Assignment # 3: Writing a Proposal

Project Athena Assignment # 3: Writing a Proposal

Due: In Class, Week 10

Grade Allocation: 30%

For this assignment, your goal is to write proposal that you can submit to a granting agency / foundation at the end of the course. If it is feasible, you are welcome to use the same area you are doing doctoral research in, for writing the proposal or a different project (provided you get the permission of the Instructor).

Your task in this assignment is to locate an appropriate funding agency (federal/ state/local government or a private foundation), read their solicitation and based on the terms and conditions of the RFP, prepare a proposal that you can submit for the next round of funding or if that passes, submit for the following year.

At a minimum,1 your proposal should include: an Abstract, a Budget Narrative, a Program Narrative, a Staff and Management Plan, a Timeline, Appendices (with charts and tables) and the References

You don’t need to worry about assurances, Human Subjects approval(s), letters of support or CV’s because you can get those later. However, for now, you just need to locate an appropriate funding agency and write the first draft. You can take care of the rest of the paperwork after you have been given the go-ahead from your Chair (or, in this case, the Project Athena Instructor) that it is okay to proceed with the submission process. As well, after the course is over, you may want to work with other researcher(s) to collaborate with you to finish the proposal and submit it for funding.

As part of this assignment, you will be judged on how well you meet the requirements of the RFP. (In order to judge how well you have complied with the terms and conditions of the grant, you will need to submit a copy of the RFP as part of your final draft). For example, if the RFP states that the section for the Program Narrative cannot exceed 15 pages, and you submit a proposal that has 15 ½ pages for the Program Narrative, you will be penalized. However, please note that in the real world, if your proposal exceeds the page limit, it would be automatically rejected. Likewise, you will be evaluated according to the criteria set out in the RFP, If there are none stated, your evaluator will read your proposal to determine: (i) level of significance, (ii) type of approach, (iii) degree of innovation, (iv) experience of the investigator, and (iv) adequacy of the environment.

1 Note: the actual format, length and requirements for the finished document will depend on the requirements stipulated in the RFP you are responding to, for your proposal.