Every Proposal Needs a Story - Purdue University College of … a Storyline 2016.pdf · clarity of...

Every Proposal Needs a Story Sally Bond Assistant Director of Research Development Services Proposal Coordination Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships

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Purdue Research Development Services Services and resources

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Where Do I Go for Help? Hyperlinked “help” flowchart

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Where Do I Go for Help? Hyperlinked “help” flowchart

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Large and Consultation All sizes, all agencies

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Key Strategies Avoid common trouble spots

•tell a compelling story •respond to solicitation •answer “Why us?” •know your reviewer • internal review before submission

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Building the Storyline Storyline first!

• storyline provides the “north star”

• helps you not to be overly ambitious, a common problem of new investigators

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What makes a good story? You are not the audience. Don’t write for yourself.

•Make them want to read on • Is something important at stake? •Answer “So what?” •Make it memorable, not complex, and have clear logic flow

•Back it up with targeted proof. Not anecdotal.

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Building the Storyline Storyline first!

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Building the Storyline Four helpful questions to build your flow of logic

•What is the problem? •What has been done already to address the problem?

•What is the gap that remains? •How do you propose to address this gap?

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Building the Storyline Logic flow goes from broad to narrower

•What is the problem? •What has been done already to address the problem?

•What is the gap that remains? •How do you propose to address this gap?

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Building the Storyline Example narrative…in op-ed language

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Build the Storyline Example narrative…in op-ed language

•What is the problem?

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Build the Storyline Example narrative…in op-ed language

•What has been done already?

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Build the Storyline Example narrative…in op-ed language

•What is the gap that remains?

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Build the Storyline Example narrative…in op-ed language

•How will you address this gap?

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Building the Storyline Where do you put it? For NSF etc….

• as soon as possible! • follow prescribed format in

solicitation • common options

• Background • Rationale • Vision and Goals

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Building the Storyline Example of storyline location in general NSF proposal.

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Building the Storyline Where do you put it? For NIH, this is Specific Aims and Significance

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Building the Storyline NIH example from Carolina Wählby at Broad Institute (NIAID website)

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Building the Storyline NIH example from Carolina Wählby at Broad Institute (NIAID website)

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/researchfunding/grant/pages/appsamples.aspx

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Building the Storyline One-page…taste of your entire grant in a single, bite-sized piece

It forces you to distill all aspects down to their essences and to find a way of piecing things together that is economical, coherent, logical, and compelling […] is totally unforgiving, revealing problems in the clarity of your thinking and presentation, weaknesses in the logic of your research, vagueness in your methods, and failures in the all-important ‘so what?’ realm. Given the luxury of length, additional verbiage has a way of camouflaging weaknesses (at least from the writer but not so often from the reviewer).

—Robert Levenson, UC-Berkeley

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Building the Storyline Create a one-page brief. (For NIH, this is the Specific Aims page.)

One-page project description sent to program officer that includes:

• concise storyline • vision/goals • team • methodology/approach • impact

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Talking to a Program Manager Prepare a one-pager in order to get targeted feedback

Practice

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New Proposal Brainstorm on a storyline

•What is the problem? •What has been done already to address the problem?

•What is the gap that remains? •How do you propose to address this gap?