The Schedule for Receiving Reviewing and Awarding the Grant Funds Is Called the

What this handout is most

This handout volition help you lot write and revise grant proposals for inquiry funding in all academic disciplines (sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts). Information technology'southward targeted primarily to graduate students and faculty, although information technology will also be helpful to undergraduate students who are seeking funding for enquiry (e.1000. for a senior thesis).

The grant writing process

A grant proposal or application is a document or prepare of documents that is submitted to an organization with the explicit intent of securing funding for a research project. Grant writing varies widely across the disciplines, and enquiry intended for epistemological purposes (philosophy or the arts) rests on very different assumptions than research intended for applied applications (medicine or social policy research). Nonetheless, this handout attempts to provide a general introduction to grant writing across the disciplines.

Before you brainstorm writing your proposal, yous demand to know what kind of inquiry you will be doing and why. You may accept a topic or experiment in mind, but taking the time to ascertain what your ultimate purpose is tin be essential to disarming others to fund that projection. Although some scholars in the humanities and arts may not have thought nearly their projects in terms of enquiry pattern, hypotheses, research questions, or results, reviewers and funding agencies expect you to frame your projection in these terms. You may as well find that thinking almost your project in these terms reveals new aspects of it to you.

Writing successful grant applications is a long process that begins with an idea. Although many people retrieve of grant writing equally a linear procedure (from thought to proposal to award), it is a circular process. Many people starting time by defining their research question or questions. What knowledge or information will be gained as a straight event of your project? Why is undertaking your inquiry important in a broader sense? You lot will need to explicitly communicate this purpose to the commission reviewing your application. This is easier when you know what you program to achieve before you brainstorm the writing process.

Diagram i below provides an overview of the grant writing procedure and may assist you lot plan your proposal evolution.

Applicants must write grant proposals, submit them, receive notice of acceptance or rejection, and so revise their proposals. Unsuccessful grant applicants must revise and resubmit their proposals during the next funding cycle. Successful grant applications and the resulting research pb to ideas for farther research and new grant proposals.

Cultivating an ongoing, positive relationship with funding agencies may lead to additional grants down the route. Thus, make sure you file progress reports and final reports in a timely and professional way. Although some successful grant applicants may fear that funding agencies will reject future proposals because they've already received "enough" funding, the truth is that coin follows money. Individuals or projects awarded grants in the past are more competitive and thus more than likely to receive funding in the future.

Some full general tips

1. Begin early on.
2. Employ early and frequently.
3. Don't forget to include a embrace letter with your application.
4. Respond all questions. (Pre-empt all unstated questions.)
5. If rejected, revise your proposal and employ again.
6. Give them what they desire. Follow the application guidelines exactly.
7. Exist explicit and specific.
8. Be realistic in designing the project.
9. Make explicit the connections between your research questions and objectives, your objectives and methods, your methods and results, and your results and dissemination plan.
10. Follow the awarding guidelines exactly. (We take repeated this tip because it is very, very important.)

Before you start writing

Place your needs and focus

Offset, identify your needs. Answering the following questions may help y'all:

• Are yous undertaking preliminary or pilot enquiry in gild to develop a total-blown enquiry agenda?
• Are you seeking funding for dissertation research? Pre-dissertation research? Postdoctoral research? Archival inquiry? Experimental research? Fieldwork?
• Are you seeking a stipend so that yous can write a dissertation or volume? Smooth a manuscript?
• Do you want a fellowship in residence at an institution that volition offer some programmatic support or other resources to enhance your projection?
• Do you want funding for a large research projection that volition last for several years and involve multiple staff members?

Next, call back about the focus of your enquiry/project. Answering the following questions may help yous narrow information technology down:

• What is the topic? Why is this topic of import?
• What are the enquiry questions that you lot're trying to respond? What relevance do your research questions take?
• What are your hypotheses?
• What are your research methods?
• Why is your research/project important? What is its significance?
• Practise you program on using quantitative methods? Qualitative methods? Both?
• Will you exist undertaking experimental research? Clinical inquiry?

One time you accept identified your needs and focus, you tin can begin looking for prospective grants and funding agencies.

