How to Write a Problem Statement

1 Part

Writing Your Own Problem Statement

1
Describe the "ideal" state of affairs. There are lots of different ways to write a problem
statement — some sources will recommend jumping right to the problem itself, while others
recommend providing background context first so that problem (and its solution) are easier to
understand for the reader. If you're ever unsure of how to begin, opt for the latter option. While
conciseness is something every piece of practical writing should aim for, it's even more
important to be well-understood. Start by describing how things should work. Before you even
mention your problem, explain in a few sentences how things would be if the problem didn't
exist.
 For instance, let's say that we work at a major airline and that we've noticed that the way
passengers board our planes is an inefficient use of time and resources. In this case, we might
begin our 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."

2
Explain your problem. In the words of the inventor Charles Kettering, "A problem well-stated is
a problem half-solved."[1] One of the most important goals (if not the most important goal) of any
problem statement is to articulate the problem being addressed to the reader in a way that's
clear, straightforward, and easy to understand. Succinctly summarize the problem you intend to
solve — this cuts to the heart of the issue immediately and positions the most important
information in the problem statement near the top, where it's most visible. If you've just stated
 an "ideal" state of affairs as suggested above, you may want to start your sentence with
phrasing like "However, ..." or "Unfortunately, ..." to show that the problem you've identified is
what is preventing the ideal vision from being a reality.

 Let's say that we think we've developed a quicker, more efficient system for getting passengers
aboard our planes than the typical "back to front" seating system. In this case, we 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."

3
Explain your problem's financial costs. Soon after you state your problem, you'll want to
explain why it's a big deal — after all, no one has the time or resources to try to solve every
single minor problem. In the business world, money is almost always the bottom line, so you'll
want to try to highlight the financial impact of your problem on the company or organization
you're writing for. For instance, is the problem you're discussing keeping your business from
making more money? Is it actively costing your business money? Is it damaging your brand
image and thus indirectly costing your business money? Be as exact and specific about the
financial burden of your problem — try to specify an exact dollar amount (or a well-supported
estimate) for your problem's cost.

 For our airline example, we 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."

4
Back up your assertions. No matter how much money you claim your problem is costing your
company, if you can't back up your claims with reasonable evidence, you may not be taken
seriously. As soon as you start making specific claims about how serious your problem is, you'll
need to start supporting your statements with evidence. In some cases, this may be from your
 own research, from data from a related study or project, or even from reputable third-party
sources.

 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 we 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.

5
Propose a solution. When you've explained what the problem is and why it's so important,
proceed to explain how you propose to deal with it. As with the initial statement of your problem,
your explanation of your solution should be written to be as clear and concise as possible. Stick
to big, important, concrete concepts and leave any minor details for later — you'll have plenty of
opportunities to get into every minor aspect of your proposed solution in the body of your
proposal.

 In our airline example, our solution to the problem of inefficient boarding practices is this new
system we've discovered, so we should briefly explain the broad strokes of this new system
without getting into the minor details. We 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." We might then go on to explain the basic
gist of the new system, but we 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.
 6
Explain the benefits of the solution. Again, now that you've told your readers what should be
done about the problem, it's a very good idea to explain why this solution is a good idea. Since
businesses are always trying to increase their efficiency and earn more money, you'll want to
focus primarily on the financial impact of your solution — which expenses it will reduce, which
new forms of revenue it will generate, and so on. You can also explain non-tangible benefits,
like improved customer satisfaction, but your total explanation shouldn't be too much longer
than a few sentences to a paragraph.

 In our example, we 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 trend-setter in the areas of value and convenience."

7
Conclude by summarizing the problem and solution. After you've presented the ideal vision
for your company, identified the problem keeping your from achieving this ideal, and suggested
a solution, you're almost done. All that's left to do is to conclude with a summary of your main
arguments that allows you transition easily into the main body of your proposal. There's no need
to make this conclusion any longer than it needs to be — try to state, in just a few sentences,
the basic gist of what you've described in your problem statement and the approach you intend
to take in the body of the article.

 In our airline example, we 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.

8
For academic work, don't forget a thesis statement. When you have to write a problem
statement for school, rather than for work, the process will be largely the same, but there may
be extra items you'll need to take into account to assure a good grade. For instance, many
composition classes will require you to include a thesis statement in your problem statement.
The thesis statement (sometimes just called the "thesis") is a single sentence that summarizes
your entire argument, boiling it down to its bare essentials. A good thesis statement identifies
both the problem and the solution as succinctly and clearly as possible.

