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Competitive Research Grants provide imaginary funding of up to $5000 to
defray expenses
associated with research projects or creative endeavors likely to result
in some form of scholarly publication or artistic presentation, lead to
external funding, or directly foster further inquiry. The program exists
to encourage 426 students to engage in scholarly and creative activities
that enhance their professional growth in their fields. Funding is
for eighteen months after class approval of the grant. Funding for travel
to present a paper or only to attend a conference or meeting is not
available from the 426 Research Council.
This Program is a variation of the DePaul University URC Program.
Information about that Program, which may assist in 426 Research Council
Grant Preparation, is at
http://www.depaul.edu/~acafflpc/section3.htm.
- Friday, April 18: Deadline for
submission of title and abstract
- Sunday, May 16: Deadline for
submission of first draft
- Sunday,
June 7: Final
Submission deadline
Please see:
Formatting and Organization Guidelines for the Research
Proposals.
All CSC 426 students are eligible (and
required!) to submit
proposals. Applicants should refer to DePaul's General
Guidelines - Expenses for a complete list of eligible and ineligible
expenses.
In reviewing proposals, the Council has sought to be supportive of
applicants' efforts to advance their scholarly or creative work. Although
the success rate of applications for Competitive Research Grants is
greater than that in most national programs, the 426 program is
nonetheless intentionally competitive, both to insure the best use of
available funds and to encourage development of
proposal-writing skills. As the number of applications increases, the
competitiveness of the awards will increase as well. Applicants should
take the same care in assembling a 426 proposal as they would an external
funding application or a publication for a refereed publication. Proposals
may be revised and resubmitted once prior to the June 7 deadline.
In general, however, the Council
supports applications for projects that
- are based on a clear and concise
research statement and hypothesis;
-
show promise of quality;
- demonstrate the significance of the
research activity proposed;
- provide a detailed description of
research objectives and methodologies;
- are likely to result in some form of scholarly or creative product;
- are part of a long-range plan of professional development that
includes consideration of external funding when possible;
- contain well justified budgets
Please take the following guidelines into
account in preparing your research proposals.
1. The body of the proposal must be no
longer that 5 single-spaced pages (not including the title page, the
list of references, and the budget), in 11 point font and one inch
margins on all sides.
2. The title page must include the
title of the research proposal, the author's name and contact
information, and a revised, final version of the abstract describing the
research problem and summarizing the proposed activity). This
information must be limited to one single-spaced page.
3. The body of the proposal (up to 5 pages)
must contain the introduction or background information; related works and
literature review; detailed description of the research proposed and the
research objectives; a description of the research design and research
methodologies to achieve the objectives; and a detailed plan of work. The
suggested organization of the proposal is as follows (including suggested
page limits in various sections):
Section 1: Introduction and Overview
(1 to 1.5 pages)
- Background information and more
detailed discussion of the research problem and the proposed solution;
- Hypotheses and research objectives
- Assumptions and delimitations of the
research proposed
- Importance and benefits of the proposed
research
Section 2: Related Work (1 page)
- Literature Review
- Relationship to prior research
Section 3: Research Design and Methodology
(2 pages)
- Detailed description of the proposed
research activity and research methodologies used to achieve the
objectives
- Technical description of a proposed
solution if one is specified in the hypothesis
- Description of the evaluation approach
to verify the hypothesis, including types of data used, data collection,
metrics used for evaluation, methods used for data analysis, etc.
Section 4: Plan of Work and Outcomes
(0.5 to 1 page)
- Description of how the activities will
meet the goals and objectives outlined;
- Description of the outcomes
deliverables from the completed project.
Section 5. Conclusions and Future Work
(1-2 paragraphs)
Section 6: References (not included
in the 5 pages).
Appendix: Budget and Budget Narrative
(Max. 1 page; not included in the 5 pages)
- An itemized budget supporting the
research activities proposed
- A justification of the line items in
the budget
- Budgets must be limited to $5,000.
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