GRADUATE SEMINAR IN PROPOSAL WRITING

Course description: This course provides hands-on experience writing a research proposal. Because of the applied nature of the subject matter this course will be run in a workshop format whereby the majority of our time will be spent writing toward a deliverable (the proposal) as opposed to listening to professor-centered lectures. That said, there is a fair amount of guidance out there on proposal writing, so we will be doing some background reading as well from around the social sciences. Roughly half of our in-class time will entail discussion of a proposal-related topic, and half will entail peer workshops of ongoing proposal writing. As you prepare to conduct your dissertation research, there are a variety of proposal types that you will be expected to produce: the internal ‘long form ’ dissertation proposal for defense, the ‘short form ’ that goes to the University Graduate School, and the external funding proposal to federal agencies and private foundations. Indeed, a PhD student can easily write all three of these (plus an IRB proposal if working with human subjects) in preparation for conducting dissertation research. Because the National Science Foundation (NSF) 1) funds so much research in the social sciences, 2) has a highly defined proposal format, and 3) is reviewed and funded widely from across the social sciences, it is considered the gold standard of proposals. Thus in this clas