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Applying for Research Funding & Grants

Ahmar Mahboob, University of Sydney

Introduction
Regardless of which stage of our academic careers we might be at, identifying,
applying for and securing research funding is a crucial part of our work. This is
perhaps even truer today than it was in the past. In todays world of economic belttightening and limited budgets, it is crucial to be able to secure funds in order to carry
out our projects. In addition, building a track record of writing successful grant
applications is also a key measure in our professional performance and it can play a
pivotal role in promotion and other applications.
This chapter will help you in identifying some of the key things that you need to
consider in writing a research oriented grant application. It includes an annotated
model of a successful grant application and a checklist that you can use as you
develop your proposal for submission. Given the nature and the purpose of this
chapter, I will not provide a literature review on the topic. Instead, I have provided a
list of resources that you may want to consult at the end of the chapter.

Background
Grant writing is a lengthy process. It starts with searching for and identifying the right
type of grant for your project. As you search and apply for grants, you should be
aware that there are a number of different types of grants and that it is important for
you to select and apply for the one that is most appropriate for your project and
context. There are grants for students, for early career researchers, and for those who
are more advanced in their career. Grants can be categorised based on whether they
are teaching oriented or research oriented. There are grants that are available locally
from ones Department, or Faculty, or University; there are grants that are offered
by private organisations, communities, trusts, and corporations; and there are grants
that are offered by various governmental organisations. Each grant has a specific set
of guidelines and eligibility criteria (including, in some cases, citizenship status). You
need to find grants that best suit your project needs and profile.
Once you have identified a potential grant, look at the list of projects that the funding
agency has supported in the past. This will help you in gauging whether this is the
right funding option for you. You should then look at any forms or guidelines that are
available and take notes on the kind of information that you will need to complete this
application. You should also check to see if the funding agency has provided any
sample proposals. If they have, do read these carefully and pay special attention to
what information is included in the model, how the application is structured, and what
language is used in the different parts of the application. Then, when you are drafting
your application, adopt a similar style and language.
If you identify multiple potential grants for your project, you should consider
applying for more than one grant. This increases the chances of you to secure funding
for your project, in case your preferred source for the grant does not work out. Of
Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.


course, in doing so, you do need to make sure that you qualify for the grant on offer,
have modified your grant application to suit the particular agency you are applying
for, and that you have provided ALL the information that is requested for each of the
grants. Do remember that while there is no guarantee that a well-drafted application
will be funded, applications that do not meet the guidelines are not considered.
Therefore, read the guidelines very carefully and make sure that you address each of
the requirements in the best way that you can.
Identifying and writing a successful grant application needs considerable time and
will require that you do your homework before you start drafting your application.
You need to take on a structured and organised approach to work on your research
grant application. The following process works reasonably well in most scenarios:

Identify grant and make sure that I am eligible


Take detailed notes about what information is needed and organise these
notes to start drafting
Draft the application
Let the application sit for a few days
Revise and edit the application
Share and discuss the application with a colleague
Revise, proofread, and submit the application

As with most things academic, the more time you invest in doing your preparatory
work, the better the chances of your success. Putting together a quick application is
unlikely to impress the reviewers and is therefore not advisable.

Practical Application
A grant application is a type of persuasive writing you need to be able to persuade
and convince the reviewers and the funding body that your project is worth
supporting. To write a convincing grant application you need to be able to create a
strong case for: why the project needs to be done; what specific issues will you be
addressing; why are you the right person to do it; what type of data will be collected:
how, when, and where; how will the data be analysed; how will ethical issues be
handled; and how will the findings be disseminated.
To convince the grant reviewers about the importance of your project, you need to
show how your project addresses a key gap or an issue in your field. This can be done
by either referring to the current literature on the topic and/or highlighting the
practical implications of the work. When you refer to other peoples work, do
remember that you are referring to their work in order to build a case for your own
project therefore, remember to keep the focus of the proposal on your project and
refer to other work to help you create a niche for your own project. In referring to
other work, you should also be careful in not critiquing it unnecessarily. You never
know who will be reviewing your proposal and you dont want to risk alienating them
by making inappropriate comments.
You will also need to convince the reviewers about your own expertise in the
particular area that you are planning to work on so that they can see why you are the
Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.


