In this part, we give you detailed information about writing an effective Research Plan. We start with the importance and parameters of significance and innovation. Show
We then discuss how to focus the Research Plan, relying on the iterative process described in the Iterative Approach to Application Planning Checklist shown at Draft Specific Aims and give you advice for filling out the forms. You'll also learn the importance of having a well-organized, visually appealing application that avoids common missteps and the importance of preparing your just-in-time information early. While this document is geared toward the basic research project grant, the R01, much of it is useful for other grant types. Table of Contents
Research Plan Overview and Your ApproachYour application's Research Plan has two sections:
In your Specific Aims, you note the significance and innovation of your research; then list your two to three concrete objectives, your aims. Your Research Strategy is the nuts and bolts of your application, where you describe your research rationale and the experiments you will conduct to accomplish each aim. Though how you organize it is largely up to you, NIH expects you to follow these guidelines.
Format of Your Research PlanTo write the Research Plan, you don't need the application forms. Write the text in your word processor, turn it into a PDF file, and upload it into the application form when it's final. Because NIH may return your application if it doesn't meet all requirements, be sure to follow the rules for font, page limits, and more. Read the instructions at NIH’s Format Attachments. For an R01, the Research Strategy can be up to 12 pages, plus one page for Specific Aims. Don't pad other sections with information that belongs in the Research Plan. NIH is on the lookout and may return your application to you if you try to evade page limits. Follow ExamplesAs you read this page, look at our Sample Applications and More to see some of the different strategies successful PIs use to create an outstanding Research Plan. Keeping It All In SyncWriting in a logical sequence will save you time. Information you put in the Research Plan affects just about every other application part. You'll need to keep everything in sync as your plans evolve during the writing phase. It's best to consider your writing as an iterative process. As you develop and finalize your experiments, you will go back and check other parts of the application to make sure everything is in sync: the "who, what, when, where, and how (much money)" as well as look again at the scope of your plans. In that vein, writing in a logical sequence is a good approach that will save you time. We suggest proceeding in the following order:
Even the smaller sections of your application need to be well-organized and readable so reviewers can readily grasp the information. If writing is not your forte, get help. To view writing strategies for successful applications, see our Sample Applications and More. There are many ways to create a great application, so explore your options. Craft a TitleWithin the character limit, include the important information to distinguish your project within the research area, your project's goals, and the research problem. Giving your project a title at the outset can help you stay focused and avoid a meandering Research Plan. So you may want to launch your writing by creating a well-defined title. NIH gives you a 200 character limit, but don’t feel obliged to use all of that allotment. Instead, we advise you to keep the title as succinct as possible while including the important information to distinguish your project within the research area. Make your title reflect your project's goals, the problem your project addresses, and possibly your approach to studying it. Make your title specific: saying you are studying lymphocyte trafficking is not informative enough. For examples of strong titles, see our Sample Applications and More. CheckpointAfter you write a preliminary title, check that
Later you may want to change your initial title. That's fine—at this point, it's just an aid to keep your plans focused. Explain Your AimsSince all your reviewers read your Specific Aims, you want to excite them about your project. If testing your hypothesis is the destination for your research, your Research Plan is the map that takes you there. You'll start by writing the smaller part, the Specific Aims. Think of the one-page Specific Aims as a capsule of your Research Plan. Since all your reviewers read your Specific Aims, you want to excite them about your project. For more on crafting your Specific Aims, see Draft Specific Aims. Write a NarrativeUse at least half the page to provide the rationale and significance of your planned research. A good way to start is with a sentence that states your project's goals. For the rest of the narrative, you will describe the significance of your research, and give your rationale for choosing the project. In some cases, you may want to explain why you did not take an alternative route. Then, briefly describe your aims, and show how they build on your preliminary studies and your previous research. State your hypothesis. If it is likely your application will be reviewed by a study section with broad expertise, summarize the status of research in your field and explain how your project fits in. In the narrative part of the Specific Aims of many outstanding applications, people also used their aims to
Depending on your situation, decide which items are important for you. For example, a new investigator would likely want to highlight preliminary data and qualifications to do the work. Many people use bold or italics to emphasize items they want to bring to the reviewers' attention, such as the hypothesis or rationale. Detail Your AimsAfter the narrative, enter your aims as bold bullets, or stand-alone or run-on headers.
