Effective Proposal Writing

Proposal Writing
Workshop
Jose Sepulveda, PhD., MBA
Jose Sepulveda PhD. MBA
https://www.slideshare.net/PepeSepulveda1

About
• Jose Sepulveda
• PhD. Physics
• MBA
• Reviewer Singapore MOE, NRF,
• Senior Manager at NUS TTO
• PI of more than 20 projects
• More than 20 consulting projects
• Proposal writing instructor

About the workshop
• The goal of this workshop is to develop your
understanding of the proposal writing process.
• Identify the right call
• Understand the reader’s (reviewer) needs
• Create a flow with easy to understand language
• Learn to write in a persuasive manner adapting to
the type of reader

What is a proposal?
Unit 1

What is a proposal?
• What are the key functions of a proposal?
Pair activity – Work with a colleague and identify the words that better suit what a
proposal is
Sell, review, advertise, inform, reduce, impact,
explain, describe, identify, convince, market, present
idea, avoid, document, gather information, offer,
persuade, solve a problem, understand

key elements
• What are the key elements of a proposal?
• What information is needed?
• How do we organize information to be clear and
impactful?
• Identify the key information in a proposal

Definition
• In groups write a definition of proposal

Definitions
• A proposal is a well presented and clearly written document that
persuades and convinces its audience of the needs and benefits
of a project
• A proposal is a document that describes a problem and a solution
with the purpose of persuading a funding body to fund a project
• A proposal is a persuasive document that identifies work to be
done, explains the need for the work and persuades the reviewer
that the proposers and their plan can achieve those results
• A proposal defines a clear problem and approach to solve it,
highlights its originality and significance explaining its differences
with exiting solutions, to persuade a funding body to get funds
• Definition NSF
‘A good idea, well expressed, with a clear indication of methods for
pursuing the idea, evaluating the findings, making them known to all who
need to know, and indicating the broader impacts of the activity’

Key issues
• Identify problem, and propose a solution
• Explain relevance of problem, and advantages of
solution
• Persuade that plan + technical approach + team +
resources needed, are the right combination
• What will happen after the problem is solved what
impact will it have

Funding:
Identify and Adapt
Unit 2

Identifying funding opportunities
• Funding depends on:
• Your long term research plan
• The grants available
• How to marry both?

Types of Funders
• Independent Funds: A non-profit fund
• Government Funds:
• Corporate Funding
• International Funds

Types of funding
• Call for proposals
• Open call for proposals
• Awards and competitions
• Approaching an organization to seek for funds

Matching the need with the
opportunity
• The first step is to find the right funding source for
our idea
• Search in the right places
• Know relevant agencies
• Learn grant cycles grants follow a cycle plan ahead
so you can prepare with time

Where to look
• Talk to the university office of research, the
technology transfer office or the library
• Talk to colleagues to find new sources of funding
• Consider internal (university) and external sources
of funding
• Search in grant databases national and
international sources

Funding bodies analysis
• What are the priorities of the funding body?
• What is the focus of the funding? What are the
goals of the grant?
• Who is the person of contact for information
assistance, guidance or advice?
• How are the proposals reviewed? What are the
criteria?
• Sample proposals, templates and lists of previously
awarded projects

Activity
• Activity make a list of funders in Thailand
• Adapting to funding opportunities - Activity
priorities of the funding agency

Transform your idea to count
• Clear idea + Clear advantage
• Explore different ways of presenting your idea
• Find the most exciting, way from the funders
perspective
• Present it in a clear way showing the advantages for
the funding agency
• What is the main characteristic that makes your
idea different and it’s an advantage for the funding
agency

Match idea-agency
• Know the funding agency what are their needs,
their interests, their inclinations
• How can your idea fit in their mission, how can you
be useful for them
• What has the agency funded in the past. If possible
get proposals of past funded projects

Model proposal
• Find successful proposals and choose a couple to
create a model
• You can find several and pick and choose different
sections to create your own model
• Analyze the successful proposals
• Take notes to create your own flow and template

Action item
• Write the names of people that have been funded
• Ask them if they could share their proposal
• Find the website of several funding agencies and
get the information

Writing methods
Unit 3

Power writing process
P - Plan
O - Organize
W - Write
E - Edit
R - Revise

Plan
• Plan with enough time and evaluate if the proposal can
be written with the time available
• Start early
• Asses the time that you will need to get all the
elements needed (letters of support, permissions,
ethics approvals…)
• Does it fit with your schedule. When you get the grant
you will have to start the work
• Can you reapply?
• Can you do some pre-grant work or get a smaller grant
to pursue a bigger one in the future