right person to do this project this can be done by referring to your own work,
providing details about any relevant training or prior engagement related to the topic
of your project, and/or by including names and contact details of referees.
Your grant proposal needs to include specific details about your research
methodology and analytical framework. In drafting this section, do provide as many
details and specifics as you can. The reviewers need to know that you have thought
your methodology through. In looking at this section of your grant application, the
reviewers are keen to gauge whether the nature and amount of data that you will
collect will be appropriate to meet your project goals. They will also consider if the
analytical tools that you are planning to adopt are aligned with the data collected and
the research questions. It is therefore crucial that you have a clear alignment between
your research goals, your methodology, and your analytical framework. Reviewers
will also consider any ethical concerns that may pertain to your research
methodology. Furthermore, the funding agency may need formal ethics approval from
your institution before the research funding is released. Finally, it is useful to provide
some indications of what you plan to do once you have completed the project: where
will you present and/or publish your finings.
In order to see how the advice given above is realised in an actual grant application, I
have included an annotated model of a successful research grant application that Lia
Kamhi-Stein and I submitted to TIRF in 2003 below. Our TIRF grant application had
six sections: 1) Cover page; 2) Project summary (limited to 250 words); 3) Detailed
proposal (limited to six single spaced pages); 4) Detailed budget (limited to two
pages); 5) Referees for each of us; and 6) CVs of each of us (limited to two pages).
Given space constraints, I will focus on the detailed proposal section of the
application here. In annotating the text below, I will highlight the key things that Lia
and I were trying to achieve in each part of the text. In the interest of saving space, I
have replaced some of the actual text with comments in square brackets [ ].

Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.


ANNOTATION
Setting up the project
(background)

Identifying what has


been done

Pointing out what is


missing from current
work

Purpose of the study


Specific purpose of the
project
Defining technical
terms (threshold
hypothesis)

List of questions

Broad description of
methodology

Expected
outcome/benefit of the
project

TEXT
Statement of Research Issues
Over the last few years, there has been a growing interest in issues related to
nonnative English-speaking (NNES) professionals. [More background].
As will be explained in the Theoretical Background section below, research on
NNES professionals has focused on a variety of topics, including the advantages
and disadvantages of being NNES professionals, the perceptions of NNES
professionals about their status in the TESOL field, the self-perceived language
needs of NNES professionals, and NNES professionals and their professional
preparation. However, missing from the literature are investigations designed to
understand the relationship between NNES teachers English language
proficiency and the levels of competence required for effective curriculum
delivery in English.
This study, designed to fill this gap in the literature, is grounded on the premise
that English language proficiency will influence curriculum delivery in English.
The study will investigate the contribution of second language (L2) proficiency
to curriculum delivery in terms of the threshold hypothesis of language
proficiency. The main idea underlying this concept is that teachers will not be
able to teach effectively in English until they have developed a certain level of
proficiency in it, although the threshold level may vary from classroom task to
classroom task and teacher to teacher.
The study is designed to answer the following question: What is the relationship
between NNES teachers level of proficiency in English and their curriculum
delivery in English? Specifically, what is the relationship between the teachers
curriculum delivery in English, when teaching in two classes with different
linguistic demands, and the teachers proficiency in English?
To answer the question, this investigation will rely on a case study approach.
Specifically, the study will focus on selected NNES professionals teaching two
different grade levels in English in two kinds of settings: English as a foreign
language (EFL) and post-colonial settings. The study will integrate qualitative
and quantitative techniques designed to create reliable and detailed case studies.
In turn, it is expected that the case studies will allow the identification of a
threshold level of English language competence required for effective
curriculum delivery in English at different instructional levels.

Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.

Identifying the main


sources of literature

Discussion of key
research on NNESTs

Theoretical Background
This study is informed by research in three areas: NNES professionals, second
language acquisition (SLA), and world Englishes (WE). It is a known fact that
most teachers of English to speakers of other languages around the world are
NNES professionals (Kachru, 1996). However, interest in issues related to these
professionals is only recent.
Initial research on issues related to NNES professionals focused on the
advantages and disadvantages of being NNES professionals (see for example,
[references]).
[Discussion of one area of related research]

Discussion of another
key research on
NNESTs

Relating current
research to project
goals

The self-perceived language needs of NNES professionals is another area of


research that has received attention within the literature. Several studies have
identified pronunciation (see for example, [references]), writing, vocabulary
(including idioms and slang), and cultural knowledge as areas of perceived
difficulty ([references]), and grammar and reading as areas of strength
([references]). However, research in this area has shown that lack of English
proficiency does not have a negative effect on the teachers perceptions about
their instructional practices ([references]).
[Discussion of additional areas of related research; identifying gaps in the
literature; including references to the authors work to indicate their expertise in
the area]

Identifying two ways


in which the proposed
project will fill the gap
in the literature.

