Overview of the Intensive Grant Writing Workshop for Graduate Students

Please note that these are general descriptions for the sessions held during past Intensive Grant Writing Workshops; the sessions and content may differ in future workshops.

General Information
The Intensive Grant Writing Workshop is designed especially for students in humanities and social sciences who have a draft proposal and who are planning to apply to externally based funding committees that are interdisciplinary in nature. The workshop is appropriate and useful for people working both in international settings and in the United States.

The workshop accepts up to ten students, with selection based on how well developed the students' proposals are, and with the goal of having a variety of disciplines represented in the group. Approximately five faculty from a variety of departments lead the workshop. Past student participants have represented the following departments: Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Educational Studies, French, Graduate Division of Religion, Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology, and Spanish and Portuguese. Faculty leaders have come from the following departments: Anthropology, English, Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, Institute of African Studies, Philosophy, and Women's Studies.

The purpose of the Workshop programs is to familiarize graduate students with the processes and strategies involved in applying for external research awards. In addition, the workshop helps to sensitize them to the problems they may face in applications to multidisciplinary committees and for competitions that pit them against applicants who have been preparing for a considerable time and have written multiple drafts of their proposals.

Preparation for the Workshop
After acceptance to the intensive workshop, students submit a revised proposal along with their curriculum vitae.

After the proposals are received, students are sent a full set of all the proposals. They are asked to do two things: 1) write a paper describing the shared themes and methods across all of the proposals and 2) prepare a brief presentation for the first session that describes a proposal other than their own. The papers are then distributed to all workshop participants. The purpose of the paper is for students to engage seriously with the full set of proposals and to think about common questions and issues in doing research and how to relate research proposals in different disciplines.

Workshop Sessions
Thursday evening an introductory session is held to give students an overview of the structure of the workshop and to review the "life history" of a proposal.

The first full day of the workshop (Friday) is reserved for proposal presentations and discussions. Each student presents another’s proposal, summarizing the issues and methods presented. Presenters are asked not to critique the proposal, only to summarize. During the presentation and ensuing discussion the proposal writer is not allowed to speak or respond. After the presentation, others are given the opportunity to discuss the proposal. This is done to give the writer an idea of how a funding committee would read and discuss the proposal. Later in the day, during the subsequent session, the proposal writers have the opportunity to respond to the morning’s presentations and discussions and to continue the discussion about their proposal.

On Saturday one session covers the Institutional Review Board and research ethics. An overview of the IRB is given—why it exists, why it is important, and what it does. Students also have the opportunity to ask questions about the IRB in relation to their own proposals.

Another session on Saturday covers grammar, style and rhetoric. The purpose of this session is to assist the students in thinking about how their proposals could be made more “readable” and how to present their projects in a clear, concise, and convincing manner. Examples from the students' proposals are used to illustrate these topics.

The third Saturday session is reserved for a general discussion and follow-up questions about themes, methodological issues, and any other questions or topics raised by the students.

Some free time on Saturday allows students to work on their proposals, or to meet in small groups for futher discussion.

Sunday morning is reserved for individual meetings between students and faculty. Students sign up for half-hour sessions with faculty members which gives them a chance to ask specific questions about their proposals and discuss any other concerns or issues.

The individual meetings are followed by a concluding session during which students complete workshop evaluations. A final discussion about the workshop and “next steps” is also held during this session.

Location and Accommodations
The Workshop is held at Amicalola Falls State Park Lodge near Dahlonega, Georgia (about a 1.5 hour drive from Emory). Students share double rooms, and all meals are provided for the duration of the Workshop. Transportation to the lodge is also provided.