How to write a grant application
Video: How to Write a Grant Proposal: Step by Step 2024, July
A grant is a certain amount of money provided to you by a Russian or international organization for the implementation of a project that is of social value. The grant is provided on conditions provided by the grantor, free of charge. One of the necessary conditions for receiving it is a positive review of your application. Here you need to understand that there is always less money than those who want to receive it. Therefore, the winner is the one who made the application for financing better than the others. It is important to understand well the mechanism of the selection process of applicants, as well as the psychology of people involved in this process.
Instruction manual
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When you already have a specific project, you need to fill out a written application requesting a grant for this project. Just as a commercial company draws up a business plan to convince investors to invest in a business, this application is needed to convince the grantor to invest a certain amount in your project. An application differs from a business plan in order to receive funds for a non-profit project, i.e. on a non-profit business.
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When preparing an application, you need to keep in mind the goal: to convince grantors (represented by the appropriate committee, expert council, commission) that it is your project that has the necessary advantages that have weight in any science: conceptual novelty, significant content and methodological rigor.
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Under equal conditions, one of the applications in which all these three advantages are most clearly traced wins. Those. it should maximally correspond not only to the necessary requirements for its writing, but also to the hidden expectations of the commission. It will also be very useful (especially when it comes to applied and humanities) to convincingly show the usefulness and importance of the project for your country. Since most grant-giving funds do this in order to help the country as a whole. Therefore, the more clearly you demonstrate the importance of your project in this perspective, the better.
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When compiling an application, be guided by the fact that it will look for answers to three main questions:
1. What new things do we learn as a result of the project?
2. Why do you need to know?
3. How do we make sure that the conclusions made are correct?
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It must be borne in mind that, as a rule, there are many applications, and the commission has little time to decide. And they are unlikely to seek hidden answers to these questions. Therefore, the presentation of your text should be clear and concise. The best chance to get attention is to fit all these answers in the first paragraph or at least on the first page. Be sure to use this chance. If your project is very complicated in order to fit the wording of the main idea in several lines and it can be revealed only gradually, still bother to say something memorable for the reviewer, even if after many hours of reading other applications. Perhaps this will be some special, catchy, non-standard statement. This will increase the chance that your project will attract attention.
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Many applications are peer-reviewed by multidisciplinary committees. Therefore, state your thoughts as clearly as possible, do not abuse professional slang, and use highly specialized terms only in those cases when there are no analogues in the common language. Focus on the main idea of your project. A variety of details, additions, examples, if you are sure that they are necessary in the application, it is best to fit in the application to facilitate its perception.
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It will also be useful to give a small overview of the current state of affairs in your field of science and include in it as complete a bibliography as possible, where you need to identify recent work in this area. In this case, it is necessary to mention only what is directly related to your topic. Bibliographies are considered a sign of the scientific approach and seriousness of the applicant, therefore they are often paid special attention to. A well-compiled bibliography shows that you have done some serious preparatory work, and also made sure that your project will become a new word in science, and not a duplication of the results already obtained by someone else.
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Methodological canons in different sciences are different, and often they differ even within the same discipline. However, you can give two universal recommendations on how to make a positive impression of the "methodological equipment" of your application. First, tell us about what research work you have done and how you intend to use the results in your project. Also explain how much time you plan to spend on it and how you will distribute it.
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Secondly, use the arguments in favor of the fact that the solution of precisely these problems will advance you in solving the main problem of the project. Typically, the methods in the application are told very vaguely and vaguely. For example, there are often phrases like "the relationship between X and Y will be considered." What this means is completely incomprehensible. Therefore, tell in as much detail as possible which methods you intend to use to analyze the data, as well as what will be the criteria for the authenticity of the results in the end. The more clearly the reviewer understands what exactly, why and how you are going to do, the more favorable this will affect the fate of your application.
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A well-structured application, like a sonata, usually ends with a return to the original theme. How is the study and its results related to the main problem? With what help do you determine if your hypothesis was true? All this must be reflected in the application. Also indicate what will be the outcome of the project as its result: a dissertation, a book, an article or something else.
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When writing a good application, you need to be aware that you can’t write it in 5 minutes. Therefore, do not postpone the matter in a long box, start composing a grant application in advance. After writing it, re-read it again with a fresh mind, especially the first paragraph and the final part, trying to see it through the eyes of reviewers.