- Do it now. Don’t postpone starting “until
tomorrow.”
- Read and follow sponsor guidelines carefully.
- Talk to the program officer at the sponsoring agency.
- Make a list of your best ideas, taking into account
your professional interests, cutting edge in your discipline,
and the state of the world, environment, and economy.
- Carefully define the problem. Describe and document
what’s wrong.
- Clearly identify the needs – suggesting what
must be done to correct the defined problem. The
solution you offer describes the activities required
to meet the needs.
- Support your hypothesis. What are the potential
obstacles and how will they be dealt with (contingency
plan)? How will data be analyzed or results interpreted?
- Don’t use excessive jargon, acronyms, or abbreviations. Reviewers
may not know or remember them.
- Strive for clarity. Ask a friend or colleague
to read your proposal. If they don’t understand
it, there’s a good chance the reviewers won’t
either.
- Be positive in your writing style. State
your case positively and support your position with evidence. Keep
your audience in mind.
- Be realistic in what you can accomplish.
- Be enthusiastic. Make your proposal stand out.
- The project summary (abstract) should “sell” the
rest of the proposal. Make the reviewer want to
read more. A good abstract is a well rounded, clear,
concise accurate summary of why the work is important.
- Do your homework: check that literature cited
is current and well rounded; check that your idea really
is novel and innovative; is the project a good “fit” to
the sponsor and/or the guideline.
- Carefully prepare the budget – these items are
tied to activities and/or program objectives in your
narrative.
- Meet the deadline. Most sponsors have fixed specific
deadlines for proposals.
Don’t give up. A proposal may have to be submitted
several times (with changes each time) before it is funded. If
your application is unsuccessful, read the reviewers’ comments. It
may be worth rewriting and submitting in the next |
