Short Guide to Proposal Preparation

• What Goes Into a Proposal
  • The Cover Page
  • The Abstract
  • The Project Description (including Facilities Available Section)
  • The Bibliography
  • The Biographical Sketch
  • Current Support and Pending Applications
  • The Budget
  • The Budget Justification
  • Attachments
  • Where to Submit Proposals
• The University Review Process

• The Post Submission Period

• Writing a Better Proposal

   

BIBLIOGRAPHY

This section may be variously titled Bibliography, References, Literature Cited, etc., and it may or may not incorporate notes. Make every attempt to be judicious in compiling the Bibliography: it should be relevant and current; it need not be exhaustive. It serves two purposes:

1. it demonstrates the amount and, to some extent, the kind of scholarship you have put into the proposal.
2. it provides a starting-place for reviewers to begin their homework.

As to the first purpose: A familiarity with the literature surrounding the topic to be studied is obviously necessary for any serious researcher. Further, an understanding of the relevant scholarship is a sort of credential, a reassurance that the Principal Investigator is solidly grounded in the field under study. Especially when you are new or even relatively new to your discipline, you are expected to demonstrate thorough knowledge.

As to the second purpose: It is the practice of virtually all funding agencies to obtain scientific evaluations of a proposal from experts in the field. This technical review is normally entrusted to specialists who will be familiar with the subject at hand; however, enough people with sufficiently narrow specialties to make quick, accurate judgments are not always to be found. Thus, the individuals who review proposals for scientific content may often not be as knowledgeable as the Principal Investigator. A conscientious reviewer will become familiar with the subject of a proposal before attempting to make a technical evaluation, and to do this he/she needs a bibliography.

The exact format for bibliographic citations varies greatly from one scholarly field to another. The prevailing form in your own discipline is always the best one to use.

Next: The Biographical Sketch