Project Writing Guidelines
General statement
When possible, faculty should target students to participate in the award writing process. Students who become active participants in the process benefit greatly from the experience. The award is intended to provide needed funds to allow faculty to teach the student(s) to do research, not to pay for faculty expenses such as travel reimbursement or new faculty computers.
See instructions on prepartion of the abstract.
What is the question or technique that you want your students to explore through research or creative work? Why is this an interesting and important question? (Note: significance means the intellectual significance to members of your discipline as well as to you.) Citation of literature references is required in this section.
Explain specifically what you plan to accomplish during the award period.
How many students are you hoping to involve in the project?
What objectives will you have for each student, and what is the anticipated outcome?
Describe exactly what activities or procedures will take place during the award period. Specifically explain how the project will be carried out.
Identify what you will do and what other individuals involved in the project will do.
What kinds of techniques will students use?
What types of data will be collected and what types of analyses will be performed by the students?
Describe the extent of your involvement in the project.
Identify the time period (weeks, months, etc.) you plan to work on the project giving the dates you expect the project to begin and end along with an approximation of how many hours each week you will focus on the project. Include a timeline that outlines the progression of activities that will take place during the entire award period, sequentially. The timeline may be presented graphically or in outline form.
Qualifications should be written by students involved in the project when possible.
Briefly describe your qualifications to pursue the project. Include your major and number of completed credit hours and expected graduation date.
Explain why you are interested in this project, what related classroom or laboratory experience you have had, what background reading you have done, discussions you have had with a faculty member, etc.
In addition, you should include a statement of why this project is important for you to complete, and why you will benefit from it in your future academic or employment ventures.
Briefly explain how you will determine whether students have accomplished the goals or objectives that were established in the proposal.
Describe ways that students will display and/or present the results of their work on the project to the University community and professional conferences, meetings, and publications.
Don't forget that if you receive monetary support from the Endeavor! Awards Program, your students will be required to present their work at the Endeavor Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Symposium held in April. You, as the faculty sponsor, will also be required to attend.
- $4,000 maximum for faculty-written proposal.
Make sure the items listed in your budget have been mentioned in the proposal somewhere. Identify what percentage of the funds (max 50%) will be used for student wages for work done on the project.
Don't forget to include shipping costs when appropriate.
Make sure to justify the expenses in your narrative including why the items requested are needed, why the hours to be worked by students are essential to the successful completion of the project, and how the items will contribute to the education of the student researcher(s) involved.
All proposals must have citation of appropriate and relevant previous works and research. A failure to include relevant citations will result in automatic rejection of the proposal.