on the seriousness of your topic and audience.
“Who, specifically, am I writing for?” “Why am I addressing this audience?” “Does this audience know all of the same terms and concepts as I do?” “Does this audience share the same attitude as I do towards this problem?” “Why should my audience care about this problem?”
For instance, if we’re writing for a board of highly-educated physicians, it may be OK to assume that they’ll know what the term “metacarpal” means. However, if we’re writing to an audience made up of both physicians and wealthy hospital investors who may or may not be medically trained, it’s a good idea to introduce the word “metacarpal” with its definition- the bone between the first two joints of the finger.
A good rule of thumb is to only address problems that you can definitively solve beyond a shadow of a doubt. If you’re not sure of a definitive solution that can solve your entire problem, you may want to narrow the scope of your project and change your problem statement to reflect this new focus. To keep the scope of a problem statement under control, it can be helpful to wait until after completing the body of the document or proposal to write the problem statement. In this case, when you write your problem statement, you can use our actual document as a guideline so that you don’t have to guess about the ground you may cover when you write it.
For instance, if you’re writing a problem statement to propose a new building development to your local city council, you might address the five Ws by explaining who the development would benefit, what the development would require, where the development should be, when construction should begin, and why the development is ultimately a smart idea for the city.
The closest you can usually get to including purely “entertaining” content in academic writing in the humanities. Here, occasionally, it’s possible to encounter problem statements that begin with a quote or epigraph. Even in these cases, however, the quote has some bearing on the problem being discussed and the rest of the problem statement is written in a formal voice.
You’ll never regret re-reading your problem statement before you turn it in. Since, by its very nature, the problem statement is usually the first part of a proposal or report that someone will read, any errors here will be especially embarrassing for you and can even reflect negatively on your entire document.
