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Welcome to the GradFund Blog

Welcome to the GradFund Blog

Follow the GradFund Blog for current advice and insights on best practices in applying for research support, written by the GradFund Fellowship Advising Team.

Fellowships, Grants, and Scholarships: Which Award Fits My Graduate Program?

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Kelsey Bitting

Merit-based awards for graduate students typically fall into one of three categories: Fellowships, grants, and scholarships. Each type of award supports graduate study in a different way, and each is tailored toward a specific type of graduate program. Knowing which type of award is a good fit for your program is an important first-step toward […]

Filed Under: Cross Stage Support, Dissertation Research, Dissertation Research/Writing, Dissertation WritingCompletion, Early Graduate, Master's Support, Planning When to Apply, Postdoctoral, Predissertation, Predoctoral/Postdoctoral, Understanding Award Types

Time to Plan: The Spring Semester

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Kelsey Bitting

The funding calendar of external grants and fellowships to support graduate study has a distinct rhythm that we at GradFund know well: Small grants, scholarships, and pre-dissertation research grants have a concentration of deadlines during the early spring semester, but are broadly distributed throughout the academic year. Awards with large financial payoffs, such as early […]

Filed Under: Cross Stage Support, Dissertation Research, Dissertation Research/Writing, Dissertation WritingCompletion, Early Graduate, Planning When to Apply, Predissertation, Predoctoral/Postdoctoral

The Power of Small Grants

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Kelsey Bitting

Nearly every graduate student seeking funding for their dissertation research project starts out focused on finding one award that will pay for all their expenses at one fell swoop (and in one application season). However, there are many reasons to consider the power of small grants offered by professional societies, private companies, and foundations. From […]

Filed Under: Cross Stage Support, Dissertation Research, Early Graduate, Predissertation, Proposal Writing Advice, Understanding Award Types

Bringing Your Proposal Full-Circle: The Conclusion

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Kelsey Bitting

Somewhere along the way through grammar school, many of us learned that the introduction tells the readers what you’re going to tell them, the body of the document tells them, and the conclusion tells the readers what you’ve told them (using new language to keep things interesting). As graduate students applying for grants and fellowships, […]

Filed Under: Proposal Writing Advice Tagged With: conclusion, proposal structure

Improvement: The “I” in the NSF DD(R)IG

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Kelsey Bitting

NSF Doctoral Dissertation (Research) Improvement Grants- DD(R)IGs- are available in various fields of the sciences and social sciences to support dissertation research costs. While the specific requirements and submission details vary somewhat from one field to another, these awards are all intended to support the improvement of an existing dissertation project and its ultimate scholarly […]

Filed Under: Biological Sciences, Dissertation Research, Funder and Award Spotlight, Physical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering, Proposal Writing Advice, Social Sciences Tagged With: NSF

What Will You Do When? The Art of Designing a Persuasive Timeline

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Kelly Clancy

Many fellowships and grants require either an informal or formal timeline to be included with your proposal. The best timelines are persuasive documents that give reviewers the sense that you have a good idea of how your research is going to proceed, and that the work you are proposing is feasible in the time you […]

Filed Under: Planning When to Apply, Proposal Writing Advice, Understanding Award Types Tagged With: proposal structure

Submitting an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Application

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Teresa M. Delcorso-Ellmann

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) is one of the most applied-to early graduate study fellowships for students in STEM fields. The 2012 deadlines are 8 pm E.S.T. Nov. 13 through Nov. 19, depending on field of study (for more information, see http://www.nsfgrfp.org). Unlike most NSF programs, students applying to the NSF GRF program must […]

Filed Under: Biological Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Early Graduate, Physical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering, Planning When to Apply, Social Sciences Tagged With: early graduate study fellowships, GRF, NSF

The Final Edit

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Kelsey Bitting

In the wake of Sandy, GradFund sends our best wishes to everyone affected by the storm and its aftermath. We know that many of you have looming deadlines, and that you may have lost a week or more of time to revise. If you are suffering from last-minute doubts, you may even be considering not […]

Filed Under: Proposal Writing Advice Tagged With: editing

Arguing for the Importance of Your Research: The Literature Review

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Kelsey Bitting

An effective literature review (sometimes called “background and significance” or “theoretical orientation”) is essential to every successful proposal, from art history to chemical engineering, and from early graduate study fellowships and small grants to completion fellowships and postdocs. True, the role of this section depends partly upon your discipline. In the humanities and social sciences, this […]

Filed Under: Proposal Writing Advice Tagged With: bibliography, literature review, proposal structure

Parlez-vous français? The Ins and Outs of Funding for Language Training

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Kelly Clancy

Graduate students who conduct research on non-English speaking countries need to achieve a degree of fluency in a foreign language that will support their research. Many graduate programs require competency in one or more foreign languages. Even if your program doesn’t require this training, a language competency evaluation is part of the application package for […]

Filed Under: Cross Stage Support, Dissertation Research, Early Graduate, Predissertation, Proposal Writing Advice, Understanding Award Types Tagged With: language training

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Founded in 2000, GradFund’s mission is to assist Rutgers graduate students in securing merit-based research grants and fellowships to support their graduate study and research. Read about our history and approach to working with graduate students. Learn more →

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