How focused should your aims be? Look at the example below. Spot the SampleRead the Specific Aims of the Application from Drs. Li and Samulski, "Enhance AAV Liver Transduction with Capsid Immune Evasion."
CheckpointAfter finishing the draft Specific Aims, check that
For each element listed above, analyze your text and revise it until your Specific Aims hit all the key points you'd like to make. After the list of aims, some people add a closing paragraph, emphasizing the significance of the work, their collaborators, or whatever else they want to focus reviewers' attention on. Research Strategy InstructionsYour Research Strategy is the bigger part of your application's Research Plan (the other part is the Specific Aims—discussed above.) The Research Strategy is the nuts and bolts of your application, describing the rationale for your research and the experiments you will do to accomplish each aim. It is structured as follows:
Though how you organize your application is largely up to you, NIH does want you to follow these guidelines:
For an R01, the Research Strategy is limited to 12 pages for the three main sections and the preliminary studies only. Other items are not included in the page limit. Find instructions for R01s in the SF 424 Application Guide—go to NIH's SF 424 (R&R) Application and Electronic Submission Information for the generic SF 424 Application Guide or find it in your funding opportunity announcement (FOA). For most applications, you need to address Rigor and Reproducibility by describing the experimental design and methods you propose and how they will achieve robust and unbiased results. The requirement applies to research grant, career development, fellowship, and training applications. If you're responding to an institute-specific program announcement (PA) (not a parent program announcement) or a request for applications (RFA), check the NIH Guide notice, which has additional information you need. Should it differ from the FOA, go with the NIH Guide. Also note that your application must meet the initiative's objectives and special requirements. NIAID program staff will check your application, and if it is not responsive to the announcement, your application will be returned to you without a review. Advice for a Successful Research StrategyWhen writing your Research Strategy, your goal is to present a well-organized, visually appealing, and readable description of your proposed project. That means your writing should be streamlined and organized so your reviewers can readily grasp the information. If writing is not your forte, get help. There are many ways to create an outstanding Research Plan, so explore your options. What Success Looks LikeYour application's Research Plan is the map that shows your reviewers how you plan to test your hypothesis. It not only lays out your experiments and expected outcomes, but must also convince your reviewers of your likely success by allaying any doubts that may cross their minds that you will be able to conduct the research. Notice in the sample applications how the writing keeps reviewers' eyes on the ball by bringing them back to the main points the PIs want to make. Write yourself an insurance policy against human fallibility: if it's a key point, repeat it, then repeat it again. The Big ThreeSo as you write, put the big picture squarely in your sights. When reviewers read your application, they'll look for the answers to three basic questions:
Add EmphasisSavvy PIs create opportunities to drive their main points home. They don't stop at the Significance section to emphasize their project's importance, and they look beyond their biosketches to highlight their team's expertise. Don't take a chance your reviewer will gloss over that one critical sentence buried somewhere in your Research Strategy or elsewhere. Write yourself an insurance policy against human fallibility: if it's a key point, repeat it, then repeat it again. Add more emphasis by putting the text in bold, or bold italics (in the modern age, we skip underlining—it's for typewriters). Here are more strategies from our successful PIs:
Spot the SampleYou can see many of these principles at work in the Approach section of the Application from Dr. William Faubion, "Inflammatory cascades disrupt Treg function through epigenetic mechanisms."
