Proposal Development
Tips from the sponsors
- Read the Instructions: Read solicitations and guidelines carefully and thoroughly. Follow formatting and note restrictions. Fully answer ALL questions and provide ALL documents.
- Prepare Early: Create a timeline for yourself to allow for completion, proofreading, and internal administrative deadlines. Reviewers can tell when a proposal is rushed.
- Use Sponsor Templates: Applications that stray from reviewer expectations may be rejected without review.
- Be Reasonable in Your Request: Ensure that your budget is a direct reflection of your narrative. Each budget item should have a strong, detailed justification.
- Consider the Review and Evaluation Criteria: The sponsor typically identifies the most important areas. Target effort to the pieces they've prioritized.
- Be Clear. Be Logical. Be Organized. Be Concise: Establish your main points without being overly complex. Write for reviewers who are experts as well as novices.
- Explain Why Your Idea is the Best: Make your improvements clear, and explicitly explain why your proposal is the best option over the alternatives.
| Finding opportunities | Writing the proposal |
|---|---|
| *GrantForward (requires UIS credentials) *Grants.gov *National Institutes of Health, Grants and Funding Page *National Science Foundation *National Endowment for the Humanities *National Endowment for the Arts *Department of Energy *Department of Defense *Illinois Board of Higher Education *The Grants Resource Center (requires UIS credentials) | *Write Your Application: NIH *Art of Grantsmanship - Human Frontier Science Program, Dr. Jacob Kraicer *The Science of Scientific Writing - George Gopen and Judith Swan, American Scientist *Proposal Writing Short Course from the Foundation Center *On Using Plain Language (from NIH, but widely applicable) *Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal by S. Joseph Levine, Ph.D. at Michigan State University |
Fall 2024 Training and Workshop Schedule
| Date | Day/time | General area | Topic | Presenter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-08-30 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | Grant writing workshop | Grant writing overview & planning | Carissa Craven |
| 2024-08-30 | Friday, 1:00-2:00pm | Locating funding opportunities | Faculty Training on GrantForward Platform | GrantForward Presenter |
| 2024-09-06 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | IRB training | Overview of the Human Subjects Research process at UIS | Lucía Vázquez |
| 2024-09-13 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | Grant writing workshop | Developing a competitive research idea | Lucía Vázquez |
| 2024-09-19 | Thursday, 4:00-5:00 p.m. | RNUA training | RNUA training for employees | Lucía Vázquez |
| 2024-09-20 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | IRB training | IRB application part 1. Overview CITI training Documents needed | Carissa Craven |
| 2024-09-27 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | Grant writing workshop | Creating a solid proposal | Sam |
| 2024-10-03 | Thursday, 4:00-5:00 p.m. | RNUA training | RNUA training for supervisors | Lucía Vázquez |
| 2024-10-04 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | IRB training | IRB application part 2. Informed Consent process Conflicts of Interest | Carissa Craven |
| 2024-10-11 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | Grant writing workshop | Budgeting and resource planning | Charles Alsbury |
| 2024-10-17 | Thursday, 4:00-5:00 p.m. | Grant writing workshop | Competitive Scholarly Research Grant | Lucía Vázquez/Sam |
| 2024-10-18 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | IRB training | IRB application part 3. Data Privacy & confidentiality | John Barker |
| 2024-10-25 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | Grant writing workshop | Writing the Proposal Narrative | Sam |
| 2024-11-01 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | IRB training | Collaborative & International Research (UIS Research Team vs. Reliance w/IAA vs. reliance w/SMART IRB) | Carissa Craven |
| 2024-11-08 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | Grant writing workshop | Logic models | Lucia |
| 2024-11-15 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | IRB training | Protocol changes. Project completion. Continuing your project after the approval date | Carissa Craven |
| 2024-11-22 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | Grant writing workshop | Peer review | A Faculty |
| 2024-12-05 | Thursday, 4:00-5:00 p.m. | Grant writing workshop | Final proposal submission | A Faculty |
| 2024-12-06 | Friday, 9:00-10:00 a.m. | IRB training | Doing research with vulnerable populations | John Barker |