By Kristin Bass
Ah, fall! It’s time for apples and cider, bonfires and hayrides, and in San Francisco, a welcome break from summer fog. For many of us at Rockman et al, it’s also the season for National Science Foundation proposals. Deadlines for the Advancing Informal Science Learning (AISL) and Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) are right around the corner – November 7th and 14th to be precise. If you have a proposal underway, how can you set yourself up for success? Rockman staff have served on NSF review panels, and have written evaluations for over 50 funded NSF proposals over the last ten years. Along the way, we’ve learned a thing or two about how to make your proposal stand out from the pack. Here are four top tips:
- Make your proposal easy to read. Just because you can use 10-point Arial font, doesn’t mean you should. Take pity on reviewers’ eyes! Use as large a font as possible. Break up text with headers, tables, figures, and visuals. Bold key sentences. One grant writer we know bolds the first sentence of each paragraph, so that readers can follow the narrative at a glance.
- Cut to the chase. You need to convince reviewers of two things: (1) the work is worth doing, and (2) you’re the right person/group to do it. Don’t spend so much space identifying the problem that you run out of room for your solution. It’s better to get to the program and methodological details early in the proposal, and to keep your literature review succinct. Reviewers should be able to visualize what you’re trying to do – For example, if it’s a youth program, what activities and topics will children be engaged in day-to-day?
- If you promise everything, reviewers will believe nothing. Be realistic about what you’ll do and how you’ll do it. A project that focuses on doing one or two things very well is a stronger submission than one that attempts to do too much. Remember that for every innovative technology or program strategy you incorporate, you’ll need to thoroughly explain what the field already knows about it and what’s different about your approach. You should also plan for contingencies in your activities, timeline, and budget. If you don’t, reviewers will find the gaps between your rhetoric and your resources.
- Engage your evaluator early. We recommend securing your external evaluator at least three (ideally four) weeks before your deadline. Engaging an evaluator early enables you and your evaluation partner to develop a robust evaluation plan that can both inform your project’s design and demonstrate impact. It will also help you clarify and revise your project goals. A good logic model can really help with this.
Good luck to all those working on NSF proposals this fall! If you have not yet secured an evaluator or research partner, it’s not too late. Contact us today to discuss your proposed project. We’d love to work with you to develop a strong proposal!