Developmental Science 
Across the Lifespan

     Background

     Program  Initiatives

     Affiliated Faculty

     Centers and Laboratories

     Research

The Graduate Program

     Graduate Program

Resources

     Grant Writing Information

     Links

Program News

     Faculty Positions 

     Colloquium Schedule

The Art of Writing Proposals: Some Candid Suggestions
for Applicants to Social Science Research Council Competitions

By Adam Przeworski and Frank Salomon
Posted with permission from the SSRC

Writing proposals for research funding is a peculiar facet of North American academic culture, and as with all things cultural, its attributes rise only partly into public consciousness. A proposal's overt function is to persuade a committee of scholars that the project shines with the three kinds of merit all disciplines value, namely, conceptual innovation, methodological rigor, and rich, substantive content. But to make these points stick, a proposal writer needs a feel for the unspoken customs, norms, and needs that govern the selection process itself. These are not really as arcane or ritualistic as one might suspect. For the most part, these customs arise from the committee's efforts to deal in good faith with its own problems: incomprehension among disciplines, work overload, and the problem of equitably judging proposals that reflect unlike social and academic circumstances. Writing for committee competition is an art quite different from research work itself. After long deliberation, a committee usually has to choose among proposals that all possess the three virtues mentioned above. Other things being equal, the proposal that is awarded funding is the one that gets its merits across more forcefully because it addresses these unspoken needs and norms as well as the overt rules. The purpose of these pages is to give competitors for Council fellowships and funding a more even start by making explicit some of those normally unspoken customs and needs.

Capture the Reviewer's Attention?

While the form and the organization of a proposal are matters of taste, you should choose your form bearing in mind that every proposal reader constantly scans for clear answers to three questions:

• What are we going to learn as the result of the proposed project that we do not know now?
• Why is it worth knowing?
• How will we know that the conclusions are valid?

Working through a tall stack of proposals on voluntarily-donated time, a committee member rarely has time to comb proposals for hidden answers. So, say what you have to say immediately, crisply, and forcefully. The opening paragraph, or the first page at most, is your chance to grab the reviewer's attention. Use it. This is the moment to overstate, rather than understate, your point or question. You can add the conditions and caveats later.

Questions that are clearly posed are an excellent way to begin a proposal: Are strong party systems conducive to democratic stability? Was the decline of population growth in Brazil the result of government policies? These should not be rhetorical questions; they have effect precisely because the answer is far from obvious. Stating your central point, hypothesis, or interpretation is also a good way to begin: Workers do not organize unions; unions organize workers. The success, and failure, of Corazon Aquino's revolution stems from its middle-class origins. Population growth coupled with loss of arable land poses a threat to North African food security in the next decade.

Obviously some projects are too complex and some conceptualizations too subtle for such telegraphic messages to capture. Sometimes only step-by-step argumentation can define the central problem. But even if you adopt this strategy, do not fail to leave the reviewer with something to remember: some message that will remain after reading many other proposals and discussing them for hours and hours. She's the one who claims that Argentina never had a liberal democratic tradition is how you want to be referred to during the committee's discussion, not Oh yes, she's the one from Chicago.

Page 2: Aim for Clarity

Grant Information (pdf)

     Applying for Grant 
     Funds (133K)

     How to Develop a 
     Fundable Research 
     Proposal (634K)

     Qualitative Methods in 
     Health Research (603K)

     Writing the Proposal for 
     Qualitative Research 
     Methodology Project 
     (340K)

Helpful NIH Links

     Inside the NIH Grant 
     Review Process

     OER: Peer Review Policy 
     and Issues

     Policy, Procedure and 
     Review Guidelines

     Resources for Applicants

     Review Criteria for and 
     Rating of Unsolicited 
     Research Grant and 
     Other  Applications