Anticipate Reviewer QuestionsOur applicants not only wrote with their reviewers in mind they seemed to anticipate their questions. You may think: how can I anticipate all the questions people may have? Of course you can't, but there are some basic items (in addition to the "big three" listed above) that will surely be on your reviewers' minds:
Address these questions; then spend time thinking about more potential issues specific to you and your research—and address those too. Graphics and VideoFor applications, a picture can truly be worth a thousand words. Graphics can illustrate complex information in a small space and add visual interest to your application. Look at our sample applications to see how the investigators included schematics, tables, illustrations, graphs, and other types of graphics to enhance their applications. Consider adding a timetable or flowchart to illustrate your experimental plan, including decision trees with alternative experimental pathways to help your reviewers understand your plans. Plan Ahead for VideoIf you plan to send one or more videos, you'll need to meet certain standards and include key information in your Research Strategy now. To present some concepts or demonstrations, video may enhance your application beyond what graphics alone can achieve. However, you can't count on all reviewers being able to see or hear video, so you'll want to be strategic in how you incorporate it into your application. Be reviewer-friendly. Help your cause by taking the following steps:
In addition to those considerations, create your videos to fit NIH’s technical requirements. Learn more in the SF 424 Form Instructions. Next, as you write your Research Strategy, include key images from the video and a brief description. Then, state in your cover letter that you plan to send video later. (Don't attach your files to the application.) After you apply and get assignment information from the Commons, ask your assigned scientific review officer (SRO) how your business official should send the files. Your video files are due at least one month before the peer review meeting. Know Your Audience's PerspectiveThe primary audience for your application is your peer review group. Learn how to write for the reviewers who are experts in your field and those who are experts in other fields by reading Know Your Audience. Be Organized: A B C or 1 2 3?In the top-notch applications we reviewed, organization ruled but followed few rules. While you want to be organized, how you go about it is up to you. Nevertheless, here are some principles to follow:
The Research Strategy's page limit—12 for R01s—is for the three main parts: Significance, Innovation, and Approach and your preliminary studies (or a progress report if you're renewing your grant). Other sections, for example, research animals or select agents, do not have a page limit. Significance, Innovation, and ApproachAlthough you will emphasize your project's significance throughout the application, the Significance section should give the most details. Don't skimp—the farther removed your reviewers are from your field, the more information you'll need to provide on basic biology, importance of the area, research opportunities, and new findings. When you describe your project's significance, put it in the context of 1) the state of your field, 2) your long-term research plans, and 3) your preliminary data. In our Sample Applications, you can see that both investigators and reviewers made a case for the importance of the research to improving human health as well as to the scientific field. Spot the SampleLook at the Significance section of the Application from Dr. Mengxi Jiang, "Intersection of polyomavirus infection and host cellular responses," to see how these elements combine to make a strong case for significance.
CheckpointAfter conveying the significance of the research in several parts of the application, check that
InnovationIf you are either a new PI or entering a new area: be cautious about seeming too innovative. Not only is innovation just one of five review criteria, but there might be a paradigm shift in your area of science. A reviewer may take a challenge to the status quo as a challenge to his or her world view. When you look at our sample applications, you see that both the new and experienced investigators are not generally shifting paradigms. They are using new approaches or models, working in new areas, or testing innovative ideas. CheckpointAfter finishing the draft innovation section, check that
ApproachIn your Approach, you spell out a few sets of experiments to address each aim. As we noted above, it's a good idea to restate the key points you've made about your project's significance, its place in your field, and your long-term goals. You're probably wondering how much detail to include. If you look at our sample applications as a guide, you can see very different approaches. Though people generally used less detail than you'd see in a scientific paper, they do include some experimental detail. Expect your assigned reviewers to scrutinize your approach: they will want to know what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. NIH data show that of the peer review criteria, approach has the highest correlation with the overall impact score. Spot the SampleLook at the Application from Dr. Mengxi Jiang, "Intersection of polyomavirus infection and host cellular responses," to see how a new investigator handled the Approach section. For an example of an experienced investigator's well-received Approach section, see the Application from Dr. William Faubion, "Inflammatory cascades disrupt Treg function through epigenetic mechanisms." Especially if you are a new investigator, you need enough detail to convince reviewers that you understand what you are undertaking and can handle the method.
