PRWR 7900/01: Grant and Proposal Writing
Spring 2009 Dr. Beth Giddens Office: Humanities 265; 770/423-6766 E-mail: egiddens@kennesaw.edu
Class Meeting: Tuesdays 6:30-9:15 p.m. Humanities 266 Required Texts Barbato, Joseph and Danielle S. Furlich. Writing for a Good Cause: The Complete Guide to Crafting Proposals and Other Persuasive Pieces for Nonprofits. New York: Fireside, 2000. Freed, Richard C. and Joe Romano. Writing Winning Business Proposals: Your Guide to Landing the Client, Making the Sale and Persuading Your Boss. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Writing Proposals: Rhetoric for Managing Change. New York: Longman, 2002. Miner, Lynn E. and Jeremy T. Miner. Proposal Planning and Writing. 3rd ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003. Recommended Texts The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. New York: Associated Press, 1997. Houp, Kenneth W., et al. Reporting Technical Information. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Course description: This course focuses on types of proposals and grant applications written by businesses and nonprofit organizations. Students will research, plan, draft, and finalize a business sales proposal, a letter proposal to a foundation, a proposal or grant application to a government agency, and a case statement for a capital campaign. These service-learning assignments will involve students in working with actual organizations and/or clients and in collaborating with classmates. Also, students will learn about the careers available to professional writers who specialize in proposal and grant writing. Course Objectives 1. Develop an understanding of the purposes of proposals, grant applications, grant letters, and case statements within organizations, industries, and disciplines. 2. Understand the processes of proposal and grant writing, including developing relationships with funders, developing a proposal and project team, designing the project, and responding to reviewers. 3. Practice researching, planning, drafting, revising, and managing various proposal types for organizations. 4. Critique proposal and grant documents produced by corporate, nonprofit, and governmental organizations to identify successful content, organizational strategies, language, and use of graphical elements.
PRWR 7900 Spring 2009
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5. Learn to collaborate with colleagues, clients, fellow writers, designers, and printers. 6. Increase one’s mastery of style, grammar, mechanics, punctuation, and spelling. Course Prerequisite: PRWR 6260 or permission of instructor. Admission to the MAPW program or permission of the graduate program director. Tentative schedule Jan. 9 T Course introduction. Discussion of course concepts and assignments. 16 T Introduction to proposals. Read Johnson-Sheehan ch. 1-3; Miner & Miner ch. 1-2, 4. Discuss Projects 2-4. Read Miner & Miner Part III (ch. 6-14). Memo proposing a plan for projects 2-4 due by Thursday, Feb. 24, 6:00 p.m. Read Freed, Freed & Romano introduction, Parts 1-2 (ch. 1-7), appendix A. Work session on Project 2 (Business Proposal) : Complete worksheets in Appendix B of Freed, Freed, & Romano. Read Freed, Freed & Romano Part 3 (ch. 8-14); skim Johnson-Sheehan ch. 4-8. Work session on Project 2 (Business Proposal): Working draft of Project 2 due at end of class. Read Johnson-Sheehan ch. 9-12; Work session on Project 3 (Proposal Letter): Read Miner & Miner ch. 3 & 5; Barbato & Furlich Parts 1-2. Project 2 “Green Team Reviews”: 1.____________________ 2.____________________ Work session on Project 3 (Proposal Letter): Read Barbato & Furlich Part 3. Project 2 “Green Team Reviews”: 1.____________________ 2.____________________ Spring break: no class meeting. Project 2 (Business Proposal) due. Work session on Project 4 (Case Statement). Read Barbato & Furlich Parts 4-5. (Deadline for NEH DHI proposal; BG and KM will compile final draft and submit.) Project 2 “Green Team Reviews”: 1.____________________ 2.____________________ Work session on Project 4 (Case Statement). Complete draft of Project 3 (Proposal letter) due
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23 T
30 T
Feb.
6T
13 T
20 T
27 T
Mar.
6T 13 T
20 T
PRWR 7900 Spring 2009
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27 T
Work session on Project 4. Early draft of Project 4 (Case Statement) due. Final work session on Projects 3 &4. Complete draft of Project 4 (Case Statement) due Projects 3 (Proposal Letter) & 4 (Case Statement) due. Formal discussion about Projects 3&4. Discuss Project 1 (Govt. Grant); review Miner & Miner Part III (ch. 6-14). Work session on Project 1 (Govt. Grant). List of questions that need research and/or answers due at first of class. Read Miner & Miner ch. 15. Assign tasks.
