Grant Proposal Writing

Grant Proposal Writing Dr. H Anwar Ahmad

COMPONENT OF GRANT APPLICATION • Descriptive title • Abstract/ Summary • Background/ Significance • Narrative Description • Completion schedule • Budget • Applicant credentials • Previous experience or preliminary description

KEYS TO SUCCESS • Idea • Commitment • Proposal- Writing Skills

STEPS TO DEVELOP COMPELLING, NOVEL IDEA • Identify the niche area (READ) • Collect and critically analyze background information related to the problem • Develop a preliminary idea • Assess the idea’s potential for success • Seek constructive criticism from knowledgeable colleagues • Refine the idea to maximize its potential for impact on your field

ASSESSMENT OF IDEA’S POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS • Assess yourself • Assess the competition • Assess funding potential

Funding Agencies • Pak. US S&T: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/dsc/pakistan/index.htm • Pak Ag. Res Council Linkage Program http://www.alp.gov.pk • Planning Commission-Pak Strategy Support Program http://www.ifpri.org/book-8211/ourwork/program/pakistan-strategy-support-program • HEC http://beta.hec.gov.pk/Pages/HECMain.aspx

Funding Agencies • Research and Advocacy Fund-UK and AusAID http://www.rafpakistan.org • NSF • USAID • USDA-International Opportunities

FIND THE AGENCY THAT FITS YOUR IDEA • Funding your proposal should help the agency achieve its goals • Know what an agency wants to fund • Contact the program officer • Make arrangements through emails and calls • Read in between lines

THREE LEVELS AT WHICH PURPOSE MUST BE MET • The Grant Mechanism • Each section of the proposal • Components within each section

REASONS FOR APPLICATION FAILURE • Lack of good, original idea • Lack of sufficient commitment • Poor packaging and presentation of idea

GRANTSMANSHIP SKILLS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS • Maximally convey your enthusiasm • Write with maximal clarity & compelling logic • Anticipate problems and provide alternative approaches • Tell you reviewers what to expect for their investment • Make your application “reviewer friendly” • Avoid avoidable mistakes

GOOD PROPOSAL WRITING • YOU HAVE TO SELL YOUR IDEA • A SUCCESSFUL SALESPERSON • Make a good first impression • Is well prepared • Is credible • Delivers a clear message • Provides supporting documentation • Has appropriate endorsement • Has something special to offer • Is persistent

PREPARATION OF THE APPLICATION • Overview section • The second most important section in the grant application

STRONG OVERVIEW SECTION Specific Paragraph Specific Aims Payoff Paragraph Creative and original Expected outcome Positive impact generality Introductory Paragraph • Opening sentence • Current Knowledge • Unknown or need • Unknown/need as a problem What, why, who paragraph • Long term goal • Overall objectives • Central hypothesis and how formulated Rationale • Well prepared

SPECIFIC AIMS • Introductory Paragraph: • Open with real attention getter- clearly relate to agency’s mission. • Don’t give vague or generic statements • Jump to subject matter right away • Summarize current knowledge in the field • Delineate the scientific gap in the knowledgebase

SPECIFIC AIMS • Conclude with why continued existent of the gap /need constitutes an important problem • Problem: the next vertical step in the field is being blocked by existence of the gap/ need

LONG TERM GOAL • Not the goal of the current application • Be realistic

OVERALL OBJECTIVE • Must be a appreciated as a step towards attainment of the long term goal • Define the purpose of the proposed research • Must be phrased in a way that the central hypothesis logically grows from it

CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS • Real hypothesis • Directional, that gives focus to the proposed research

CREATION OF A FOCUSING PROGRESSION • Long-Term Goal: Broadest • Overall Objective: Narrower • Central Hypothesis: Narrowest

CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS Don’t write inadvertently your hypothesis to express bias, i.e., a predetermined conclusion

RATIONALE • BASIS • What will become possible • Must be directly linked back to the problem

SPECIFIC AIMS • Two-to-four at the most • Brief, focused and limited in scope • Each must be an eye-catching “headline” • Conceptual, NOT descriptive • Must collectively test all parts of the hypothesis

SPECIFIC AIMS • Each must flow logically into the next • None should be absolutely dependent on an expected outcome of earlier aim

SPECIFIC AIMS • Purpose of the specific aims: to test the parts of the central hypothesis. • The central Hypothesis must be tightly linked to the specific aims.

