Writing Services: Writing

As early in the proposal as possible, identify and explicitly state the question your research will answer. Avoid empty verbs like “shaped,” “influenced,” “sheds light,” “nuances,” and “complicates” that allude to the existence of an argument but do not state what that argument is. You might consider writing the abstract last even though it will be the first thing readers see in your proposal.

Though all grant CFPs (calls for proposals) vary, most call for a “grant narrative.” If they don’t ask for a separate abstract, incorporate the abstract into the first paragraph of your narrative.

A successful grant introduction or abstract will accurately reflect the proposal and should quickly address:

• Key question (what will you do?)
• Research methodology (how will you do it?)
• Deliverables (what are the outcomes?)
• Relevance to the funding institution (why should they fund it?)

Reviewers will have to sort through dozens or even hundreds of applications so state the who, what, why, where, when, how, how much, to what end(s) clearly and early. You can elaborate in the body of the grant narrative. 

Offer avenues for reviewers from other fields (historians, ecologists, sociologists, etc) to enter your design world by relating your research questions to broader issues.​

Clarify your intervention: make your projects relevance to the field evident. Communicate urgency!

Draw on extant methodologies to communicate to your reviewers how (and within what intellectual tradition) you’ll be conducting research. ​What are your deliverables? What will you do? What will you make? ​

Be sure to give the fellowship committee some sense of your research process. You don’t need to re-invent the wheel when formulating a research strategy. In Writing Services, students often come to us with successful grant proposals, save for when they discuss methodologies. Research methodologies (aka research process) is either left out entirely, or students spend a good chunk of their word count trying to describe how they are going to conduct research. When writing a grant application, draw on extant methodologies to communicate to your reviewers how (and within what intellectual tradition) you’ll be conducting research. For a comprehensive list of methodologies in the design fields, see the Research Methodologies section of the Start Your Design Research guide.

A successful project will address the goals of the funding institution. Sometimes these goals are clear (example: the grant is for dissertation research, and you need funding to travel to an archive to finish your dissertation). However, you will usually need to construct an argument relating your project to the aims of the CFP. Find the mission statement for the institution that offers the grant. Use this statement to identify how your research will advance the institution’s goals. Figure out the reason the funding exists and devote serious thought to how your project relates to that reason. Even if the relevance seems obvious to you, clearly state it; the grant review committee goes through a mountain of applications, so don’t trust that they will make these connections on their own. Also, articulate the specific reasons why you need this money. What will it allow you to do that you couldn’t do otherwise? And why are you the best person to do this project?

• Use a Table with columns for: Item Name, Quantity, Cost, Justification, and (if applicable) a link to the item online.
• Itemize your expenses and quote specific prices.
• Include the entire budget for your project. If it exceeds the grant size listed on the CFP, note what funding you are seeking from other sources (or note funding matches and in-kind contributions.)