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Pre-Proposal Development

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Before you begin the proposal process, you need an idea. There are many aspects of a good idea that need to be considered. Pre-proposal development is about positioning yourself, setting clear goals, and finding the right collaborators. This stage ensures your idea is not only innovative and feasible but also strategically aligned with your strengths. By defining your objectives and establishing connections, you lay the groundwork for a compelling and competitive research proposal.

Quick Links

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^{Position Yourself for Success}

Position yourself as a scholar and researcher to build and enhance your reputation in your field:

As a Scholar -

Publish: First author is better than second; co-author is better than no-author
Present: Be visible. Presenting at regional and national conferences — in your own discipline, as well as those areas you want to collaborate with — exposes you to competing ideas and approaches.
Network: Join professional societies and/or serve on a grant-review panel.

As a Researcher -

Develop a Research Agenda: Create a list of short-term and long-term research/creative activities that provides a road map; grant agencies want to know you have a plan.
Collaborate: Build your partnerships early and publish together; the key to success is to show a strong history of a collaboration.
Start Small: Develop a track record with intramurals and/or have smaller roles (e.g., co-PI) on other projects; gain the necessary experience.
Collect Preliminary Data: Sponsors/reviewers expect to see some amount of preliminary data or initial fieldwork or evidence to support a larger project.
Plan Ahead: Most opportunities are funded annually so you can plan accordingly. The Office of Research Development provides support, guidance, and consultation at any stage of the proposal process.
Create a Writing Plan: Develop a timeline with benchmarks for writing proposals; join a writing group.

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^{Set Your Goals}

Goals are what you hope to accomplish as a result of your research/project. They are broad, intangible and abstract, and present the big picture. They can be further broken down into long- and short-term goals.

The long-term goal is what you want to accomplish over the scope of your career – broad enough that it can encompass a lifetime of research, but explicit in a way that makes it clear what you are trying to do. Your long-term goal is not something that can be accomplished in just one research project, but rather a theme that ties this project and all future projects together in some fundamental way.

Short-term goals cannot be set until you know your long-term goal. You need to know where you want to go before you take the first step to get there. A short-term goal must be accomplishable within the scope of one project, but still leave enough room for further research.

^{Find Collaborators}

Collaborations and partnerships are becoming increasingly important in the research world, and while often thought of as an equal relationship between two faculty members working together on a research project, it can take many forms. For example, your collaborator(s) might come from a different institution or organization, have varying stature or be of different funding status.

An interdisciplinary project is when researchers from different disciplines work together on a project in order to see it from a different perspective or to solve problems that venture into other fields.

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