Tip #1: The specific aims
I’ve been writing grants for about 20 years. The first one I wrote was as a graduate student. I came up with an idea for a distributed-object system for DNA sequencing data management, and went to my advisor Lloyd Smith with it. He said, “great, why don’t you write a grant proposal to get it funded?”
I didn’t know where to start. I struggled with it, but eventually managed to come up with a plan. I gave it to him, and he reworked it quite a bit, then submitted it to the NIH. It got a decent score on the first round but it wasn’t funded. So we reworked it and resubmitted it. That time it got funded. My career of grant writing was launched.
Fast forward to about ten years later, and I was now at The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill as an assistant professor in Microbiology & Immunology and Biomedical Engineering. I’d done a reasonable job of getting grants funded up to that point, with a prestigious “genome scholar” K22 award under my belt, and a handful of other grants that I wrote or co-wrote that had been funded.
So it was much to my dismay that the first few proposals I wrote as a new faculty member were failures. I use that strong word intentionally. The sole purpose of a grant is to get your research funded. These proposals I wrote in 2002 and 2003 – to both NSF and NIH – failed to do that. I started worrying.
I managed to get connected with a senior colleague here who is a very successful scientist. He also teaches a rigorous grant-writing class at UNC called “research concepts”. I asked him for help to read over a draft of a new proposal I was cooking up.
His response was, “send me the specific aims.”
What? You only want the specific aims? Why not the rest of it?
“I only want to see the specific aims.”
Ok, I played along. I sent him the specific aims.
A week went by and I heard nothing. Then I got an email. It went something like this:
“I’ve read your aims and we should meet to discuss them.”
Here was a senior colleague who, instead of just marking up the aims and sending them back to me, wanted to meet. It sounded serious. I remember that meeting.
We went for lunch. We sat down with a bit of chit-chat. Then it got to business. He pulled out a copy of the specific aims that he’d marked up with a pen. It was nearly all red, with most of my writing crossed out. He went point by point through my grant’s aims, tearing down nearly everything I had written. I felt both angry and scared. I felt like he was telling me that my work was crap. And in fact, he was right – it was crap.
He handed me a “template” that he gives to his class for how to write aims (want a version of the template? sign up in the box below this post).
He told me to use that in rewriting my aims, and that he’d be happy to review a revised version.
I felt so lame, going back to my computer and using a “template” that he uses with his students to write my R01 grant to the NIH. I was a respected assistant professor at a major university! I shouldn’t need that kind of basic training!
Except that I did. And it worked. (If you’d like a copy of this template and more grant writing tips, sign up in the box below this post).
We went another two rounds with the aims. Only after they were fleshed out did I start writing the rest of the grant, and I found that it flowed incredibly well – much better than any previous grant proposal. That’s because my aims were clear. I knew where I was going, and the destination was known. I was no longer driving in the dark without headlights. That’s what I had been doing previously, before this encounter.
That grant was submitted, and on its first round of submission, it got a score around 5th percentile. My colleague helped me turn my grant proposal from junk into a more than fundable proposal – simply by looking at my specific aims, and nothing else.
That one encounter led to a complete turnaround in my grant writing. Since that time I’ve had about 70% of all my proposals funded. My two most recent R01’s were funded on the first round of submission, with scores better than the top 5th percentile (in the highly competitive years of 2007 and 2008). I just received a rare RC2 award for my genome annotation work. And I can trace all of this to that one encounter with my mentor.
It all starts with the specific aims.
I’ve had a number of post docs over the years. I try to get them involved with grant writing, since it helps them learn about the process. Here’s a key thing I’ve noticed: if left to their own devices, they almost always start writing some other part of the proposal, and leave the aims until last.
It was actually several years after the aforementioned encounter that I realized the problem that this presented. A post-doc and I were working together on a proposal related to our antibiotic resistance work. He would work on the introduction or research design & methodology section, and then after working on those parts, I’d try to summarize them in the aims.
We went round after round of modifying the proposal, then the aims. Then changing the proposal again, then changing the aims again. I should have realized much sooner what I had begun doing in my own work – always starting with the aims.
Until they are completely water tight, there’s no reason to work on any other part of the proposal.
The aims contain three key things about your proposal: why you want to do the work, what you want to do, and how you want to do it. If those things can’t be pinned down within the one-page specific aims statement, they certainly can’t be pinned down in a larger proposal. In fact, trying to write a proposal without those three things having been clearly delineated is just a waste of time. You will spend time, like I did on many occasions, messing around with shifting goals and priorities. You will be driving towards an unknown destination. And the likelihood of success in such instances is quite low.
That is exactly the problem my post doc and I were having. I had given him too little guidance about where to start, so he started where most of us naturally do, by writing the things that are “easiest” first. Writing a water tight specific aims page is actually quite hard. Few people would naturally start there unless trained to do so (I wasn’t until the encounter mentioned above). But at this point, I’ll never proceed to write any other part of a proposal until my aims are so good that they make me excited to want to begin writing the rest of it. And I’m not kidding – a good specific aims statement should generate that kind of enthusiasm.
Back to the post-doc story, the first version of the proposal – which hadn’t started with the aims – didn’t receive a fundable score (though didn’t miss it by too far).
For the revision, I had him start from scratch with the specific aims. That process went much more smoothly than the first attempt. It took about one half of the time, even though it had been completely rewritten. And on that round, it received what would have been a fundable score. Sadly, however, the foundation we submitted that to ran into great financial difficulties that year, and didn’t fund any grants. So despite the improved score, we had no luck.
So the take home message should be clear: start with the aims. Write them, then have your colleagues read them and tear them apart. Then rewrite them. Try to get them torn apart again. And rewrite again. Until it is virtually impossible to poke holes in them. If you’re starting from that platform, writing the rest of the grant is pretty straightforward (though not necessarily easy).
