University of Victoria Grantscrafting

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University of Victoria Grantscrafting
Tips for SSHRC Doctoral Applications 2008
Dr. Rosemary E. Ommer University SSHRC Grants
Facilitator 721-8848 icor_at_uvic.ca
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Working with a Grantscrafter

• Not a guarantee that you will get the grant!
• Application will be in best possible shape
• Application material, ideas and discussion will
  remain confidential
• Positive criticism
• Technicalities not addressed

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Technicalities

• Grant eligibility, deadlines, format, attachments
• SSHRC website http//www.sshrc.ca/web/apply/progr
  am_descriptions/fellowships/doctoral_e.asp
• UVic - Grad Studies
• http//web.uvic.ca/gradstudies/fund/funding.html
• Scholarship Administration Officers 
• Ms. Carolyn Swayze - [phone],
  cswayze_at_uvic.ca
• Ms. Kathy McCarthy - [phone],
  fgsaward_at_uvic.ca

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Application Process - UVic

• UVic may submit a total of 42 Doctoral
  applications this year
• Your application goes to your Department Head, in
  time to meet the Department Deadline
• Members of the department then appraise and rank
  the applications and forward them to Grad Studies
• A UVic pre-selection committee sorts the
  applications into A and B lists UVic
  communicates its committee results to all
  applicants
• The 35 applications on the A-list are submitted
  unranked to SSHRC for review and final decision

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Application Process - SSHRC

• SSHRC grants officers send all doctoral proposals
  out to doctoral adjudication committee members,
  along with the evaluations and departmental
  appraisal.
• Committee members read all the proposals and
  evaluations very carefully, then discuss them in
  some detail, along with the reports from the
  appraisers (individual and departmental) when
  they meet, and together rank all the applications
  that they bring forward to SSHRC.
• SSHRC will inform you of the results, in writing,
  by the end of April.

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Evaluation Criteria

• Past academic results (transcripts, awards,
  distinctions)
• The merit of your program of study and research,
  and its potential contribution to the advancement
  of knowledge
• Relevant professional and academic experience,
  including research training, as demonstrated by
  conference presentations and scholarly
  publications
• Two written evaluations from referees
• The departmental appraisal

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Evaluation Criteria continued

• You must also include
• why you want to pursue doctoral studies in your
  particular field
• a clear description of the RESEARCH requirements
  (or components) of the program of study you want
  to follow
• a description of your research project proposal

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Writing your Research Proposal

• Target your audienceSSHRC adjudication committee
• Avoid disciplinary jargon, complex obscure
  language, very long sentences, and sentences
  without main verbs
• Watch your pronouns and prepositions for clarity
• Avoid typos, poorly laid-out or explained
  budgets, incomplete information
• SSHRC committees are made up of hard-working
  people, who may grow tired and impatient with
  mistakes, editorializing, and obscure complex
  language, especially after reading many
  applications

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Writing your Research Proposal contd

• Provide the required information in a clear and
  concise manner
• Be honest about your experience, and learn to
  boast where appropriate ... quietly and modestly!
• Write for an intelligent non-specialist audience
• Explain the point of the research, in what ways
  it is new and significant, how the questions are
  conceptualized and will be addressed

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Writing your Research Proposal contd

• Do not squeeze in too many words so as to make
  your proposal difficult to read
• Think about the creative use of headlines,
  en-dots, subsections, bold, underlines and
  italics these help make a page look attractive,
  provide white space, and they point up the
  logical consistency of a proposal
• Use the Application Profile to catch interest
  this is where you sell your research your title
  needs to be punchy, no jargon, exciting

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Writing your Research Proposal contd

• Present your research plans coherently, as a set
  of problems, in logical and connected order - and
  point to where future research would then go, if
  possible.
• If in early stages include what level you are
  title and brief description of MA Field of
  proposed PhD program of study topic,
  theory/context methodology goals contribution
  to knowledge as much as you can
• If in PhD Research outline thesis how will it
  build on existing research? How contribute to
  knowledge? What stage you are at? What remains?
  Supervisor?

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Writing your Research Proposal contd

• Provide appropriate references bibliographies
  are important, but you are space-limited include
  key texts
• Make sure that the application states the central
  problem
• If critiquing existing models/approaches in the
  literature is necessary, it should be done
  lucidly and without partisanship and the reasons
  why the proposed approach is better should be
  demonstrated clearly and precisely
• If departing from your earlier work, you need to
  make it clear that you have done your homework in
  the new area show familiarity with the debates
  in the literature because this will be read very
  closely by the committee.

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Writing your Research Proposal contd

• Engage a non-expert
• Ask a friend who is not overly-familiar with your
  research to take your grant proposal and read it
  some day/evening when he/she is tired and really
  would rather not do this ...and see if it makes
  sense.
• Have your friend tell you which bits were
  confusing, or had to be re-read, that's all.
• Then sit down again and work on getting rid of
  the jargon, or the appallingly long sentence, or
  the floating subordinate clause that needs to be
  a new sentence, etc.

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Writing your Research Proposal contd

• Dissemination
• Be precise and realisticgive the names of likely
  journals, or conferences or publishers
  (accompanying letter if feasible) and probable
  publication sequence over the period of the grant
  and beyond do poster sessions where possible.
• It may well be appropriate to publish a policy
  brochure, provide a CD ROM, make a video, and
  carry out community feedback sessions. There are
  many more means of communication now at our
  disposal and creative and sensitive use of these
  will help the application.

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Writing your Research Proposal contd

• Track record
• Whether or not the applicant can be relied upon
  to deliver
• It's not a game of who gets the highest
  publication score, but who delivers well and on
  time so that scarce public funds are not
  dissipated
• Be clear about what's a book, a chapter, a
  report, a talk, and also about the other
  scholarly production category videos, for
  example
• Quality counts more than quantity.

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Writing your Research Proposal contd

• Special circumstances
• Explain the restrictions on you if your
  publications are limited, or there has been a big
  break in your studies.
• Dont fudge, dont whine explanations of serious
  illness and other relevant matters should be done
  crisply and matter-of-factly, without apologies
  or editorializing. The case should just be made
  succinctly where there is one to be made.

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Final Comments

• There may be comments that come with a negative
  decision, read them. Then, put them away for as
  long as it takes to get over the disappointment
  or anger, and then look at them again.
• Take the advice that makes sense to you ponder
  the rest and then accept or reject it. When you
  rewrite the application use the advice you can
  accept and make sure you have covered off the
  rest.
• Your chances of funding success will be greater
  than most that are coming in for the first time.

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Final Comments

• You need to demonstrate to the committees that
  your funding is indispensable to the future of
  the discipline and your institution.
• You should
• know exactly how you are going to approach your
  research
• have done all the preparatory reading
• know exactly where your research fits in, why it
  is an advancement of knowledge, and one that we
  need
• know what help you need, show that you have taken
  steps to get it, and have all the
  intellectual/institutional assistance you will
  require.

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Graduate Student Grants Facilitation
To book an appointment to review the text of your
application with Dr. Rosemary E. Ommer,
University SSHRC Grants Facilitator Contact Joy
Austin 721-8848 icor_at_uvic.ca
For technical questions (eligibility, web forms,
etc.) UVic Grad Studies, http//web.uvic.ca/grad
studies/fund/funding.html Scholarship
Administration Officers Ms. Carolyn Swayze (250)
472-5186, cswayze_at_uvic.ca Ms. Kathy McCarthy
[phone], fgsaward_at_uvic.ca