1. The wonderful world of grant writing
Kristina Ward, Grants Development Specialist

2. The Research Enterprise at Ohio State
Different types of opportunities
Funding to individual researchers (fellowships, residencies)
Funding to organizations (sponsored research projects
Diverse group of sponsors
Federal agencies
State agencies
Private not-for-profit (corporate and foundation)
Industry

3. Proposal Development Strategy

4. Proposal Development Timeline
Courtesy of the Office of Research

5. Planning Used to assess your research and the field
Does your project address an important problem for which you have a solution?
Will knowledge be advanced and sustained?
Does it build upon or expand current knowledge?
What are your goals, objectives, and outcomes and how will they be evaluated?
Opportunity Summary to assess particular funding opportunity
Logic Model
Help you identify program goals and objectives, identify “gaps” in the logic of a program and resolve them
Refer to W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide

6. Sample Logic Model

8. Stages 1. Prewriting 2. Writing 3. Revising Freewriting Brainstorming
Clustering – drawing the thinking process
Voice memo
2. Writing
Use outline with required sections based on Request for Proposal (RFP), Call for Proposal (CFP), Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), Request for Information (RFI)
3. Revising
How easily can the project’s success be measured?
Is the idea competitive?
Do the activities lead toward accomplishing the goal?
4. Editing
Check for awkwardly worded or unclear sentences and typos – read aloud
Check for consistency with terms and references
Is each paragraph and sentence properly situated in the structure of the narrative
Text formatted to guidelines?

9. Narrative Style
Write for the reviewers, helping them understand something new
Keep the language clear and concise
Use active voice rather than passive
Keep subject at the beginning of the sentence in the topic position
New, important (exciting!) information should be at the end of the sentence in the stress position
Avoid jargon and field-specific terms and acronyms

10. Narrative Style
Porter, Robert. “Why Academics Have a Hard Time Writing Good Grant Proposals,” The Journal of Research Administration XXXVIII, 2007, 162.

11. HELP! Office of Research Research Commons
Ohio State
Office of Research
Funding opportunities
Training for researchers
Proposal Library
Research Commons
Consultations (copyright, data management, funding opportunities)
Space for collaborative research
Office of Foundation Relations
U.osu.edu/historyfundingopportunities
News and Updates
Elsewhere
NIH “All About Grants”
Grants.Gov
NORDP “Resources”
Grantspace “Tools”