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"It is important to know who you are writing for and how they will evaluate your proposal. If you are writing for a Federal funding agency, a good first step is to call a program officer and find out what review group might be most appropriate for your type of proposal. See if they can comment on your idea. It is sometimes helpful to e-mail a paragraph outline of the idea for them to react to. Program officers are often very helpful and very friendly!" If you can figure out which panel might be most appropriate for your idea go and look at the roster for than panel to see who will be reviewing the proposal. It may be that you will recognize some of the names of the people on the panel. As you begin to write the proposal, keep in mind that the panelists will be required to rank your proposal on each of the following criteria. It can be useful to keep these in the back of your mind as you write your proposal. Significance Approach Innovation Investigator Environment Overall Evaluation Gender, Minority
and Child Subjects Category Gender (G) Minority (M) Children (C) 1.
Both genders, minority
& non-minority children and adults Evaluate acceptability as "A" (acceptable) or "U" (unacceptable). If you rate the sample as "U", consider this feature a weakness or deficiency in the design of the project and reflect it in the overall score. "If you have your idea and you know what committee it might go to, you are ready to begin forming, crafting, and developing your idea into a full blown proposal. This is a longer process than is typically realized by the beginning proposal writer. To help you plan your time and stay on track as you develop your proposal, we offer the following "milestones." These should help keep you motivated along the way, but also keep you striving to move forward. You may want to enter prompts about these milestones in your planner or palmpilot. Remember that you will need to set aside blocks of time for working on the proposal." Milestones and Target Dates for Writing a Grant Application: Providing a Structure for Success Suggested Target Dates - Grant Application Started in September I. Problem Identification 9/18 1. Presentation of research
interest. II. Operationalizing Constructs Presented in Hypotheses 12/8 1. Presentation by mentee
of their procedures to his/her mentor III. Writing the Conceptualization and Procedures 1. Draft the specific aims
and significance sections of proposals 1/19 IV. Conceptionalization to Operationalization to Data Analysis 1. Draft analysis section
3/16 V. Mechanics 1. Human Subjects Forms
4/14 VI. Completed Proposal Circulated to IBR Mentor Committee 5/11 VII. Feedback on Completed Proposal from IBR Mentor Committee 5/22 VIII. Revisions and Elaboration 5/22-8/17 IX. Final Proposal Ready 8/17 "Now you are ready to begin developing your idea. Below we provide a very quick overview of the process to help you get your bearings. You can do this!" Click here if you are interested in a more detailed description of the process of putting together a grant proposal. Introduction to Grant Writing Three Ideas That Work For Any Grant Proposal >
Have a good idea. Write a 2-3 paragraph description Getting Started >
Consider collaborating with an experienced grant writer How to Get Started Before you write your proposals...who is your audience? > Contact the funding agency to find out who specifically will be reading your proposal Start writing for your funding source: Write a proposal tailored to their criteria > NIH, for example, requires: >>
Specific Aims Specific Aims (What do you intend to do?) >
Usually a single page Significance (Why is the work important?) > Briefly indicate what lead to your
proposal Preliminary Studies (What have you done?) > Establish your expertise and competence
to pursue this research Design and Methods (How will you do it?) > Show the reviewers that you have
the knowledge and skill to execute the research Design and Methods > Describe data collection procedures in detail
> Construct a time line (1 page only)
Data Analysis >
Detail your statistical procedures for testing hypotheses Budget >
Find a copy of a budget going to that organization Final Proposal >
Make sure the rules are followed to the letter >>
Department Approval Five Practices of Highly Successful Grantwriters: >
Have a good idea and write for your audience "Many people find the preparation of grant budgets to be quite enjoyable. Others find it a nightmare. If you fall in the latter category, we suggest that you begin to work early with the person who will be administering the grant. Planning to meet with this person at least one month before your due date, and perhaps earlier still can reduce last minute headaches. Allow time for developing the budget and making sure you have included everything you will need. Below we alert you to some of the basics of grant budgets for NIH. Remember that even if you are writing a proposal for an agency or for a mechanism that does not require a detailed budget, the UGA Research Office will want to see a detailed budget. In addition, detailed budgets are very helpful in getting you to think about what you will need to successfully conduct your research." Preparing Grant Budgets I. Overview A. Planning Your Budget 1. Don't' procrastinate - Budget shouldn't be the last task in preparing your proposal. 2. Consult with professional colleagues on the scientific portion of your proposal but departmental support staff or Sponsored Programs' staff may be more familiar with budget procedures and guidelines. Take a look at previously submitted or funded proposals.
