Proposal Writing for External Funding

Trisha Craig Center for European Studies September 28, 2010

Proposal Writing
Proposal Writing is a skill that can be learned and developed. developed It is related to, but different from, the intelligence of the ideas in the proposal. p p Helpful guides:
Social Science Research Council (SSRC)
http://www.ssrc.org/publications/art_of_proposal_writing

Scholarly Pursuits from GSAS

http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/images/stories/pdfs/scholarly p p g g p y_p ursuits.pdf

CESs How to Write a Good Proposal (but written with undergrads in mind)
Trisha Craig, 2011

Why apply for external funding?

Campus-based committees are often put Campus based off by lack of external applications Many grants awarded by Harvard allow you to top up the award built-in incentive E t External awards add l t t your CV l d dd luster to External awards often come with nonmonetary resources: networks, access, professional development
Trisha Craig, 2011

Why apply for external funding?

Forces you to hone your argument This is the beginning of your career that will include many years of grant writing grant-writing Academic job market rewards a history of successful applications f external f l li ti for t l funding

Trisha Craig, 2011

Are external standards different?

Usually much more competitive in sheer percentage terms (thats why its very p prestigious to have an award on y g your CV) ) Also more competitive because there are p trends in dissertation topics Possibly more objective in terms of selection criteria Higher stakes for you mean higher stakes y ( for your advisor/letter writers (so start process early)
Trisha Craig, 2011

What is most important?

Convincing the committee that it is an interesting, feasible proposal that makes a significant contribution to the field and that you are the right person to do it. It must fulfill the requirements of the grant: read the call for proposals carefully. Even when they at first glance seem similar similar, important differences exist.
Trisha Craig, 2011

How to begin?
Thinking about space how do you decide what fits into a 1 page, 5 p g or 10 p g those are p g , page page: very different proposals Make a list of what proposal calls for and go along filli i i perhaps as section h di l filling it in h i headings Check to see if there are guidelines/standards htt // http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpsddrap/201 2 d / /i dd /201 0-022.pdf pp.83-88 But beware of online applications
They may ask for pieces of text you were unaware of: ACLS Mellon example
Trisha Craig, 2011

How to begin?
Thinking about space what about the bibliography? Limited to two pages you might consider a pages, thematic bibliography rather than simply alphabetical
Example from handout

Trisha Craig, 2011

Making the case

An external committee is often made up of people in many disciplines or a few, none y y of whom may be in your field. What this means is that what is y y immediately obvious to you about what is interesting, missing, hot in your field isnt necessarily to them. Incumbent upon you to get their attention with succinct and compelling prose.
Trisha Craig, 2011

Making the case

Give your reviewers the big p y g picture. In a short proposal, dont bog down in minutiae You should be synthetic and analytic: show what the controversies i the fi ld are as they relate to h i in h field h l your topic or show how different fields approach the problem differently Very effective to show what is missing, what could be reconciled, where there are gaps, how the field can be extended,etc. What is your projects added value?
Trisha Craig, 2011

Making the case: travel grants

It is important to spell out what you will be doing in country and why you need to be there Proposal is g p greatly enhanced by some y y preliminary logistical research:
Which archives will you be visiting; what do the collections hold? Handout Who (or what sorts of people in what positions) will you be interviewing? What kinds of communities or events will you be observing, where are they, why them?
Trisha Craig, 2011

Making the case: completion grants

Give a clear sense of what the argument of the whole work is and its relation to the field Explain the structure of the dissertation p what do the different chapters cover? Provide an argument that you will be able to finish within the timeframe Give some set-up to the accompanying p ( ) chapter(s).
Trisha Craig, 2011

Revising your draft

Common sense but deserves repetition: dont don t procrastinate. The first draft will fall apart Really have to show it to p p y people Find people who dont necessarily love the p p proposal and g their comments get Use the resources at Harvard: i.e. Cynthia Verbas office, your advisor, etc. Your advisor usually will have time for only one read, depending on advisor may be first or last
Trisha Craig, 2011

Some external funding sources and deadlines d dli

Council for European Studies Pre-dissertation awards
These grants fund a student s first major research project in Europe and are intended for those in the students early, exploratory stage of the project.

http://www.ces.columbia.edu/grants-and-awards/pre-dissertation-grants Deadline: Opens Oct 1, 2011 and proposals due Feb 1, 2012 International Dissertation Research Fellowships (IDRF)
These grants fund dissertation research abroad and are administered by the Social Science Research Council. CES assumes that eligible students who will be applying for our dissertation research grant to conduct research abroad will also have applied for this grant.

http://www.ssrc.org/fellowships/idrf-fellowship/ Deadline: Nov 3, 2011 Mellon Fellowship for Dissertation Research in Original Sources
This fellowship for dissertation research can be used here or to do research abroad.

http://www.clir.org/fellowships/mellon/mellon.html Deadline: Nov 15, 2011

Trisha Craig, 2011

Some external funding sources and deadlines d dli

Country Specific Grants
American-Scandinavian Foundation
ASF offers fellowships (up to $23,000) and grants (normally $5,000) to individuals to pursue dissertation research or study in one or more Scandinavian country for up to one year. Applicants must b U i d S be United States citizens or permanent residents. ii id

http://www.amscan.org/study_scandinavia_details.html Deadline: Nov 1, 2011 Bourse Chateaubriand

Students enrolled at an American university may apply for 6-9 months of funding for dissertation research in France.

http://france-science.org/chateaubriand3/chateaubriand_/culturel/fellowg intro.php Deadline: Dec 15, 2011

Trisha Craig, 2011

Some external funding sources and deadlines d dli

Country Specific Grants
Some grants require that students apply through Harvard. For more information: http://www.ces.fas.harvard.edu/info_for/students/other_g.html Germany: DAAD, German Academic Exchange Service Grants Website: http://www.scholarship.harvard.edu/pdfs/T_DAAD_Guidelines.pdf
The internal Harvard deadline for the 2012-13 academic year is October 14, 2011

France: Ecole Normale Superieure Exchange Fellowship GSAS-Sciences Po Exchange Fellowship Website: http://www.scholarship.harvard.edu/pdfs/T_France_Fellowship_Guidelines.pdf
Deadline: October 28th, 2011 D dli O t b

Oxford, UK: The Harlech Scholarship Website: http://www.scholarship.harvard.edu/pdfs/T_Harlech_Scholarship_Application_Guidelines.pdf

Deadline: October 28th, 2011
Trisha Craig, 2011

Some external funding sources and deadlines d dli

Dissertation Completion grants The Mellon/ACLS Early Career Fellowship Program not only awards a year of dissertation write up funds, but also allows those holding the grant to apply for post-doctoral funding. CES assumes that eligible students who post doctoral funding apply for our dissertation completion grant will also have applied for this external award. This fellowship can not be held beyond the 7th year of graduate study. http://www.acls.org/programs/dcf/ Deadline: Nov 9, 2011

AAUW (A (American A i Association of U i i ti f University women) offers a di it ) ff dissertation t ti completion grant to women who are American citizens or permanent residents. http://www.act.org/aauw/amdissert/ Deadline: Nov 15, 2011 15
Trisha Craig, 2011

Foundation Support
This requires detective work and may not yield results. Good to become familiar with foundations that support academic research N New f t feature on Hollis electronic resources H lli l t i lets you search the Foundation Directory Online O li
http://eresearch.lib.harvard.edu/V/DDPAF4DB92LHA1D79B4XGRPGHD5AEJNJCLFRHHJ4 HN3MHVA227-50776?func=find-db-2-next&sequence=000016153

Trisha Craig, 2011

Good Luck!
And dont forget to proofread.