Finding prospective grants and funding agencies

Whether your proposal receives funding volition rely in large part on whether your purpose and goals closely match the priorities of granting agencies. Locating possible grantors is a time consuming job, but in the long run it will yield the greatest benefits. Even if you have the almost appealing research proposal in the earth, if yous don't send it to the right institutions, and so you're unlikely to receive funding.

There are many sources of information most granting agencies and grant programs. Most universities and many schools within universities take Offices of Enquiry, whose primary purpose is to support faculty and students in grant-seeking endeavors. These offices ordinarily accept libraries or resources centers to help people notice prospective grants.

At UNC, the Enquiry at Carolina office coordinates inquiry back up.

The GrantSource Library, located in Bynum Hall, provides grant-seeking help to UNC students and faculty. The GrantSource Library maintains a broad variety of resources (books, journals, and online databases) and offers workshops to aid students and faculty find funding.

The UNC Medical School and School of Public Health each take their own Part of Research.

Writing your proposal

Audition

The majority of grant programs recruit academic reviewers with knowledge of the disciplines and/or program areas of the grant. Thus, when writing your grant proposals, assume that yous are addressing a colleague who is knowledgeable in the general surface area, but who does not necessarily know the details well-nigh your research questions.

Remember that most readers are lazy and will not respond well to a poorly organized, poorly written, or confusing proposal. Be sure to requite readers what they desire. Follow all the guidelines for the particular grant y'all are applying for. This may require you to reframe your project in a unlike light or linguistic communication. Reframing your project to fit a specific grant's requirements is a legitimate and necessary part of the process unless it will fundamentally change your project's goals or outcomes.

Last decisions almost which proposals are funded often come up downwards to whether the proposal convinces the reviewer that the research projection is well planned and feasible and whether the investigators are well qualified to execute it. Throughout the proposal, be every bit explicit as possible. Predict the questions that the reviewer may take and answer them. Przeworski and Salomon (1995) note that reviewers read with 3 questions in listen:

• What are we going to learn as a result of the proposed project that nosotros do not know at present? (goals, aims, and outcomes)
• Why is it worth knowing? (significance)
• How will we know that the conclusions are valid? (criteria for success) (2)

Be sure to respond these questions in your proposal. Keep in mind that reviewers may not read every discussion of your proposal. Your reviewer may only read the abstract, the sections on research design and methodology, the vitae, and the budget. Make these sections as clear and straightforward as possible.

Style

The way you write your grant will tell the reviewers a lot well-nigh y'all (Reif-Lehrer 82). From reading your proposal, the reviewers volition form an idea of who you lot are as a scholar, a researcher, and a person. They will decide whether you lot are artistic, logical, analytical, up-to-date in the relevant literature of the field, and, most importantly, capable of executing the proposed projection. Let your subject field and its conventions to determine the general style of your writing, merely allow your ain voice and personality to come through. Be certain to analyze your projection'due south theoretical orientation.

Develop a general proposal and budget

Considering most proposal writers seek funding from several different agencies or granting programs, it is a skilful thought to begin by developing a general grant proposal and budget. This general proposal is sometimes called a "white paper." Your general proposal should explain your project to a general academic audience. Earlier you submit proposals to different grant programs, you volition tailor a specific proposal to their guidelines and priorities.

Organizing your proposal

Although each funding agency will accept its own (usually very specific) requirements, there are several elements of a proposal that are adequately standard, and they frequently come in the post-obit society:

• Championship folio
• Abstract
• Introduction (argument of the problem, purpose of research or goals, and significance of inquiry)
• Literature review
• Projection narrative (methods, procedures, objectives, outcomes or deliverables, evaluation, and dissemination)
• Personnel
• Budget and budget justification

Format the proposal so that it is easy to read. Use headings to intermission the proposal up into sections. If information technology is long, include a table of contents with page numbers.

Championship page

The title page commonly includes a cursory yet explicit championship for the research project, the names of the principal investigator(s), the institutional amalgamation of the applicants (the department and university), name and address of the granting agency, project dates, corporeality of funding requested, and signatures of university personnel authorizing the proposal (when necessary). Most funding agencies have specific requirements for the title page; make sure to follow them.

