11
Ask the right questions to define your ideas
What problem are you proposing to address? Why is it important to address this problem? How will you address it?
What is the predicted impact of your work? Who will benefit from your research and how?
A er roughly answering these questions, you can begin to generate your hypotheses and define aims. Devise your
experimental approach. Ask yourself what preliminary data would strengthen your proposal then plan and start
these experiments.
Get feedback to strengthen your application
Write a short summary that you can present to your colleagues, potential grant reviewers, and grant program
officers. From this, you can get feedback about strengths and weaknesses in your plan. Use this to refine your
ideas before you start generating preliminary data and dra ing the proposal. Doing this has the added benefit of
generating interest and enthusiasm for your plan.
Which grant? Which granting agency?
Use the resources from Part 1 to identify grants for which you are eligible. Make sure your research topic is in line
with the program announcement and that the deadline is far enough in the future that you have enough time to
prepare a competitive application.
Write a 1- to 2-minute summary that you can present to friends
and family. This will help you see the big picture rather than
only focusing on the little details about experimental approaches, etc.
You may have to include a lay summary with your application —
this exercise will give you a head start.
