project 6: about proposals for isi engl317

about proposals

1. What are proposals?

2. Internal vs. External Proposals (and Internal Deliverables).3. External Proposal Deliverables.

4. About the Proposal for this Project.

5. Proposal Options.6. Help with Getting a Proposal Idea.

©Karen L. Thompson● Rhetoric and Composition● Department of English● University of Idaho

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what are proposals?

Internal Proposals are written to decision-makers within a business or organization.

External Proposals are written to decisions makers outside of a business or organization.

All proposals are written to solve a problem or meet a need.

All proposals have deliverables: what the proposer is promising to give (deliver) to solve the problem or meet the need.

introduction

They must persuade.

There are many types of proposals.

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Internal proposals are offers to solve problems within a company or organization. As such, they are written to decision-makers.

Most of the time, this audience is not expecting the proposal, so the proposal is considered unsolicited.

When decision-makers do not expect your proposal, it must persuade this audience that:

§ a problem exists and why it happened;

§ the problem should be fixed because if not, it will escalate;

§ the proposed solution makes sense and is feasible.

So, the deliverable of an internal proposal is a solution

About ProposalsInternal vs. External

External proposals are written in response to a request for a proposal, so they are considered solicited. Those who issue the request are needing something. Thos who respond to the request are offering to provide it.

There are many names for these types of proposals, here are a few:

§ Request for Proposal (RFP)§ Information for Bids (IFB)§ Request for Bids (RFB)§ Request for Quotations (RFQ)

And there are many other names. What they all have in common is this: the proposal is promising to deliver something in return for being awarded a contract or grant.

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external proposals and deliverablesProposals promising to conduct research or study something.

Deliverable will be the findings or results from this research.

Proposals promising to design, build, and test a prototype.

Deliverable will be the prototype and how well it tests.

Proposals promising to perform work or provide goods.

Deliverable will be the work or goods.

About Proposals

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your proposal will be an:

Grant writing is the application process aimed at obtaining monies from a government or civilian funding agency.

The process is referred to as writing a grant proposal and requires the writer to respond to a request for proposals.

Requests for Proposals (RFP) are invitations issued by a funding agency to apply for a grant. As such, they contain specific instructions for how to write the grant.

About the Proposal for This Project

An RFP is a funding opportunity.

External Proposal to Obtain a Grant

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what is a grant?

Grants are cash awarded to an eligible recipient by a funding agency or other organization.

A grant is awarded for specific purposes to the recipient who promises to achieve those purposes.

To be eligible to apply for a grant, you must meet certain qualifications.

Most grants are also conditional, which means the person receiving the grant must agree to do some things to get the money.

About the Proposal for This Project

There are many different types of grants.

It’s FREE money.

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You will have several options for RFP funding opportunities to choose from to write your grant.

Funding Opportunities

• Four of these are real funding opportunities and three are hypothetical but based on real funding opportunites.

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Real Funding Opportunities

Option 1: UISC will fund up to $3000.

Option 2: OUR will fund up to $1000.

Option 3: UI student art (amount not specified)

Option 4: IHC teacher incentive up to $1000.

writing your grant proposal.

Each option is described in the slides that follow.

University of Idaho and Idaho Humanities Council

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Option 1: UI Sustainability Center

The UI Sustainability Center invites proposals for student-led projects up to $3,000. All project ideas are welcome; however, special consideration will be given to projects that address any of the following: Climate Change & Carbon Neutrality, Campus Food Systems, Campus Waste Reduction (Reducing, Reusing & Recycling), and Campus Culture Shift.


Proposal Invitation: Up to $3,000

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Option 2: UI Office of Undergraduate Research

The Office of Undergraduate Research invites undergraduate students from all colleges and academic disciplines to apply for an OUR Undergraduate Research Grant. The purpose of the grant is to support the growth and development of original, independent research or creative scholarship. The grant will fund materials and supplies, project-related travel expenses, etc., up to $1,000.


Proposal Invitation: Up to $1000

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Option 3: UI Student Arts Fees

The University of Idaho recognizes the importance of the arts on campus and within the local community. Arts grants are provided to defray costs related to originating, producing, and presenting creative projects. Funds may also be used to defray cost associated with educational opportunities in the arts. Students, faculty members, and academic units are all eligible for grants.


