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The Art of Funding and Implementing Ideas
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The Art of Funding and Implementing Ideas
A Guide to Proposal Development and Project Management



April 2010 | 112 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

 Takes the reader to a new level in proposal writing 


"The authors have captured the gestalt of grant writing in a lucid fashion. In short, I think students would appreciate the clarity and insights this book offers."
—Robert J. Hard, University of Texas at San Antonio

"As a research scientist who is frequently involved in proposal development myself, it is clear to me that the authors have travelled the grant writer's path before." 
—John V. Stone, Michigan State University

This resource provides a step-by-step approach to turning a research idea into a proposal worthy of funding, demystifying the process as a result. The authors present a proven approach to the development of research ideas alongside a systematic treatment of proposals section-by-section and project management function-by-function. Highly accessible, this book gives examples for each aspect of the proposal development and works through sketches of ideas to fully developed proposal sections.

Key Features

  • Contains idea development linked to specific proposal sections: Supports creativity that can be captured effectively and systematically one step at a time.
  • Uses sketches to facilitate idea development and make enhancement and revisions easy: Allows for ease in trying out alternative formulations and revising preliminary approaches.
  • Provides international research proposals: Key to understanding resources for proposing international research collaborations.
  • Shows how to manage a funded project: Guides researchers and research staff in effectively implementing a funded project.

This book is appropriate for all graduate students across the health, social, and behavioral sciences who need guidance on writing successful, compelling funding proposals. 


 
Preface
Acknowledgments

 
 
About the Authors
 
1. Introduction
The Purpose of the Book

 
The Logic of Our Approach

 
Demystifying Proposal Development

 
An Aside

 
The Key Role of Ideas

 
 
2. Idea Development
The Purposes of Ideas

 
Idea Gestation

 
An Aside

 
Written Sketches

 
Knowledge-Oriented Alternatives

 
Science of Preservation

 
Alternative Cost Sketch

 
A Budgetary Aside

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
3. Funding
Describing Your Project

 
Searching Funding Databases

 
Making Use of Initial Database Search Results

 
An Aside

 
Productive Exchanges With Program Officers

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
4. Proposals
Proposal Sections

 
An Aside

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
5. Managing a Funded Project
Managing a Project

 
The Proposal and the Project

 
An Aside: Learning and Coping Strategies

 
Why Include Project Management?

 
The PI/PD as CEO

 
Successfully Concluding a Project: Managing Multiple Directions

 
An Asie: Responsible Conduct of Research

 
Chapter Summary

 
 
6. Looking Backward and Forward
The Major Assumptions We Incurred

 
International Research and Its Support Structures

 
Conclusion

 
 
Recommended Resources and Selected Bibliography
 
Index

"This book will be of significant value to quite a few doctoral students and faculty members, especially in the arts, humanities, the less experimental social sciences and related professional schools."

Robert P. Lowman
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The book did not offer enough practical exercises and field examples to support class structure.

Dr Lason Hines
School Of Architecture, Prairie View A & M University
October 13, 2012

This text is too heavily focused on the hard sciences. I would like to see a similar text for Arts and Humanities researchers.

Dr Antonio Cuyler
Arts Management - School of The Arts, Suny College at Purchase
September 26, 2011

Of the books I reviewed on grant writing, this was the most current and the most appropriate for my law and policy class. The focus of the book was broad in scope and was not written just for educators. I will use this with the coley text. I will use a different grant book for my education classes.

Dr Kelly Conn
College of Professional Studies, Northeastern University
April 8, 2011
Key features

A key feature of the book is the generous use of examples to make clear principles and practices at every turn. In some cases (earlier on) we employ a multiplicity of different examples to help demonstrate that no matter the field of inquiry or interest, the approaches put forth in the text will apply. For example, we range from the development of a history course to the development of a "thinking factory" for the preservation of books. Later in the text (on proposal development), we employ the same topical example as we move from one proposal section to the next. Having demonstrated the range of applications early on, we demonstrate the depth of application to flesh out proposal development detail that can easily be generalized to other research topics and domains.

In addition to the varied and extended examples just described, we provide graphic presentations of timetables, budgets, and a letter of intent, all of them art forms in their own right, to help the research practitioner at every stage of project development. Boxes are used in several instances to draw out implications or present a definition. Finally, there are some "asides" to express reflections on a topic.

As teachers, we have found these features of use in engaging students and faculty in supportive ways. For example, we propose supporting promising ideas early in truly kind and considerate ways and slowly bring them to a stage where they can benefit from rigorous review. Both students and faculty appreciate the support and the standards explicit in such an approach.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1 - Introduction


For instructors

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ISBN: 9781452238944

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This title is also available on SAGE Knowledge, the ultimate social sciences online library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.

This title is also available on SAGE Research Methods, the ultimate digital methods library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.