Abstruse

The abstruse provides readers with their first impression of your project. To remind themselves of your proposal, readers may glance at your abstract when making their terminal recommendations, so it may also serve as their last impression of your project. The abstract should explain the fundamental elements of your research projection in the future tense. Virtually abstracts state: (one) the general purpose, (2) specific goals, (iii) inquiry blueprint, (four) methods, and (5) significance (contribution and rationale). Exist as explicit as possible in your abstruse. Apply statements such equally, "The objective of this study is to …"

Introduction

The introduction should encompass the central elements of your proposal, including a statement of the problem, the purpose of research, research goals or objectives, and significance of the research. The statement of problem should provide a groundwork and rationale for the project and plant the need and relevance of the research. How is your project unlike from previous research on the aforementioned topic? Volition you be using new methodologies or covering new theoretical territory? The research goals or objectives should identify the anticipated outcomes of the research and should match up to the needs identified in the statement of trouble. Listing only the principle goal(due south) or objective(s) of your enquiry and save sub-objectives for the project narrative.

Literature review

Many proposals require a literature review. Reviewers want to know whether yous've washed the necessary preliminary research to undertake your projection. Literature reviews should be selective and critical, not exhaustive. Reviewers desire to see your evaluation of pertinent works. For more information, come across our handout on literature reviews.

Project narrative

The project narrative provides the meat of your proposal and may crave several subsections. The project narrative should supply all the details of the project, including a detailed statement of problem, research objectives or goals, hypotheses, methods, procedures, outcomes or deliverables, and evaluation and dissemination of the research.

For the project narrative, pre-empt and/or answer all of the reviewers' questions. Don't exit them wondering about anything. For example, if you propose to bear unstructured interviews with open-concluded questions, be sure you've explained why this methodology is best suited to the specific research questions in your proposal. Or, if you lot're using particular response theory rather than classical test theory to verify the validity of your survey instrument, explain the advantages of this innovative methodology. Or, if y'all need to travel to Valdez, Alaska to access historical athenaeum at the Valdez Museum, make information technology clear what documents you hope to discover and why they are relevant to your historical novel on the '98ers in the Alaskan Golden Rush.

Clearly and explicitly state the connections between your research objectives, research questions, hypotheses, methodologies, and outcomes. Equally the requirements for a strong projection narrative vary widely past field of study, consult a subject area-specific guide to grant writing for some additional advice.

Personnel

Explain staffing requirements in detail and brand certain that staffing makes sense. Be very explicit near the skill sets of the personnel already in identify (you will probably include their Curriculum Vitae as part of the proposal). Explain the necessary skill sets and functions of personnel you lot will recruit. To minimize expenses, phase out personnel who are non relevant to afterward phases of a project.

Budget

The budget spells out projection costs and usually consists of a spreadsheet or table with the budget detailed as line items and a budget narrative (also known equally a budget justification) that explains the various expenses. Even when proposal guidelines do not specifically mention a narrative, be sure to include a 1 or 2 page explanation of the budget. To encounter a sample budget, plow to Instance #1 at the finish of this handout.

Consider including an exhaustive upkeep for your projection, even if it exceeds the normal grant size of a item funding organization. Simply arrive clear that you lot are seeking additional funding from other sources. This technique volition make information technology easier for you to combine awards down the road should you lot take the good fortune of receiving multiple grants.

Make certain that all upkeep items meet the funding agency's requirements. For example, all U.S. regime agencies have strict requirements for airline travel. Be sure the cost of the airline travel in your budget meets their requirements. If a line item falls outside an bureau's requirements (e.yard. some organizations volition not cover equipment purchases or other uppercase expenses), explicate in the budget justification that other grant sources will pay for the item.

Many universities require that indirect costs (overhead) be added to grants that they administer. Cheque with the advisable offices to notice out what the standard (or required) rates are for overhead. Pass a draft budget by the university officeholder in charge of grant administration for assistance with indirect costs and costs not directly associated with research (e.g. facilities apply charges).