Proposal Invitation: Amount Not Specified

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Option 4: Idaho Humanities Council Teacher Incentive Grants

The IHC offers Teacher Incentive Grants for curriculum improvement in the humanities. These grants are intended to help teachers improve the humanities courses they already teach or to develop a new or interdisciplinary course in the humanities.


Proposal Invitation: $1000

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Hypothetical Funding Opportunities

Option 1: Engineering or Science up to $3000.

Option 2: Creative Arts up to $3000.

Option 3: Humanities or Social Sciences up to $3000


These options are described in the slides that follow.

National Science Foundation

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Hypothetical Funding Opportunities

The hypothetical options are adapted from real funding opportunities offered by Stanford University to their students. They have been written as if the National Science Foundation is offering the funding opportunity.


Adapted from Real Funding Opportunities

The following slides contain descriptions of each option.

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Option 1: NSF Engineering or Science

The NSF sponsors grants of up to $3,000 to support student projects in engineering or science that demonstrate focused, intellectually rigorous perspectives on the topic at hand. Such rigor does not necessarily mean bench or field research. Students may propose to study a topic, problem, or controversy in their field of study in order to advance their own knowledge and abilities. The student may use the grant as a stipend to compensate for the inability to work over a summer. Stipends cannot exceeed $10/per hour for 40 hours per week.



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Option 2: NSF Creative Arts

The NSF sponsors grants of up to $3,000 to support student projects in creative arts that demonstrate focused, intellectually rigorous perspectives on the topic at hand. Such rigor does not necessarily mean bench or field research. Students may propose to study a topic, problem, or controversy in their field of study in order to advance their own knowledge and abilities. The student may use the grant as a stipend to compensate for the inability to work over a summer. Stipends cannot exceeed $10/per hour for 40 hours per week.



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Option 3: NSF Humanities or Social Sciences.

The NSF sponsors grants of up to $3,000 to support student projects in the humanities or social sciences that demonstrate focused, intellectually rigorous perspectives on the topic at hand. Such rigor does not necessarily mean bench or field research. Students may propose to study a topic, problem, or controversy in their field of study in order to advance their own knowledge and abilities. The student may use the grant as a stipend to compensate for the inability to work over a summer. Stipends cannot exceeed $10/per hour for 40 hours per week.



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Read the RFP Closelyintroduction

Don’t let your good idea end up here!

Where proposals wind up when writers fail to follow the RFP:

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To choose an option, you will need to have an idea for research you might conduct or a project you might do.

Getting an Idea

Sometimes an idea may occur to you as you read through the options.

Or you may need to work out an idea first and then return to see which option would work best to fund it.

how to get anidea for a project

©Karen L. Thompson● Department of English● University of Idaho

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Start from an inquiry-based position.How to get an idea.

Research in rhetoric and composition studies has shown that how students think about questions is critical to being succcesful in generating ideas, whether for an essay, or in this case, a project proposal idea.

This means you need to start with a question and then interrogate that question to generate others.

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How to pose questions.How to get an idea.

The form of the question must lead you in the direction of preliminary work you will need to do in order to write the proposal.

If the question you pose does not do that, the form is likely the problem.

The form (or syntax) of the question is important.

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Example of a question with weak syntax.How to get an idea.

You can spot a question with weak syntax by realizing the answer to it would be either/or, yes/no, or lead to a simplistic statement such as “yes it works if students do it.”

If your question is in this type of weak form, don’t give up on it. Just interrogate it.

Do students at the University of Idaho recycle?How to tell if your question has weak syntax.

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Ask your initial question, more questions:How to get an idea.

• What is the relationship between X and Y?• How does X affect Y?• What causes X?• etc.

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Example:How to get an idea.

• Do University of Idaho students recycle?

• What is the relationship between recycling bins and how students use these?

• How does the phrasing of labels used on campus recycling bins affect how students use them?

What is the relationship between X and Y.

Notice how the changing syntax of the question, leads the writer to a strong project idea: how do labels on recycling bins affect users?

How does X affect Y?

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Some common mistakes to avoid.How to get an idea.

• High-Level means you are promising to advance, challenge, or fill a gap in current research. This is almost never possible for undergraduates to do.

• Mid-Level means you are promising to do part of the work for a high-level researcher who is advancing, challenging, or filling a gap in current research. Graduate students (and sometimes undergraduates) working as research assistants can often propose to do this type of work.

