Peter E. Dunn

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Proposal Writing Persuading Someone That You
Have a Great Idea !

• Peter E. Dunn
• Professor of Entomology
• Associate Vice Provost for Research

2
Agenda . . .

• Some principles
• Proposal structure and strategy
• Common pitfalls . What is the reviewer trying to
  tell you ?

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Proposal Writing

• Many reasons to write a proposal
• Define thesis project Some departments require
  a proposal during first year
• Graduate fellowship/assistantship prestige,
  more
• Preliminary Exam sometimes in form of grant
  proposal
• Your first Job
• Academia fund your research, develop a new
  course, need more for an outreach program
• Industry advance a new idea, execute an
  assignment, gain more resources (staff,
  equipment, , etc)
• Government new project, gain resources

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Proposal Writing

• The goal is to persuade someone that you have
  identified a significant issue (question,
  problem) that they should care about that you
  have an efficient and effective plan to resolve
  the issue and you are the right person to
  execute the plan.
• A proposal is a clear and concise narrative
  created to accomplish this goal.
• Its organization and clarity is the sponsors
  first opportunity to measure/evaluate your
  ability to successfully execute a project!

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Proposal critical components . . .
Great idea
Effective presentation
If either of the above are missing, you have a
problem !
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Whats a great idea ?

• One that FITS
• Fills a gap in knowledge
• Important will make a difference
• To the field (reviewers)
• To the sponsor and public
• To you
• Tests a hypothesis or concept (analytical rather
  than descriptive)
• Short-term investment by sponsor will lead to
  long-term gain for stakeholders
• borrowed from Fischer and Zigmond (2000)

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Whats a great idea ?

• Great ideas define important problems.
• It is easy to find problems that are interesting,
  much more difficult to define problems that are
  important.

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Focus

• If a hawk chases two rabbits, both will escape!

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Realities of Grantsmanship . . .

• Best presentation cant substitute for a weak
  idea the greatest idea, presented ineffectively,
  will usually fail but sometimes a good, but not
  great, idea presented persuasively will succeed !

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Before you start to write

• What do you know about your audience?
• Who will review and evaluate your proposal?
• What are your sponsors goals?
• What kind of projects does your sponsor support?
• What information does your sponsor require?
• What format does your sponsor expect?
• What criteria will be used to evaluate the
  proposal?
• Do you know anyone who has applied to this
  sponsor before?
• See handout adapted from Fischer and Zigmond
  (2000) for questions to ask sponsor/colleagues

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Before you start to write . . .

• Think/Plan/Outline the request write out
  answers to these questions
• What is the issue/problem you wish to address?
• Why is it important to address this
  problem/issue?
• What do you hope to accomplish during the
  project?
• How will you accomplish these goals?
• What resources do you need to accomplish these
  goals?

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Give yourself a chance . . .

• Start early
• Give yourself time to think
• As you have ideas, write them down
• Keep track of relevant literature
• Test your ideas on colleagues even before you
  write them down
• Critique yourself play devils advocate (what
  if Im wrong what if it doesnt work?, etc)
• Read/review proposals of others whenever you have
  a chance
• Allow time to revise

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When you start to write

• Think of your audience whoever will review the
  proposal!. . . and talk to them
• Dont be subtle, make your points clearly and
  directly
• Whoever the reviewers are, they are busy folks
• When and where do you think most proposals are
  reviewed?
• Make it easy for reviewers to understand your
  outline and content, and to read the finished
  product

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Think of your audience ! (contd)

• Imagine you are a teacher, think of how you feel
  when you are about to read the last 2 term papers
  or essay tests ( probably tired, often rushed)
• Use headings and sub-headings, skip lines leaving
  white space, use reasonable margins, no less than
  10 pitch font, etc.
• Just because you may be allowed a specified
  number of pages for the proposal, dont feel
  compelled to fill them!

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Think of your audience ! (contd)

• Your goal is to write a proposal that stands out
  from all the others due to its clarity,
  probability for success, and potential impact.

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Proposal Structure and Strategy

• Following are common sections to be included and
  topics to be addressed
• Specific format will vary with the purpose of the
  proposal and the sponsor, all information may not
  be needed
• FOLLOW SPONSORS INSTRUCTIONS !!

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Thesis/Fellowship Proposal Structure

• Cover page
• Statement of Problem
• Literature review
• Identification of problem
• Statement of objectives
• Rationale and Significance
• Research Plan
• Methods and timeline
• Literature Cited

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Federal Grant Proposal Structure

• Cover page
• Summary/Abstract
• Project description
• Identification of problem
• Project objectives
• Rationale and significance
• Project plan

• Citations (bibliography)
• Resources needed
• PIs credentials(CV)
• Facilities and equipment available
• Current and pending support

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Cover page

• Project title
• brief, descriptive of project
• if requesting public support, intelligible to lay
  public
• Names, titles, affiliations of principal
  investigators
• Proposed start date and duration
• Signatures
• PIs
• Institutional official

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Summary (Abstract)

• Often written last
• Brief, self-contained description of proposed
  project or activity
• statement of problem and objectives
• summary of methods to be employed
• significance of proposed activity to solution of
  problem
• Very important for assignment of reviewers !!!

