What a week it's been...or has it been two? Giving the normal grant development tips without acknowledging our context seems silly. So, I'll start with a little about what's happening in my household. Most days, I am a short-order chef in my house for the breakfast rush. My duties have now expanded into the lunch and dinner rush and also include 5 million snacks a day.
In case you do not have a clear picture of what I mean. I have two elementary-school-age kids. My shift starts with me needing to take their orders. My customers are very distracted, so I have to ask them what they'd like to have no less than five times each. I have to move in front of their entertainment to finally get their order. They get mad when I do that, so then they angrily bark their orders at me. "I want a bagel with butter!" Generally, my clientele have very specific tastes and demand that their meal or glass of milk be in a specific container. Woe to me if I do not anticipate these preferences or intuit them when taking orders. Once I have the orders up, my work is not finished. My customers frequently spill their beverage directly on the floor - particularly when they're dining over the carpet. They rarely notice their mess, nor use the napkin I have so neatly placed beside them. Once I've collected their dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, they come and find me to place a follow-up order that inevitably consists of me getting out everything I just cleaned up and put away.
I'll save my homeschool teaching experience for another day, but suffice it to say that the distraction I had before we were all on lockdown does not compare to what I face today. My point is, aside from hopefully making you smile, to get any writing done, we need to develop new routines, establish new habits, and recreate our flow. The good news is that even though the situation is different, the same techniques still work, so here they are:
Touch your work every day: Even when you don't feel like it, find a way to spend even 5-10 minutes on that latest grant proposal. If you're not ready to write, then spend a little time reviewing the program announcement and/or sketching some ideas for your proposal.
Leave bread crumbs: Don't write until you run into a barrier, cause if you stop then, it'll be that much harder to get yourself to come back to it. Instead, leave notes about what you're going to do next, and particularly things you're excited to continue to work on. This will make it easier to pick it up again.
Identify when you're at your best: If you don't know whether you focus best in the morning or are a night owl, it's time to figure that out. If however, you know when you focus best, but that's not going to work well with your short-order chef responsibilities, time to reassess. When is the time you can really concentrate?
Identify start and stop times for your work: Once you've figured out your most productive times, set a start time for your brain-heavy work at that time, and beyond that decide when you're going to stop, making sure you use the bread crumb idea. This allows you to keep the momentum you need. Remember grant-development is a marathon, so do what you need to do to make sure you can get through the whole race. As a side note, slowing to a walk at any point or slowing your productivity is ok and probably necessary in our new normal!
Switch it up: As before, when you hit a barrier like a writing/thinking block, don't try to power through it, instead try something else. Go for a walk, exercise, or talk it out with a colleague over zoom. This change in activities may help you figure out creative ways to overcome the block.
More important than all of these tips, take care of yourself. Take the breaks that you need, but realize that getting back to some of the old habits might help you adjust. Stay healthy and hopeful, all.
Resources:
How to Overcome Writer's Block - Goins, Writer
What Great Writers Do About Writer's Block - Writing Routines
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Some tricks for improving your proposal
If you've ever read this blog before, you know there is no silver bullet for good grant writing. There is no easy way through crafting an innovative and compelling proposal. But, what I can do today is offer you some tricks to developing a strong proposal. Most of these ideas come out of the book, Good to Great Grant Writing by Julie Cwikla, PhD.
Check your proposal in a word cloud:
There are several sites/apps where you can enter text and it forms a word cloud of your doc. In word clouds the words you use most are the biggest. Dr. Cwikla notes doing this and found that the word she used most was "just," which was not a great word to overuse in a proposal, so she went through and took almost all of them out.
Treat your RFP like a job call:
You would never dream of applying for a job by just writing what you wanted to do in your ideal job, regardless of the skills and expertise that the job call asked for. Don't do this in your grant proposal either. Treat the RFP like a job call and respond directly and clearly to what the sponsor is asking for.
Over cite - catch potential reviewers:
Your grant proposal will not include an extensive literature review, but you will need to give your reviewers a sense of the cutting edge research in your area and how your work is contributing to it. When you're doing this, make sure to over-cite the concepts you're discussing. Whereas a couple of recent references for a concept, usually suffices in an academic article, in a proposal, cite as many people as you can (using a numbered bibliography to save space). This allows you to avoid missing referencing your anonymous reviewers, and let's face it, every scholar likes to be cited if they've done work contributing to certain concepts.
Find buzzwords:
I've talked before about using buzzwords from the sponsor in your proposal, but how do you know what those buzzwords are? Usually, you can find these in the sponsor's strategic plan or on the website. They'll use the buzzwords to talk about their initiatives or what's most important to the agency currently. Use these words to talk about how your project helps the sponsor attain them.