B. What Are the Some of the Rules? 1. Cost Accounting Standards - What are allowable costs?
2. Cost Sharing
3. Salary Cap NIH has a salary cap and individuals paid from NIH grant funds must adhere to the salary cap. (Difference in funds paid with grant funds and total allowable by the institution must be cost shared.) Academic ($126,025); Fiscal Year ($166,700) C. Modular or Regular Proposal
D. Developing a Budget 1. Construct a timeline (by year) of tasks to be done on the project. This will be beneficial in your design and methods section of the proposals but will also be of assistance in constructing a preliminary budget to complete the tasks.
2. Prepare budget justification
3. Calculate Facilities and Administrative Costs
4. Have budget, justification, and check list page reviewed by department grants officer or institution Sponsored Programs office. "After you submit your proposal, you will wait to hear how it was scored at review. This feedback will come in the form of a numerical score, a percentile score, and written comments. Remember that not getting funded the first time does not mean your idea cannot be funded!!! Most proposals get funded on the second or third round, not on the first. Typically, on the first round the panelists will attempt to help you improve the research to make it a better investment of research dollars. Pay careful attention to the comments, and to the extent possible, incorporate the comments into your revised proposal. Also, be sure to discuss in your initial comments (where allowed by the granting agency) how you you have constructively addressed the reviewer comments and how those comments have improved the quality of the proposal." "What Does My Score and Percentile Rank Mean?" Numerical Rating Each scored grant application is assigned a single, global score that reflects the overall impact that the project could have on the field based on consideration of the five review criteria (significance, approach, innovation, investigator, and environment), with the emphasis on each criterion varying from one application to another, depending on the nature of the application and its relative strengths. The best possible priority score is 100 and the worst is 500. Individual reviewers mark scores to two significant figures, e.g., 2.2, and the individual scores are averaged and then multiplied by 100 to yield a single overall score for each scored application, e.g., 253. Abstaining members and those not present during the discussion do not assign a numerical rating and are not counted in calculating the average of the individual ratings. For research applications, reviewers are also asked to recommend that half the applications not be scored and to spread final scores to achieve a median score of 300. (Any member of the scientific review group may request that an application be scored, in which case all members must score the application.) Percentile Conversion Research grant applications (RO1s) reviewed in CSR study sections are assigned a percentile rank. The conversion of priority scores to percentile rankings is based on scores assigned to applications reviewed during the current plus past two review rounds. Applications reviewed by a standing study section are percentiled against all applications reviewed by that same study section for the three consecutive rounds. Applications reviewed by Special Emphasis Panels (SEPs) are percentiled against the parent study section database if at least 30% of the reviewers are current or recent (during the last 2 years) regular members of that study section. Applications reviewed by SEPs where fewer than 30% of the reviewers are current or recent members of a standing study section are given a percentile based on the distribution of scores assigned by all CSR study sections. Note that at CSR, applications other than RO1s (e.g., fellowships, small business applications) are not percentiled. Additional Resources NIH
Home Page for New Investigators Detailed
Description of the Grant Proposal Process www.niaid.nih.gov/ncn/grants/index.htm Frequently
Used Institutional Data Modular
Research Proposal Sample
Modular Budget & Justification Cost
Accounting Standards Qualitative
Methods in Health Research Department
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