Furthermore, make sure you factor in the estimated taxes applicative for your instance. Depending on the categories of expenses and your particular circumstances (whether y'all are a strange national, for example), estimated tax rates may differ. Y'all can consult respective departmental staff or academy services, also equally professional tax administration. For information on taxes on scholarships and fellowships, see https://cashier.unc.edu/pupil-tax-data/scholarships-fellowships/.

Timeframe

Explain the timeframe for the research project in some particular. When will you begin and consummate each step? It may be helpful to reviewers if you present a visual version of your timeline. For less complicated enquiry, a table summarizing the timeline for the projection will help reviewers empathise and evaluate the planning and feasibility. See Example #2 at the end of this handout.

For multi-year research proposals with numerous procedures and a large staff, a fourth dimension line diagram can help clarify the feasibility and planning of the study. Come across Case #iii at the terminate of this handout.

Revising your proposal

Stiff grant proposals accept a long time to develop. First the process early on and leave time to get feedback from several readers on different drafts. Seek out a variety of readers, both specialists in your research surface area and non-specialist colleagues. You may as well want to request assistance from knowledgeable readers on specific areas of your proposal. For example, you may want to schedule a meeting with a statistician to assistance revise your methodology section. Don't hesitate to seek out specialized assistance from the relevant research offices on your campus. At UNC, the Odum Institute provides a multifariousness of services to graduate students and kinesthesia in the social sciences.

In your revision and editing, inquire your readers to give careful consideration to whether you've fabricated explicit the connections betwixt your research objectives and methodology. Here are some example questions:

• Have you presented a compelling case?
• Have you lot made your hypotheses explicit?
• Does your projection seem feasible? Is it overly ambitious? Does it have other weaknesses?
• Have you lot stated the ways that grantors can utilize to evaluate the success of your project after you've executed it?

If a granting agency lists particular criteria used for rating and evaluating proposals, exist certain to share these with your own reviewers.

Instance #i. Sample Budget

Item	Quantity	Cost	Subtotal	Full
Jet Travel
RDU-Kigali (roundtrip)	1		$6,100	$half dozen,100
Maintenance Allowance
Rwanda	12 months	$one,899	$22,788	$22,788
Projection Allowance
Enquiry Banana/Translator	12 months	$400	$4800
Transportation inside land
–Stage 1	four months	$300	$1,200
–Phase 2	8 months	$1,500	$12,000
Electronic mail	12 months	$threescore	$720
Audio cassette tapes	200	$2	$400
Photographic and slide film	20	$5	$100
Laptop Computer	1		$2,895
NUD*IST four.0 Software			$373
Etc.
Total Project Allowance				$35,238
Administrative Fee				$100
Total				$65,690
Sought from other sources				($15,000)
Total Grant Request				$l,690

Jet travel $6,100
This estimate is based on the commercial high season rate for jet economy travel on Sabena Belgian Airlines. No U.S. carriers fly to Kigali, Rwanda. Sabena has student fare tickets available which volition be significantly less expensive (approximately $2,000).

Maintenance allowance $22,788
Based on the Fulbright-Hays Maintenance Allowances published in the grant application guide.

Research assistant/translator $4,800
The research assistant/translator will be a native (and chief) speaker of Kinya-rwanda with at least a four-year academy degree. He/she will accompany the primary investigator during life history interviews to provide assistance in comprehension. In improver, he/she will provide commentary, explanations, and observations to facilitate the primary investigator's participant observation. During the commencement phase of the project in Kigali, the inquiry assistant will work forty hours a week and occasional overtime equally needed. During phases ii and three in rural Rwanda, the assistant volition stay with the investigator overnight in the field when necessary. The salary of $400 per month is based on the boilerplate pay rate for individuals with similar qualifications working for international NGO's in Rwanda.

Transportation within country, phase ane $1,200
The primary investigator and research banana will need regular transportation within Kigali by bus and taxi. The average taxi fare in Kigali is $half-dozen-8 and coach fare is $.15. This effigy is based on an average of $x per day in transportation costs during the first project phase.

