How to Write a Winning Grant Research Proposal

How to Write a Winning Grant Research Proposal How to Write a Winning Grant Research Proposal How to Contest Contemporary Thinking with Your Grant Research Proposal Grant, in other words funding, is given to individuals, non-profit organizations, charitable companies or educational facilities. A grant proposal is a formal request submitted by the individual willing to gain fund. Writing a good grant proposal is an interesting and a valuable skill. There are a lot of things that should be kept in mind while writing a grant proposal. These are as follows: It is always necessary to check the pros and cons of the proposal for which you are working. The foremost thing is to check the competition in the field. One should be aware of the various sources and ideas for which the grant is to be demanded. It is always good and safe to select a mentor for helping in the formulation of the grant proposal. However, the students who are a part of the proposal should be trained and experienced researchers. Make sure that the proposal should address a well formulated problem that is worth funding. A broad area of interest should be selected by discussing with colleagues, policy makers or community. Skills and knowledge is mandatory for the specific topic that has been selected. The interest and comfort with the topic should be evaluated in the beginning. Before finalizing the grant proposal, make a concept paper or an abstract that reflects your current thinking. This abstract should be shared with colleagues and policy makers to get feedback. After discussing the ideas, one will be able to revise or re-shape the ideas for further improvement. In this way a good and narrow research question can be built. A hypothesis is then made to give an elaboration and insight to the research question. Make sure that the hypothesis should be measurable and testable. The aims and objective of the grant proposal should be reliable, measurable and feasible. The goals must collaborate with the time and money that is being requested in the grant. It is preferable that the researchers, especially the new researchers should not work alone. A project team is preferred to perform the tasks of the proposed project. This will help the new researchers to team up with the collaborators and enhance their experiences and skills. A principle investigator (P.I) or a representative of the project team should be selected so that he/she will be responsible to the funding institute. A short description of the project (abstract) is then formed that represents the importance, need and feasibility of the project. It also contains a brief discussion of all the work including methodology, hypothesis and expected results (outcomes). The background discussion should always be focused on the issues and problems that the research will address. This discussion contains the entire theoretical basis and the explanation of why this study needs to be done. The proper handling of the background discussion will enhance the acceptability of the grant. The underlying methods behind the plan should be sound and feasible. As well, these methods should collaborate with the specific objectives of the grant proposal. If a person is just beginning as an independent investigator, he/she should not apply for a large grant at first hand but complete a good small project with relatively small amount of money and establish a good track record before applying for a larger research grant. If you need professional grant proposal help from academic experts, contact our custom writing company and we will help you immediately.

The Y2K Glitch and End of the Century Changes

The Y2K Glitch and End of the Century Changes While many were ready to party like it was 1999, many others predicted catastrophe at the end of the year from a small assumption made long ago when computers were first being programmed. The Y2K (Year 2000) problem came to exist culturally because of a fear that computers would fail when their clocks were meant to update to January 1, 2000. Because computers were programmed to automatically assume the date began with 19 as in 1977 and 1988, people feared that when the date turned from December 31, 1999, to January 1, 2000, computers would be so confused that they would shut down completely. The Age of Technology and Fear Considering how much of our everyday lives were run by computers by the end of 1999, the new year was expected to bring serious computer repercussions. Some doomsayers warned that the Y2K bug was going to end civilization as we know it. Other people worried more specifically about banks,  traffic lights, the power grid, and airports - all of which were run by computers by 1999. Even microwaves and televisions were predicted to be affected by the Y2K bug. As computer programmers madly dashed to update computers with new information, many in the public prepared themselves by storing extra cash and food supplies. Preparations for the Bug By 1997, a few years ahead of widespread panic over the Millennium problem, computer scientists were already working toward the solution. The British Standards Institute (BSI) developed a new computer standard to define conformity requirements for the Year 2000. Known as  DISC PD2000-1, the standard outlined four rules: Rule 1: No value for current date will cause any interruption in operation. Rule 2: Date-based functionality must behave consistently for dates prior to, during and after year 2000. Rule 3: In all interfaces and data storage, the century in any date must be specified either explicitly or by unambiguous algorithms or inferencing rules.   Rule 4: Year 200 must be recognized as a leap year.   Essentially, the standard understood the bug to rely on two key issues: the existing two-digit representation of dates was problematic in date processing and a misunderstanding of calculations for leap years in the Gregorian Calendar had caused the year 2000 to not be programmed as a leap year. The first problem was solved by creating new programming for dates to be entered as four-digit numbers (ex: 2000, 2001, 2002, etc.), where they were previously represented only as two (97, 98, 99, etc.). The second by amending the algorithm for calculating leap years to any year value divided by 100 is not a leap year, with the addition of excluding years which are divisible by 400, thereby making the year 2000 a leap year (as it was).   What Happened  on January 1, 2000? When the prophesied date came and computer clocks around the world updated to January 1, 2000, very little actually happened. With so much preparation and updated programming done before the change of date, the catastrophe was quelled and only a few, relatively minor millennium bug problems occurred - and even fewer were reported.