Why?

Exam

Quals

NSF fellowship

NRSA fellowship

Post-doctoral fellowship

PI grants

A good way of thinking about science

WRITING A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

1) It must be hypothesis driven

2) It must be concise and focused

3) Supportive preliminary data

4) Spend most effort on the experimental plana) Restate the hypothesisb) Present a rationalec) Describe the research pland) Describe the methodologye) Provide a rational plan for failure

HYPOTHESIS

Definition: a proposed explanation for a phenomenon

NOT: Xist is interesting: let’s study it.

BUT: Xist regulates X chromosome inactivation by binding to the X chromosome to be inactivated

Be specific and focused

Do not just use a technique to address an experimental areawithout a well formulated hypothesis (no fishing trips)

The four components (for a 5 page grant proposal)

1) Specific aims: 1/2 page to concisely definewhat you intend to do and why.

2) Background and significance: 1-1/2 page section to review published information in support of your hypothesis. Bring out the importance!

3) Preliminary data: a 1 page section to use in support of your hypothesis, an important part of a grant that allows the reviewers to understand that the approaches you plan to use actually work.

4) The experimental plan: 2 page section that allows the reviewers to understand how you actually plan to attackyour question

SPECIFIC AIMS=DETAILED SUMMARY

State overall hypothesis Give enough background

Spell out the specific aims of your proposal (2-4, each with an individualized hypothesis followed by a concise summary of the expected results

BACKGROUND

Provide a good overview of the field (be a scholar!)

“Need to know” basis

What are the gaps in knowledge that you are going to fill with your proposal

Set up the stage for the whole grant

PRELIMINARY DATA

Not always possible to have preliminary data, but it helps a lot!

Examples:

Show that the technique has worked for a related project

Data that show that the hypothesis is sound

What are you really going to do?

This section is the heart of the grant application

BUT, many people spend somuch time on the background and preliminarydata section that they run out of steam by the end

How many aims?

The aims should NOT be inter-dependent on one another

Between 2 and 4 (generally 3)

Provide the outline for your experimental approach as follows

1) Restate each specific aim at the beginning of each section

2) Restate the hypothesis for the specific aim3) Provide a rationale for the specific aim4) Provide a detailed “plan” for the

experiments5) What are the expected outcomes?6) Be sure to include alternate plans if the

selected approach fails.