Nationally competitive postdoctoral fellowships are a logical next-step for many graduate students, especially those pursuing a tenure-track career. These awards typically fall into two basic categories: those with an emphasis on teaching, and those with an emphasis on research. As a dissertating graduate student beginning to think about applying for postdoctoral fellowships, it will be […]
Proposal Writing Advice
Proposal Writing Advice
Ambassador, Scholar, Fellow
Applicants for nationally competitive fellowships are often focused on the financial benefits of the award, and may overlook the funders’ larger purpose: To nurture a community of scholars devoted to advancing the program’s research goals. To develop that community, funders seek fellows who will engage with one another, and with former fellows, by networking and […]
The Power of Small Grants
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 […]
Bringing Your Proposal Full-Circle: The Conclusion
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, […]
Improvement: The “I” in the NSF DD(R)IG
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 […]
What Will You Do When? The Art of Designing a Persuasive Timeline
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 […]
The Final Edit
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 […]
Arguing for the Importance of Your Research: The Literature Review
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 […]
Parlez-vous français? The Ins and Outs of Funding for Language Training
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 […]
The Art of the Introduction
Where to begin? Introductions are tricky beasts: Part meet-and-greet, part sales pitch, and all balancing act, a good introduction can seem like more art than science. However, behind the rhetorical craft, effective introductions to fellowship and grant proposals generally follow a simple set of guidelines that every writer can employ. Generally, the length of an […]