Developing Your Proposal

Model Proposals

• The National Institutes of Health has provided an invaluable tool for the proposal writer with its Annotated R01 Grant Application and Summary Statement.
• The Department of Health and Human Services “NIH RePORTER” (formerly "CRISP") system also allows you to look up proposals that have been funded.
• Keep in mind that proposal guidelines may change over time. Something that was permitted under previous solicitations may not be permissible now.

Links to Writing Guides and Resources

Grammar and Language Usage

• Chicago Manual of Style
• The Modern Language Association (MLA)
• American Psychological Association (APA) Style
• Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.

Other

• Reappraised checklist aims to help readers assess whether a paper has flaws that call its integrity into question. Nature article with checklist Nature 577, 167-169 (2020)

Writing Guides

• Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) – good basic writing information
• Science Magazine – Next Wave
• Team Science Toolkit
• On the Art of Writing Proposals from the Social Science Research Council
• Proposal Writing Short Course from Foundation Center (Now known as Candid)
• Guide to Funding Research from Foundation Center (Now known as Candid)

Federal

• Grants.gov - Grant Writing Basics
• Natural Science Foundation - Contacting a Program Officer
• National Science Foundation – Guide for Proposal Writing
• Sample NIH applications
• Apply for a Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)
• A Guide to Proposal Writing from the National Science Foundation
• NIH Grant Process: The Big Picture Video from NIH
• The 2002 User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation from the National Science Foundation
• National Institutes of Health – How to Write a Grant Application
• CRS Guide for grants
• Department of Justice
• NASA
• National Science Foundation – Data Management Plan
• Advice on Writing Proposals to the National Science Foundation by Susan Finger at Carnegie Mellon
• Grant Writing Tips Sheets
• Plan Your Application
• Sample Applications and Summary Statements from NIAID
• Writing Your Application

General guides

• Art of Grantsmanship - Human Frontier Science Program, Dr. Jacob Kraicer
• Can We Talk? Contacting Grant Program Officers- by Robert Porter at University of Tennessee
• Crafting a Sales Pitch for Your Grant Proposal- by Robert Porter at University of Tennessee
• Debunking Some Myths About Grant Writing - Kenneth T. Henson
• Designing Science Presentations: A Visual Guide to Figures, Papers, Slides, Posters, and More, by Matt Carter. (see chapter 14 for advice on grant proposals)
• General Grant Writing Tips for Success from USDA
• Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal by S. Joseph Levine, Ph.D. at Michigan State University
• On the Art of Writing Proposals - Social Science Research Council
• On Using Plain Language (from NIH, but widely applicable) - with examples
• The Proposal Writer's Guide - University of Michigan
• Proposal Writing Short Course from the Foundation Center
• The Science of Scientific Writing - George Gopen and Judith Swan, American Scientist
• Six Critical Questions to Launch a Successful Grant Proposal by Robert Porter at University of Tennessee
• Tools & Tips: How to Get Funding – a collection of articles in Science magazine
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide
• What do Grant Reviewers Really Want, Anyway? - by Robert Porter at University of Tennessee
• GrantProposal.com – Primarily focuses on submissions to foundations
• American Astronomical Society
• A Practical Guide for Writing Proposals by Alice Reid, M. Ed.
• The Foundation Center (Now known as Candid)
• Elements of Scientific Papers and of Proposals
• Grant Lifecycle