A Unique Genre

Grant Writing is Different

Grant proposals are unique among academic documents in their focus on a future set of events wholly conditional on the interests, priorities, and ultimate evaluation of the funding agency to which they are submitted.

This results in significantly different forms, both relative to other types of writing and between proposals: even if two projects treat similar subject matter, a proposal to the National Science Foundation has a different look from a proposal to a single-issue private foundation. Of course, more than form can change. For instance, if an organization is particularly interested in outreach measures, they will look skeptically at proposals that look as if outreach is tacked on instead of baked in.

The project most likely to succeed is the one that is reconciled with the interests of the granting agency—even if that means tweaking its focus or reconsidering individual elements.

The first step of developing a grant should be taking the time to read the webpage of the granting agency, download its guidelines, and analyze a list of past winners with a critical eye.

We're Here to Help

The Faculty Division of the College of Arts & Sciences offers in-house proposal development services tailored to the needs of interested A&S faculty. We can play a role at any stage of the cycle:

• • Grant identification and early-stage development.
  • Comprehensive editing, with a particular focus on narrative and organization.
  • Late stage copy editing and basic polish.

In addition to these services, a searchable database of successful, full-text sample proposals is being brought together for the benefit of A&S and other TTU faculty. The searchable database is still in development, but for faculty needing immediate assistance we currently have more than 30 sample proposals in a variety of disciplines. Please contact Grant Editor Brendan Allison to learn more about what we have on file.

Contact:
Nural Akchurin, Associate Dean for Research
College of Arts & Sciences
806.834.8838
nural.akchurin@ttu.edu