These easy tips/tricks can help you to make small or bigger improvements to your grant proposal and maybe make all the difference!
Resources:
Top 5 Tips for Successful Grant Writing - Herbert and Neubauer
10 Tips for Successful Grant Writing - Chasan-Taber
Check your proposal in a word cloud:
There are several sites/apps where you can enter text and it forms a word cloud of your doc. In word clouds the words you use most are the biggest. Dr. Cwikla notes doing this and found that the word she used most was "just," which was not a great word to overuse in a proposal, so she went through and took almost all of them out.
Treat your RFP like a job call:
You would never dream of applying for a job by just writing what you wanted to do in your ideal job, regardless of the skills and expertise that the job call asked for. Don't do this in your grant proposal either. Treat the RFP like a job call and respond directly and clearly to what the sponsor is asking for.
Over cite - catch potential reviewers:
Your grant proposal will not include an extensive literature review, but you will need to give your reviewers a sense of the cutting edge research in your area and how your work is contributing to it. When you're doing this, make sure to over-cite the concepts you're discussing. Whereas a couple of recent references for a concept, usually suffices in an academic article, in a proposal, cite as many people as you can (using a numbered bibliography to save space). This allows you to avoid missing referencing your anonymous reviewers, and let's face it, every scholar likes to be cited if they've done work contributing to certain concepts.
Find buzzwords:
I've talked before about using buzzwords from the sponsor in your proposal, but how do you know what those buzzwords are? Usually, you can find these in the sponsor's strategic plan or on the website. They'll use the buzzwords to talk about their initiatives or what's most important to the agency currently. Use these words to talk about how your project helps the sponsor attain them.
These easy tips/tricks can help you to make small or bigger improvements to your grant proposal and maybe make all the difference!
Resources:
Top 5 Tips for Successful Grant Writing - Herbert and Neubauer
10 Tips for Successful Grant Writing - Chasan-Taber
Thursday, March 12, 2020
The Art of Grant Writing
I'm reviewing a new grant-writing book, entitled Good to Great Grant Writing: Secrets to Success by Dr. Julie Cwikla. The book is full of little nuggets of good advice on writing your grant. In the first section, Cwikla looks at what she considers the artistic components of good grant writing, including the following:
Picture your reviewer: I once asked a seasoned PI and reviewer, "What do reviewers really want?" He replied, "They don't want to be reading your grant!" His response was sardonic, of course, but the truth of the matter is that reviewers are reading your grant proposal as volunteers on top of all their other work and family responsibilities. With this in mind, you cannot make your proposal too simple or too easy-to-read.
Start with the punchline: Probably the most unique thing about good grant-writing, as opposed to other forms of writing, is you need to make your point fast. You need to both hook your reader with a problem statement and quickly show what your proposed project is about (connecting them both). Given that we know the reviewer is likely not excited to review your grant and is doing it on top of everything else, they have a low tolerance for extraneous details. They want to know what you're doing and why it's important right away...so tell them in the opening sentences!
Describe the forest and then the trees: Expanding on the previous point, once you've gotten straight to the punchline of your project, back up and give your reviewer a sense of the context, or the forest in this metaphor. What has previous research found? Where is the field at in this area? Then once you've described the forest, describe the individual trees. It's not enough to offer reviewers a compelling vision of your work, you must offer enough details on your project to instill confidence in your reviewers that you can get it done.
Scrap the jargon: You know I've said it before, but this time Dr. Cwikla says it again: Take out the jargon from your proposal. Jargon is the technical terminology in your discipline that people outside of your immediate area of expertise don't understand. Like I said earlier, you can't make your proposal too simple, so take out all the jargon you possibly can. If there are one or two words or phrases you simply must have, be sure to define them and use them consistently!
Building off of last week's blog, approaching your grant proposal as an art can allow you to build a compelling and well-structured case that convinces your weary reviewers to recommend funding.
Resources:
The Art of Writing Proposals - Przeworkski and Salomon
The Art of Proposal Writing: Proposals as a Genre - Ruhleder
Picture your reviewer: I once asked a seasoned PI and reviewer, "What do reviewers really want?" He replied, "They don't want to be reading your grant!" His response was sardonic, of course, but the truth of the matter is that reviewers are reading your grant proposal as volunteers on top of all their other work and family responsibilities. With this in mind, you cannot make your proposal too simple or too easy-to-read.
