Tbers, 

The posting gives some good proposal writing
tips. It is by Joan Straumanis, former FIPSE
(Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary
Education) Program Officer and appears in Publish
& Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar, by Tara
Gray. Published by Teaching Academy, New Mexico
State University. Copyright © 2005 by Tara Gray.
ISBN 0-9769302-0-X. Printed in the United States
by Phillips Brothers Printers, Springfield,
Illinois. Reprinted with permission.


                  FUNDING YOUR BEST IDEAS: A 12-STEP PROGRAM

Joan Straumanis,
Former FIPSE Program Officer
Part I: Before Writing

1. Innovate-and if you can't think of anything
brand new, do something unexpected. This is your
angle; now feature it.

2. Do your homework. Find your niche. What are
others doing about this issue? Show that you
know, and place your project within this context.

3. Build a team. Mix things up. Build and cross
bridges-among departments, disciplines and
schools and colleges. Include students and
administrators. Be generous: share work and
ownership. Appoint an advisory committee of
famous people in your field-to get a head start
on dissemination-but don't give them much work to
do, and you won't need to pay them very much.

4. Find the right funding agency. Know agency
interests, culture, and style. Submit
applications to more than one agency (but, of
course don't accept multiple grants supporting
the same activities).

5. Use the phone. Call a program officer, briefly
summarize your idea, and prepare specific
questions. Take the program officer's advice very
seriously, but exercise your own best judgment.
Some agencies are more directive than others.

Part II: While Writing

6. Use a journalistic writing style. Use the "W"
words of journalism: Who, what, when, where, why,
and how. Also use bullets, lists, outlines,
diagrams, tables. Don't obsess on any topic, even
if important. Make it interesting let every
sentence do a job. Assume that your reviewer is
reading in bed, falling asleep-which is very
likely true.

7. Follow guidelines to the letter. Keep them
before you as you write (but don't quote them
back to the agency). Match headings in the
proposal to headings in the guidelines so the
reader doesn't have to hunt for needed
information. Use "signposts": I am about to
explain whyŠI have just argued thatŠ

8. Build in continuation, evaluation, and
dissemination. Factory installed, not an add-on
and not postponed to the last year. Continuation
plans are an indicator of institutional
commitment. Evaluation should be independent and
objective, but doesn't need to meet standards of
the Journal of Psychometrics-use common sense.
What would you want to know about the success of
an idea before you would consider adopting it?
Evaluate "politically"-i.e., with an eye toward
later publicity. What would you wan tot see in
headlines? Note the difference between passive
and active dissemination. (The first disseminates
admiration, not innovation.)

9. Watch the bottom line. Share costs. Know how
to cut costs without hurting the project: request
replacement salaries instead of released time,
charge actual instead of estimated benefits,
follow agency recommendations on indirect costs.

10. Leverage funds. Solicit funds from third
parties, contingent on grant funding. This can be
done in advance (to beef up cost share and make
proposal more attractive), as well as after
project is funded.

11. Get a sharp (toothed) reader. Best: someone
unfamiliar with your field, your project. Not an
editor/proofreader. Have them read final draft
without taking notes. Then ask them to tell
you-from memory-what the project will do, how it
will do it, why it is significant, and how it is
different. Rewrite proposal if these answers
aren't clear and correct, or they don't flow
effortlessly.

12. Write the abstract last. Put in your key
innovation. Write 3 versions: one page (first
page of proposal, whether requested or not), one
paragraph (if requested), and one line, the
proposal title-which you should think of as a
mini-abstract (descriptive and intriguing). Don't
repeat abstract or proposal text. Prepare for the
possibility that some sleepy reviewer might read
only the abstract.

Other good advice:

o Request reviews. Use the phone to ask agency
staff why the project was or was not funded. If
you are rejected, you can always try again.

o If you get funded, let your agency help you.
Brainstorming. Troubleshooting. Running
interference with administration. Leveraging
funds. Making you famous.

o Help your agency.

Jim G...