Organize
• Gather all the materials
• Identify all the partners and negotiate work
allocation and IP sharing
• Identify industry partners
• Get feedback from people in the field before you
start writing the full proposal
• Get information about the agency and the review
process

Write
• Start writing a good one page proposal. This will be
used as scaffold for the whole proposal
• Give this one page to colleagues to get feedback
• You will get insights to improve the proposal
• Make sure that your idea is original
• Polish and optimize the idea
• Create a systemic map of the cohesive idea of the
proposal including the relationship of all the
elements

Edit - Review
• Edit constantly
• Review and get colleagues to give you their opinion
and comments. If they find it unclear don’t argue
with them, they are right. You won’t have the
opportunity to argue with the reviewer

6Cs
• Complete - the writing should include all information
needed
• Coherent - the document is logically organized, has
good information flow, makes sense
• Concise - The document goes straight to the point with
out wasting time
• Clear - The document is easy to understand, uses
simple language, avoids jargon
• Correct - There are no grammar or spelling errors. The
punctuation is clear and the vocabulary is adequate
• Courteous - Uses modern vocabulary. Positive
language. Personal tone

What makes a proposal successful?
• Prepare with plenty of time
• Know the funding sponsor (priorities, interests, goals,…)
• Project matches the funding call
• Project aligns with the funding body priorities and goals
• Written to make the reviewers work easier
• Written in an interesting way, attracting the reviewer’s attention
• Written in a clear, well organized and engaging way
• Clear focus, elements are clear and easy to understand
• Follows the guidelines, instructions, templates…
• The proposal has been sent around for previous reviewing
• The idea is good and advances the field
• Realistic with time-team-budget

Idea – Review Process
Unit 4

Idea
• You start with an idea
• The idea has been polished for some time
• You have received feedback from colleagues
• You have improved the idea and have seen it from
different angles
Why is it not that easy?

Idea
• You need to turn that idea into a wining proposal
• Some ideas are never turned into proposals
• Proposals have a lot of competition
• A good idea is not enough you need to present it in
a persuasive way to convince reviewers

Idea
Turning an idea into a wining proposal needs:
• Systemic thinking
• Attention to detail
• Reckless editing process
Plus an important luck component in the process.

Idea – Review Process
Understand the reviewing process
• The proposal is normally reviewed by 2 or 3 people.
• Proposal review is an elimination process.
• The reviewer is an expert in the general field and
will be familiar with the topic but may not be and
expert in the particular problem.
• The reviewer is very busy and this is extra work

Elimination process
Proposals are eliminated when:
• Never read
• The idea is not strong
• The idea doesn’t fit the call or the agency
• Reviewed with caution
• The idea has been pursued many times and in the proposal it’s not clear how
this time is different
• The project is risky and has low chances of success.
• This type of proposals give a lot of work to the reviewer.
• Reviewed with interest
• The idea is new and clearly explained
• The idea is creative and innovation is plausible
• The idea fits with the agency
• The success is clear
• The proposal is easy to read and gives plenty of background to help the
reviewer make a positive evaluation

Idea - Reviewers perspective
Avoid
• The idea doesn’t fit the call
• The idea is not new or significant
• The idea is not clearly presented
• The proposal doesn’t follow the structure and
guidelines of the call

Structure of the idea
• What is the problem?
• Why does it need to be solved?
• How is it going to be solved?
• Why is this team the best to solve it?
• What will happen when the problem has been
solved?

Activity
• Sketch an idea answering the 5 questions

Reviewer’s interest
• Make your idea interesting and explain it in an easy
to read way
• Show it as new and different from what already
exists
• Present it as strong, feasible and significant

Reviewer’s Perspective
• Help to grab attention with a good title, clear
introduction and clear language for each of the key
points
• Follow the easy to understand background-problem-
solution-team-relevance scheme
• Provide plenty of background information on state of
the art to ease the work of the reviewer.
• Make it easy to read, clear and concise.
• Write in clear language avoiding jargon. Target a non-
expert audience
• Provide as much as possible information on how your
idea is new, better, significant, etc.

