The Art of Writing Good Research Proposals

After the Fall Break, we’ll have a seminar workshop on how to write good research proposals. This is in addition to the first few weeks of initiatives on how to do research, search literature and avoid plagiarism. The seminar will use the NSF Graduate Fellowship as the model to teach us the art and science of writing good proposals that people of diverse background can understand.

NSF Graduate fellowship program is one the most prestigious programs for graduate students in the nation. Like most fellowship programs, NSF pays a stipend and a travel and tuition allowance. Yet, the program requires only 2 pages as a proposal on research, 2 pages on ‘what do I want to become when I grow up and why?’ And another 2 pages on ‘what have I done so far and why?’ Two pages may seem like a relatively easy assignment. But you will all soon find out that clear communication in limited bandwidth can be quite a difficult task.

So our goal will be to clearly articulate fascinating research ideas succinctly and in a manner that retains the reviewer’s interest after the first few lines. In this workshop, our goal will be to understand the dos and don’t of writing a good and brief proposal on your research plan. This is something that we need to master as part of our graduate degree requirement. If you can write a good NSF graduate fellowship proposal, you should be able to write anything in a succinct, brilliant and convincing manner to convince your advisor and committee.

More importantly, this skill can impress your future employer and help you rise up professionally!