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Proposal Writing
Developing a competitive proposal requires more than a strong idea. This page provides
guidance, tools, and best practices to help UToledo researchers craft clear, compelling,
and sponsor-aligned proposals, from initial planning through final submission.
Note: Agency and funding opportunity requirements and deadlines may change from year to year. The resources below are not a substitute for official agency guidance. Always consult the relevant solicitation/funding opportunity announcement for the most up-to-date requirements.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG): The NSF publication containing instructions on preparing and submitting proposals.
- Merit Review Principles and Criteria: This section of the PAPPG describes the review criteria (Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts) the NSF uses to review all proposals, along with general information about NSF guiding principles for proposal review.
- NSF Tips on How to Work with a Program Officer
- Broader Impacts Wizard: A tool for writing an effective Broader Impacts statement by following a five-step process. Hosted by ARIS and Rutgers University and supported by the NSF.
- NSF Grant Reviewer Tells All
- A Guide to NSF Success
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- General Grant Writing Tips
- NIH Review Criteria at a Glance
- RePORTER: A database of projects funded by the NIH and its centers and institutes, searchable by mechanism, agency/institute/center, PI, and other criteria.
- Sample Applications
- Data Management and Sharing Plan
- R-Series "Cheat Sheets:" Quick guides with an overview of key information about NIH R-series grant proposals. These documents are not substitutes for the full instructions provided in the SF424(R&R) or individual FOAs.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- NASA For Researchers Overview page: Also known as the Service and Advice for Research and Analysis (SARA) site, this page is NASA’s main source of information for prospective grant applicants. The How-To Guide and Library and Useful Links are particularly helpful.
- NASA Proposal Essentials (UC Boulder): A step-by-step guide to preparing a NASA grant proposal from the University of Colorado Boulder.
- AAS Hints on Preparing Research Proposals: Tips gathered by the American Astronomical Society from various presentations. Specific information on application procedures may be out of date (source presentations date from the 1990s), but general advice is sound.
- Insights into NASA Grant Research Funding: A 2018 blog post from Mendeley that provides an overview of the different types of NASA funding opportunities available.
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
- Division of Research Programs: Information about the NEH division that supports scholarly research. Includes the Fellowships program, the Summer Stipend program, and others.
- Grants Search: Search NEH funding opportunities, with options to filter by applicant type, availability, and division/office.
- Information for First-time Applicants
- NEH’s Application Review Process
- How to Get a Grant from NEH: A 2008 feature from the NEH’s Humanities Magazine with advice on preparing a grant application.
- Sample Grant Application Narratives: A library of narrative sections of successful proposals, organized by division and grant type.
SciENcv
A tool that automatically generates an NSF or NIH Biosketch and Current and Pending Support document that meets agency formatting requirements.
Requires creation of a unique ORCID. A Quick Guide to getting set up in SciENcv is available here (from Colorado State University.)
Grant development staff can assist you in setting up these accounts.
Additional Resources
- Guide For Writing a Funding Proposal, S. Joseph Levine: A list of general tips for proposal writing organized by common types of application sections, including an example proposal.
- The Art of Grantsmanship, Jacob Kraicer, U Toronto/HFSP: An older, but still popular, proposal writing guide, including suggested timelines. Uses vocabulary characteristic of NIH proposals, but advice is applicable to proposals to other agencies.
- The Proposal Writer’s Guide, University of Michigan: A well-written general guide; addresses common section types with greater specificity than other guides. Includes old but still-relevant data on reasons why proposals are rejected.
- The Anatomy of a Specific Aims Page, Bioscience Writers: A detailed breakdown of how to structure a Specific Aims section in an NIH application, but the advice on general argumentative structure is also useful for other types of proposals.
- Scientific Editing and Writing Article Library, Bioscience Writers: A free online resource focused on scientific writing. Includes multiple articles on fine-tuning/editing scientific articles, proposals, and manuscripts; writing CVs, resumes, cover letters, and abstracts; and guidelines for formatting and including scientific jargon/vocabulary, among other helpful links.
- “Debunking Some Myths About Grant Writing,” Kenneth T. Henson, the Chronicle of Higher Education
- “The Science of Scientific Writing,” George Gopen and Judith Swan, American Scientist — a highly detailed treatment of style and sentence structure in scientific writing, focused on maximizing clarity when communicating complex technical ideas.
- Science Magazine’s “Grant Writing for Tight Times” goes beyond grant-writing basics to offer guidance from grant writers, grant reviewers, and agency program officers.
- Getting to the Top of a Big Pile
For sample grant proposals contact GrantDevelopment@UToledo.edu.