Grant Proposal Draft: 10.29 | Final: 10.

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[Description]
Most working scientists, at some point in their careers, take part in some kind of grant writing to fund their
research. If you get your PhD from OU’s department of Biology, for example, you’re required to write a grant as
part of your exams to prepare to fund your future research. Your job in the STEM grant assignment is to
research a problem, research possible solutions, and write a short grant proposal to receive funding for a solution
of your own.

[Write a Grant]
To help you write your grant, follow the steps of your granting writing workbook. To fill out this workbook you
will have to research the funding institution, research and illustrate that this problem is worth addressing and
funding to that institution (using statistics, quotes, and examples), show how this problem negatively affects a
specific subject community (using statistics, quotes, and examples), and research and propose a concrete
solution to be funded.

Because your solution is what your funder is paying for, it is the most important part of this proposal. Thus, you
must both research and discuss the pros and cons of at least three current attempts at solving the problem and
you must propose a well thought out solution based upon your analysis of those current attempts.

Though the grant call for proposals that you are applying to might require you to have certain sections, data,
etc., you can ignore those requirements, I want you to focus on the required sections listed below and taught in
the grant writing workbook.

[Required Sections]: (All Pages Are Single-Spaced)

1. Formal Cover Page and Table of Contents (1 Page Each)
2. Abstract/Executive Summary (1 Paragraph)
3. Project Description
• Statement of Need/Problem Description (1 Page: three sources required)
• Goals and Objectives: (1 Page Descriptions + Logic Model)
• Plan of Work (2-3 Pages: three other quoted sources required)
• Project Evaluation/Deliverables (1 Page)
4. Budget and Justification: The prices matter much less than the descriptions (1 Page)
5. Timeline
Tip: If you want a more detailed set of requirements take a look at the peer review list for this unit.
1. Formal Cover Page and Table of Contents (1-Page Each) /1

• Fill out the cover-page provided for you or one your specific grant requires if you’re ambitious.
• It’s ok that the executive summary is repeated on this page.
• Create a formal table of contents. Ideally, use Microsoft Word’s table of contents generator.

2. Abstract/Executive Summary (1 Paragraph) /5

A short summary of all the parts of the grant, including:

• A statement of need

• Your capacity to carry out the grant
• A program or research description
• Goals/objectives of your program or project

• How you will evaluate your success

• How much money you’re requesting and what it will fund

3. Statement of Need/Problem Description (1-Page) /25

• Specific and local illustration of the problem

• Serves a specific community/group of people
• Proof in statistics, quotations, cited facts
• Timely—this is a problem right now, not 10 years ago
• Demonstrates a gap in research you will fill
• Tells a good story
• Aligns with/Adapts itself to the organizations goals of the granting institution
• Make sure you actually show why this is a problem (what are the negative effects? What’s so bad
about the current situation)
• Show me research that proves that you are smart and well-read enough about your problem to
be trustworthy

4. Goals and Objectives (1-Bulleted List Each) /15

• Goals are the long-term accomplishments or plans that you have for your organization (like
improving the lives of those in poverty) and objectives are the more finite, measurable outcomes.
• Objectives should be accomplishable by the end of your project and follow the SMART model:
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

6. Plan of Work—Your Proposal (2-3 Pages) /30

• What will you do? Describes your project activities in detail, indicating how your objectives will
be accomplished. The description should include the sequence, flow, and interrelationship of
activities. It indicate why your success is probable. Finally, tell what is unique about your
approach.
• Explain how your proposal relates to your pre-existing research
• Explain why you chose one approach and not another
• Describe major activities for reaching each objective
• Indicate the key project personnel who will carry out each activity
• Show the interrelationship among project activities
• The most important part of this section is that I understand what you are doing, who is doing it,
but also why you’ve designed your project this way. What’s the reasoning behind it?
• Show me that you will not simply be repeating pre-existing research studies—where are gaps in
the current research
• Summarize and evaluate (the pros and cons of) people who are currently attempting to solve
your problem.

7. Project Evaluation and Deliverables (1-Page) /10

Evaluations: pinpoint what is really happening in your project so you can improve your project
efficiency. Surveys, judges, metrics of success.

• Clearly identify the purpose of your evaluation and the audiences to be served by its results
• Demonstrate that an appropriate evaluation procedure is included for every project objective
• Clearly summarize any reports to be provided to the funding source based on the evaluation, and
generally describe their content and timing?
• KPI: Key Performance Indicators. How do you know you succeeded?

Deliverables What are you actually going to produce/do? When will this be produced? Are you
creating a new pedagogy, syllabi, a conference, a white paper, a video, what? Ideally, you describe
that other people will be able to solve similar problems with your deliverables.

Dissemination is the means by which you let others know about your project. Specify the tentative
titles, target journals, and submission dates. Likewise, indicate which meetings/conferences will be
attended, including dates and locations for presenting papers.

8. Works Cited (1-Page) /2

• Choose whatever style of citation you want.

• Normally, professional grants use an endnote citation style rather than full in-text citation.

10. Budget and Justification (1-Detalied Table) /5/10

A project budget is more than just a statement of proposed expenditures; it is an alternate way of
expressing your project. Programs officers will look at your budget to see how well it fits your
proposed activities. Every budget item should have an explanation of what it is and how it is
connected to your goals and objectives.

• Provide sufficient resources to carry out your project

• Include a budget narrative that justifies major budget categories
• Provide sufficient detail so the reviewer can understand how various budget items were
calculated
• Separate direct costs from indirect costs and describe what is covered in the latter
• Relate budget items to project objectives
• Don’t forget the cost of planning the project and disseminating it

11. Timeline (1-Bulleted List/Table/Gantt Chart) /2

Final Grade:_____________/100