The reviewer's view of your proposal

W hat makes the difference between success and failure in writing a grant pro-posal? A summary of comments from a recent National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education review panel indicated four problem areas in proposals: (1) justification of the proposed project, (2) definition of a focused project, (3) specification of an evaluation plan, and (4) specification of a dissemination plan. Interestingly, this is not a new problem; articles published in the 1960s about the proposal review process identified similar weaknesses. Since proposal writing is an arduous task and one from which most of us would like to rea. .. .. .. to reflect on how to address probl our proposals. The lack of justification for a project can easily be remedied by including a review of the related literature. Citations from a few judiciously selected sources help to convince the reviewer that the writer knows what previous work has been done in the area and how the proposed project addresses a need or extends the work of others. A review of the literature also serves to identify whether the proposed project is innovative or addresses an area that has received insufficient attention. The lack of focus in a proposal reflects the need to state the goals and objectives for the proposed project explicitly. Goals and objectives should answer the question, "What are the products and outcomes of the project?" Reviewers like specific, concrete objectives that appear to be attainable. A list of objectives stated as behavioral outcomes, hypotheses, or questions to be answered helps identify the scope of the project and satisfy the reviewer. Goals and objectives are extremely important; they should be used as the foundation for describing the procedures to be followed in the project and the methods used to evaluate it. Evaluation strategies should include the data to be collected and the procedures for collection and analysis. They should provide the basis for verifying whether or not each of the goals and objectives has been met. The goal of evaluation is to find answers to questions such as "How do I verify that the project met its objectives?", "How do I verify that the products of the project were successful?", and "How do I verify that participants learned what I expected?". One of the obligations incurred by the funding of a proposal is dissemination. Successful proposals specify how the results of the project will be disseminated …