ENGLISH 465: SPECIFICATION, BID, GRANT AND PROPOSAL WRITING

 

Quarter: Winter 2003-04

Time: MWF 12:30-1:45

Instructor: R. Rudnicki

Office Hours: MWF 10:45-12:30 & 1:45-2:00

Email: rrudnicki@garts.latech.edu

 

Prerequisite: English 303

 

Required Text

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Writing Proposals: Rhetoric for Managing Change. New York: Longman, 2002. 

 

Description

English 465 will emphasize audience analysis, organization, style and credibility as they relate to the process of writing solicited or unsolicited grant proposals. An understanding of basic rhetorical principles from audience analysis to document design will be assumed. Students will create original research, planning, or implementation proposals of 15-18 pages based on needs they have identified. Classes will be organized as writing workshops; attendance and participation are mandatory.

 

Class Policies

Review all Course Policies for details concerning attendance, work ethic, missed work, late work, and grading standards. This English 465 page and the Course Policies page comprise your syllabus for this class.

 

Evaluation

Students will be graded according to their ability to produce a professional, original grant proposal from the early stages of conception to the finished document. Although the timeline for submitting proposals will be based on the quarter itself, and outside materials such as letters of commitment and recommendation will be forgone, each student’s grant proposal will be based on practical, realistic needs or goals and existing funding opportunities. Students will be required to produce their graded English 303 proposals (or facsimiles) to use as examples for the class. Refer to the following sites for examples of these guidelines and RFP (request for proposal) sources:

 

Indiana University Research Gateway: Proposal Development and Funding

 

University of Virginia Research Sponsors

 

NIH RFP Directory Homepage

 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

 

Federal Register

 

Commerce Business Daily

 

http://fdncenter.org/grantmaker/contents.html

 

http://www.cof.org/links

 

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/ncn/grants/app/default.htm

 

Proposals will be evaluated at several stages of process:

 

Assignment 1:  10%  Researching opportunities, identifying needs, and matching concepts with appropriate funding agencies, foundations, or companies 

 

Assignment 2:  20%  Contacting an agent and outlining the proposal’s rationale, scope, methods, requirements, timetable, and outcome

 

Assignment 3:  20%  Submitting a proposal draft and critiquing the drafts of three peers

 

Assignment 4:  10%  Revising the proposal and submitting a letter outlining these revisions

 

Assignment 5:   Presenting a summary of the proposal to the class (a requirement for submission—worth 10 points of final proposal)

 

Assignment 6:  40%  Submitting the finished proposal  

 

Class Schedule

You are responsible for the information in the required textbook. Specific daily assignments and workshop activities will be announced in class. If you are not in class to participate in those assignments and activities, up to one full letter grade will be deducted from your approaching major assignment for each missed class. Generally speaking, we will review, introduce, and discuss concepts and approaches to a given week’s material on Monday, collaborate on that material on Wednesday, and schedule individual conferences and other workshop-style meetings covering areas of need on Friday.

 

WF  Dec 3, 5:   Greetings, Introduction

MWF Dec 8, 10, 12:    WR (Writing Proposals) chapters 1-2

MWF Dec 15, 17, 19:   WR 3-4, Assignment 1 Due Friday: sample marks and corrections

MWF Dec 22, 24, 26:    Christmas Holidays

MWF Dec 29, 31, Jan 2:    Christmas Holidays

MWF Jan 5, 7, 9:   WR 5-6

MWF Jan 12, 14, 16:   M: discuss WR 5-6 & 7-8 and work on contact letters; W: letter draft due for peer reviews; F: Editing workshop, Assignment 2 Due by end of class

M Jan 19:    Martin Luther King, Jr.  Holiday

WF Jan 21, 23:    Wed: WR 9-10, Fri: No class; begin composing Proposal Rough Draft (minimum 10 pages); sample sentences assignment #2

MWF Jan 26, 28, 30:   WR 11-12, Assignment 3 Due Friday, minimum 10 pages, bring four copies to class; sample sentences #3

MWF Feb 2, 4, 6:   Individual Conferences (required)

MWF Feb 9, 11, 13:   Peer Reviews of Proposal Drafts Due; Revision Workshops, Assignment 4 Due Friday

MWF Feb 16, 18, 20:   Assignments 5 & 6 Due (presentations MWF, finished proposal due F)

MW Feb 23, 25:   Mardi Gras Holidays

F Feb 27:   Conferences

M Mar 1:    Return Assignment 6, conclude