Fellowship Proposal Guidelines

Guidelines for the proposal content are given below. The selection committee expects these components, included in order, to adequately evaluate the proposal. Be advised that badly organized, poorly written, unclear or incomplete proposals are unlikely to receive funding.

Your proposal should include the following:

1. Title
2. Abstract: 250-300 words, written using terms that a general audience could understand
3. Body of Proposal: not to exceed 6 pages excluding artwork   
4. Appendices A, B and C (required)
5. Appendices D-G (required when applicable). 

Components of the proposal   

1. Introduction 
1. Broadly stated, what is the purpose of your project?
2. Why is your topic interesting and worth exploring?

2. Theoretical underpinnings of your project    
1. What literature, research or body of work is relevant to your project?
2. How does your research fit with and add to existing work in the relevant field(s)?

3. Your detailed explanation of your topic, research question(s) or hypotheses
1. What specifically do you want to study?
2. What do you hope to accomplish? For example, what questions do you plan to answer/ what hypotheses do you want to test/  what do you intend to produce?

4. Research design and methodology  
1. What methods are you adopting for your research? For example, are you doing a literature review; data collection and analysis; a reflective essay; producing a movie or play; creating a piece of artwork; or doing other creative work?
2. What tools, instruments, questionnaires, software, or other resources are needed for the research to be completed successfully? (Comment on the availability of these items. If you conduct research involving human participants you are responsible for having your research approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to submitting this fellowship proposal. The IRB website is: http://www.stlawu.edu/academics/academic-affairs/form/1239
3. Describe your method and/or model step-by-step and using terms that a general audience could understand.
4. What are the most likely reasons why your project might fail to be completed as expected?  How will you address these?

5. Conclusion
1. What personal benefits do you anticipate from conducting this research or project?
2. What benefits will it provide to the University and/or larger community/communities?
3. What will the final product be (for example, a paper, poster presentation, conference presentation, essay, drawing, installation, play, movie, workshop)?

Appendices:

1. Selected bibliography of literature and/or other works to be used in the project.   
2. Timeline

	Activity	# of hours to be spent	Week #	Expected outcome
1
2
…

3. Level of your preparation/experience for the research proposed

	Skills/technique/knowledge needed during the research	Relevant classes	Grade received	Other experience (laboratory work, internship, etc.)
1
2
…

4. IRB approval letter (if applicable)
5. Questionnaire/Research instrument (if applicable)
6. Confirmation from participants regarding interviews, meetings, etc. (if applicable)
7. If you are applying for CIIS or other funding for this project, please attach your itemized budget for that funding.