Agency’s Perspective
Fine tune your proposal to the funding agency
• Reading previously funded projects may give good hints
on the evaluation process and the preferences of the
funding body
• Show your proposal to colleagues successful in previous
calls
• If possible talk to past reviewers or reviewers on other
grants. They will be able to provide useful information.
• If possible serve as a reviewer for grants, awards,
scholarships

Reviewer’s Filters
• Idea - is the idea new and relevant for the agency
• Distinctive - Are you and your team the only ones that can do this
or could it be done somewhere else by another group
• Experience - can you do what you describe in the proposal (your
knowledge and experience)
• Feasibility - Can the project be done with the resources available
(time, personnel, equipment, funds)
• Plan - Is the plan well designed and conducive to success
• Mission - Does this idea fit with the funding agency’s mission
• Urgency - Does this need to be done? Does it need to be done
now?
• Alignment - Does the success of this project represent a
significant success for the agency

Characteristics of fundable
proposals
• Creativity - does your proposal exhibit creativity of
thought , a distinctive flavor, or unique approach to
a problem?
• Competence - how does your past experience Mae
you a qualified candidate?
• Clarity - a sophisticated proposal should not be
muddled. Is what you are trying to say clear?
• Compelling - Is your plan expressed in a way that is
compelling - eve to those that don’t know you?

Idea as a Web
• The idea is like a web that brings all the needs and
interests of the agency into a system
• Good proposals are very integrated the more
integrated the better

Activity
• Map and filter your idea

The elements of a
proposal
Unit 5

The elements of a proposal
Proposals follow different rules but very similar schemes and structures
• Title
• Executive Summary
• Project background
• Problem statement
• Goals and objectives
• Output and outcomes
• Benefits and beneficiaries
• Proposed methodology (partners, project implementation, activities, risks and
assumptions, means)
• PI/Team/Organization description and qualifications
• Budget
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Sustainability

Activity
• Review and define the main sections of the
proposal

One page proposal
Unit 6

One page proposal
• To start the proposal writing process let’s write an
introduction/summary.
• This may be the only section that the reviewer
reads
• The reviewer will use this section to understand the
project and evaluate if s/he should continue
reading

One page
Paragraphs
1. Situation idea, need, distinctiveness, and
relevance for the agency
2. Objective, research questions addressing the
critical need
3. Significance and importance (specially for the
agency)

1st paragraph
• The goal here is to grab the attention of the reader
• Overstate your point. You can add the exceptions
and conditions later
• Be clear and concise, avoid complex language and
jargon at all costs

1st paragraph
• Explain your project from the perspective of
relevance to the agency
• Highlight what is different from others
• Make it critical and unavoidable for the agency.
Benefits are outstanding
• Create an urge on the reviewer to continue reading
with interest

1st paragraph
• Write in simple and clear language for the non-
expert
• Provide the reviewer with new information
• Explain how your work will close the existing gap
• Explain how your project will be useful for others

2nd paragraph
• What is the objective of your work
• Make all the research questions and sub-questions
clear and concise
• Show clear relationships between the need in the
first paragraph and why you and your solution are
perfect for the challenge

3rd Paragraph
• Why is this important?
• Be explicit about significance and importance
• Present facts, data, credible arguments for specific
impact
• It has to be specially significant for the funding
agency
• The funding agency will prioritize projects that are
significant for them

3rd Paragraph
• Explain to the reviewer what to expect at the end
of the project
• Choose the results that you want to highlight
• The impact has to be specific and credible, avoid
vagueness
• How will the success of your project impact the rest
of the field?
• What will happen when you finish the work? Who
will care? How will you promote and advertise?

3rd Paragraph
• Be specific about the contribution of your project
to the field
• Explain how will you disseminate your results
• Reports, papers, workshops, conferences, popular
publications, courses

Title
Unit 7

The title
• The title of the proposal is the first contact with the
reviewer
• This is the first step to get your proposal reviewed
with interest
• A title should produce a visual image of the project
• Make it free of jargon an easy to read
An effective title will get the reader’s interest and
predispose him/her favorably

Elements of the title
ISAIE
• I- innovation
• S - Significance
• A - approach
• I - Investigator
• E – Environment
The title has to sell the grant
The more you can use ISAIE in the title the better

Innovative
• Use the title to highlight your innovative idea.
• Present your problem and the way that you are
going to solve it

Significance
• Two levels of significance
• 1. Significance of the problem
• 2. Significance of the solution
• Is the problem important?
• What will be the impact of the solution?
• The project has succeeded, so what?
• Short term significance
• Long term significance
• The scope of the project has to expand
• Short term solution
• Long term solution
• Solution that leads to a new solution
• What is the significance of each specific item
• Think long term and make the grant a stepping stone for other grants

Approach
• How are you going to solve the problem?
• The novelty of the approach is going be more
visible than the methodology underneath it
• The approach has to be new, exciting, revolutionary

Investigator
• Investigator and team
• Networks
• Capabilities and resources

Environment
• Is this the right time and place to come out with
this solution?
• Is there a use or a market for that solution?
• Is the project ready for follow up?
• Is there a strategy to continue?

