office of research, trent university tips on how to fill in an application advice to potential...

Office of Research, Trent University

TIPS ON HOW TO FILL IN AN APPLICATION

Advice to Potential Applicants

Taken from presentation written by SSHRC Research Officer L.

Messier


Preparation & Overall Presentation

Do not submit a premature proposal Ensure that the necessary ground-work

has been done (i.e. extensive literature review, verification of the availability of resources, etc.)

Invest time in the preparation of your proposal…committees can spot a hastily prepared proposal

Make sure that all parts are well organized and laid out logically, without repetition


Preparation & Overall Presentation con’t

Ensure that there are no errors in spelling, grammar or fact

Present a well written and carefully crafted proposal using the limited space to maximum advantage

Use clear, unambiguous language. Avoid jargon and trendy terms

Ask a trusted colleague for feedback on your draft


Presentation of your research program

Present your proposal in such a way as to convey confidence and convince your peers that the likelihood of scholarly outcomes is high

Avoid appearing too tentative Present a challenging research topic

that sparks the interest and engages the imagination of the peer reviewers

Your excitement about your research should be evident in your proposal



Establish clearly the need for this research Demonstrate its importance and originality,

by explaining gaps in existing literature Prepare your proposal with the assessors

and committee in mind. Anticipate possible questions or objections they may raise

Try to strike a balance between ambition and realism. Set challenging yet realistic goals (i.e. in terms of chronology, themes, sources covered)



Be as specific as possible about the parameters of the research

The committee should have a good idea of where this research will lead…no fishing expeditions

Demonstrate how this new research builds upon your past work and accomplishments


Statement of objectives and theoretical framework Present your objectives and key research

questions in a clear and precise manner Articulate clearly the theoretical or

conceptual framework guiding the research

Do not neglect the literature review Situate your research within the context

of the literature and current debates in the field


Statement of objectives and theoretical framework

Present differences in viewpoint in a positive and constructive manner

Define all key terms or concepts Underlying assumptions should be

made explicit and justified Append a list of all references cited


Methodology

Explain and justify your choice of methodology

There should be an evident synergy between your objectives and the chosen methodology


Presenting your C.V.

In presenting your c.v., follow the instructions on the application form

Provide complete citations of published work

Organize your publications in a clear and logical manner (i.e. group refereed publications together)


Presenting your C.V. Make sure you include page numbers

for everything you list Avoid inflating the c.v. (i.e. double

entries that are not explicit, claiming book reviews are articles, claiming all conference presentations as “refereed”)

Demonstrate your productivity from previous grants (especially past SSHRC grants)


Budget and Students

Present a reasonable and fully justified budget

Note the university per diem, etc. Use students creatively Explain the role of students and

the anticipated benefits to student training


Budget and Students Give some detail to this; do not just say

they will benefit from your mentoring or example

There is supposedly no discrimination against universities without grad programs in the area of the applicant

Think about where you might obtain grad research aid from a nearby university, use honours students or make use of grad students from Trent’s interdisciplinary programs


The Team

In a team application, the role and contribution of each member should be elaborated

If you are re-submitting an application, try to make improvements over the previous one, incorporating if appropriate the feedback from assessors/committee


The Team You can include a response to previous

reviewers…Keep this constructive as possible (don’t get into debates with past reviewers)

*New Scholars: Don’t submit a project that sounds the same as a recent thesis or post-doctoral fellowship project. This should be “new” research, even if it is building on something you have already done


Ways to ensure you will annoy the committee! Write in a small font- even it if is

allowable Avoid paragraph breaks and headings,

especially if you write in a small font Reduce the space between lines,

especially in you write in a small font Reduce the margins Do all of the above and whine in your

application that you don’t have enough space to explain your methodology


Be annoying in your research record! Avoid paragraph breaks and hard

returns in your research record Mix up your submitted articles and

random thoughts with your refereed publications

Include articles more than 6 years old

Don’t bother to use any recognized method of referencing


More ways to ensure you are annoying Say “there is NO research on my topic”

when you are NOT 100% sure Manage to work in a critique about last

year’s committee ( be sure to get your requested assess to do this too)

Get together a team of three researchers and submit basically the same grant three times (to the same committee)


Still More…

Assume you are so prominent you can get by on your record and don’t bother much about the grant itself

Include a prominent researcher as a co-investigator but don’t give him/her a clearly defined role


Be annoying in you budget Say you need a full time research director (not

encouraged by the way) as well as 3 or 4 full time Research Assistants to run your apparently straightforward study

Say computers cost $6000+ when we know that they don’t

Ask for $2000 travel at the end of the first year when it is doubtful that you will have anything to report until the end of the second year

Use lots of non-student personnel to minimize the impact of the council’s grant money


Extenuating Circumstances There are people out there who have had

terrible experiences with cancer, children die, spouses die, as well as legitimate leaves (i.e. the birth of a child). These should be cited as career interruptions

Having to teach and sit on committees does not constitute extenuating circumstances (though noting in passing the higher number of hours of teaching in a small university is not always a bad thing)


Committee Comments: The top 3 problems cited!

Incomplete literature review

Lack of theoretical rationale

Lack of specificity in the methodology

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