SPECIFIC AIMS • Objectively identify psychologically manipulative ads • Objectively identify informative advertising

EXCEPTION TO THE RULE • When a project is in its early stage of development, or when the focus is on qualitative assessments, it is quite possible that the goals/objectives may be of the descriptive • It is okay to have completion of a subsequent goal or objective being dependent upon prior completion of an earlier goal/objective, provided that you can assure the reviewer that there is no doubt that the earlier goal/objective can be achieved.

PAYOFF PARAGRAPH • Key section in developing advocacy among those who have not seen your proposal before its review at the review panel meeting • Begin the paragraph with expected outcome • Conclude with a deliberately general statement regarding positive impact

PREPARATION OF THE APPLICATION • Narrative Description

NARRATIVE Each Specific Aim is a subsection: • Introduction • Justification & Feasibility Review of relevant literature Preliminary studies • Research Design • Expected outcome • Potential problems

NARRATIVE Research Design • Use separate paragraphs/sections to develop each set of studies • Avoid inclusions of mindless detail • Succinctly provide only meaningful detail • Refer to, don’t detail, anything described in your teams' peer-reviewed publication

NARRATIVE Expected outcome • A key, and often overlooked, subsection • Succinctly and realistically summarize most important results are expected to be • Integrate outcomes and show that they collectively attain the aim’s objective • Think of this as the return reviewers can expect

NARRATIVE Potential Problems & Alternative Approaches • There is no such thing as problem free research • Positively acknowledge potential problems • Include only things that could, but probably won’t, go wrong • Most important problem is potential invalidity of the aim’s working hypothesis • Offer alternative approaches to problem---but • Don’t overemphasize them

LITERATURE REVIEW • Write this subsection after research design part of the aim has been written • Provide an up-to-date, critical review that frames the gaps/ problems, not just who did what when • Logically build toward what you expect this aim will contribute • Include italicized sentences that tell reviewers why what you have just reviewed helps justify the need for what will be proposed • Cite by author, year- not with numerals

PRELIMINARY DATA • Data presented should be highly selected to support feasibility • Data presented should be as simple as possible, but not “dumbed down” • Design each figure or table to convey a single point or idea • Avoid inclusion of extraneous or irrelevant data • Vary the style of presentation to make the data maximally appealing

PRELIMINARY DATA: EDITORIAL • Place supporting figures/tables as close to where they are referred to in the text as possible • Include italicized sentences that tell reviewers how data presented support feasibility • Be certain that print in photo-reduced figures/ tables is legible • Put methodology into figure legends/ footnotes to table, not in the text.

PRELIMINARY DATA: EDITORIAL • Be certain to distinguish between reporting of “data” versus reporting of “results” • Use the past tense • Lead your readers through the data • Flow the logic should be concept>question>strategy/approach>data> (interpretation)

NARRATIVE- INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH • What goes into this brief paragraph becomes obvious after the rest of the aim is written • Introduce the aim with a brief paragraph that summarize its objectives

PREPARATION OF THE APPLICATION • Justification of Need (Literature; Significance & Innovation; Creativity, Originality & Transformative Potential; Relation to Other Work In Progress)

JUSTIFICATION OF NEED Significance: • substantiate that there is a gap/ need, that it’s an important problem, and what you contribution is expected to be • Italicized statement of significance • List of benefits that could credibly be expected to accrue to application of the new knowledge

JUSTIFICATION OF NEED Innovation: • Cite literature that diplomatically frames the status quo • Italicized statement of innovation • Conclude with new relevant horizon

JUSTIFICATION OF NEED Creativity, Originality & Transformative Potential • Should be addressed in the last, “payoff” paragraph of the overview and objectives section • Make sure your claim is credible • Be especially careful with your claim of transformative potential- don’t overreach

JUSTIFICATION OF NEED Relation to Other Work In Progress: • By the PI: complementary; no conflict • By others: not duplicative; stress novelty and ‘catalytic impact’

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH • Identify credible co-PIs, collaborators and consultants • No clones of your own expertise • Exclude former mentors from intellectual roles • No senior investigators as ‘window dressing’ • Need not limit search to your own institution • If no effort is included on the application, a letter of commitments must accompany the proposal

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH • Thoroughly document credential of all key personnel • Emphasize aspects of training and experience that are most relevant to the application • Early stage/ beginning Investigators: emphasize extent and quality of training; experience to date • Don’t ‘pad’ the Biographical Sketch • All biographical sketch in the application should look a like

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Personal Statement • Education/ training • Personal statement; TLDC • Position and Honors • Selected peer-Reviewed publications – up to 15 • Research support

Grant Proposal Writing