Be sure to lay out a plan for alternative experiments and approaches in case you get negative or surprising results. Show reviewers you have a plan for spending the four or five years you will be funded no matter where the experiments lead. Spot the SampleSee the Application from Drs. Li and Samulski, "Enhance AAV Liver Transduction with Capsid Immune Evasion," for a strong Approach section covering potential. As an example, see section C.1.3.'s alternative approaches. Here are some pointers for organizing your Approach:
Trim the fat—omit all information not needed to make your case. If you try to wow reviewers with your knowledge, they'll find flaws and penalize you heavily. Don't give them ammunition by including anything you don't need. Tracking for Your BudgetAs you design your experiments, keep a running tab of the following essential data on a separate piece of paper:
Jotting this information down will help you Create a Budget and complete other sections later. CheckpointAfter finishing a draft Approach section, check that
Preliminary Studies or Progress ReportIf you are applying for a new application, include preliminary studies; for a renewal or a revision (a competing supplement to an existing grant), prepare a progress report instead. Describing Preliminary StudiesYour preliminary studies show that you can handle the methods and interpret results. Here's where you build reviewer confidence that you are headed in the right direction by pursuing research that builds on your accomplishments. Reviewers use your preliminary studies together with the biosketches to assess the investigator review criterion, which reflects the competence of the research team. Give alternative interpretations to your data to show reviewers you've thought through problems in-depth and are prepared to meet future challenges. If you don't do this, the reviewers will! Though you may include other people's publications, focus on your preliminary data or unpublished data from your lab and the labs of your team members as much as you can. As we noted above, you can put your preliminary data anywhere in the Research Strategy that you feel is appropriate, but just make sure your reviewers will be able to distinguish it. Alternatively, you can create a separate section with its own header. Including a Progress ReportIf you are applying for a renewal or a revision (a competing supplement to an existing grant), prepare a progress report instead of preliminary studies. Create a header so your program officer can easily find it and include the following information:
Note: if you submit a renewal application before the due date of your progress report, you do not need to submit a separate progress report for your grant. However, you will need to submit it, if your renewal is not funded. CheckpointAfter finishing the draft, check that
Referencing PublicationsReferences show your breadth of knowledge of the field. If you leave out an important work, reviewers may assume you're not aware of it. Throughout your application, you will reference all relevant publications for the concepts underlying your research and your methods. Read more about your Bibliography and References Cited at Add a Bibliography and Appendix. CheckpointAfter finishing the draft, check that
Review and Finalize Your Research PlanLook over what you've written with a critical eye of a reviewer to identify potential questions or weak spots. Enlist others to do that too—they can look at your application with a fresh eye. Include people who aren't familiar with your research to make sure you can get your point across to someone outside your field. As you finalize the details of your Research Strategy, you will also need to return to your Specific Aims to see if you must revise. See Draft Specific Aims. Abstract and NarrativeAfter you finish your Research Plan, you are ready to write your Abstract (called Project Summary/Abstract) and Project Narrative, which are attachments to the Other Project Information form. These sections may be small, but they're important.
Be sure to omit confidential or proprietary information in these sections! When your application is funded, NIH enters your title and Abstract in the public RePORTER database. Think brief and simple: to the extent that you can, write these sections in lay language, and include appropriate keywords, e.g., immunotherapy, genetic risk factors. As NIH referral officers use these parts to direct your application to an institute for possible funding, your description can influence the choice they make. AbstractWrite a succinct summary of your project that both a scientist and a lay person can understand (to the extent that you can).
NarrativeIn your Project Narrative, you have only a few sentences to drive home your project's potential to improve public health.
What should be included in a preparation outline?A. Preparation outlines are written using full-sentences, citations, and are designed to help you write and organize your speech. B. Your preparation outline should include your specific purpose statement and your thesis statement at the top, directly above the title.
Which of the following is true of a preparation outline quizlet?Which of the following statements is true of a preparation outline? It is the first draft of organizing the main points and supporting material into a speech outline. begin with an active verb. In the context of the fundamental organizational patterns used for a speech, identify a true statement about topical order.
What is the purpose of an outline preparation?Outlining will help construct and organize ideas in a sequential manner and thoughtful flow. Doing so allows you to pick relevant information or quotes from sources early on, giving writers steady foundation and groundwork when beginning the writing process.
Which of the following are guidelines for preparing the preparation outline?Which of the following are guidelines for preparing the speaking outline? Follow the visual framework of the preparation outline. Include cues for how to deliver the speech. Be certain the speaking outline is legible.
|