Preparing Proposals

• The Proposal Cover Page

  The cover page and other forms supplied by a funding agency allow you to present your project in a standardized manner so that it can be easily compared with other proposals. We have included sample cover sheets for NEH, NIH and NSF proposals in an appendix to this Guide to illustrate the kind of information that typical cover sheets contain.

  As with all bureaucratic documents, the formats of agency cover pages change constantly. To ensure that you have the very latest edition, check with the OSPRA before preparing the final draft of your proposal.

  The facts and figures that you will need to fill out a cover page accurately are contained on the Sponsored Projects and Research Fact Sheet in an appendix of this Guide.

• The Table of Contents

  Many larger funding agencies provide you with a preprinted Table of Contents form. Even if the agency you are applying to does not prescribe one, and certainly if your proposal is longer than half a dozen pages, you should consider including a table of contents listing the different sections that the package contains. This will give reviewers, who must consider large numbers of proposals under great time pressure, ready access to the parts of your proposal they are most interested in.

• The Proposal Abstract

  The proposal abstract (or project summary) condenses the proposal narrative, briefly describing your project, its background, its significance, and the methods you plan to use. It will create the first impression of your work that reviewers receive, so it needs to be especially well written. Some agencies also use key information contained in the abstract to assign the proposal to the appropriate review panel. Thus, although your abstract will precede the narrative sections of your proposal once the package is fully assembled, many experienced grant writers prefer to compose it last.

• The Project Description

  In their own guidelines, funding organizations frequently specify what information you should include in the narrative portion of your proposal. The NIH, for example, asks that you organize the narrative into the following sections: "Specific Aims; Background and Significance; Preliminary Studies/Progress; Research Design and Methods." They also prescribe the order in which other appended information, such as literature citations, should be presented (PHS Form 398, rev. 4/98).

  Other agencies may be less rigid in their requirements. Nevertheless, the broad categories of information that all funding sources seek in the project narrative are much the same, and may be summarized as constituting responses to the following basic questions about your project: Why is this work important? What have you already done? What do you plan to do next? How do you plan to do it?

  Why is this work important? Place your particular project in perspective. Document the need for this work by demonstrating an awareness of related research in your field and beyond. (Bear in mind the type of agency you are applying to and the level of expertise that you can anticipate among the reviewers.)

  What have you already done? Include the results of any preliminary studies and related work that you have done in this research area. Indicate how the proposed work will extend, complement, corroborate or refine earlier findings.

  What do you plan to do next? Explain what you expect to accomplish with your research. Describe the more immediate goals of your project clearly and realistically.

  How do you plan to do it? Describe the methods you plan to use. Be specific in outlining your procedures, bearing in mind once again the technical expertise of the reviewers you expect to be judging your application. If possible, include a timetable that maps the progress you anticipate making on your project, month by month or year by year.

  Some agencies, particularly smaller foundations, may ask that you include in your narrative some information about your department and its facilities, your college, and even the University itself. The OSPRA will be able to assist you in gathering this type of information.

• Personnel

  A current curriculum vitae (C.V.) should be attached to the proposal for each professional staff member and each consultant included on the project. In a separate personnel statement you should identify the contribution that each individual will make and emphasize her or his qualifications and experience in areas relating to those project responsibilities.

• Current and Pending Support

  Federal agencies in particular ask that you list both active grant and contract support that you and other staff members involved in the project already hold and any proposals you may have submitted elsewhere in recent months. Providing this information also affords you an opportunity to demonstrate your level of research activity and the personal commitment you have made to scholarly projects.

• Facilities

  In a facilities statement, a researcher explains why his or her institution represents an advantageous location for pursuing that particular project. Physical scientists naturally focus on items such as laboratory space, technical equipment and support services. However, even for social scientists, humanists and those in the Fine Arts, issues such as the University of Detroit Mercy's geographical location, its urban setting and its tradition of concern for social justice and values may furnish useful raw material for this part of your proposal.

• The Proposal Budget

  The budget contains projections of the amounts of money you will need in various areas if you are to be able to complete your project. These projections are directly determined by the detailed statements you made about your goals and methods in the narrative portion of the proposal. It is best, therefore, to approach the Grants Administrator in the Controller's Office for help with your budget only after you have drafted the project description.

  In general, though, a budget is constructed as follows:

  Direct Costs are those that can be directly and uniquely identified with your project. These costs might include:

  Personnel. List each person who will work on the project by name or job type and indicate the proportion of his or her time that person will devote to the project. By using each individual's current salary rate and allowing for estimated salary increases, determine the salary figure to include in your budget. (For time that a University of Detroit Mercy employee devotes to a funded project while under contract to the University, she or he receives only her or his standard salary. If the agency pays for such a staff member on a project, it does so by simply reimbursing the University for a portion of that salary. The employee does not receive any increase in his or her paycheck. If you or a member of your project staff is a nine-month employee, you can, of course, receive additional compensation during the summer months).

