Writing Projects

Summary: I co-wrote this feedback report at the request of two research professors' federal (National Science Foundation) grant proposal. This proposal had progressed through several rounds of review and had been returned with reviewer feedback. The clients were preparing to submit their revised proposal. (Note: identifying and confidential information has been redacted.)

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Roles: Writer, Editor

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Skills: 

• Federal grant proposal writing

• Incorporating feedback

• Using grant checklists

• Client communication

• Collaboration

• Written communication - clarity and cohesion

• Editing

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Project Narrative: My colleagues and I reviewed the National Science Foundation grant, additional guidelines and information pertaining to the grant, the clients' revised grant proposal, and reviewer feedback. We suggested revisions to increase the clarity of the writing, to address the reviewers' feedback, to align with the grant's request for proposal, to align with additional guidelines that pertained to the grant, to address grammar and spelling, and to correct and expand references.

My colleagues and I tailored our feedback to respond to our clients' questions. My colleagues and I communicated asynchronously (through Slack) to determine how best to present our feedback to our clients and decided to create a report that also linked to the clients' application and references documents that contained our inline feedback on spelling, grammar, and formatting of references. 

Summary: This grant proposal proposes a conservation education project. The project was created for and in collaboration with local hunters to help reduce the poaching of critically endangered red wolves in Eastern North Carolina. 

Roles: Developer, Researcher, Writer, and Editor

Skills: 

• Research

• Problem-solving

• Participatory action research

• Collaboration with diverse stakeholders

• Written communication - writing with constraints

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Project Narrative: This proposal responds to the Greenville Zoo's Conservation Grant, specifically their Conservation Education grant. This grant funds projects that increase awareness, knowledge, or conversation about wildlife conservation issues and/or projects that spread "skills and technology, and/or empower new conservation leaders," especially projects implemented locally. 

I evaluated evidence about red wolf poaching and solutions already in place. I identified gaps, developed new approaches, assessed these approaches with stakeholder feedback, and posed an alternative solution. This solution was a community-based participatory research project designed with local hunters and wildlife organizations that would culminate in an educational project for local hunters. As I drafted my budget section, I recognized the constraints of the budget and refined my project, focusing on building relationships with the local hunting community. I prioritized face-to-face interactions to create an educational project to reduce red wolf poaching that responded to the community's needs.

What I learned: I learned the importance of incorporating multiple viewpoints, specifically the viewpoints of the community and stakeholders who are directly impacted by an issue. Additionally, I learned the importance of analyzing the effect of the project on participants through pilot-tested pre- and post-surveys and interviews. 

Summary: I co-created this grant prospecting report for a professor seeking funding for her research. (Note: Identifying information was redacted.)

Roles: For this report, I served as a Researcher and Writer for the "Findings" section. I also served as a Reviser for the "Introduction" and "Summary of the Fundable Project" sections, and I served as an Editor for the whole report. This report represents a collaboration between three researchers and writers, including myself.

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Skills: 

• Research

• Collaboration

• Information design

• Client relations

• Written communication - clarity and cohesion

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Project Narrative: In a grant writing course, a research team asked my grant prospecting team to find and create a prospecting report on potential funding opportunities for a grant proposal. My team searched for relevant funding opportunities primarily through Google using words from the grant proposal and words that aligned with the proposal, like "wellbeing grant," "meditation grant," "humanities grants," "Sonic Meditation grant," Tibetan Buddhism grant," and other words.

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Together, my team identified the top five funding opportunities that aligned best with the scope and aims of the professor's research. I reorganized our recommendations into a reader-friendly, bullet-point design and copy-edited for grammar and clarity in the "Findings" section. I identified the relevant sections of our research. I revisited and explored the funding opportunities to ensure the accuracy of the information, as some information changed between the initial research and the writing of the report. I also checked for additional information that may have been missed but might be important for the client to know. 

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I collaborated with a colleague to ensure the content and writing of the "Introduction" and "Summary of Fundable Project" were clear and comprehensive. I suggested revisions for clarity, relevance, and concision. I also identified areas of inconsistency within the report and collaborated with my colleagues to determine preferences for font and alignment for consistency. 

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This is your Project description. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start.