Success in grant writing continues to gain importance in the economy of the academic research institution. Expectations for knowing how to write grants crosses all disciplines and ranks have become requirements in many areas and to some grants represent the lifeblood of an ongoing research program. Thus, the pages and links contained within Grant Writers' Tools represent a cross-section of what experts, agency program officers, foundation staff, and others with grant writing experience have to say on gaining advantage in the highly competitive and charged environment of the grant writer.

If a novice, it makes sense to learn and understand the meanings of the vocabulary being used in grant guidelines or to access a Glossary of terms. Some sponsor guidelines provide a Glossary of terms unique to the sponsor - NIH does this in its Application Kit.

Preparing Proposals - Essentials for Getting Ready to Write

Veterans of grant writing often state that taking the time to "prepare to write" the grant makes the actual writing of it easier and the end result more successful. This section provides novice and veteran grant writers with ideas on what is important to any grantwriter at the beginning of the grantwriting process.

The old adage "learning by doing" certainly applies to the best means for an individual to learn how to write a grant proposal. Yet, numerous books and how to listings and guides offer insights to novice grant writers and even those with experience. Much like texts on Writing Resumes, a wide variety of texts exist on Writing Grants. Thus, a sample of Writing Guides from Multiple Perspectives have been gathered for those seeking some guidance when preparing a proposal whether it be for the first or for the hundreth time.

Central Michigan University has provided a link to a very useful Self-Evaluation tool for individuals preparing grant applications entitled GrantSAT . This tool allows you to review what you have done in relation to what the sponsor is seeking utilizing a quantitative scoring system to provide you with a better understanding of what you need to do to improve your proposal before finalizing and submitting it.

Learning by Seeing - Sample Proposals

Most novice writers or experienced grant writers working in a new area seek out copies of proposals that have been successful with a particular sponsor. Some federal agencies like the U.S. Department of Education may make winning proposals available if you visit the office in Washington, D.C. or provide grant workshop participants with a copy of a successful proposal to aid new writers in understanding how the agency means or expects its proposals to be prepared for successful results.

Regardless of how comprehensive a text is on writing grants successfully, other ideas, suggestions, insights, or formulas continue to pop up as you look further into grant writing. Grant Miscellany represents a compilation of this type of information.

Index of Commonly Used Acronyms (PDF)

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