Most Research Proposals have these elements:

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Most Research Proposals have these
elements Title Abstract Specific Aims
Background and Significance (preliminary data
or progress reportnot required for your
qualifying exam, but if you have data, show
it) Research Design and Methods References
2

• Research Design and Methods
• One subsection for each specific aim
• Wording should match that on your Specific Aims
  page

3
Within each subsection, descriptions of the
following
Rationale--an explanation of why this is an
important set of experiments, and how they will
test your hypothesis. Also why these samples,
animals, materials, approaches, etc. are the best
to use Goal is to provide clear reasons to do
these experiments BUT must avoid too much
redundancy with the rest of the proposal
4
Approaches/Methodology Describe the biological
samples, experimental animals, materials, and
experiments you will use to achieve your
specific aim Name standard methods do not
describe them in detail unless the methods are
new, new to you (and so you need to convince the
reviewers that you can do the experiments), or
vary from standard Do describe in detail any new
methods you have developed
5
From GSBS website This is the most critical
portion of the proposal. Unfortunately, many
students concentrate too much on methodological
details and devote too little effort to data
interpretation. This is an easy trap to fall into
because most students at this stage are just
becoming familiar with techniques, and since
their days are spent thinking about incubation
times and temperatures, molarities of solutions,
etc., the natural tendency is for their
proposals to be dominated by these details.
Instead, proposals should illustrate the type of
data to be collected and provide predicted
results. If committee members need details on
experimental design, such as the composition of
solutions, these can be provided orally during
the exam. Importantly, candidates should
emphasize how their experiments will test their
hypotheses.
6
Expected Results all possible outcomes of the
experiments and how you would interpret those
results Ifthen statements very helpful in
explaining the meaning of different experimental
outcomes NOTE Very important for your
qualifying exam what can you conclude from these
experiments what can you NOT conclude from
these experiments
7
From GSBS website It is also essential to
include a discussion of the pitfalls of your
strategy, such as assay sensitivity,
radiolabeling efficiency, possible effects of
experimental treatments on cell viability, etc.
8
Alternative strategies what you will do
if the experiments do not work? produce
unexpected results? NOTE very, very
important for your qualifying exam!
9
Finally Diagrams or figures if necessary (to
provide clarity or demonstrate feasibility of an
approach) Timeline/priorities/long term
potential
10
How long should it be?? Different length
requirements/limitations for different types
of proposals (so read instructions
carefully) From GSBS website "Research Design
and Methods Briefly summarize the experimental
design and the procedures to be used to
accomplish the specific aims of this research.
Include a description of the types of data to be
obtained and how they will be analyzed to
accomplish the specific aims." Six to ten pages
the entire proposal should not exceed 15
pages.
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Sample Research Plan (PDF from course website)
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Questions??