Program Submission Checklist
To submit a proposal to STS, follow these steps.
- Get a copy of Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). This document contains the official submission instructions. Information about obtaining NSF publications can be found on the publications page.
- Contact one of the directors of the STS Program if you have questions
about the submission process, your research idea, or proposal content.
- Secure all supporting materials, such as letters from cooperating
institutions or permissions to access data sources, well before the
submission deadline. Incorporating these after review begins may be
difficult. Reviewers may fault a proposal not containing them.
- Write the text of the proposal so that it provides a clear, convincing
case for the proposed research. Make sure it can be understood by
colleagues outside the specialty. Be specific about what you plan to do
and how you plan to do it. Address any limitations or shortcomings; don't
just assume them away. Be sure to include two crucial parts: how your work
will advance our understanding of science or technology and how the work
plan will contribute to your research objectives. You should also
discuss the broader impacts that you expect your work to have. These
can include how this project will enhance teaching or other educational
objectives, might broaden the participation of underrepresented groups
in the field, or expand the infrastructural base of your scholarly community
or institution. Will society in general derive benefits from your efforts?
- Be sure the project description does not exceed the page limit imposed
by NSF.
- If you are submitting a revised proposal, be sure to address the
concerns of prior reviewers. Some of them may review the current proposal,
and it is likely that other reviewers will have similar concerns.
- Prepare a reasonable, but complete, budget for the proposed research.
Provide a budget justification for any large amounts or unusual items.
- Have someone experienced in grant proposal writing look over your
submission. Ask him or her to check for omissions, unstated assumptions,
theoretical explication, and lack of clarity. Don't send a proposal until
it has been read several times.
- You may suggest potential outside reviewers. Such suggestions are
helpful in the reviewer selection process. You may also designate persons
you would prefer not review the proposal, without indicating why.
- If your research involves Human Subjects, make sure you follow your
institution's Human Subjects procedures. Please be sure to submit the Human Subjects
Certification form from the submitting institution. If the certification is pending, please
include information to that effect. If it is ready at the time you submit, the institutional
form certifying that your project has been approved should be scanned and incorporated in a pdf
file in the supplementary documents section of the proposal.
- Consult your campus office of grants and contracts (or sponsored
programs or whatever it is called) early in the
proposal-writing process. They can guide you through many of the
complexities of budgets and certifications that would otherwise absorb
time you should spend thinking about the research itself.
- All proposals must be submitted electronically via Fastlane. Independent scholars and
those at institutions that are not registered as Fastlane organizations
should contact the program officer BEFORE the target date and BEFORE
submitting their proposal to discuss the possibility of obtaining a
waiver that will allow a paper submission.
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