When it comes to grant writing, it’s easy to find lists outlining what not to do, but more difficult to find information on best practices. In The Chronicle of Higher Education, Lisa Chasan-Taber, a veteran grant writing teacher and National Institutes of Health-funded principal investigator, published an article outlining her top tips for crafting a competitive application. Some of those tips are summarized below.
1. It might not be expedient to pursue a large federal grant yet. Instead, you can maximize your odds of being funded by identifying any strengths you might have and playing to those. If you still qualify as “early-career” faculty, you’re eligible for many programs that will focus more on your “promise and potential as a candidate” and not require that you show evidence of as much preliminary data. You may also consider approaching foundations that fund your area of interest or applying for intramural grants to support the collection of preliminary data. Starting small can help you build a strong proposal for a big grant in the future.
2. Envision your ideal future (large) grant, and identify the five (or so) aims you would wish to accomplish with the funding. Then, apply for smaller grants that will address those specific aims. Even though your results from smaller grants will be limited due to budget constraints, you can build a case for the feasibility of each aim and of your project as a whole that will greatly improve your chances of landing a large grant later on.
3. Use funding agency websites to research previous award recipients—many will post investigator names, institutional affiliations, and even project abstracts. This will give you a glimpse into the funding agency’s priorities and whether or not their interests match your research. Reach out to colleagues at other institutions who have been funded in similar programs to the one you plan to seek. Learn about their research and their experience applying for funding, and ask if they would be willing to share their successful applications with you.
4. Focus on your abstract and aims. Chasan-Taber states, “writers of successful grant applications typically report that they spent 50 percent of their time on writing and revising their abstract and aims.” You should ideally write your aims first, as
the rest of your proposal needs to directly support them. The abstract should also be written early and rewritten throughout the application process. After reading the abstract, reviewers need to have a “clear snapshot of the entire study” and an understanding of what makes your project unique.
5. Make your proposal as easy to read as possible. Remember that your review panel will be reading a large number of other proposals. Chasan-Taber suggests that you “use grant-review criteria as subheadings in your proposal, making it easier for
the panelists to fill out their review forms.” Don’t assume that any aspect of your proposal is “obvious.” If there’s an aspect of your proposal that you want to highlight, state it explicitly and draw the reviewers’ attention to it.
6. Finally, choose a topic you are truly interested in. Chasan-Taber cautions against pursuing a project or idea you’re not passionate about just because you think you can find funding. Your lack of enthusiasm will likely be evident in your proposal.
To read Chasan-Taber’s full list of tip in The Chronicle ofHigher Education, including advice about the engaging your colleagues and drafting specific proposal elements, click here.
