Grant proposals are written to get funding for the research project in a specific field. They should be written in accordance with the format available with the education department or if any layout is not specified then standard instructions must be followed to come up with an appealing grant proposal. Funding for research in a specific field can be demanded from various funding agencies. But usually, governmental education departments provide graduate or postgraduate students with grants for carrying on their projects. Getting money is not easy, as one has to be impressive and clear in their thinking and know exactly what he is asking money for. So to achieve this objective, planning is the mandatory process without which an ill-planned piece of document will be generated. The effectiveness of which will be zero. So before taking up the task of writing a grant proposal, one should properly plan what will be included in the proposal and how it will be presented so that the coherence of the document stays.
Grant proposals are not accepted on the first go. Writers have to confront several failed attempts. After this, they get a chance to revise the proposal and get through all the obstacles. A professionally written proposal always grasps the reader’s attention and increases the chance of getting the grant. But presentation and layout should also be given equal importance as this will be the first thing that the reader will look at. Now the sections that the proposal should consist of: title page, abstract, introduction, literature review, project narrative, personnel, budget, and timeframe. On the title page, an expressive yet concise title is given to the proposal. Also, other important details about the writer as well as the funding agency should be given. The name of the principal investigators together with the name of the university and the name of the funding agency should also be mentioned on this page. But if specific instructions are given by the university administration or the funding agency then these should be followed. Next comes the abstract of a grant proposal, where almost every facet of the proposal, which will be mentioned in detail later on, will be touched. It also serves as the last impression of the whole document. So every effort should be made to make it impressive and unique.
Here is a preview of a Free Grant Proposal Template created using MS Word,
In the introduction, background information about the reason behind taking up this research is mentioned. Key elements of the grant proposal are mentioned in the introduction, which includes the statement of the proposal, research objectives, and methodologies adopted. The next part belongs to the literature review. In this section, the literature related to this specific title is discussed in detail. Many funding agencies require from the writer the literature review to check the knowledge of the writer regarding the previous research made in this regard. At the next level, the budget required to conduct the research should be provided. This is the basic motive of the writer, so the costs mentioned should be justified with the type of work. Mentioning unnecessary costs will only puzzle the funding agency which in turn will reject the proposal. The timeframe that will be required to complete this task is also worth mentioning. So this is basically how a standard grant proposal should be written.
Here is the download link for above shown Grant Proposal Template,
