Proposals, Project Summary

Excerpt flD, from the REP for the NSF Collaborative Research in Chemistry (CRC) Grant, begins with a description of the program, which identifies the purpose of the grant and eligibility requirements. That description is followed by Full Proposal Instructions, which provide step-by-step guidance for writing three major divisions of the proposal Project Summary, Project Description, and References Cited. Read excerpt IID and answer questions a-h. 

The Project Summary is the first of three major divisions of the proposal Project Summary, Project Description, References Cited. 

With these guidelines in mind, consider an excerpt from Aga s CAREER proposal Project Summary (excerpt 15C). The excerpt summarizes the research component of the proposed work, thereby addressing the intellectual merit of the project. For completeness, the excerpt also includes Aga s broader impacts summary, highlighting the educational components of her work. (Educational impact summaries are not included elsewhere.)... 

Project Summary. In one page or less, write a summary, suitable for publication, of proposed activities. It should not be an abstract of the proposal but rather a self-contained description of the proposed work. The summary should be written in the third person and include descriptions of (i) the goals and objectives of the project, (2) the importance of the project, (3) the proposed methods, and (4) the broader impacts of the work, it should be written for a scientifically literate reader, but not necessarily an individual in your field or discipline. 

Project Summary. One-page limit, including the names and affiliations of all senior personnel. The project summary must address both the intellectual merit and broader impacts of the proposed CRC project. 

The Project Summary has a very long shelf life and is the only part of a research proposal that is available to the public. So write it carefully ... 

As you work through the chapter, you will write your Project Summary and give your proposal a title. The Writing on Your Own tasks throughout the chapter will guide you step by step as you do the following ... 

A Write the Project Summary 15B Write the proposal title 15C Complete the proposal... 

The Project Summary is not the same as a journal article abstract (chapter 7) or a conference abstract (chapter 8), even though the Project Summary is sometimes called an abstract. The Project Summary summarizes work that has yet to be done and is written for a scientific audience. The journal article abstract summarizes work that has already been done and is written for an expert audience. The conference abstract describes work in progress and is written for a scientific audience. Because the Project Summary reiterates the major aspects of the proposed work, it is written last, after the Projection Description has been completed. For that reason, this chapter comes last in the research proposal module. 

The Project Summary has a longer shelf life than the rest of the proposal. Thus, the summary lives on years after the funding has ended, serving as a record of... 

Figure 15.1 A visual representation of the suggested move structure for a Project Summary of a research proposal.

We conclude this section by briefly considering personal pronouns and common verb tense and voice combinations used in the Project Summary. Personal pronouns (e.g., I, our, we), although common in other sections of the proposal, should... 

By now, you have written and revised the individual sections of your proposal (see Writing on Your Own tasks in chapters 11-14). It is time to write your Project Summary. Follow the guidelines in your RFPor use the NCI guidelines in excerpt ISA. Limityour Project Summary to one-half page. Be sure to introduce your topic, summarize your research methods, and emphasize the significance of your topic. Remember that your Project Summary should reflect every major aspect of your proposal. 

Combine the two major sections of the proposal the Project Summary and the Project Description. 

Also explain the following to a friend or colleague who has not yet given much thought to writing a Project Summary or title for a research proposal ... 

Relationship between a Project Summary and the rest of the research proposal... 

Why would the short Project Summary be so different from other parts of the proposal ... 

What role does the Project Summary play in the proposal review process ... 

Redundancy is also common in sections of a work that have overlapping purposes. Examples include the abstract of a journal article or the Project Summary of a research proposal each has the purpose of summarizing key points from the accompanying document. Although information can be repeated in the abstract or Project Summary, authors are required to state the information differently, resisting the temptation to merely copy sentences from other sections of their work. Another vulnerable place for redundancy is in the Discussion section of a journal article, which shares several overlapping purposes with the Introduction section. For example, beginning writers sometimes repeat the fill-the-gap statement of the Introduction (e.g., In this work, we measured ) in the sum-... 

Several features are worth noting In excerpt 11 A. First, consider the Proposal Instructions. In addition to a title, the Instructions ask for (In no more than two pages) a statement of project objectives, a summary of previous work, a description of the proposed work, and an explanation of why the work Is relevant. These four Items typify the content requested In most proposals. Second, consider the proposal Itself. What writing components did you notice as you read the excerpt Below we highlight some of the components that are addressed in this module. Additional features are highlighted in exercises 11.2-11.8. 

The Project Scope provides an executive summary justifying the purpose and benefits of the proposed computer system. Particular project management risks will normally be identified at this stage so that key controls to help ensure project success can be planned. 

Powell [3] reviewed the basics of various discounted cash flow techniques for project evaluation. Discounting is a method that accounts for the time value of money to provide either for the capital or to convert the cash flows to a common point in time so that they are summed. Ward [4] proposed a new concept known as the net return rate (NRR) that provides a better indication of a project s profitability. Techniques and criteria for economic evaluation of projects are widely available in the literature and texts [5,6,7,8,9,10]. A summary of the conventional decision criteria is given here. 

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