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University Grantscrafting

Read the GuidelinesTips for SSHRC Doctoral Applications

2015

Dr. Rosemary E. OmmerUniversity SSHRC Grantscrafter

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Working with a Grantscrafter

• Not a guarantee that you will get the grant!

• Application will be in best possible shape

• Application material, ideas and discussion will remain confidential

• Positive criticism

• Work on style and substance

• Technicalities are addressed by Scholarship Officer

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Technicalities

Grant eligibility, deadlines, format, attachments

Resources for you:

• Your Department Graduate Advisor

• SSHRC website: http://www.sshrc.ca/

• UVic Graduate Studies website: http://www.uvic.ca/graduatestudies/finances/financialaid/uvicawards/

• Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarship Officers:

• Ms. Yvonne Rondeau, 250-472-5186, scholoff@uvic.ca

• Ms. Kathy McCarthy, 250-472-5402, fgsaward@uvic.ca

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Doctoral Applications

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Application Process

• UVic receives a set quota from SSHRC of applicants they can nominate and send forward to the federal competition each year

• Submit your application to your Department in time to meet the Department Deadline

• Members of the Department will appraise and rank the applications and forward them to Grad Studies

• A “multidisciplinary pre-selection committee” sorts the applications into “A” and “B” lists and communicates its committee results to all applicants

• The applications on the A-list are submitted unranked to SSHRC for review and final decision

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Application Process - SSHRC

• SSHRC Grants Officers in Ottawa send all doctoral proposals out to doctoral adjudication committee members, along with the evaluations and departmental appraisals

• SSHRC Committee members read all the proposals and evaluations very carefully, then discuss them in some detail, along with the reports from the appraisers (individual and departmental) when they meet, and together rank all the applications that they bring forward to SSHRC

• SSHRC Committee review results in a ranking of all applications that is sent back to SSHRC

• SSHRC will inform you of the results, in writing, in Spring 2016

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Evaluation Criteria

Academic Excellence 60% – As demonstrated by academic transcripts, awards and distinctions

Research Potential 30% – Quality of analytical skills, ability to think critically, ability to apply skills and knowledge, judgement, originality, initiative and autonomy, determination and ability to complete projects within an appropriate period of time—as demonstrated in the description of program of study and by work experience, research contributions, letters of appraisal, and the departmental appraisal

Communication Skills 10% – As demonstrated in the description of the program of study and by work experience, community involvement and other extracurricular activities, letters of appraisal, the departmental appraisal, and the quality of presentation of the application

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Evaluation Criteria

• Past academic results (transcripts, awards, distinctions)

• The merit of your program of study and research, and its potential contribution to the advancement of knowledge

• Relevant professional and academic experience, including research training, as demonstrated by conference presentations and scholarly publications

• Two written evaluations from referees

• The departmental appraisal

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You must also include:

• Why you want to pursue doctoral studies in your particular field

• A clear description of the RESEARCH requirements (or components) of the program of study you want to follow

• A description of your research project proposal

Evaluation Criteria continued

While you cannot change anything about your past academic results, your job now is to present everything you’ve done in the very best way

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Writing Tips

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• One of three documents you will attach to your SSHRC applications

• Target your audience—SSHRC adjudication committee

• Avoid disciplinary jargon, complex obscure language, very long sentences, and sentences without main verbs

• Watch your pronouns and prepositions for clarity

• Avoid typos, incomplete information

• SSHRC committees are made up of hard-working people, who may grow tired and impatient with mistakes, editorializing, and obscure complex language, especially after reading many applications

Writing your Program of Study

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• Target your audience—SSHRC adjudication committee

• Avoid disciplinary jargon, complex obscure language, very long sentences, and sentences without main verbs

• Watch your pronouns and prepositions for clarity

• Avoid typos, poorly laid-out or explained budgets, incomplete information

SSHRC committees are made up of hard-working people, who may grow tired and impatient with mistakes, editorializing, and obscure

complex language, especially after reading many applications

Writing your Program of Study

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• Provide the required information in a clear and concise manner

• Be honest about your experience, and learn to boast where appropriate ... quietly and modestly!

• Write for an intelligent non-specialist audience

• Explain the point of the research, in what ways it is new and significant, how the questions are conceptualized and will be addressed

Writing your Program of Study cont’d

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• Do not squeeze in too many words making your proposal difficult to read

• Think about the creative use of headlines, en-dots, subsections, bold, underlines and italics – these help make a page look attractive, provide white space, and they point up the logical consistency of a proposal

• Use the Application Profile to catch interest – this is where you sell your research – your title needs to be punchy, no jargon, exciting

Writing your Program of Study cont’d

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• Present your research plans coherently, as a set of problems, in logical and connected order - and point to where future research would then go, if possible

• If in early stages: include what level you are; title and brief description of PhD; Field of proposed PhD; program of study — topic, theory/context; methodology; goals; contribution to knowledge … as much as you can

• Outline thesis; how will it build on existing research? How contribute to knowledge? What stage you are at? What remains? Supervisor?

Writing your Program of Study cont’d

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• Provide appropriate references – bibliographies are important, but you are space-limited – five pages max include key texts

• Make sure that the application states the central problem

• If critiquing existing models/approaches in the literature is necessary, it should be done lucidly and without partisanship and the reasons why the proposed approach is better should be demonstrated clearly and precisely

• If departing from your earlier work, you need to make it clear that you have done your homework in the new area —show familiarity with the debates in the literature because this will be read very closely by the committee

Writing your Program of Study cont’d

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Engage a non-expert:

• Ask a friend who is not overly-familiar with your research to take your grant proposal and read it some day/evening when he/she is tired and really would rather not do this ...and see if it makes sense

• Have your friend tell you which bits were confusing, or had to be re-read, that's all

• Then sit down again and work on getting rid of the jargon, or the appallingly long sentence, or the floating subordinate clause that needs to be a new sentence, etc.

Writing your Program of Study cont’d

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Dissemination:

• Be precise and realistic—give the names of likely journals, or conferences or publishers (accompanying letter if feasible) and probable publication sequence over the period of the grant and beyond; do poster sessions where possible

• It may well be appropriate to publish a policy brochure, provide a CD ROM, make a video, and carry out community feedback sessions. There are many more means of communication now at our disposal and creative and sensitive use of these will help the application

Writing your Program of Study cont’d

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Track record:

• Whether or not the applicant can be relied upon to deliver

• It's not a game of “who gets the highest publication score,” but who delivers well and on time so that scarce public funds are not dissipated

• Be clear about what's a book, a chapter, a report, a talk, and also about the “other scholarly production” category —videos, for example

• Quality counts more than quantity

Writing your Program of Study cont’d

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Special circumstances:

• Explain the restrictions on you if there has been a big break in your studies

• Don’t fudge, don’t whine: explanations of serious illness and other relevant matters should be done crisply and matter-of-factly, without apologies or editorializing. The case should just be made succinctly where there is one to be made

Writing your Program of Study cont’d

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Thank you!

Graduate Student Grants Facilitation