projects

The Project Summary

November 27, 2009

It’s not enough to say what you’re
going to do…

…You must explain, in detail, how  you’re going to do it!

The project summary may be the only part of your proposal that some reviewers read.

Funding agencies typically assemble panels of experts to review dozens of proposals at the same time. A “primary” and a “secondary” reviewer are assigned to each proposal; they read it in detail and report back to the panel Although all members of the panel vote on every proposal, because of time constraints, many will read only the abstracts of those proposals that are not specifically assigned to them.

·      Remember, reviewers are busy
·      The summary may be the only part of the proposal reviewers read
·      If the summary is so poorly written,
·      Some reviewers may not continue into the technical narrative

Even though it comes first in the proposal document, don’t write the project summary until last. The project summary should present the entire scope and contents of the project.

Organize your project summary to reflect the organization of the technical description; present the same concepts, in the same order, using the same words, so that the reviewers remember them

·      Project summary should written last
·      Should present the entire scope and content of the project
·      Organize summary to
·      Reflect organization of technical description
·      Briefly present concepts and main points

The project summary should “stand alone”. It should serve as a well-written, accurate summary of the entire proposal. It should explicitly state the goals and objectives of the project. It should include an overview of the methodology. It should address the aims of the funder that will be served by the project. It should state the project’s significance.

·      Summary should stand alone!
·      Be enough of an introduction to:
·      Accurate summary of entire proposal
·      Explicitly state the goals and objectives of the project
·      Include an overview of the methodology
·      Address the aims of the funder
·      State the project’s significance

Answer these questions, in this order, for a perfect project summary:
·      What do you intend to do?
·      Why is it important?
·      What has already been done?
·      What methods will you use?
·      What results do you expect?
·      How will you analyze your data?
·      What contribution will your project make to the mission of the funder?
·      Make your answers as specific, detailed, and quantitative as possible
·      For a perfect project summary
·      Answer these questions in order:
·      What do you intend to do? What hypothesis will you test?
·      Why is it important?
·      What has already been done?
·      What methods will you use?
·      What results do you expect?
·      How will you analyze your data?
·      What contribution will your project make to the mission of the funder?
·      Make your answers concise as well as:

o       Specific
o       Detailed
o       Quantitative

Use the checklist here to critique your summary

·      The summary states the subject of the investigation immediately and its significance discussed?
·      The summary presents the preliminary work and any unanswered questions posed
·      The summary explains the goals and objectives of the work
·      The summary states the methods and data analysis
·      The summary states the expected findings
·      The summary states the benefits to the funder

Follow style conventions

·      Defined all
·      Abbreviations
·      Acronyms
Special symbols

·      No figures are included
·      Summary stands alone
·      No references cited
·      No mention is made figures, tables equations from main text

Ask for input and review course corrections to improve now and in the future.

·      How would your reviewer find your summary?
·      Ask yourself whether:
·      Ideas are expressed clearly and concisely?
·      Language is familiar and precise?
·      Standard western nomenclature and notation used?
·      Stylistic conventions are observed?
·      Text is free from typographical errors?
·      Did you international collaborators review the summary to standardize the language?

Write your summary separate from the technical narrative

·      Do not cut and past the first few paragraphs from your technical narrative
·      Project summary must describe entire project.
·      Omissions in the summary raise questions in the reviewers’ minds about the whole project

Be cautious about stating hypotheses in your summary

·      Don’t assume your hypothesis is true!
·      Identify hypotheses for what they are:
·      Something to be tested
·      Not the truth

Respect the limits of a summary

·      Reserve the most pertinent information for the summary
·      Remove irrelevant information
·      Your summary may become public information

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