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.