2. What are you writing for?
• Funding for yourself
Funding for a project
• Funding for both
Different funding sources have different aspirations for how their money will be spent.
3. Regardless...
Your first stop should be your department. They will
have a built in institutional knowledge that can help
you.
4. Project Funding
• Individual research grants
Dissertation improvement grants
• Research fellowships
Travel grants for research
5. @ UNM
• Research, Project, and Travel (RPT)
Graduate Research Supplement
• Future Faculty Grant
• Student Research Allocations Committee (SRAC)
Specialized Travel (ST)
• Graduate Research & Development (GRD)
6. Standard Grants
• Title Page
Abstract
• Introduction
• Literature Review
Project Narrative
• Personnel
Budget and Budget Justificiation
7. Abstract
• ...we’ve given a presentation on this before in the
RWJF/GRC/CAPS partnership
• To sum it up: what is your elevator pitch?
8. Introduction
• Set the context for how you will be judged.
What is the problem?
• What is the purpose of the research?
• What are your goals?
• What is the significance of those goals?
9. Literature Review
• This is your chance to
show your mastery of the
field.
What are key papers
of your discipline?
• What is the current
state of theory?
10. Literature Review
• There will be a future workshop on this by the GRC/
CAPS
Basic tip:
• Find 10 - 20 top papers in your field (by # of
citations)
Find 10-20 recent papers in your field (by date
of publication)
11. Project Narrative
• Fancy way to describe the substance of your project
What methods will you be using?
• What data will you be collecting?
How will you analyze that data?
12. Project Narrative
• Details, details, details
• Give as many specifics as is reasonably possible.
Never settle for a general term when a specific
example can be used.
13. Personnel
• Who will be working on
this?
• It’s a given that you
will be, but will
there be a team?
Are there
undergraduates
helping? Are their
community
members helping?
14. Budget
• How will you spend their money?
Give itemized budgets
• ...and justify those budgets. Why do you need
$3,000 for a box of iPhones?
15. Format
• The more organization, the
better.
Consistent headings
• Page numbers
A clear table of contents
16. Writing
• Funding agencies offer funding for specific reasons
How do you tailor your writing to meet their
expectations?
• Does the organization have a guiding
principle?
• Do they have a specific focus or history?
• What programs have they funded in the
past?
17. Follow The Guidelines
• ...not just to the letter, but to the font.
Things that can be specific to grants:
• Letters of intent
• Concept letter
Cover letter
• Query letter
18. Seriously, Follow the
Guidelines
• Don’t be a word over the
limit
• Don’t provide additional
sections if the grant doesn’t
allow it
19. Seriously, Follow the
Guidelines
• If you go over the word limit, you are in effect taking
extra space that other applicants do not have.
• In other words, you will look like you are taking
advantage of the process and start with a strike
against you in the eyes of the reviewer.
20. “Why should I fund your
proposal?”
• Answering this
question should be
as natural as a
practiced elevator
pitch.
• Phrase it not just in
academicese, but
with a focus on real-
world significance.
21. 3 Basic Questions*
• “What are we going to learn as a result of the
proposed project that we do not know now?”
• “Why is it worth knowing?”
• “How will we know that the conclusions are valid?”
*from Prezorski and Salmon (1995)
22. 3 Basic Questions
• “What are we going to learn as a result of the
proposed project that we do not know now?”
PROBLEM
• “Why is it worth knowing?”
SIGNIFICANCE
• “How will we know that the conclusions are valid?”
METHOD
23. Focus on Methods and
Objectives
• People put money behind specifics, not vague
descriptions.
• Can you itemize what you are doing? Can you clearly
express what you will do in a way that will make
sense on a spreadsheet?
24. Specifics
• Don’t say you will do statistical analysis
• Say you will use linear modeling and
significance tests to assess how the data matches
the theory
• Don’t say that there is a broad debate in the literature
• Identify specific authors and debates that are
relevant to your work
25. Who is your audience?
• No one really knows.
• But there are some general ideas:
26. Who is your audience?
• Volunteers
• Many grant readers are
volunteers donating their
time.
• They also have lots of
grants to read.
27. Who is your audience?
• Make sure that you are CLEAR about what you want
to do.
• Make the reader’s job easy. They will like it and you
better.
• “So, say what you have to say immediately, crisply,
and forcefully.”*
*from Prezorski and Salmon (1995)
28. Like a Newspaper Article
Think of the first page of a grant proposal as a
newspaper.
Inverted Pyramid
Who, what, where, when, and why
Other important facts
Background, for
interested readers
29. Something to Remember
• Think of it as marketing, how do you brand yourself
as a researcher?
• “She’s the person looking at effective and ineffective
HIV prevention strategies.”
• “He’s the one who argues that the only feasible long-
term US diplomatic strategy in the Middle East
involves an embrace of democracy.”
30. Spell out the end
How will you
disseminate results?
Published papers? A
book?
34. Authoritative Voice
• If you are asking for
money to develop a
project, demonstrate that
you are a professional
• Your mastery of the
subject must come before
your attempts to add to
it.
36. Things that are (almost)
Always True
• Reviewers are lazy
• So if your grant proposal is confusing,
circular, and poorly written, things will not go
well.
• Reviewers are unlikely to spend the time to
find the diamonds in the coal mine.
37. Things that are (almost)
Always True
• Your research may not start out as a perfect fit for the
grant
• Can you focus on different elements that make
a fit more obvious?
• How can you reframe your questions? Are
there additional levels of significance that you
have not considered?
38. Things that are (almost)
Always True
• Your grant, that you have spent months writing, will
be assessed in minutes.
• How do you stand out?
• To make months of work stand out after minutes of
attention, you need marketing.
39. How to Market yourself
• What is the most compelling aspect of your research?
• What parts of your research are familiar to the
general public?
40. Marketing
• If you are looking at the nuances of local
government’s response to changing frequencies of
natural disasters, tie it into climate change.
• If you are looking at how patient-provider outcomes
show differential success rates for different
ethnicities, tie it to healthcare.
41. Marketing
• At the end of the day, you must meet your grant
reviewers on their terms. Since you don’t know who
they are, one of the best things you can do is tie your
work to a broader concern that they are familiar with.
• This is where the significance of your work really
starts to come in.
42. First Page
The first page needs to
be your strongest,
because the average
volunteer will spend
the most time on it.
43. After it’s finished...
• Three more basic questions:
• Is it compelling?
• Is it clear?
• Is it feasible?
44. After it’s finished...
If the answer to those three
questions is yes, then you
have just made a strong effort
to secure the funds needed to
move your project forward.
45. Words to Live By
“It’s not what you say, it’s what they hear.”
- Frank Luntz
