Grant Writing - Not Reviewing the Literature - Mistake 2 of 7 to Avoid When Approaching Funders

Federal government agencies, foundations and corporations get turned off by grant proposals that:

Are off-topic;
Have been tried elsewhere;
Give a negative tone;
Come from an applicant, not a client perspective;
Lack adequate infrastructure;
Include lots of unsupported assumptions; and
Look for quick fixes. In this article, you will learn mistake 2 of 7 to avoid when approaching funders: not reviewing the literature. Failure to find out if your project or idea has been tried elsewhere could lead to your rejection. The solution is here, too, so you don't make this mistake in the future.

Most of the time, our ideas are not new. In fact, one researchaer (Meador 1985) found that as many as one-third of all proposals submitted to a funder who was seeking innovative ideas were for projects that had been tried elsewhere.

If the idea for which you seek funding is indeed unique, great. If you're anything like most of my students, after reviewing the literature - offline and online - they realize that they are not alone in the universe. In fact, many find programs doing almost exactly what they want to do someplace else.

Solution

Economically, it is far more efficient and far-reaching to build on what has been done successfully than starting from scratch. Surprisingly, you can still make your idea unique, even if it has been tried elsewhere.

To make your idea unique when tried before, here are six steps to reviewing the literature and avoiding this mistake:

Search online - Search on the Internet using keywords that best represent your idea or program, like child care, child development, daycare, early childhood, preschool.
Search offline - Identify professional associations in your industry, such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Association for Childhood Education International. Review their journals and websites.
Identify 1-3 programs doing what you want to do, like Montessori.
Interview the director of each program.
Summarize in 1-3 paragraphs what each program has already accomplished, methodologies used, failings, successes, stumbling blocks.
Include this summary in the "methods" section of your proposal. Then, leverage your proposal in a way that builds on the successes of the other programs.
Subtle improvement of what works is easier, faster and more fundable than starting from scratch. In the eyes of the funder, building on a review and summary of the literature - online and offline - will demonstrate that you've done your homework.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your free subscription to the Grant Writing Newsletter when you visit http://GrantWritingNewsletter.com.

From Phil Johncock - The Grant Writing Professor

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Are We Approaching the Death of Fine Literature Or Discovering a Whole New World?

Driving while text messaging is now illegal in many states and some English Teachers say it ought to be illegal period, as folks are learning new ways to destroy the English Language each day. True enough, I suppose, but if we really consider this, what does it mean for the future of fine literature, are we at the end of the line? Some say yes, although, maybe the world is only changing now and rather than think of it as the death of an era, maybe it is the start of something new and wonderful?

You see, I believe in the future that literature will not be like it is now, rather it will be storytelling in a 3D Holographic Visual Presentation, which touches the six senses thus, the essence of experience, like a play where you are the character and the observer is too. A story where you are one with it and completely immersed and imagine the benefits for learning things like history and the possibilities for education; a life experience learning tool within a life experience.

This changed everything; Will the story teller be a literary creative genius or a computer programmer or will be ditch the human all together and allow Artificial Intelligence to do the creative work? Okay, hold that thought and you can consider it later. Back to the human storyteller of the future, where a person could be the story creator if they had a program that allowed them to use speech and motion recognition to set up the play and the computer would use voice recognition, facial recognition and motion recognition.

 

This would also interface with objects put into the scene using Photoshop 24.0 version perhaps.  and a CAD CAM AI design computers which turned 2D into 3D into 4D based on the input from the designer or artist? Remember, the movie Minority Report when Tom Cruise moved the screens around? Maybe like that, as the operator or artist of the story used a system designed to make the set, scenery and characters in a Virtual Reality CAVE using augmented reality techniques.

Would this preclude the future of literature? After all, much of the value of good literature is allowing the human to imagine themselves in the scene, but if everything is done for them, they no longer need to imagine they are somewhere else, as they are now actually there. That's a big difference say neuro-scientists who study brain activity using fMRI and 360 degree brain scans of subjects while reading and those watching TV.

 

If this is true would the creativity of those participating be lessened, if so would that cause over time humans to be less creative or would the immersion assist them in becoming more creative in different ways? Either way wouldn't this mean that reading Fine Literature or participating in Creative Writing activities become a good way to teach for such a future.

 

Perhaps, it does not matter because the future is coming and moving in this direction. Of course, the real exciting part comes when you have a fully integrated system designed to assist humans in going to the next step. Indeed, there is a whole new world out there, if we dare to take it. My thinking is, if dare not, we lose that freedom to be anything thing we choose and completely free from want. What say you?

"Lance Winslow" - Lance Winslow's Bio. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/.

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