• Lowest-Level means you are promising to do research to advance your own knowledge. NOTE: this does not mean that your proposal is somehow less worthy than other students who can work at a higher level. It just means you are smart enough to recognize what you are capable of proposing to do.

Mistake 1: Proposing to do research beyond your capabilities.

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• For example, proposing to create and install an art piece that is so big it would require you to hire a crane operator to lift it in place is not a feasible idea.

• For example, promising to put on a campus event that would require a large venue, campus security, parking etc. is not a feasible idea.

Mistake 2: Proposing a project that is not feasible.

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Mistake 3: Proposing to do a project that is part of your course work.

• Recycling that senior design proposal won’t work for English 317 requirements.

• Funding agencies will not give you money for doing course work.

• You may certainly advance or challenge work you have done in connection to a course, but don’t just recycle the same proposal. If you plan to do this, you must clearly state how your proposed work stems from the past work you have done.

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Mistake 4: Question, problem, or need is unclear.

• It is not clear what question, hypothesis, problem, or need is being addressed by the proposal.

• In particular, it is not clear what the outcome of the research might be, or what would constitute success or failure.

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Mistake 5: Writer seems unaware of related research or similar project models.

• If you are proposing to do research, it must be situated within the context of related research to show how the proposed work will advance, challenge, or a fill a gap in this research.

• If you are proposing to do a research project to advance your own knowledge, you should demonstrate how existing research informs the topics, research question(s), or other work you will do to advance your knowledge/skills.

• In some cases, you need to demonstrate how similar project models have succeeded (or failed) in order to situate the work that you are proposing to do for a project.

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Mistake 6: the proposed project is far beyond the expertise of an undergraduate.

• If you are proposing to solve world hunger, cure cancer, or produce an alternative energy source that will end the need for fossil fuels….check your ego.

• Sometimes this problem happens not because the writer has a big ego, but he/she has just learned about an exciting new possibility in his/her field of study.

• Check if you are wanting to jump into this new area of research before you are qualified to do so.

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Mistake 7: the proposed project incomprehensible to all but an expert in the field.

• Remember that your proposal will be read by non-experts as well as (hopefully) experts.

• A good proposal is simultaneously comprehensible to non-experts, while also convincing experts that you know your subject.

• The most technically dense material can often be found in the methodology section where, if needed, reviewers can hand-off that section to experts. Avoid it in the introduction.

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Mistake 8: Not thinking through or being aware of the complexity of a project idea.

Most often caused by not doing enough preliminary work.

• I can best explain this problem with the use of an example.

• Example 1: Often students want to propose a new course. It’s easy to see how you might benefit from additional courses your department does not offer.

• See the next slide to understand why proposing a new course by an undergraduate is not realistic.

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Mistake 8: Not thinking through or being aware of the complexity of a project idea.

Most often caused by not doing enough preliminary work.

• I can best explain this problem with the use of two examples.

• Example 1: Often students want to propose a new course. It’s easy to see how you might benefit from additional courses your department does not offer.

• Or

• Example 2: Students will want to propose a community garden run by volunteers.

• See the next slides for more information about these examples.

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Example 1: Proposing a New CourseHow to get an idea.

• New course offerings are governed by budgets, staffing (who will teach it), and how a proposed new course would affect the existing credit requirements for graduation.

• Proposing a new course can only be done by faculty and all such proposals undergo a rigorous review process at both the department, university, and state levels.

• It is possible, however, to study the feasibility of a complex problem such as proposing a new course to advance your own knowledge.

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Example 2: Proposing a University Community GardenHow to get an idea.

• Any project run by volunteers would have to be managed, and that means administrative costs over time and staff. Where will this money come from? Saying “volunteers” will do this for free is not sufficient because those volunteers would need to be managed.

• Any community garden would require students to use tools. What liabilities are involved that include both students being hurt and tools being stolen? If the plan is to sell food, what quality controls are in place to ensure it is safe?

• Who will be donating the land? Land grant universities have restrictions about how their land may be used.

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How to be certain you have thought your idea through.

How to get an idea.

• Find models where a project similar to what you are proposing has been successful. Next, conduct enough preliminary work to determine if the model can be applied to your idea.

• If you have concerns about not understanding the complexity behind what you are thinking about proposing, run your idea by me, so I can give you feedback.

project 6: about proposals for isi engl317

Education