Free template to help you with your specific aims
Dial in those specific aims to be killer (and more fundable). You can get my template by signing up below!
36 replies to "NIH Grant Writing Tips – #1"
That was so helpful! I am a postdoc currently struggling with putting my ideas to paper. It is so easy for one to quit academia as a prospective career because of this frustration.
Great article, thanks for sharing! It’s very kind of you to share this material with the rest of us, who are trying to climb up the ladder that leads to “becoming an independent scientist”.
James – I know it can be frustrating. It is not always an easy path to pursue science. It has rewards but many challenges too. I can only hope to help others learn from the many mistakes I made along the way.
Hi, Morgan – Great advice! I’m working as a staffer in congress this year, and the same advice is applicable to scientists coming to the Hill to advocate for their research! One page (and only one page) in plain English – why, what and how. Plus, the societal impact.
Thank you for setting up the site. Would you be willing to publish the template for the specific aims here as it could be very helpful to us junior scientists. Thanks you.
Hi M Doyle,
I am providing additional resources in my list subscriber area, and will post a specific aims template there. To gain access, just use the “subscribe” box on the main page, and once you confirm, you’ll get a message with the information on how to access the resources. It’s free!
Thanks Morgan!!! This article is super helpful. I wish I had read this 3 days ago before I submitted my first R21.
[…] am a good example of that. When I wrote about my experiences with my colleague giving me major critical feedback on my specific aims, there was a key point I was making, without being explicit about it: that the experience with my […]
This article just reminds me the circumstance that I had been involved (actually, I was the post-doc in the story). As a non-native English speaker like me, to write a great grant proposal is a real challenge. But it is so true that you can make your proposal more attractive and fundable if you know how to write your aims clear (at least, I saw how it had been improved in different rounds). Morgan, thank you!
Applying grant is like playing FIFA soccer. A lot of effort put in but no goal (0:0 score). Or getting a goal but referee did not see it. You just have to keep playing and one day you will win a game or two…
Steve – it is true that the more you try the more likely you are to get the goal.
But consider this. What if you put a neophyte 12 year old player on the field, versus an experienced player?
Obviously the experienced player, who knows what they’re doing and how to do it, has a much higher probability of getting the goal than the uneducated neophyte.
Just playing the odds naively almost never leads to “winning big.” Playing the odds in an educated fashion, however, can lead to that outcome.
I want to know if there is a R15 pending and I want to use some parts for one of aims of my new R01? Is that possible for reviewing or will it be rejected to be reviewed by NIH?
Thanks a lot.
It will be interesting to see how the funding changes over time. What if the bulk of research funding switches to private funding in the future?
http://www.petridish.org
http://www.kickstarter.com
https://www.rockethub.com/projects/scifund
Here is just a few of some incredible ones that are already changing the way projects are funded and changing the world from their results. These often require a short video to sell your ideas (why/what/how) and remind me a bit of the genius behind the ted.com video formats where you have less than 16 minutes to inspire your listeners. It may prove these new online formats are ahead and show the future of funding (vs. the written grant forms of the past for NIH, etc).
Maybe most scientists don’t care if their funding is from the tax dollar, or from priviate funds, but they should, especially when some of the tax funding is drying up.
Doing the research should only be a part of the goal. Inspiring the world around you from what you discover should also be a big part of that and to get private funding directly from the public at large does more than just build a fan base it helps inspire others to change the world also. Giant projects will always take giant funding and there should always be grants and funding from tax dollars to help improve the world……but what if private funding like the 3 above was actually a better system?…..for everyone!
After submitting a F31 NRSA this past friday, I was given a two day window to make changes. After stumbling upon your website saturday morning, I immediately went on eraCommons to revise my aims, summary, etc. I wish i had read this earlier! lets see what my score will be! It’s my first NIH grant proposal..overwhelming yet highly educational experience!
Would like to see specific aims template
I would love a copy of the template for the aims page. Also, I am a huge fan of Lloyd Smith!
it is a good experience. I am struggling on my first K22.
Thanks a lot.
Absolutely! I would love to see your template. Thanks!
Thanks for the inputs. Would like to see the template
would like to see template for aims
I’d like a copy of the template for specific aims. I am a PhD student who is interested in submitting a grant application for a F31 fellowship.
Thank you in advance,
Sonia
Hi – I’ve been wondering why everyone was asking for the template when the opt in form for it used to be right here…
Well, I just looked and realized that something is broken so the template is no longer listed here.
I apologize for that, I will get it fixed. Please check back in the next few days.
Any idea when the template will be available?
Thanks for your article and help! much appreciated!
Thanks for the great blog! I look forward to getting more tips from you!
Best,
Laura
Hoping for the template!
I teach a proposal and grant writing doctoral course and would love to see your template for the specific aims. Thank you!
I would like to receive a copy of the specific AIMS template. I am a PhD student at Washington State University preparing a R03 grant proposal with committee members. Thank you
I would love to see the SA template page!
Thank you for your great advice! It would be great if I could see the template you use to write your specific aims.
Best Regards,
Mitch
May I ask you the template?
Thank you in advance.
I would like to get a copy of the template and other tips for grant writing
I would like to get a copy of the template and other tips for grant writing
Thank you
Hi Sumana,
You should have received a copy of the SA template when you confirmed your email with us. If you haven’t received it yet, please let me know.
Thanks for the valuable advice. Looking forward for the grant money to start pouring on.
Glad you enjoy our content Victor!
I would like a copy of the template. I can’t find it on here and I didn’t get an email with it. Could you please let me know if it’s still available?
Thanks!