Observations on the Proposal Narrative

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Observations on the Proposal Narrative

• Mike Cronan, PE (inactive)
• Director
• Office of Proposal Development
• Office of Research Graduate Studies
• Texas AM University
• http//opd.tamu.edu/

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You must intrigue the reviewers
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..because a researcher without funding is like a
polar bear without
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Focus on your research interests
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Search for funding in the right places
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Be persistent
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• There is no amount of grantsmanship that will
  turn a bad idea into a good one, but there are
  many ways to disguise a good one.
• William Raubformer Deputy Director, NIH

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Charles Mingus on Grant Writing

• Making the simple complicated is commonplace
  making the complicated simple, awesomely simple,
  that's creativity.

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Role of the Proposal Narrative-1

• Responds to sponsors requirements
• Incubator of ideas
• Enforces rigor, clarity, and simplicity
• Tames excesses, defines boundaries, forces
  connections
• Transforms ideas and anchors them in a common
  reality
• A reality shared by colleagues, program officers,
  and review panelists

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Role of the Proposal Narrative-2

• Tests ideas in a language lab
• What seems like a good idea can be illusory
• Epiphanies are often deceptive
• Synthesizes ideas and detail
• Connects ideas to performance details
• Develops order, logic, transitions, and
  connectedness
• Helps the timing, logistics, and collaborations
  of proposal development

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Role of the Proposal Narrative-3

• Integrates collaborators ideas
• Provides a common structure to meld disciplinary
  strands
• Makes ideas accessible to others
• Converges on a common language
• A competitive narrative requires persistence,
  continuous revisions, and many draft iterations
  to converge on perfection

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Eliminating Ambiguities

• Clarify ambiguities if unresolved--
• Get clarification from a program officer.
• Ambiguities need to be resolved prior to proposal
  writing so the proposal narrative maps to the
  guidelines with informed certainty.

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Never be timid about contacting a program officer
for clarification

• Timidity is never rewarded in the competitive
  grant process.

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Pained by reviewer comments?
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Proposal Process Planning

• What do you control?
• Proposal narrative
• Collaborators
• Budget
• What do others control?
• Routing signatures
• Budget approvals
• Submission
• Data requests
• Institutional support

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FinallyBe confident Visit OPD