Resource of the Week #200: Some Grant-Application Advice from Reviewers

Hello again. Welcome to our 200th resource post!

A few days ago, my department head mentioned a new resource. This resource is titled “Insider’s Guide to Peer Review for Applicants”. It presents grant-application advice from researchers who peer review grant proposals.

Here, in brief, are some examples of the advice:

• Early in the proposal, explain why the work that you’re proposing is important.
• Don’t, however, exaggerate the significance of your research.
• Try not to waste lots of space saying things that reviewers already know.
• Don’t be shy about noting your major strengths.
• After drafting your proposal, set it aside for a while. Then edit the proposal, deleting unnecessary details and making sure “the big picture” is apparent.
• Identify limitations of your proposed work, and discuss them in the proposal.
• Avoid having a crowded-looking proposal. For example, don’t use small type and small margins. And do skip spaces between paragraphs.

This resource is available both online and as a 4-page PDF handout. Although it is from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), most of the advice applies to writing grant proposals in almost any research field and for almost any funding source.

I encourage you to look at this resource and to share it with others.

Until the next post—

Barbara