  Fringe Benefits. For each dollar paid in salaries or wages to an employee, the University incurs associated costs for fringe benefits. These include F.I.C.A., workmen's compensation, unemployment compensation, retirement, and life and health insurance. When a part of a researcher's salary is covered by requested funding, the funding agency must normally agree to pay the appropriate portion of that individual's fringe benefits (see the UDM Sponsored Projects and Research Fact Sheet for the current Fringe Benefit Rate).

  Equipment. List each piece of permanent equipment, not already available to you, that you will need to complete the project. Be as specific as possible in your description including manufacturer, model number and even cost estimates wherever you can.

  Supplies and Materials. Itemize the expendable supplies you will need for your project.

  Travel. Include the cost of trips necessary to collect data, of consultants' travel, and of trips to present the results of research conducted under this particular grant at professional meetings. Grant-supported travel is subject to all of the policies and procedures imposed by the University when its own funds are being used.

  Publication Costs. Specify the cost of preparing and publishing project reports, as well as journal page charges if appropriate.

  Communications. Include any telephone and postage expenses related to your project that would exceed those you might incur in the course of your normal duties as a faculty member.

  Subcontracts. If your project will require the services of a non-University of Detroit Mercy organization, including those of faculty or staff at another university, include those expenses as a subcontract in the budget. Where such subcontracts will be involved, you would be well advised to consult the Office for Sponsored Projects and Research Administration and the Controller's Office well in advance of the deadline for submitting the grant proposal.

  Indirect Costs. In addition to the many costs that are directly related to your project, the University will inevitably incur certain expenses that relate only indirectly to your project and yet will be integral to its success. These include the provision of building space and utilities, and such services as Security and Safety, Purchasing, Physical Plant and even the Office for Sponsored Projects and Research Administration and Controller's Office themselves.

  These indirect costs are part of your project expenses and need to be included in its budget. The federal government allows the University to recover indirect costs at a predetermined, negotiated rate which reflects the actual amounts spent by the University in support of funded research in prior years (see the UDM Sponsored Projects and Research Fact Sheet for the current Indirect Cost Rate).

  Cost Sharing. Depending both on the nature of your project and on special requirements of the funding organization, you may request all project costs from the organization, or request that the University share a percentage of those costs. If cost sharing is either required or desirable, the University prefers to contribute personnel time or to forego a portion of the indirect costs to which it is entitled. If other sources of cost sharing are needed, these will need to be discussed with your department chairperson, your college dean and OSPRA staff well in advance of the time you plan to submit the proposal. In general the University does not support proposals which contain a high percentage of cost sharing.

  The (entirely fictional) budget presented on the budget sheet from the University's Internal Summary Form for Proposal Review and Approval illustrates how an itemized proposal budget might look.

• Budget Justification

  A budget justification immediately following the proposal budget explains in narrative form the need for any unusual or expensive budget items and the basis for calculating any figures that are not self-explanatory.

• Appendices

  You may want to attach material that is related to, but not directly a part of, your proposal. Such information might include lengthy tables and charts, survey instruments, journal reprints, or letters of support from collaborators. Such materials should be contained in appendices and listed separately in the table of contents.

• Special Considerations

  We have tried to describe briefly the most common steps involved in developing a grant proposal. However, your particular proposal, which describes a specific research project and is directed to a particular funding agency, may involve special considerations, In particular, if your project involves human subjects, live vertebrate animals, radioactive substances, or biohazards, it will automatically be subject to review by one of the University's oversight committees (see the UDM Sponsored Projects and Research Fact Sheet for a list of contact people for these oversight committees). Such reviews demand extra allocations of time but cannot be circumvented and will, in any case, be required by the funding agency. The University Policies and Procedures regarding these oversight committees duties, and yours, can be obtained at the following web site - http://www.udmercy.edu/academicaffairs/ospra/policies/

Submitting Proposals

ATTACHMENTS

1. Detailed Budget Information and Procedures
2. Copyright Policy
3. Conflict of Interest Policy
4. Disclosure of Invention
5. Faculty Grant Incentive Policy
6. Human Subjects Research and IRB Forms
7. Military Research at the University of Detroit Mercy
8. Patent Policy
9. Principle Investigator Status Policy
10. Scientific/Scholarly Misconduct
11. Sponsored Projects and Research Fact Sheet
12. Sponsored Research Registration Information
13. University of Detroit Mercy Internal Summary Form (.pdf)