Well I've been mainly absent from this blog site because I was trying to prepare a grant, deal with manuscript revisions, complete the analysis for another manuscript, get my samples ready to submit for next gen transcriptomics, and deal with all the shit that life loves to throw at us.
The grant was really taking up major chunks of time. It was a relatively small one (not an NIH or NSF) but still I couldn't believe how frickin' hard it was to write. Luckily my supervisor, Dr.PhotonEnergy (new name still haven't found the right one) is really good at grant writing. Thank god, cuz frankly right now, I suck.
I'm learning and now I realize that for me this is the training in postdoc that all the blogger PIs rant about. Some of the most interesting lessons from this first small bout of grant writing include:
1. Know your audience. Who are the most likely peeps on the committee?
2. Know the grant program and its focus. Really establish how what you want to do fits into the guidelines of the grant. You need to make it interesting to
3. What's the big picture?
4. How does the work you want to do fit into this big picture.
5. Understand realistic short term goals given the amount of the grant. Define the specific objectives and then describe how you will test this question or objective. Think about time, funding and what is available in the lab!
6. Narrow the focus of the question.
7. The first paragraph is the most important one - it's the selling point. If you convince them that you are truly a good fit - they will read the grant more carefully.
8. Start early. Have a first draft at least 1 week before the deadline.
9. Avoid words like "understand" and "discover" - apparently this implies you don't really know what you are testing. And the passive voice is the voice of death.
10. Trust your own ideas and voice. I realized that I spent a lot of time trying to assimilate what others thought (ie leaning on what others wrote) and not enough time, exploring the logic of my own ideas.
Drugmonkey over at Scientopia has a wealth of information on grantwriting for NIH. But frankly reading about how to write a grant is nothing like having to do it yourself.
It's going to be time to put on the 'big kid meatpants' soon - Dr.PE wants me to submit an NSF next year as a co-PI. Let's just say, I have a long road to get there and I'm sure it will be filled with big and small potholes.
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5 comments:
Thank you for this post. I am a postdoc who just submitted a small proposal. Preparing it was a painful exercise in how ill prepared I am for the next step (PI-dom). I wonder if proposal writing eventually becomes easier or if it will always feel like pulling teeth.
Thank you for your tips on grant writing! It's really hard to write them.
Nice post. Particularly:
"8. Start early. Have a first draft at least 1 week before the deadline."
A week is early!?! (not in my lab...).
But consider yourself VERY lucky to have a mentor who is willing to do this with you. My postdoc boss (I refuse to use the words 'advisor' or 'mentor' at this point) just writes my papers for me. Although, I did do all my own fellowship writing. But when I did my own writing, she wasn't very helpful.
So, take in ALL the advice you can from what sounds like a good advisor!
@Worm Pilot - A week is doable for me. For some reason, I can't get things ready any earlier. Must be a mindblock.
I've never heard of someone's advisor just writing the manuscript. That seems ridiculous.
And I will take all I can in from my advisor.
Well done, CGPiA, well done.
and Anonymous, hell yes, it gets easier. not "easy", just easier. you learn something each and every time you write one and hopefully that improves the next one.
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