The document outlines a presentation on writing research proposals, presented by Dr. Geoff Walton and Dr. Graham Walton, covering aspects such as ILG research bursaries and LIRG funding, characteristics of good proposals, and dissemination strategies. It details available funding opportunities, including £20,000 in ILG research bursaries and £2,500 for the LIRG research award, along with deadlines for submissions. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of clear and impactful summaries in proposals and suggests resources for further guidance.

1. Writing a research proposal
Dr Geoff Walton, Senior Lecturer, Northumbria University and
Information Literacy Group
&
Dr Graham Walton, Head of Planning and Resources, University
Library and Honorary Research Fellow (Centre for Information
Management), Loughborough University
CILIP , 12th September 2014

2. Writing a research proposal
• What we are going to talk about
• ILG research bursaries and LIRG funding
• What are they key characteristics of a good
research proposal?
• Creating a research idea
• Dissemination strategy
• Concluding remarks
• Q&A
• Group work throughout 

3. ILG Research Bursaries
• £20,000 available annually
• Bids of up to a £10,000 maximum
• Support practitioners (who are ILG members) to conduct
well framed research
• Approaches can be small scale action research to larger
scale quantitative studies (or a mixture of the two).
• Info at…
• http://www.informationliteracy.org.uk/
• More info and informal chat…
• Dr Geoff Walton: geoff.walton@northumbria.ac.uk
• Dr Jane Secker: j.secker@lse.ac.uk
• Deadline for bids: 1st December 2014 & 1st July 2015

4. LIRG Research Award
• Bids of up to £2500 available (co-sponsored by by LIRG, Health Libraries
Group and PTFS Europe)
• To encourage research and innovation in library and information
science (particularly about improving the accessibility, retrievability and
usefulness of information)
• To defray research expenses or to fund attendance at high level
meetings or to fund a study tour. However, a clear overall aim for the
research must be stated.
• Info at
https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home/awards/lirg-research-award
• More info and informal chat…
Dr Alison Brettle, a.brettle@salford.ac.uk
Deadline for bids: 1 December 2014

5. What are they key characteristics
of a good research proposal?

6. Creating a research idea
• To have a research proposal accepted you need to tell a
good research story.
• One way is to write your proposal in the style of…
• …The Daily Mail

7. Activity – creating an outstanding
summary
• The heart of the research proposal is the summary
(sometimes called a lay summary) or abstract
• This is how you will probably begin to create your
research proposal
• Your research abstract must have high impact to ensure
success
• You need to be able to communicate your idea(s) clearly
and concisely
• So….What would you say are the
top tips you would follow to ensure
that your research summary/lay
summary/ abstract is crystal clear
and readable?

8. Dissemination strategy
• Why is it important to disseminate your research?
• What ways can we use to disseminate?
• The most successful research proposals have
imaginative and creative dissemination
strategies

9. Activity – creating a
dissemination strategy
• What avenues/channels/methods would you use
to disseminate information/new/findings about
your project?

10. Creating a dissemination strategy
- examples
• AMORES http://www.amores-project.eu/
• And the Dr Said…
http://www.andthedoctorsaid.org

11. Any questions?

12. Resources
Research proposal writing
Nottingham University
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/how-to-apply/how-to-write-a-research-proposal.
aspx
Monash University
http://www.monash.edu.au/education/research/degrees/proposal-writing/
Edinburgh University
http://www.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.58205!/fileManager/HowToWriteProposal.pdf
Juliet Eve. Writing a research proposal: planning and communicating your research ideas
effectively.
http://www.lirgjournal.org.uk/lir/ojs/index.php/lir/article/view/92
Gunning fog index – calculates how off-putting your text is to read:
http://gunning-fog-index.com/
How it works:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunning_fog_index