Abstract – Executive
Summary
Unit 8

Executive summary or abstract
• Together with the title this is the most important
part of the proposal.
• The reviewer will get a general idea and decide how
to treat the proposal (read with interest or toss
away)
• Explain your question or claim in simple words

Abstract - Problem
• The problem is critical and will be solved by this project
• The problem must be real
• The problem has to be interesting
• It has to be acute and urgent
• Establish the background to the problem
• What is happening in the world that needs a solution
• The problem must be in line with the funding call or
with the agency
• Include all knowledge even if it’s obvious for the
reviewer

Abstract - Solution
• If other people are trying to solve it, we need to
differentiate (approach, end goal,
• Clearly establish the gap between your solution and others
• Demonstrate that it’s feasible it can be done and how it will
be done and why it can be done
• Significance how the result affects how needed is it how is it
going to impact the world
• When stating the goal divide it into sub-goals and explain
how are they going to be solved
• The team and why is the team the only one that can do this
• Highlight here if your team or approach has something
unique that will make this project possible

Abstract – Academic Importance
• Students will be trained
• Exposure to new techniques and equipment
• Be detailed what will they do
• Hypothesis research question
• Include the hypothesis or several of them
• The problem as part of the academic field

Abstract - IAEI
• I - Investigator, team and partners
• A - approach innovative, new, makes sense
• E - environment the right conditions exist for the
project to happen, be successful and impactful
• I - Innovation it’s innovative, IP can facilitate, some
preliminary work has already been done

Background – Situation
– Literature Review
Unit 9

Background – Situation – Lit. Rev.
• A literature review should be a description of the
field with respect to the problem at hand.
• Make it precise but engaging
• Present the problem as differentiated and crucial
for the field

What is a literature review?
Attributes of critical review (Saunders and Rojon, 2015):
• Identifies and includes the most relevant research to the topic.
• Discusses and evaluates research.
• Identifies recognized experts.
• Contextualizes and justifies your aim(s) and objective(s).
• Consider and discuss research that supports and opposes your
ideas.
• Justifies points made logically with valid evidence.
• Distinguishes between fact and opinion.
• Includes articles that is published since the start of your research.
• References all sources fully.

Reasons for a literature review
• To identify what has already been done;
• To keep current in their field;
• To have a better idea and bigger picture about the research; to
help in the planning and correcting of what needs to be done;
• To state clearly gaps in the literature and problem statements;
• To provide the significance of study and rationale for research;
• To identify research strategies and procedures, and also specific
measurements or scales (self-construct, adopt or adapt);
• To identify underlying and competing theories, build research
framework, and deepen or broaden existing knowledge;
• To ensure relevant variables are not left out;
• To help interpret data and discuss findings from the research.

Literature Review Goals
• Differentiate your idea from the rest
• Show the reviewer that you know what is the latest
in the field
• Reduce the amount of work required by the
reviewer providing rich information and insights on
the state of the art
• Educate the reviewer. Remember that the reviewer
is not an expert on the very specific topic.

Literature review - style
• While in the abstract you write for the non-expert, here
you should write for both generalists and specialists
• Present your idea in an easy to understand way
• The idea must be presented in a clear and simple way.
There shouldn’t be any effort to follow its logic
• Present how your idea will fit in the existing body of
knowledge and how it will contribute to it
• When writing this section think about the easiest way
to explain the idea to a non-expert
• But at the same time without loosing depth

Literature Review - Conciseness
• Select what are the most important things that
have to be known to understand the idea
• Present a short and concise critical review of the
literature relevant to the problem
• The reviewer should get a good general picture of
the problem within the field.
• The reviewer should get a good impression of your
knowledge of the state of the art

Literature Review – Your idea
• How does your proposed research contribute?
• Present your problem as a step forward for the field
and an important step for the progress of other
projects
• Compare your approach with other approaches and
viewpoints in the field and argue the advantages of
your approach
• How will it contribute?
• What will be the outcome

Literature Review
• Back up claims with high quality citations
• Make it easy to read but information rich
• Use diagrams and graphs to explain complex
relationships

Research Plan
Unit 11

Research Plan
• This part of the proposal explains how you will do
the work.
• It’s not glamorous but it will show the reviewer
your plan
• Show a well crafted and precise plan
• Think about the plan not as a list of tasks but as an
explanation of your plan and why is that the best
approach tackle the problem

