The Grant Writing Guide: A Road Map for Scholars

by Betty Lai

Overview

A practical guide to effective grant writing for researchers at all stages of their academic careers

Grant funding can be a major determinant of promotion and tenure at colleges and universities, yet many scholars receive no training in the crucial skill of grant writing. The Grant Writing Guide is an essential handbook for writing research grants, providing actionable strategies for professionals in every phase of their careers, from PhD students to seasoned researchers.

This easy-to-use guide features writing samples, examples of how researchers use skills, helpful tips, and exercises. Drawing on interviews with scores of grant writers, program officers, researchers, administrators, and writers, it lays out best practices, common questions, and pitfalls to avoid. Betty Lai focuses on skills that are universal to all grant writers, not just specific skills for one type of grant or funder. She explains how to craft phenomenal pitches and align them with your values, structure timelines and drafts, communicate clearly in prose and images, solicit feedback to strengthen your proposals, and much more.

Ideal for course use, The Grant Writing Guide is an indispensable road map to writing fundable grants. This incisive book walks you through every step along the way, from generating ideas to finding the right funder, determining which grants help you create the career you want, and writing in a way that excites reviewers and funders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691231884
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	01/10/2023
Series:	Skills for Scholars
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	922,675
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Betty S. Lai is an associate professor in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, among others. Her work has been recognized with awards from the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Foundation. Twitter @BettySLai

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Task A Develop an Idea 9

1 The Landscape: Find Available Grants 11

2 Your Values: Generate Ideas 20

3 External Values: Further Your Career Goals 31

4 The One Pager: Create Phenomenal Pitches 43

Task B Target a Funder 57

5 Talk to a Program Officer: Fit with a Funder 59

6 Get Samples: Signal That You Belong 69

7 A Grant's Anatomy: Outline and Timeline 79

8 Evaluation Criteria and the Mission: Make It Easy to Advocate for You 91

Task C Draft Your Grant 101

9 The Literature Review: Clear and Simple Communication 103

10 Your Research Plan: Living up to the Hype 119

11 Structure Your Draft: Consistency Is Comforting 139

12 Go Figure: Images That Deliver Value 151

Task D Polish Your Grant 161

13 Style Strategies: Increase Readability 163

14 The Pick Me Factor: Sell Your Expertise and Team 170

15 Critical Critiques: Identify Weaknesses 181

Conclusion 193

List of Tips and Frequently Asked Questions 197

Submission Checklist 203

Glossary 207

Acknowledgments 211

References 215

Index 223

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Betty Lai shepherds readers through every logistical—and emotional—step of securing a major grant. This will undoubtedly become the go-to grant writing guidebook for scholars of every stage, from graduate student to full professor. It’s the book I wish I had twenty years ago when I started my career as an academic!”—Anthony Christian Ocampo, author of Brown and Gay in LA

“If you’ve ever wondered about how to develop a winning grant, this book is for you. From concept to submission, this highly engaging work offers useful advice informed by Lai’s own distinguished research career and numerous interviews with other successful grant writers. It’s a must-read for scholars at every career stage.”—Lori Peek, University of Colorado Boulder

“Betty Lai’s The Grant Writing Guide: A Road Map for Scholars translates the unspoken insider language that keeps access to resources in the hands of those who already have resources. Her book deftly supports an equity-driven narrative vision with an engineer’s analytic specificity.”—James L. Shulman, American Council of Learned Societies

“The Grant Writing Guide recognizes that fundraising is not a solitary process. It shows researchers how to build networks of administrators, mentors, and peers who are supportive yet critical in helping to generate persuasive grant proposals. This book’s detailed and elegantly presented advice is much needed and long overdue.”—Donald J. Waters, former senior program officer, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Editorial Reviews

"Historically marginalized scholars will particularly find [The Grant Writing Guide] indispensable; they will relish reading the comforting prose of Lai, who lucidly explains how to get an edge on the competitive genre of funding. . . . The book promises—and delivers—on keeping the reader abreast with all the technical details of funding. It provides the novice with a blueprint for navigating the complex funding process with vigor and rigor."—-Abdulrahman Bindamnan, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

From the Publisher