In a fellowship competition, research or grant proposal, grant writers are asking an anonymous fellowship or grant committee to decide that you deserve to win, and that someone else deserves to lose. Obviously, it will not do simply to describe a project that is acceptable, instead, you must develop a highly persuasive and polished argument that will convince the reader that your proposed project will make an important contribution to the field, and that it deserves to be funded. Your argument should be constructed so carefully that each sentence and each paragraph advances your contribution argument in the most tightly-knit and logically coherent fashion.
CREATIVE SYNERGY...a writer's nexus, believes that communication of good ideas and careful plans are key to your success. Make your grant, fellowship or research proposal application easy to read and understand the first time through. Make certain the important ideas are laid out clearly, early in the application. Do not leave loose ends or unanswered questions that beg undesired discussion. Do not make the reviewers work to understand you. Do work hard to avoid submitting a research proposal that mimics others in a "hot" or heavily investigated area. Strive to be an outstanding grant writer, not to stand out for the wrong reasons.
Imagine yourself in the reviewer's shoes, and make it easy for him/her to read your application and see what is novel, valuable, and exciting about your ideas and plans. Don't ever assume that the reviewers will know what you mean; tell them! Give the reviewers what they want, avoid the things they hate to see.
Reviewers want to see that you
- Think Critically, as a scientist
- Effectively Communicate good ideas
- Sharply Focus your writing
- Clearly State your hypotheses
- Propose Viable Experiments that test your hypotheses
- Have the necessary background and experience to do the work successfully
- Have a solid record of productivity (particularly for renewal grants)
Reviewers do not want to see
- Poor scientific rationale (no hypotheses, or experiments that do not effectively test the hypotheses
- Unimaginative or unoriginal ideas
- Lack of background and relevant experience
- Poor productivity
Questions Fellowship, Grant and Research Reviewers ask
Reviewers consciously or unconsciously ask certain questions grant writers. Fleshing out valid answers early in the process is integral to the success of your proposal.
Q. Who are you? (Read, Can you do the work?)
A. Answer this question in your 'Biographical Sketch' by detailing your background, make sure your preliminary data demonstrates what kind of scientist you are.
Q. What are you going to do?
A. Thoroughly and unambiguously state your 'Specific Aims' and 'Research Design and Methods', which begin with an overview of the research strategy for your project.
Q. Will your research advance the field? Why is this worth doing? Why do you want to do it?
A. Read the 'Background and Significance' section to see where my work fits in with what has been done, how it solves a problem, and particularly in what way my ideas are new and important. Examine my preliminary data and 'Biographical Sketch' to see how the planned studies fit logically into my research career.
Q. How are you going to do the work?
A. Read the Research Design and Methods section. The overall strategy as well as the specific methods are clearly described there.
Q. Where will the work lead?
A. The Background and Significance section deals in part with this question. The order of the Specific Aims and the overall research strategy also show how the work will progress into new areas.
Writing for fellowships or writing proposals for research funding is established element of North American academic culture. A grant writers primary function is to persuade a committee of
scholars / reviewers that the project shines with the three kinds of merit all disciplines value, namely, conceptual synthesis, methodological dilligence, and cogent, substantive content. But in order to validate these points, a proposal writer needs to have developed a feel for the non-verbal customs and societal norms that govern the selection process itself. For the most part, these customs grow from the committee's efforts to confront its own problems concerning incomprehension among disciplines, work overload, and the problem of equitably judging proposals that reflect unlike social and academic circumstances.
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