The research
methodolgoy includes
a number of subsections

This study will contribute to the literature in two central ways. First, the
proposed study fills a gap in SLA and WE research by looking at the interface
between the language proficiency of instructors teaching in settings where
English is a foreign language and an institutionalized language and the teachers
curriculum delivery in English. Second, while there has been increased interest
in issues related to NNES teachers, missing from the literature is research
designed to assess how NNES teachers language proficiency affects curriculum
delivery
English.
ResearchinMethodology

Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.

Location of study
Rationale for the
selection of these
locations

Setting and Participants


Data for this study will be collected in three countries, Pakistan, S.
Korea, and Argentina. These three countries were selected for two reasons.
First, the countries fall on different ends of the continuum of English language
use and recognition. [Details elaborating this rationale]

Showing why the


researchers are the
right ones to work in
this context

Second, the principal investigators are natives of two of the countries in which
the study will be conducted (and they have English language
teaching/learning/teacher education experiences in all three of these countries).

Specific details about


the participants and
rationale for selecting
them

In each of these countries, three public high schools located in a middle class
neighborhood in a large city will be identified. Moreover, within each school,
two English language instructors, each instructor teaching two grade levels
(preferably 9 and 12) and each instructor having different degrees of
experience--one experienced and the other a novice--will be selected. By
selecting language instructors teaching two different grade levels, with different
linguistic demands, and being at the two ends of the experience spectrum, it will
be possible to develop an in-depth understanding of how curriculum delivery in
English is affected by the teachers English language proficiency. [Additional
details about methodology/rationale]

Specific information
about the nature of
data collected (4 types)
Process of analysing
data

Data Collection and Analysis


The NNES teachers case studies will be developed by collecting data from
different sources. These will include: [List of data to be collected]

Individual teachers case studies will be created by integrating quantitative data


(scores on the essays, the summaries, oral interviews, and the beliefs
inventories) and qualitative data (content analysis of the videotaped lessons, the
essays, and the teachers and the administrators oral interviews). [Details about
the analytical approach, with citations to relevant research]

Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.

Uniqueness of the
project

Benefits of the project


for future research
Practical applications
of the research

Benefit to practitioners

Identifying key
collaborators who are
not part of the project,
but will contribute

Statement of Implications of Research


The findings of this qualitative study, while they are not meant to be
generalized, will have a substantial impact in a number of areas. Research
focusing on the language threshold has been limited to the field of L2 reading.
To the researchers knowledge, this study will be the first one designed to
provide information on the relationship between teachers language proficiency
and their instructional practices. Therefore, the findings will open up a new area
of investigation.
Second, this study will provide much needed baseline data from which future
research studies can draw. It is expected that larger, quantitative studies will be
able to rely on the information provided in this investigation. Third, the results
of this study will contribute to the field of TESOL teacher preparation. TESOL
teacher education programs in the United States do not require their students to
take any language courses. Instead, they use the TOEFL or other standardized
tests to measure prospective students language abilities at the time of
admission and then consider those sufficient for teacher preparation and
language teaching purposes. Therefore, the results of the proposed study will
provide in-depth information that can be used when TESOL MA programs
consider making curricular decisions about the role of language instruction
language TESOL teacher preparation programs. Finally, the results of this study
will help NNES teachers develop a better understanding of how language
proficiency affects their instructional practices. Therefore, teachers and
prospective teachers may use the findings to focus on their own language skills.
Role and Expertise of all Consultants
This investigation will be conducted in three different countries. While the two
principal investigators were born and raised in Argentina and Pakistan
respectively, two of the countries where the study will be conducted, they will
rely on consultants who reside in the three countries where the study will be
conducted.
[Names and details about the consultants]

Stating that agreement


with the consultants is
in place

All of the consultants have agreed to provide local assistance as needed.

Details about the role


and contribution of the
consultants
Detailed timeline of
the project

Specifically, they will help in the identification of the schools and the teachers
and in the data collection process. Additionally, XXX will provide Korean
language assistance as needed. As needed, they will also provide staff support.
Timetable
[Schedule of activities]

Identifying how the


findings of the project
will be disseminated

Plans for Dissemination


Plans for dissemination include (a) presentations at professional conferences
such as XXX; (b) manuscripts to be submitted to XXX, (c) a book proposal to
be submitted to potential publishers. [Details about the projected outcomes]

Specifying how
research ethics will be
maintained

Brief Explanation of how principles of research ethics will be upheld


Principles of research ethics will be upheld by adhering to ethical and legal
standards as outlined by TESOL Quarterly. Specifically, informed consent will
be obtained from all participants. [Details about what information will be
included in the informed consent forms]

