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Forms ~ Cover Page ~ Budget Form Description Regardless of the professional field you pursue post-graduation, whether in academia, non-profit research, industry, land management, environmental education, or government, you may have to write or critique a number of grant proposals. The purpose of this exercise is to give you some experience in this realm and to continue to improve your writing skills. In order to write a successful grant application, it will be necessary to conduct a thorough search of the literature, which should further your ornithological education (and this, of course, is critical … to me). At the end of the semester you will be required to give an 8-minute “pitch” of your idea to the class. Your ability to convey and argue ideas both on paper and orally will likely play a large role in your vocational success regardless of the specific field. You will be expected to develop a research question concerning any aspect of ornithology. Basically, this means you can develop any question that uses birds as the primary study organism in the fields of ecology, physiology, demography, conservation biology, ethology, endocrinology, developmental biology, biogeography, genetics, comparative biology, neurology, or some other related field. Questions that incorporate other groups of organisms are acceptable, but it must have a strong avian component. You are then expected to design an experiment or observational/correlative study with proper controls and tests to answer the question. You are welcomed to use research questions that you may already be pursuing as part of an undergraduate thesis or independent study. You will then write a grant to an organization of your choice. You may make up an organization if you’d like. You will be required to provide the mission statement of the organization you choose so that your proposal can be evaluated for ‘fit’. I haven’t specified an organization because I do not want to limit your question to one that has conservation/theoretical/management/educational application. The proposal must conform to the following format:
All components should be written using Microsoft-Word-compatible software. Text should be in twelve-point, Times New Roman font, single-spaced, with 1” margins on all sides. All submissions should be e-mailed directly to me at olsen@vt.edu by 5pm on the day indicated. The final grade will be an average of the two drafts. If you are satisfied with the grade you received on the first draft, you do not have to submit a second draft. Each section should meet the requirements listed below: Cover Page The form for the cover page can be found on the website and should include the following information: project title, granting agency, granting agency’s mission statement, principal investigator’s (PI’s - you) name, co-PI’s names (if any), mailing address, e-mail, institutional affiliation (Dept and VA Tech), start and end dates of study (if project includes both laboratory and field work please indicate dates for both), amount requested from agency, study species, and field site(s) (if any). The abstract should provide a third person summation of the objectives, justification, and description of the project with a minimum of scientific jargon. Consider this as the sound-byte that can be fed to legislators (if a federal/state agency) or members (if a non-profit organization) to explain where their tax dollars/membership dues went. You don’t want to be labeled as pork barrel! This is the meat of the proposal. You should describe the scientific justifications for your study plus a background description of similar or related work done to date. Why are your objectives important? How will your objectives answer the problem you address? How will your work advance the field? Why is this study the next logical step in its field? This should
be a concise description of what specific
research goals you expect to meet. Do
not include goals to which your project can be applied or goals that
your
project helps reach. List or narrative
formats are both acceptable. Describe the methodology in detail. Where will the study be conducted? How will the study be designed? How will it be executed? What proper controls will be implemented? Justify how your methodology will help answer your research question and meet your research objectives. Why weren’t alternative methodologies used? What type of data will you gather? How will you analyze it (generally, I don’t need in depth descriptions of statistics here)? Justification & Expected Impact Why is your research question of interest to your funding agency? How does it advance the goals of your agency? How will the outcome of your project impact the area your agency is concerned with and the scientific community in general? What further research questions or policy questions will be addressable after the completion of this study? Budget The budget should follow the form and include no more than one additional page of justification (described in more detail on the form). Literature Cited You should have a minimum of 15 sources. Unless the nature of your project justifies otherwise (speak to me if you have questions), all sources should be from peer-reviewed journals, theses/dissertations, or official agency reports. See me if you encounter problems in your literature search. Citations should follow the format in the Auk. See section IV of the Auk’s “instructions to authors” for more details (http://www.aou.org/auk/authors.php3). In-text citations should follow the format listed in section I. Résumé The résumé should be tailored to show your relevant experience to this project (loosely defined). Write it as though you are applying for a job to work on the project you are proposing (because, in essence, you are). Don’t make things up; it’s okay if you aren’t qualified. Good things to list are relevant classes, research projects you’ve conducted in class or out of class, field skills you’ve gained through courses or summer programs, internships, scholarships, Wildlife Society or related club memberships, etc. Don’t list the job you had at Hardee’s, Dietrick’s, or Kroger unless you were a supervisor. Entree level positions that aren’t relevant to this position should not be included. Although résumés are often a requirement of grant application, the reason I’m asking for this is to have you write a resume that you may use later if you haven’t already done so. |