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Project description

• Reviewers often consider brevity and clarity in
  the presentation to be indicative of a PIs
  focused approach to a research objective and
  ability to achieve the specific aims of a
  project. (NIH Instructions)

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Identification of problem (25-30)

• Identify the void in knowledge/specific problem
  your project would fill/resolve.
• Provide general background on problem through
  review of pertinent literature - not just your
  own work.
• Critically evaluate current state of knowledge.
• Clearly identify hypotheses/concepts your project
  would test.
• For grant proposals, summarize any relevant
  unpublished preliminary data you may have
  gathered INCLUDE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

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Identification of problem (contd)

• Avoid the temptation to be encyclopedic -the goal
  in this section is NOT TO TELL ALL YOU KNOW, but
  rather to TELL ALL THE REVIEWER NEEDS TO KNOW to
  understand and appreciate the importance of your
  project

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Project objectives (5)

• Broad long term objectives of the project AND
  specific objectives for the proposed initial
  project period
• Specific objectives SHOULD be statements of what
  would be accomplished they SHOULD NOT be
  statements of how you plan to spend your time.
• Should be specific enough so that it will be
  possible to tell if you have succeeded when the
  project is complete.
• Measurable outcomes desirable.
• Should have clear relationship to any concepts to
  be evaluated (hypotheses to be tested).

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Rationale and significance (10)

• Two parts . . .
• Rationale basis for the project design
• Significance importance of resolving the problem
  
• Tell the reviewer what makes your problem
  important to him/her.
• Relate the specific aims to the broad, long-term
  objectives - how would satisfying the specific
  aims contribute to resolving the problem
• Relate the goals (long term goals and specific
  aims) to the sponsors interests

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Project plan (55-60)

• Use specific aims to structure description of how
  you will satisfy the project goals
  (activities/experiments/data gathering/analysis
  to be performed).
• Describe methods (procedures) in sufficient
  detail to convince reviewer that you understand
  and are able to implement the plan.
• How will you evaluate your results ?
• Are control or baseline measurements needed for
  comparison?
• What statistical analysis will be used to
  determine significance?

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Project plan (contd)

• If methods are novel, explain why you chose them
  and compare with more traditional alternatives
• Describe anticipated outcomes and what the
  anticipated results would tell you.
• What are potential pitfalls ? How would you deal
  with them (alternative approaches) ?

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Project plan (contd)

• If procedures are potentially hazardous or
  require regulatory approval (human or vertebrate
  animal subjects, rDNA or biohazardous agents),
  describe precautions or status of regulatory
  review
• Provide a tentative sequence or timetable for
  completion
• If you know there is a weak point, dont try to
  hide it, identify it and address it !

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Citations (bibliography)

• Pertinent literature references
• Citations should be complete - all authors,
  title, and inclusive pages
• Use only number of citations required to document
  key points - again, this is not an encyclopedia
  or comprehensive review.
• Format of references may be specified in
  instructions - follow sponsors format !

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Additional information that may be needed

• Resources needed
• Identify personnel, budget, space, special
  facilities, collaboration, special services
  (continuing education/ conferences support),
  subcontracts to other institutions, cost sharing
  engage the business office early and often
• Narrative justification required for major items
  in budget (personnel, equipment, supplies,
  travel)
• Describe essential project role of each person
  whose salary is requested in budget

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Additional information that may be needed

• PIs credentials (CV)
• For all key project personnel, usually include
  data on education/training, professional
  employment, other professional activities, awards
  and honors, publications
• Format may be specified - FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS
  CAREFULLY !!
• If the instructions ask for citations for your 10
  most relevant publications, dont list 11!

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Additional information that may be needed

• Facilities and equipment
• Goal is to document that you are appropriately
  equipped to conduct the project
• Identify space and major equipment available to
  conduct project
• Focus on essential items without which project
  can not be completed

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Additional information that may be needed

• Current and pending support
• List of current funded projects and pending
  proposals
• Provide title, project period, , effort
  committed to project, and explanation of
  relationship to proposed new project
• Goal is two-fold
• document that you have time available to conduct
  the project
• identify relationship (potential overlap) with
  ongoing projects (double dipping is generally
  not allowed)

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So you have a draft, what now?

• Successful proposal writers typically ask peers
  to read and comment on draft versions before
  finalizing and sending to sponsor
• Pick reviewers who will be honest and critical !
• Better to learn of potential problems or unclear
  sections from a friend or colleague (when you
  still have time to correct) than from the
  sponsors reviewer (when it is too late) !

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Why proposals fail?

• Topic unrelated to sponsors goals
• Unclear problem, objectives, or project plan -
  lack of detail
• Lack of focus, overly ambitious (scope too broad)
  
• Unclear or minimal impact (improve justification)
• Derivative work (been done before, lacks novelty)

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Why proposals fail? (contd)

• A fishing expedition
• Descriptive (not analytical not
  hypothesis-driven)
• Applicant unaware of key literature (you didnt
  cite something important)
• Methods inadequate to accomplish goals or PI
  lacks experience/ expertise to execute plan
• Contingent objectives (must accomplish 1 before
  can do 2, etc.)

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Why proposals fail ? (contd)

• In general, if reviewers feel they are working
  harder to read or understand or critique your
  proposal than you did to write it, they tend to
  get annoyed !
• Carelessness (typographical errors, misspelling,
  omitted words) is often considered a harbinger of
  future careless work on the project - leaves a
  very bad impression !

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If I fail, what next ?

• No one succeeds with every proposal, we all
  experience rejection sometime ! Its not personal
  ! You will survive !
• Rejection is just an invitation to resubmit!
• First proposals (new investigator, to a new
  sponsor, new program, addressing a new theme)
  often fail
• Whether your proposal is awarded or not, you may
  receive written reviews (example)

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If I fail, what next ? (contd)

• If your proposal is rejected and you receive
  written reviews, read them, get angry, put the
  reviews aside for awhile, and then read them
  again
• Contact the review coordinator or colleagues for
  explanations/clarifications its important to
  understand the perceived shortcomings
• Rewrite the proposal, revisions should respond to
  the reviews, and RESUBMIT!