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Tutorials and experience of writing grants

Author: Fan Zhang

Writing grants is a critical step during the journey of scientific research. Specific Aims page is the most important page for the whole grant proposal. Below we would like to highlight several key steps that we learned from our own experience and others (e.g., Dr. David Veenstra's talk), focusing on drafting good Specific Aims page.

Understand your reviewers

  • Reviewers are tired, so make their life easier.
  • Use white space, bold, and underline thoughtfully
  • Use succinct sentences. Delete every word that is not needed. Not a single word that is not needed.

Tips

  • Use active tense. "I will perform X analysis to ..." instead of "This analysis is done; Data will be collected."

  • Avoid jargon. Many of them don't know the specific biology you focused on. Not all the reviewers have a similar background and understand the methods that you proposed.

    • For example, "We propose to address these challenges using decision-analytic modeling." Reviewers may not understand why this method, if this method will work, etc. So, it would be better to write down "We propose to address these challenges using decision-analytic modeling that synthesizes findings from genomic, clinical, epidemiological, and patient outcome data."

    • Another example, something like "We will develop a non-linear computational approach using deep learning models by extending our previously established linear models" would be better than "We will develop a complex deep learning approach".

  • Start early. Don't be hesitate. Then share the draft with your mentors and collaborators

  • Revise, revise, revise.

  • NIH Page limits by different types of grants.

Specific Aims Structure

  1. What is the problem? Paragraph 1

    • Get right to it

  2. What is our general approach to tackle this problem problem and your long-term goal? Paragraph 2

    • Why is this particularly helpful? Goal, and how is this proposal an important step towards that goal?
    • What is the novelty? Why your research will matter (significance)?
    • General study design/methods/data type

  3. Who are you? Paragraph 3

    • Give reviewers a sense of your background and previous work - why you?

  4. What is your overall goal? Paragraph 3

    • Big picture statement, which give a global view and transitions to the next section of aims

  5. What do you hope to learn? Your Aims

    • Aims are what you want to learn instead of what you plan to do!
    • Aims need to be related to each other and synergize with each other. Not interdependent, but complementary.
    • 2-3 aims

  6. How will you do this? Aims details

    • Methods for achieving aims.
    • Your next Approach section is the most boring and difficult part of the proposal to review. You must motivate the reader to want to understand the approach BEFORE you get into the details later.

  7. What are the expected outcomes? Aims details

    • Briefly describe the outcome for each aim.

  8. What are your hypotheses? Aims details

    • Should have these as appropriate; but I have seen no aim-specific hypotheses. A general hypothesis before the aims section

  9. How would your results be used? Summary paragraph

    • Final paragraph sells it. Hilighlight implications, significance, and novelty. Don't mention the aim and methods again.

Overall framework

This is a great summary of the NIH grant template template from Dr. Tim Reddy. Thanks for sharing.