Suggestions for Writing an Successful Grant Proposal

• Title:  Describe your project with a very informative name.  Don't be generic, such as "biology of plankton."
• Abstract:  State your research problem, i. e., what is the scientific question?
• Introduction:  Provide background information surveying peer-reviewed, journal articles that are relevant to your research question.  Cite the scientific literature in your introduction and place the references on a reference page.
• Methods:  Give the technical details regarding how you are going to investigate your research problem.  Additional literature citations referring to specialized lab techniques may be included here.
• References:  Literature cited.
• Budget:  Provide a detailed description of each item or analytical service you plan to purchase, including vendor, catalog number (if an item), and cost.  It's best to call the vendors to check on shipping and handling costs and additional fees, such as hazardous shipping fee, ice-pack, etc.  The student must prioritize the budget items, anticipating that the proposal may not be fully-funded.