 For instance, let's say we'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, we 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 buy 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.

9
Follow the same process for conceptual problems. Not all problem statements are going to
be for documents dealing with practical, tangible problems. Some, especially in academics
(and especially in the humanities), are going to deal with conceptual problems — problems that
have to do with the way we think about abstract ideas. In these cases, you can still use the
same basic problem statement framework to present the problem at hand (while obviously
shifting away from a business focus). In other words, you'll want to identify the problem (often,
for conceptual problems, this will be that some idea is not well-understood), explain why the
problem matters, explain how you plan to solve it, and sum up all of this in a conclusion.
 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, we might say that by better
understanding the religious symbolism in the novel, it's possible to draw new insights from the
book), and lay out how we plan to support our argument.

2 Part

Polishing Your Problem Statement

1
Be concise. If there's one thing to keep in mind when writing problem statements, it's this.
Problem statements shouldn't be any longer than they need to be to accomplish their task of
laying out the problem and its solution for the reader. No sentence should be wasted. Any
sentence that doesn't directly contribute to the problem statement's goals should be removed.
Use clear, direct language. Don't get bogged down in minor details — problem statements
should deal only with the essentials of your problem and solution. In general, keep your problem
statement as short as possible without sacrificing its informativeness.

 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.

2
Write for your audience. When making a problem statement, it's important to remember that
you're writing for someone else, not for yourself. Different audiences will have different sets of
knowledge, different reasons for reading, and different attitudes toward your problem, so try to
keep your intended audience in mind as you write. You want your problem statement to be as
clear and easy for your audience to understand as possible, which means you may need to
 change your tone, style, and diction from one audience to another. As you write, try to ask
yourself questions like:

 "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?"

3
Don't use jargon without defining it. As noted above, your problem statement should be
written so that it's as easy for your audience to understand as possible. This means that, unless
you're writing for a technical audience that is likely to be knowledgeable in the terminology of
the field you're writing about, you'll want to avoid using technical jargon too heavily and to make
sure that you define any pieces of jargon that you do use. Never make the assumption that your
audience automatically has all of the technical knowledge that you do or you risk alienating
them and losing readers as soon as they encounter terms and information they're not familiar
with.

 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.

4
Stick to a narrow, defined problem. The best problem statements aren't sprawling, rambling
pieces of writing. Instead, they're focused on a single, easily-identified problem and its solution.
Generally, narrow, defined topics are easier to write convincingly about than large, vague ones,
so whenever possible, you'll want to keep the scope of your problem statement (and thus the
body of your document) well-focused. If this makes your problem statement (or the body of your
document) short, this is usually a good thing (except in academic situations where you have
minimum page limits for your assignment).
 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 we write our problem statement, we can use our actual document as a guideline so that
we don't have to guess about the ground we may cover when we write it.

5
Remember the "five Ws". Problem statements should be as informative as possible in as few
words as possible, but shouldn't delve into minute details. If you're ever in doubt of what to
include in your problem statement, a smart idea is to try to answer the five Ws (who, what,
where, when, and why), plus how. Addressing the five Ws gives your reader a good baseline
level of knowledge to understand the problem and solution without treading into unnecessary
levels of detail.

 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.

6
Use a formal voice. Problem statements are almost always used for serious proposals and
projects. Because of this, you'll want to use a formal, dignified writing style (the same as the
style hopefully used for the body of the document) in the problem statement. Keep your writing
clear, plain, and direct. Don't attempt to win your reader over by taking a friendly or casual tone
in your problem statement. Don't use humor or jokes. Don't include pointless asides or
anecdotes. Don't use slang or colloquialisms. Good problem statements know that they have a
job to accomplish and don't waste any time or ink on unnecessary content.
 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.

7
Always proofread for errors. This is a must for all forms of serious writing — no first draft has
ever existed that couldn't have benefited from the careful eye of a good proofreader. When you
finish your problem statement, give it a quick read. Does it seem to "flow" properly? Does it
present its ideas coherently? Does it seem to be logically organized? If not, make these
changes now. When you're finally satisfied with the structure of your problem statement, double-
check it for spelling, grammar, and formatting errors.

 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.