Writing Successful Science Proposals

282 Pages·2018·1.371 MB·English

by  Andrew J. Friedland, Carol L. Folt, Jennifer L. Mercer

Writing Successful Science Proposals
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Writing
Successful
Science
Proposals
T H I R D E D I T I O N
Andrew J. Friedland
Carol L. Folt
Jennifer L. Mercer
Yale university press/new haven & london
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First edition published 2000. Second edition 2009. Third edition 2018.
Copyright © 2000, 2009, 2018 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustra-
tions, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108
of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press),
without written permission from the publishers.
Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational,
business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail sales.press@
yale.edu (U.S. offi ce) or [email protected] (U.K. offi ce).
Se t in Scala type by Newgen North America.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017963808
isbn 978-0-300-22670-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence
of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi
A Note to the Reader xiv
Chapter 1. Getting Started 1
Chapter 2. Authorship from Start to Finish 19
Chapter 3. Basic Organization and Eff ective
Communication 33
Chapter 4. Developing Your Conceptual Framework and
Signifi cance Section 46
Chapter 5. A Title May Be More Important Than You
Think 62
Chapter 6. The Project Summary Guides the Reader 73
Chapter 7. Objectives, Hypotheses, and Specifi c Aims: An
Exhaustive List Is Exhausting 97
Chapter 8. Lay the Foundation in the Introduction 112
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vi Contents
Chapter 9. Experimental Design and Methods: What Will
You Actually Do? 129
Chapter 10. Plan for Expected and Unexpected Results 148
Chapter 11. A Reality Check with the Timeline and Project
Management Plan 159
Chapter 12. References in Detail: How Many and How
Recent? 170
Chapter 13. Preparing a Budget 180
Chapter 14. Submitting and Tracking Your Proposal 191
Chapter 15. The Three R’s: Rethink, Revise, and
Resubmit 199
Chapter 16. Funding Innovative Research through Private
Foundations 207
Chapter 17. Team Science for Tackling Complex
Problems 224
Chapter 18. Ethics and Research 238
References and Resources 247
Index 253
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Preface
Research proposals combine every aspect of scientifi c
inquiry, from creative conceptualization to detailed design,
projected analysis of the data, synthesis of the results, and
estimation of the budget. Because grant applications are an
articulation of the scientifi c process, writing them is one of
the most challenging and exciting parts of “doing science.”
If you are planning to write a grant application for a govern-
ment or private foundation, or if you are writing a proposal
to conduct research as a graduate student or undergraduate,
this book will help you through the process.
This book provides guidance for those conceptualizing
and formulating their research plans, and it off ers specifi c
instruction on organizing and presenting material in a stan-
dard format. We off er an overall organizational framework,
and we list the components of successful scientifi c propos-
als. Research proposals are written for a variety of purposes
and are submitted to many diff erent agencies and to faculty
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viii Preface
committees. We focus on agencies that solicit proposals
in the natural sciences; these include the National Science
Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH),
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Forest Service
(USFS), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and private corpo-
rations and foundations, as well as academic committees.
Our format should also be useful to those submitting to the
National Research Council of Canada, the NATO Scientifi c
and Environmental Aff airs Division, the European Research
Council, the Natural Environment Research Council of the
UK, and other funding agencies worldwide.
This book began as a course for graduate students at
Dartmouth College. Given the importance of scientifi c
project design and proposal writing to future scientists, the
faculty in ecology and environmental studies at Dartmouth
College designed a course on the topic. When two of the
authors, Andrew Friedland and Carol Folt, began teaching
this course in 1994, they could not fi nd a text that specifi -
cally addressed grant writing in the natural sciences. So they
decided to write one based on their experiences in the class-
room. The fi rst edition was published in 2000. They contin-
ued teaching the course at Dartmouth College through the
next decade and in that time received feedback from readers
and students affi rming that the need for reference works
on proposal writing had grown even stronger. The second
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Preface ix
edition was published in 2009 with updates and expanded
information on formatting, electronic submission, seeking
matching funds, and federal requirements. It included new
chapters on writing proposals for private foundations and on
multidisciplinary, multi-investigator proposals. Now, nearly
two decades since the fi rst edition was published, the au-
thors are excited to release a third edition.
For this edition they welcome co-author Jennifer Mercer.
At the time of the publication of the fi rst edition, Jennifer
was pursuing her PhD, and at one point she was Andrew’s
teaching assistant. She eventually went on to become a
research scientist and is now a program manager oversee-
ing science grant awards. She brings a wealth of additional
experience to the team.
Th is edition is fully updated and expanded. We paid
particular attention to:
• Identifying funding opportunities
• Contacting program offi cers
• Writing project summaries
• Presenting results from prior agency support
• Developing broader impacts by going beyond the sci-
ence and toward the societal benefi ts of the research
• Considering how proposals are evaluated in the review
process
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