Undergraduate Students
Applicants should review the requirements of the specific grant that they are applying to, as well as the post-award requirements. Successful proposals meet and exceed base requirements by following the basic best practices outlined below. In general, the most successful applications are both detailed and feasible. Reviewers are reading many proposals at once: use the outline of the project description below to guide your writing and craft clear section titles.
Best Practices
- Start your application early, well in advance of deadlines. This will allow you to work through multiple drafts prior to submission. Starting early will also help you secure carefully prepared letters of recommendation. By providing letter writers with an advanced draft or final version of your proposal, you give them the opportunity to incorporate specific commentary on your project in their letters.
- Write clearly for a general academic audience and avoid unnecessary technical jargon. When you must use technical language in your proposal, be sure to explain your terminology. Grant proposals involve persuasive writing. Use pertinent facts that clearly demonstrate your need for funding.
- Strive to be as detailed as possible about the concrete aspects of your proposal. Remember that each aspect of your research plan and budget must be justified, so be specific in the explanation of your choices. All proposals should explain the project’s research/creative objectives, provide an overview of previous research or artistic influences, explain how your project will be carried out, describe the skills and knowledge you bring to the proposed project and the mentoring your project will receive, outline the principal activities to be carried out and the timeline for those activities, and explain the importance of your project.
Project Proposal
Title Page (1 page)
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Project’s title
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Applicant’s name
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Non-technical, 100-word abstract
Project Description (no more than 5 pages)
Students are expected to tailor their application to either a research focus or a creative focus. Each proposal needs to include:
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Introduction: Include a hook to interest your reader, the questions you will explore, the motivation for your project, and a clear, simple description of your overall goals.
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Brief overview of previous work: This should contextualize your work in the context of the broader scholarly literature on your topic and/or the creative focus of your project.
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Research proposals should include a brief literature review and/or a description of previous research done on this topic that your grant proposal builds on.
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Creative proposals should include an explanation of the artistic influences and contexts of your proposed project.
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Description of methods: How will your project be carried out? Be as specific as possible here, while keeping your vocabulary accessible to non-technical audiences.
- Research projects should have a clear methodology (for example, archival work and textual analysis or human subjects interviews with a stated analysis plan).
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Creative proposals should include specifics on artistic techniques and methods.
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Schedule for project completion: What will you be doing, when, and why? Again, specificity is better. Even if you do not know exact dates, your schedule should still show that you've thought about the necessary steps to complete your project in a timely manner, and that your proposal is feasible in a given timeframe.
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Description of Skills and Collaboration: Describe the skills and knowledge you bring to the proposed project and what experience you have that makes your project feasible. For both research and creative projects, this is a good place to describe previous projects, internships, courses taken, or other training you might have.
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For creative projects, this should include some demonstration of technical mastery for the skills required by your project.
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Discussion of broader impacts: Applicants should clearly state how this funding will help further their career goals or academic trajectory. In addition, applicants may explore how their work contributes to academic literature and/or the community.
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Endnotes and a bibliography: Use the style that is most common to your field. Endnotes and bibliography are not included in the page count, but must be included when necessary.
Proposal Preparation and Submission
Research and creative proposals should be a maximum of five pages, double-spaced, with one-inch margins and 12-point Times New Roman font. Include page numbers (bottom center) and embed any figures or images within the project description with captions. Footnotes, endnotes, in-text citations, and the bibliography should use a discipline-appropriate citation style. The bibliography is not included in the page limit. Proposals that do not conform to the page limits and formatting requirements will be rejected without review.
Budget (separate document)
Use the Franco Institute Student Budget Template to prepare your budget document. Itemize your expenses (see each grant webpage for eligible costs). Justify the need for each expense. Include links to sites where cost information was obtained. Include any evidence of cost-saving strategies. Do not guess or estimate costs; provide clear sources and detailed reasoning for all expenses.
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Audio-visual or computer equipment, room and board during quarantine periods, professional development activities, or software/books already provided through University site licenses are NOT permitted.
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If an item is denominated in a foreign currency, please provide the USD equivalent, including the exchange rate.
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The Franco Institute follows the General Services Administration's per diem recommendations for daily lodging rates and for meals and incidental expenses rates.
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If you are driving your own vehicle, please use the standard IRS Mileage Rates to calculate your mileage. Do not separately list mileage and fuel costs.
Additional Documents and Requirements
Sample of Previous Work- Creative Projects only
Creative project proposals will also be asked to upload a sample of previous work that demonstrates the skills needed to complete the proposed project. This could be pictures of previous work, audio files, or videos. This is not needed for research proposals.
Letter of recommendation
A letter of recommendation form filled out by a supervising faculty member in the College of Arts & Letters is required of all undergraduate student applicants. Once you have submitted your application through Submittable your designated faculty member will receive an email with instructions for submitting their recommendation. Forms must be completed within 72 hours of the application deadline or, for grants with a rolling deadline, within 72 hours of application submission. If we do not hear from your faculty advisor, we will contact them.
Special Requirements for Human Subjects Research
If your research involves interaction with people (e.g., interviews, surveys, or observing non-public behavior), you must apply for Internal Review Board (IRB) approval. Please use Notre Dame Research's online application form for Human Subjects (IRB) Approval.
If IRB approval is required, grant funding will not be disbursed until Notre Dame Research approves your IRB application. You are not required to have IRB approval to apply for a grant. IRB approval must be specifically given to you, the student. If you are working on a project for which your professor has IRB approval, please ask the professor to have your name added to the IRB protocol. Questions regarding IRB approval may be sent to compliance@nd.edu. Notre Dame requires all personnel listed on the IRB protocol to complete the online Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) module. Please refer to the Citi Training Selection Guide for directions.
Travel Requirements
Projects involving domestic travel require a completed Domestic Travel Waiver Form. (Form may be signed by hand or electronically.)
If your project involves international travel, we MUST receive your application materials AT LEAST 6 weeks prior to your planned departure date. All students are required to register University-related international travel with the Notre Dame International Travel Registry. Proof of registration must be emailed to Therese Blacketor (tblacket@nd.edu), the Franco Institute Student Grants Coordinator. Failure to register may cause the loss of your grant. The Franco Institute does not reimburse funds for travel after the trip. Travel must be registered and all paperwork returned to the Franco offices prior to travel or grant funds will not be distributed.
All high risk University-related international travel is subject to review. For University requirements and processes for student and employee high risk travel, please visit the High Risk Travel page. Proposals involving travel to countries for which a State Department travel warning has been issued may not be funded.
Please be sure to review NDG's student and parent/guardian checklists. More information is available on NDG's student information and safety information pages.