ABSTRACT
Building blocks of a winning proposal Research proposals play a vital role in the progress of science and provide investigators much needed resources to carry out their research projects. Investigators view writing proposals as both an obstacle and opportunity in the conduct of their research projects. It is not too uncommon to hear them complain that they have to write yet another proposal when they interact at scientic meetings. This concern is not entirely unfounded. It is not simple to articulate new ideas that are not completely ironed out with several potentially open problems in need of solutions. Stating such problems without providing credible ideas to solve them will not likely be sufcient to put together a winning proposal. At the same time, revealing too much information would make the ideas appear to be straightforward, whereas too little information might make them look not as well thought out. Investigators need to put just enough information into their proposals to convince their fellow researchers that they have fundable ideas. There is no single recipe with which this can be done with certainty. However, there are some cardinal facts that should be followed to increase the probability of success. In this chapter, the aim is to (a) explain these facts while describing basic building blocks of research proposals, (b) present some concrete styles that may be used to organize research ideas into a comprehensive proposal, and (c) describe some mistakes that can be avoided when writing proposals.
