Writing Successful Grants Grants

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Writing SuccessfulGrants Grants

• Joy Johnson
• Scientific Director, Institute of Gender and
  Health

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The Core Questions

• Are your questions significant ? (Does anybody
  care?)
• Can you address them? (Are you any good?)
• Is your research likely to be of greater impact
  than other grants in the competition? (Is your
  stuff amongst the best?)

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WRITING GREAT GRANTS

• Your goals
• To convince the grants panel that you can
  really do the research
• - your track record
• - how well youve written the grant
• 2. To demonstrate that the project is built on a
  solid foundation of published work (yours/others)
  preliminary data.
• 3. To get the panel excited about the project -
  this proposal is so terrific, it just has to be
  funded.

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THE TOP 8 THINGS
1. Organize an Internal Peer Review Panel

• Key all 3 reviewers meet with you
• Assesses the presentation scientific content
• Gives you experience in reviewing grants
• Fosters collegiality
• Always vastly improves your grant

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THE TOP 8 THINGS
2. Start writing early
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3. Write daily!
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THE TOP 8 THINGS
Young faculty members who write in brief daily
sessions publish 3-4 times as much as those who
have a romantic notion that writing should be
held off until the muse strikes, and then done
in a marathon - Prof. Robert Boice
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THE TOP 8 THINGS
The ability to focus attention on important
things is a defining characteristic of
intelligence. - Robert
J. Shiller, - Irrational Exuberance
Do you
start every day by working on your most important
project? This is an essential habit of the most
productive people I know. Many of us start with
a warm-up period that sometimes morphs into
time-wasting.

- Ref Google Academic coach
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THE TOP 8 THINGS

• Do the Junk in month 1
• (but not only the junk)

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THE TOP 8 THINGS
5. Learn to write well Imitate great style,
unconsciously - get copies of a couple
of great grants what did they do? Get it down!
- Dont be a sentence caresser 1. Get it
down 2. Get it right 3. Get it pretty
4. Get it out!
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THE TOP 8 THINGS
5. To write well.. Good expository writing has
two predominant features. 1. Great lead
sentences 2. Paragraphs with an inverted
pyramid structure
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THE TOP 8 THINGS
5. To write well
Ask Whos the audience? Give the BIG
picture. Make the reader care. Dont drown the
reader in detail (the reader doesnt want to
know). Too Much Information! State Why a study
needs to be done Make it enjoyable for the
reviewer!
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THE TOP 8 THINGS

• 5. To write well

• Use illustrations
• Use the first or third person
• Write I will, not This idea will be
• Never use less than Times 12
• or lt 1 margins

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THE TOP 8 THINGS

• Work on a solid construction

Tip The Summary of the Research Proposal is the
most important page

• - CREATE INTEREST
• - DEMONSTRATE IMPORTANCE
• - STATE OVERALL OBJECTIVE
• - STATE CLEAR BRIEF SPECIFIC AIMS RESEARCH
  PLAN
• - GIVE TIME FRAME
• - ARTICULATE SIGNIFICANCE TO THE WORLD

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THE TOP 8 THINGS

• Work on a solid construction
• Background and Preliminary Results (less than
  half the pages)
• Research plan (at least half the pages)
• Significance

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THE TOP 8 THINGS

• Constructing the Research Plan

• Write the Research Plan around the Specific
  Aims/Objectives
• For each Aim, state your Expected Outcomes,
  Potential Problems, Alternative Strategies,
  Techniques and Timelines

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THE TOP 8 THINGS

• Place yourself in a strong position
• productivity
• of grants
• the independence issue

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THE TOP 8 THINGS

• Apply for an appropriate budget
• Justify your budget
• Model it after someone elses

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Before submission!

• Read it all, again, on the screen
• Read a printed version!
• Have someone else read a printed version

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Sometimes, you arent funded!
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IF YOU DONT GET FUNDED
1. Dont get discouraged!
2. Listen to the reviewers
- do you need more preliminary data?
- do you need to write the grant better?
- is it not a good project?
3. Use the Response-to-Reviewers pages well
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Thank You!