University Writing CenterResearch proposals are among the most important documents produced by faculty, because research, reputation, publication, promotion, and career success depend so much on external funding. Even so, it takes effort and experience to acquire the proposal writing skill. Why not get students bound for graduate school started early? On Friday, February 21 the University Writing Center offered a hands-on workshop on “Writing Research Proposals” to 18 enthusiastic students in the McNair Scholars Program, a federally-funded TRIO program designed to help low income, first generation and traditionally underrepresented students succeed in graduate study and teaching careers.
The McNair Scholars program is run out of the Learning Resource Center, and is coordinated by Joan Hill. The students are majoring in fields ranging from Animal Science to Mechanical Engineering. As one of the many requirements of the program, each student is required to propose, implement, and write up a research project in his or her field. The proposal is the beginning of the process, but many students are initially intimidated, because they have never written anything like it before.
First, the students attended a proposal-writing workshop given by Marie Caudill of the Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Sciences Department. Marie gave them an overview of the proposal format, and explained the contents and purpose of each section. The purpose of the follow-up in the Writing Center was to get the writing process started, and to discuss individual projects.
Research proposals are often difficult for students to start because some of the work must be done, or at least explored, before the proposal can be written. Another difficulty is that the proposal cannot be written in the order that it will later be read. For example, the abstract, which is the first main section, is usually written last.
In general, students need to start with a topic area or focus, conduct some database searches and scouring of bibliographies, and begin reading journal articles and book chapters. They should look for issues, questions, and gaps in the knowledge of the field. Initially, the reading is fairly broad, but the focus should continue to narrow until the student is ready to formulate a research question. Once a question has been posed, and a working title considered, further reading is necessary to provide the context for the study. (For a brief outline of a typical research proposal, click here.)
The reading process described above will ultimately provide the material for the section that is variously called the “introduction,” the “problem statement,” or the “literature review,” so students need to take good notes, and accurately record bibliographic information. This section should cover the important studies in the field and give the reader the sense that the writer is well-informed and that the study will be an important contribution.
It is important that all sources be properly documented, so that no suspicion of plagiarism is ever raised.
At this point the student is ready to formulate a hypothesis and think about a method for the investigation. The McNair students are in a wide variety of disciplines, so the possible methodologies included everything from surveys and interviews to blood analysis and laboratory experiments. A psychology student planned to interview people about their bumper stickers. A physics student wanted to investigate the possibility of creating an acoustic lens. Animal Science majors planned to investigate the endurance of mules and horses at high altitudes. Mechanical Engineering students were exploring hydrogen-fueled power generation. Most disciplines have standard and preferred methods of investigation, and students need to think carefully about how to generate data that will answer their research question.
In grant proposal writing, the methods section is generally considered to be the most important section. Proposal reviewers want to know what you are going to do, and how you are going to do it, and this is most apparent in the methods section. Flaws and potential problems will also be most visible here, and the writer should anticipate problems and give fallback solutions.
At this point, the hardest parts of the proposal are done. A full-blown grant proposal will also include a timeline and a budget. These sections restate in time units and dollars what the reviewers have already seen in the methods section. The McNair students were not asking for money, so the budget section was not so important, but a well thought out timeline can keep busy students on track to complete the project.
The bibliography should be formatted in a standard format appropriate to the discipline. American Psychological Association (APA) and Modern Language Association (MLA) are the most common, but students need to ask their advisors or look at common journals in their field.
Finally, the student needs to write the abstract. In grant proposals, the abstract is particularly important even if it is not scored, because the abstract is what reviewers remember when they are sorting through proposals. It should clearly and concisely indicate what is going to be done, why it is important, who is going to do it, and how it is going to be done.
It is clear that after completing this assignment, this group of McNair scholars is going to be a step ahead when they write their first major grant proposals. A good proposal requires effective library research, clear thinking, good planning, and familiarity with disciplinary knowledge. A professional proposal leads to professional research, new knowledge, a good publication, and career advancement. It is never too early to start.
