Writing a Successful Grant Proposal: Advice for SLA Graduate Students (Fall 2013)

1. Writing a Successful Grant Proposal: Advice for SLA Graduate Students (Fall 2013) Kevin Gotham, Associate Dean, SLA • Former NSF program director • Current NSF panelist • Current NSF awardee Jennifer Ashley, Visiting Assistant Professor, Sociology Department • NSF DDIG awardee • Fulbright-Hays awardee Gaurav Desai, Professor, English Department • SSRC reviewer • panelist for the SSRC’s dissertation field research award

2. Why do universities want you to write grants? • High visibility for the university • Overhead or indirect costs help balance the university budget and pay for administration • Contributes to prestige and national ranking of the university

3. Why do you want to write grants? • Pay dissertation research costs: travel, data, funds for equipment, time to write • Raise your research visibility • Open doors to consulting, collaborative research, new research agendas, etc. • Increase opportunities for national & international presentations, and shaping public policy • Improve research and writing • Help you get a job and make tenure

4. SLA Summer Merit Fellowship Award • Competitive grants that provide up to $5000 to support summer activities for completing terminal degrees  • SLA students may use funds for research expenses, equipment, and travel to support data collection, analysis, and performances  • The Award will not support tuition, workshops, or conferences, past credit card bills, food, rent • A summer stipend for writing and completing the dissertation is limited to $2500  • First and Second year Ph.D. students are ineligible    • Students who have received two Fellowship Awards in the past are ineligible

5. NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program • Supports individuals proposing a comprehensive holistic plan for graduate education • Plans for graduate education must demonstrate potential for significant achievements in science and engineering • Awarded to individuals in the early stages of their graduate study • Applicants must be US citizens • Three years of support • $32,000 annual stipend • 2,700 new Fellowships will be offered for 2013 • Anticipated Funding Amount: $325,000,000

6. NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants (DDIG) • Small grants (~$12K) to provide support for costs related to dissertation: • field work, data collection, payment to subjects, survey expenses, software, microfilm, reproduction of tapes and written materials, data transcribing • Travel to specialized facilities and field research sites • Partial living expenses for conducting research away from the student’s university • Dissertation advisor is the grant PI • Begin seeking IRB (human subjects) approval immediately • Expect decision process to take approximately six months • Work with our Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA)

7. NSF Social Science Programs offering the DDIG • Archeology (accepted anytime) • Documenting Endangered Languages (September) • Geography and Spatial Sciences (October and February) • Sociology (October and February) • Biological Anthropology (November and February) • Political Science (January) • Linguistics (January) • Cultural Anthropology (January) • Law and Social Sciences (January) • Research on Science and Technology, Surveys, and Statistics (January) • Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics (January) • Economics (January) • Decision, Risk and Management Sciences (January) • Science, Technology, and Society (February)

8. Proposal Development Strategies • Develop a long-term research agenda with clear goals (create a plan, not just a proposal) • What do you intend to do and why is your research important? • What work has already been done and how are you going to do your research (data collection and analysis)? • Conceive of the final product before writing the proposal(s) • Research multiple funders to identify their priorities and see if they fund projects similar to yours

9. Proposal Development Strategies • Familiarize yourself with funding sources and proposal guidelines • 1. internal funding opportunities • Provost’s Office • SLA website (Summer Merit Fellowship) • Your department or graduate program • 2. external funding opportunities: • Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) • Google: e.g., “humanities grants for graduate students” • Federal grants database (Grants.gov)

10. Proposal Development Strategies • Check: • eligibility • average size of awards • maximum amount available • previous awards • proposal requirements and format • deadlines • evaluation criteria and process

11. Proposal Development Strategies • A successful proposal is one that is thoughtfully planned, well prepared, and concisely packaged • Base the proposal on an interesting idea that fills a gap in scholarly knowledge • Survey the literature • Contact Investigators working on topic • Obtain preliminary data • Prepare a brief concept paper • Discuss with colleagues/mentors • Use concise, direct, and straightforward language (no jargon)

12. Proposal Development Strategies • Understand the importance of the abstract (first impression) • Write to the audience that will review your proposal • Explain the urgency and timeliness of your work • Provide evidence that you can successfully complete the project (don’t be over- or under-ambitious) • Read guidelines several times and follow directions completely • Explain the value-added nature of the research • Why should anyone care about your work? • Answer the “so what” question

13. Final Thoughts • Federal funders are looking to fund research that is bold, original, innovative, and transformative • Pay attention to the funding agency’s goals and review criteria as you craft your proposal • If possible, revise and resubmit if you get declined for funding • Be tenacious, persistent, and resilient