Research Plan
• The reviewer will examine this section in detail
• There should be no flaws or inconsistencies (time
,work , relation to budget)
• This section explains the quality of the research
• Explains your ability to plan and organize with the
team and the resources

Research Plan - Explanation
• Start with a description of the approach
• What type of study? Quantitative, qualitative,
mixed methods
• How is the experiment designed? Description,
correlation, quasi-experimental, experimental
• Identify the main parameters of the study
dependent and independent variables

Research Plan
• The plan description has to be thorough and
detailed
• Include checkpoints and alternative plans
• The proposal will fail if the plan is vague or unclear

Research Plan - Reviewer
• Think about the reviewer
• The proposal has to be realistic within the
constraints (time, budget, team)
• Check for inconsistencies and flaws
• Follow the line of the project for checking
• Ask friends to review

Research Plan - Advice
• Be precise and provide all the data. Use numbers
and timeframes.
• When possible use diagrams, pictures and
flowcharts
• Be specific and demonstrate that you have all the
elements that you need in place
• Present the idea from a systemic approach, being
careful on dependencies.
• Goals shouldn’t be completely dependent on the
success of other goals

Gantt chart
• Design the proposal to achieve the desired impact.
• A Gantt Chart should include:
• List of major deliverables, if applicable;
• List of major milestones, if applicable;
• Secondments, if applicable.

PI – Qualifications –
Researchers -Team
Unit 12

Team
• A project will be done by a team this team has to be
strong and trust will be given someone that is trusted
by a strong team
• Get the team together - PI, Co-PI, Researchers, IP
Providers, Partners, Industry
• A good project will have a strong PI
• Trusted by other researchers, partners and industry
• Having a good team is a signal of trust to the PI
• In the CV of the PI this should be highlighted
• A good PI has experience leading projects, good social
skills, passion and commitment for the team

Team - Advice
• A funding agency will favor a project with a strong Co-
PI.
• A strong proposal will have already identified a group
of researchers
• IP matters:
• Who is going to provide the IP is it in-house or external?
• Will there be any conflicts of interest (IP)
• Who is going to handle the administrative part of IP? Who
will own it? Who will commercialize it?
• Who is is good collaborator?
• We have worked in the past (published together).
• There is trust

Team - Advice
• Both have the resources and time that complement
• There is no conflict of interest, both parties can use
the work but not overlap
• There are benefits for all the partners so the
interest is justified What’s in it for them?
• Explain clearly the collaboration. What is expected
from the partners? And when? What will be the
benefits for partners? How will the collaboration IP
work? Clear description of how it will work

Team - Beyond
• Does the project have partners?
• Does the project have industry backup?

Budget
Unit 13

Budget
• The budget is the very reason of the proposal and
requires careful attention
• Design your budget from the funders perspective.
What are the goals of the funder (create jobs,
advance science, build the institutions
equipment…)
• Many reviewers start their review with the budget.
If the budget is logical it should tell how well
planned is the project

Budget
• Prepare a reasonable and accurate budget based
on the understanding of the funding agency
• Make the budget logical and easy to understand
• Explain clearly all the costs (travel, equipment,
supplies, salaries, …)
• If possible offer a budget explanation and schedule.
• Give more details if necessary. When and where
the funds will be allocated and why

Budget as planning
• A well planned budget is a demonstration of a well
planned project
• The budget shows how the plan will be
implemented in time, and reflects on good
management
• There may be a need for justification and
estimation of the costs especially for expensive
equipment

Budget - Realistic
• Questions to ask of your budget
• Is it necessary to complete the project? If there are
items that are just for the benefit of the team or PI, it
will show
• Is this item permitted in the guidelines? The proposal
should strictly follow the call guidelines
• Is this item reasonable? Or is it a luxury, think about the
budget as if it was your our money invested
• Is the budget enough and is it complete to accomplish
the project? If the budget is not enough or misses
items that are important for the project it will look that
it hasn’t been well planned

Budget - Checklist
• Make sure that the budget reflects that
• The budget is a reflection of the research plan a kind of
road map of the expenses needed to accomplish the
research
• Is based on real market costs not higher or lower
• Follows the guidelines and follows the proposed plan of
action
• It is sufficiently explained and there is justification for
the need of each item
• The budget is enough to finish the project successfully

Moving forward
• What do you want to fund?
• Where can you find funding?
• Who can be part of your support network?
• What related skills do you have?
• What’s your next step?

Effective Proposal Writing

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