Genre Group

Here's an introduction for help into the grant writing process for various subjects including sciences, social sciences, the arts like philosophy, and humanities. You need a grant proposal in order to receive research funding in these academic disciplines and this provides the basic foundation for an awesome grant proposal. A grant proposal offers a plan to resolve a problem by helping its reader understand the causes and effects of the problem and give step by step instructions on how to resolve it.

The University of North Carolina created a handout that gives you a lot to think about within the writing process. Pre-planning tips are abundant to help you have all the necessary information needed for a great proposal. You should get a head start, be explicit and in depth in your writing, answer all questions, and don't forget your cover page. That'd be tragic if you wrote the most awesome write up with no cover page and were rejected on the spot. In order to get funding you have to find an agency whose goals and purpose are similar to that of your proposal. You start with focusing on your audience, followed by the style in the way you write it, develop a general proposal or budget, and finally organize your proposal. This includes title page, abstract, introduction, literature review, project narrative, personnel, budget and time frame. UNC also gives its sources for this handout in case you need extra "background" help.

The audience of your proposal is your main concern. They should know what you are referring to so there's no need for baby steps. You give the reader what they want by following the guidelines set forth by a granting agency or program.

As an example I used a sample grant proposal for Criminal Justice services in an Ohio office.  It begins with a cover letter addressing the basic need of the grant. After the problem statement the objectives are listed and described. The sample grant a problem statement sums up that the issue at hand includes police officers health particularly musculo-skeletal and cardio-vascular problems. Next the objectives were listed with remedies for the situation. A project description enlisted activities for the officers like physical evaluation of the officers, buying fitness equipment for the officers to use, and the training of the officers. An evaluation was made by a doctor who reviewed the plan. The doctor provided two strategies, a process evaluation and a outcome evaluation for six week periods. The grant noted that future funding would be necessary for the project in certain aspects like maintaing the exercise equipment. Then a budget/narrative explained where the money would be distributed and listed the references. A letter of support was used to close out the grant very similar to the cover letter.

Heres a link for the example sample grant proposal: http://www.yourtickettowork.com/selftraining/ENCap-SampleProposal.pdf

Citations:

"Grant Proposals." Home | The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. <http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/grant_proposals.html>.

"Philosophy." Home | The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Web. 10 Sept. <http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/grant_proposals.html>.

"SAMPLE GRANT PROPOSAL." Sample Grant Proposal. Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, 2 Jan. 2003. Web. 10 Nov. 2010. <http://www.yourtickettowork.com/selftraining/ENCap-SampleProposal.pdf>.