ABSTRACT
This chapter explores several key success factors in writing proposals. The ‘proposal’ stage comes late in the process. When considering researchers’ proposal, look to see if it addresses three main issues: research question, contexxt and method. The best proposals respond to those questions concisely and with timescales. The context is both the background of the research question and the context of the funding partner and their community. Many proposals which are well-structured and considered fail to convey the key points. This often happens when people try to write in a more complicated and supposedly sophisticated style than is necessary. The chapter reviews the role of research administrators as part of the research team and how important they are in helping not just review proposals for technicalities, but for all the above points as well. The administrator read through the proposal and noticed that it said little about the research methodology.
