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• For USC Researchers

Proposal & Grantwriting Guides

Many sources of advice exist on applying for funding at specific federal agencies, offering guidance on tailoring submissions and navigating the application process. For example, NIH, NSF, and the EPA each provide a useful guide, which is based on reviews of past applications to the respective agencies, to help applicants to avoid common mistakes and to increase the odds of securing sponsorship.

• NIH Advice and Guidelines
• NSF Advice and Guidelines
• EPA Advice and Guidelines

More broadly, numerous articles and guides from academic and non-profit institutions provide general advice about proposal development. They cover topics ranging from how to write an abstract that is both lucid and an appropriate summary of the proposal, to how to create a budget for projects based within university settings. Here are a few:

• The USC Faculty Portal has a set of links to various grant-writing advice websites.
• Science Magazine's NextWave career development site has a series of helpful articles collected under the banner Getting Funded.
• The Foundation Center posts the text of its Proposal Writing Short Course.
• The Social Science Resource Council provides its Art of Writing Proposals for the social and behavioral sciences.
• The University of Michigan hosts a useful Proposal Writer's Guide.
• The Human Frontiers Science Program posts its monograph on the Art of Grantsmanship.
• And Michigan State University has a listing with links to over 100 proposal guides, including ones that focus on specific disciplines or on applications to specific agencies and organizations.

Last updated: Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 3:28pm PDT