Transportation within country, phases two and three $12,000
Project personnel will too require regular transportation betwixt rural field sites. If it is not possible to remain overnight, daily trips will be necessary. The boilerplate rental rate for a four×4 vehicle in Rwanda is $130 per day. This gauge is based on an average of $fifty per day in transportation costs for the second and third project phases. These costs could be reduced if an system could be made with either a government ministry or international aid agency for transportation help.

E-mail $720
The rate for email service from RwandaTel (the only service provider in Rwanda) is $60 per calendar month. Email access is vital for receiving news reports on Rwanda and the region as well as for staying in contact with dissertation committee members and advisors in the United States.

Audiocassette tapes $400
Audiocassette tapes will exist necessary for recording life history interviews, musical performances, customs events, story telling, and other pertinent data.

Photographic & slide film $100
Photographic and slide film volition be necessary to certificate visual data such every bit landscape, environment, marriages, funerals, customs events, etc.

Laptop estimator $2,895
A laptop figurer will be necessary for recording observations, thoughts, and analysis during research project. Price listed is a special offering to UNC students through the Carolina Computing Initiative.

NUD*IST 4.0 software $373.00
NUD*IST, "Nonnumerical, Unstructured Data, Indexing, Searching, and Theorizing," is necessary for cataloging, indexing, and managing field notes both during and post-obit the field inquiry phase. The program will assist in cataloging themes that emerge during the life history interviews.

Administrative fee $100
Fee set by Fulbright-Hays for the sponsoring establishment.

Instance #2: Project Timeline in Table Format

Exploratory Research	Completed
Proposal Development	Completed
Ph.D. qualifying exams	Completed
Enquiry Proposal Defense	Completed
Fieldwork in Rwanda	Oct. 1999-Dec. 2000
Information Analysis and Transcription	January. 2001-March 2001
Writing of Draft Chapters	March 2001 – Sept. 2001
Revision	Oct. 2001-Feb. 2002
Dissertation Defense force	April 2002
Concluding Approval and Completion	May 2002

Example #3: Project Timeline in Chart Format

Some closing communication

Some of usa may experience ashamed or embarrassed about asking for coin or promoting ourselves. Often, these feelings take more to do with our own insecurities than with problems in the tone or style of our writing. If you're having trouble because of these types of hang-ups, the nearly important thing to keep in listen is that it never hurts to ask. If you lot never enquire for the coin, they'll never give y'all the money. Besides, the worst matter they can do is say no.

UNC resources for proposal writing

Research at Carolina
http://research.unc.edu

The Odum Institute for Enquiry in the Social Sciences
http://world wide web.irss.unc.edu/odum/jsp/home.jsp

UNC Medical School Office of Enquiry
https://www.med.unc.edu/oor

UNC School of Public Health Role of Research
http://www.sph.unc.edu/research/

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resource on the handout's topic, and we encourage y'all to practice your own research to find additional publications. Please do non use this listing as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation fashion you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please run across the UNC Libraries citation tutorial. We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Holloway, Brian R. 2003. Proposal Writing Across the Disciplines. Upper Saddle River, New Bailiwick of jersey: Prentice Hall.

Levine, South. Joseph. "Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal." http://world wide web.learnerassociates.internet/proposal/.

Locke, Lawrence F., Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, and Stephen J. Silverman. 2014. Proposals That Piece of work. G Oaks, CA: Sage.

Przeworski, Adam, and Frank Salomon. 2012. "Some Aboveboard Suggestions on the Art of Writing Proposals." Social Scientific discipline Inquiry Council. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ssrc-cdn2/art-of-writing-proposals-dsd-e-56b50ef814f12.pdf.

Reif-Lehrer, Liane. 1989. Writing a Successful Grant Awarding. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Wiggins, Beverly. 2002. "Funding and Proposal Writing for Social Science Kinesthesia and Graduate Pupil Inquiry." Chapel Hill: Howard Due west. Odum Plant for Enquiry in Social Scientific discipline. 2 Feb. 2004. http://www2.irss.unc.edu/irss/shortcourses/wigginshandouts/granthandout.pdf.

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