Start with the punchline: Probably the most unique thing about good grant-writing, as opposed to other forms of writing, is you need to make your point fast. You need to both hook your reader with a problem statement and quickly show what your proposed project is about (connecting them both). Given that we know the reviewer is likely not excited to review your grant and is doing it on top of everything else, they have a low tolerance for extraneous details. They want to know what you're doing and why it's important right away...so tell them in the opening sentences!
Describe the forest and then the trees: Expanding on the previous point, once you've gotten straight to the punchline of your project, back up and give your reviewer a sense of the context, or the forest in this metaphor. What has previous research found? Where is the field at in this area? Then once you've described the forest, describe the individual trees. It's not enough to offer reviewers a compelling vision of your work, you must offer enough details on your project to instill confidence in your reviewers that you can get it done.
Scrap the jargon: You know I've said it before, but this time Dr. Cwikla says it again: Take out the jargon from your proposal. Jargon is the technical terminology in your discipline that people outside of your immediate area of expertise don't understand. Like I said earlier, you can't make your proposal too simple, so take out all the jargon you possibly can. If there are one or two words or phrases you simply must have, be sure to define them and use them consistently!
Building off of last week's blog, approaching your grant proposal as an art can allow you to build a compelling and well-structured case that convinces your weary reviewers to recommend funding.
Resources:
The Art of Writing Proposals - Przeworkski and Salomon
The Art of Proposal Writing: Proposals as a Genre - Ruhleder
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Your grant narrative
This week, ORDE held a seminar that focused on developing career grant proposals. Mark Golkowski, an Associate Professor in Engineering at CU Denver, and NSF CAREER awardee, offered a fantastic perspective on using narrative in grant proposals.
Dr. Golkowki made the point that people learn and understand concepts best when they are told to them through a story. Story-telling is a powerful form of communication; it draws people in and guides them through when well done.
He drew on the classic construction of a story that many of us learn in school. The image below offers a simple depiction of how traditional fiction stories are structured. You get to know the characters and situation at the start of a story, then there is a hook or a problem that builds to the climax of the story. Once the climax passes, the characters begin the work of solving problems and establishing a new normal and the story ends with a conclusion.
Although Dr. Golkowski advocated for incorporating story-telling and narrative into grant proposals as well, he suggested that the structure employed should be unique. He offered the following revised narrative structure for grant proposals:
You begin your proposal by describing the problem or opportunity that your research addresses. It's important here to show how dire the problem is and why it's been so difficult to solve. You're trying to emote a sense of urgency and need amongst your reviewers. Instead of making the traditional climax your pivotal point, the proposal low point is where your reviewers are wondering if there is any hope. This is when you present your approach, your solution, your research. Here's where you start to bring your readers back up, although, it's not a straight shot. Dr. Golkowski points out that your story's incline should plateau a bit when you show again how challenging your research task is. There's risk and you're tackling a large feat, but you have a back-up plan and the great rewards are waiting on the other side of the project. Finally, you pull your reviewers way up by showing them the vision of what's really possible once this research project is accomplished.
I can tell you that in my work reviewing proposals for our PIs at CU Denver and the Anschutz Medical Campus, the vision is often missing from a proposal. For example, project overviews or specific aims often fizzle out with the PI leaving us with only logistical details. By employing narrative, and specifically Dr. Golkowski's structure, you leave your reviewers wanting more. But, they're going to have to fund you to hear the end of the story! ;)
Resources
How to Win Grants with Great Storytelling - Mathilda Harris (Grant Training Center)
The Top 3 Tips for Telling Your Story So Funders Will Listen - Grantsedge
Dr. Golkowki made the point that people learn and understand concepts best when they are told to them through a story. Story-telling is a powerful form of communication; it draws people in and guides them through when well done.
He drew on the classic construction of a story that many of us learn in school. The image below offers a simple depiction of how traditional fiction stories are structured. You get to know the characters and situation at the start of a story, then there is a hook or a problem that builds to the climax of the story. Once the climax passes, the characters begin the work of solving problems and establishing a new normal and the story ends with a conclusion.
Although Dr. Golkowski advocated for incorporating story-telling and narrative into grant proposals as well, he suggested that the structure employed should be unique. He offered the following revised narrative structure for grant proposals:
I can tell you that in my work reviewing proposals for our PIs at CU Denver and the Anschutz Medical Campus, the vision is often missing from a proposal. For example, project overviews or specific aims often fizzle out with the PI leaving us with only logistical details. By employing narrative, and specifically Dr. Golkowski's structure, you leave your reviewers wanting more. But, they're going to have to fund you to hear the end of the story! ;)
Resources
How to Win Grants with Great Storytelling - Mathilda Harris (Grant Training Center)
The Top 3 Tips for Telling Your Story So Funders Will Listen - Grantsedge
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