TIPS ON HOW TO FILL IN AN APPLICATION

1. TIPS ON HOW TO FILL IN AN APPLICATION Advice to Potential Applicants Taken from presentation written by SSHRC Research Officer L. Messier Office of Research, Trent University

2. Preparation & Overall Presentation • Do not submit a premature proposal • Ensure that the necessary ground-work has been done (i.e. extensive literature review, verification of the availability of resources, etc.) • Invest time in the preparation of your proposal…committees can spot a hastily prepared proposal • Make sure that all parts are well organized and laid out logically, without repetition Office of Research, Trent University

3. Preparation & Overall Presentation con’t • Ensure that there are no errors in spelling, grammar or fact • Present a well written and carefully crafted proposal using the limited space to maximum advantage • Use clear, unambiguous language. Avoid jargon and trendy terms • Ask a trusted colleague for feedback on your draft Office of Research, Trent University

4. Presentation of your research program • Present your proposal in such a way as to convey confidence and convince your peers that the likelihood of scholarly outcomes is high • Avoid appearing too tentative • Present a challenging research topic that sparks the interest and engages the imagination of the peer reviewers • Your excitement about your research should be evident in your proposal Office of Research, Trent University

5. Presentation of your research program • Establish clearly the need for this research • Demonstrate its importance and originality, by explaining gaps in existing literature • Prepare your proposal with the assessors and committee in mind. Anticipate possible questions or objections they may raise • Try to strike a balance between ambition and realism. Set challenging yet realistic goals (i.e. in terms of chronology, themes, sources covered) Office of Research, Trent University

6. Presentation of your research program • Be as specific as possible about the parameters of the research • The committee should have a good idea of where this research will lead…no fishing expeditions • Demonstrate how this new research builds upon your past work and accomplishments Office of Research, Trent University

7. Statement of objectives and theoretical framework • Present your objectives and key research questions in a clear and precise manner • Articulate clearly the theoretical or conceptual framework guiding the research • Do not neglect the literature review • Situate your research within the context of the literature and current debates in the field Office of Research, Trent University

8. Statement of objectives and theoretical framework • Present differences in viewpoint in a positive and constructive manner • Define all key terms or concepts • Underlying assumptions should be made explicit and justified • Append a list of all references cited Office of Research, Trent University

9. Methodology • Explain and justify your choice of methodology • There should be an evident synergy between your objectives and the chosen methodology Office of Research, Trent University

10. Presenting your C.V. • In presenting your c.v., follow the instructions on the application form • Provide complete citations of published work • Organize your publications in a clear and logical manner (i.e. group refereed publications together) Office of Research, Trent University

11. Presenting your C.V. • Make sure you include page numbers for everything you list • Avoid inflating the c.v. (i.e. double entries that are not explicit, claiming book reviews are articles, claiming all conference presentations as “refereed”) • Demonstrate your productivity from previous grants (especially past SSHRC grants) Office of Research, Trent University

12. Budget and Students • Present a reasonable and fully justified budget • Note the university per diem, etc. • Use students creatively • Explain the role of students and the anticipated benefits to student training Office of Research, Trent University

13. Budget and Students • Give some detail to this; do not just say they will benefit from your mentoring or example • There is supposedly no discrimination against universities without grad programs in the area of the applicant • Think about where you might obtain grad research aid from a nearby university, use honours students or make use of grad students from Trent’s interdisciplinary programs Office of Research, Trent University

14. The Team • In a team application, the role and contribution of each member should be elaborated • If you are re-submitting an application, try to make improvements over the previous one, incorporating if appropriate the feedback from assessors/committee Office of Research, Trent University

15. The Team • You can include a response to previous reviewers…Keep this constructive as possible (don’t get into debates with past reviewers) • *New Scholars: Don’t submit a project that sounds the same as a recent thesis or post-doctoral fellowship project. This should be “new” research, even if it is building on something you have already done Office of Research, Trent University

16. Ways to ensure you will annoy the committee! • Write in a small font- even it if is allowable • Avoid paragraph breaks and headings, especially if you write in a small font • Reduce the space between lines, especially in you write in a small font • Reduce the margins • Do all of the above and whine in your application that you don’t have enough space to explain your methodology Office of Research, Trent University

17. Be annoying in your research record! • Avoid paragraph breaks and hard returns in your research record • Mix up your submitted articles and random thoughts with your refereed publications • Include articles more than 6 years old • Don’t bother to use any recognized method of referencing Office of Research, Trent University

18. More ways to ensure you are annoying • Say “there is NO research on my topic” when you are NOT 100% sure • Manage to work in a critique about last year’s committee ( be sure to get your requested assess to do this too) • Get together a team of three researchers and submit basically the same grant three times (to the same committee) Office of Research, Trent University

19. Still More… • Assume you are so prominent you can get by on your record and don’t bother much about the grant itself • Include a prominent researcher as a co-investigator but don’t give him/her a clearly defined role Office of Research, Trent University

20. Be annoying in you budget • Say you need a full time research director (not encouraged by the way) as well as 3 or 4 full time Research Assistants to run your apparently straightforward study • Say computers cost $6000+ when we know that they don’t • Ask for $2000 travel at the end of the first year when it is doubtful that you will have anything to report until the end of the second year • Use lots of non-student personnel to minimize the impact of the council’s grant money Office of Research, Trent University

21. Extenuating Circumstances • There are people out there who have had terrible experiences with cancer, children die, spouses die, as well as legitimate leaves (i.e. the birth of a child). These should be cited as career interruptions • Having to teach and sit on committees does not constitute extenuating circumstances (though noting in passing the higher number of hours of teaching in a small university is not always a bad thing) Office of Research, Trent University

22. Committee Comments: The top 3 problems cited! • Incomplete literature review • Lack of theoretical rationale • Lack of specificity in the methodology Office of Research, Trent University