subject: Some Characteristics of a Competitive scholarship Grant Proposal [print this page] Some Characteristics of a Competitive scholarship Grant Proposal
How to make your grant proposal stand out from all the entries is the question that applicants of free scholarship grants want to know. The grant proposal is the only document in the selection of free scholarship applications that can bring your name to the whole world, thus it should be well-written and acceptable to its reviewers. The reviewers will decide which proposal is excellent, very good or an enterprise not recommended for subsequent funds. Here are some characteristics of a competitive scholarship grant that you should read.
Decide whether to use the standard grant proposal formats or new formats. Relatively all proposals contain the same parts and follow the same sequence. The standard format for proposals contain parts like the research plan which has subparts like the abstract, rationale, background, procedure and methods and time frame. New formats may delete or fused one or two parts. In deciding the format, you may want to consider the kind of reviewers for the said grant. Some reviewers may want to stick to the standard format.
The content should have coherence and organization. Proposal writing also demands coherence and organization of its parts. Make sure that the title is explained thoroughly in the other parts. The hypothesis and related literature should help answer the research questions presented. The topic must also be appropriate for the selected research local and intended audience.
The proposal should have a clear and detailed time-frame. Funding agencies want to assure the funds are allocated well. Give them a clear time-frame. The plan will also help you plan and foresee the limitations along the way. You should indicate the estimated costs and needed labor for your research. The time frame should be within the prescribed scholarship period. If you go beyond that, the funding agency may not shoulder your expenses anymore.
Use the appropriate language for the proposal. How should your proposal sound? Basically, it should have the tone of an expert or an authority. It should use the appropriate technical terms with ideas stated in a clear, concise manner. You should observe good editing styles that will reduce embellished, long sentences into shorter but clearer ones.
Observe grammatical correctness and appropriateness of tense in the whole document. Because you are still proposing a research or scholarly idea, the tense used for the proposal should be the present and future tense. This might be a bit tricky but always remember that when talking about present phenomena the present tense is used and the future tense should be used in discussing future expected results. Also avoid minor typographical and punctuation glitches.
A well-written proposal usually spells success. You should know how to sell your self and project even on paper. Some grants may also require you to have a personal essay portraying your future plans for the scholarship. Again, the same rules in writing should be observed.