The annotated proposal shows how a successful grant proposal was structured, how it
used references to current research to create a niche for the proposed project and then
filled this niche by setting up a unique project. Throughout the text, the authors used
formal language; they were careful about explaining terms and concepts that were
Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.


unique to their project; and they kept referring to how their own personal and
professional contexts would aid this study.
In looking at the annotated proposal, you will notice that the introductory section of
the grant application served a number of purposes: it introduced the topic, provided
background information, referred to some key literature and identified a gap in this
literature, stated the purpose of the project, listed the key research questions,
introduced the methodology, and outlined some of the benefits of the project. These
are quite a few things for an introductory section to be doing and they are all quite
essential. Developing a strong introduction helps the reviewer to get a broad picture
of what is being proposed, why, and how it will be done. This prepares them to go
further into the text where they will be given additional information about each of
these aspects. This allows the reviewer to be able to predict what they will read later
on and satisfies them once that information is provided. By doing this, the authors
increase their chances that the reviewers, who may or may not be from their discipline
(and who are definitely pressed for time), will understand what the project is and why
it is important.

Conclusion
This chapter provided a number of suggestions about how to write a research grant
application. Below, I am including a checklist based on the various aspects that were
discussed in this chapter. You may want to use this checklist as you draft and submit
your research applications.
Do I meet the eligibility criteria for the grant?
Does this grant fund projects like mine?
Have I provided all the details that they ask for?
Have I looked at sample applications for this grant, if available?
Have I used clear, formal and field specific language in my proposal?
Have I identified a unique gap in the area that my project will address?
Have I shown the theoretical and/or practical benefits of my project?
Are my references current?
Have I stressed the main points of the project?
Have I described the research methodology in detail?
Have I discussed the analytical approach that I will use to analyse the data?
Have I identified how ethical issues will be handled?
Have I articulated why I am the best person to work on this project?
Have I shared my application with a colleague and received feedback?
Have I proofread and edited my proposal?
Finally, in concluding, we need to remember that writing a successful grant
application takes time. A good grant application satisfies the what, why, who, how,
when, and where questions about the proposed project in sufficient detail. It needs to
convince the reviewers that the proposed project is indeed one that needs to be carried
out and that the authors of the proposal are the most suitable ones to be carrying it
out. In doing this, the authors of the grant need to use appropriate formal and field
specific language. Their linguistic choices should reflect confidence and expertise.
They should also not be afraid of using some technical language, but be sure to define
Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.


any special terms to the reviewers as the reviewers may or may not share the
authors sub-speciality. To achieve the right balance between the technical aspects
and the tenor of the application requires some effort and it is not uncommon for a
good proposal to go through a number of drafts. It takes time to draft and edit a good
proposal and this is time worth investing.
Good luck!

Discussion questions
1. What are some of the things that you need to look for as you search for a funding
opportunity?
2. What information should you include in the introductory section of your grant
proposal?
3. What are some of the key things that you need to consider in writing up your
research methodology?
4. What tenor should you use in drafting your grant proposal?
5. Why is it important to let your grant application sit for a while before revising it?

Reading list
Given the nature of this chapter, I have not included any in-text references. Below, I
will list a few selected references that I found useful in my own work.
Aldridge, Jacqueline, & Andrew M. Derrington (2012). The research funding toolkit.
London: Sage Publications.
Bonnici, Lisa (2008). A Guide to Applying for Funding for Research, Travel, and
Language Study for Linguistics Graduate Students. <
http://linguistics.ucdavis.edu/pics-andpdfs/Funding%20Guide%20for%20Research,%20Travel,%20Lg%20Study%20Revis
ed.pdf>
Clarke, Cherly (2007). Grant proposal makeover: Transform your request from no to
yet. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Harris, Dianne (2007) The complete guide to writing effective and award-winning
grants. Ocala, FL: Atlantic Publishers.
Kenneth, Henson T., (2004). Grant writing in higher education: A step-by-step guide.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Przeworski, Adam, & Frank Salomon (1995). The Art of Writing Proposals: Some
Candid Suggestions for Applicants to Social Science Research Council
Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.


Competitions. <http://fellowships.ssrc.org/art_of_writing_proposals/>
Chapin, Paul G. (2004). Research projects and research proposals: A guide for
scientists seeking funding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Locke, Lawrence F., Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, & Stephen J. Silverman (2007).
Proposals that work: A guide for planning dissertations and grant proposals. 5th ed.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Mahboob,A.(inpress).Applyingforresearchfunding.InJamesD.Brown&ChristineCoombe
(Eds.)TheCambridgeGuidetoLanguageResearch.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.

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