April
3T
10 T
17 T
24 T
Work session on Project 1 (Govt. Grant). Rough draft (paper and file version via e-mail) of assigned section(s) due at first of class for peer review and discussion. Submit list of questions, red flags, unknowns, and weaknesses at end of class. Read Miner & Miner ch. 16.
May
1T
Exam period: 6:30-8:30. Final Project 1 (Govt. Grant) sections due. Complete draft of assigned section(s) (paper and file version via e-mail) due at first of class for peer review and discussion. Submit list of remaining questions, red flags, unknowns, and weaknesses at end of class.
Course Assignments The assignments for this course consist of four projects. We will discuss assignments at length during class. I encourage you to ask questions about assignments. Indeed, it is your responsibility as a student to make sure that you understand all assignments. The following table displays course assignments and their weight for the computation of a course grade. Percent of Course Grade 15 (3 sets worth 5 percent each) 20 5 15 (10 percent for document & 5 percent for presentation) 20 25
Task 1. Project 1: List of questions, etc. for govt. proposal 2. Project 1: Final draft section(s) for govt. proposal 3. Memo describing plans for Projects 2-4* 4. Project 2: Business proposal* (document and “Green Team Review” presentation) 5. Project 3: Letter proposal to a foundation or other private funder# 6. Project 4: Case statement for a nonprofit organization*
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7. Worksheets, notes, outlines, critiques, and/or drafts
Ungraded**
#This assignment is an individual assignment to be completed by each student alone. If a team of students (2
students) is collaborating on Projects 2 & 4; Project 3 must be done separately by each individual although it may be written for the same client. Each Project 3 proposal should be addressed to a unique foundation. *This assignment may be undertaken by a team of students. All team members will be given the same grade for their work; however, at the end of the course team member will evaluate each other’s participation and performance. Team evaluations may raise or lower individual grades by 10 points. **Ungraded assignments must be submitted by the due date. If not, a student's course grade will be docked by 10 percent per assignment. This rule applies to both individual and team tasks.
Grading All graded course assignments will be given a letter grade and a matching numerical grade on a 100-point scale. The numerical grade will be used to calculate your course grade at the end of the semester. I will use the following scale to assign numerical grades: Letter Grades A AB+ B BC+ C CD+ D DF Scale for Numerical Grades 100-95 90-94 89-87 86-84 83-80 79-77 76-74 73-70 69-67 66-64 63-60 59 and below
Late work: Except in extraordinary circumstances, late work will not be accepted. My reason for this policy is that you will have ample time to work on assignments both in and out of class. If an emergency keeps you from turning in an assignment on the due date, it is your responsibility to notify me of the problem as soon as possible. I will determine a timetable for handing in the missing work that will be fair both to you and your classmates. Graded assignments that are not turned in or are turned in late without the excuse of exceptional circumstances will be given a grade of F and a numerical grade of zero. Professional writing standards: A given of all professional-quality writing is its correctness and clarity. Consequently, I expect all students to achieve a baseline of grammatical and stylistic competence on all assignments. Particular attention will be paid to grammar, style, and format in graded assignments. Though content is the most significant determinant of an assignment’s grade, format and style must also be of professional quality. Particularly egregious errors include fragments, fused sentences, verb and pronoun agreement errors, comma splices, incorrect apostrophe use, and the absence of needed apostrophes. Work marred by these errors or by numerous misspellings will not receive a grade above C+. Students also need to revise and edit finished work so that it is clear and graceful. Consequently, students are expected to strive for
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precise diction and pronoun reference. Work marred by significant diction and usage errors will not receive a grade above B+. If a student needs help recognizing grammar and usage errors, he or she should consult with me and consider visiting the English Department’s writing center for individualized tutoring. Graduate School Policy on Incomplete Grades In order to receive a grade of incomplete, a student must have completed over half (i.e. 65 percent in this course) of the work for the course and have encountered an emergency (for example, serious illness or death in the family) that prevents the student from finishing the final assignment. Also, the Graduate School has set strict rules for the removal of incompletes. Graduate students who receive a grade of incomplete must complete the work by the end of the term after the grade is received in order to receive a passing grade, even if the student is not enrolled that term. Incompletes automatically turn into F grades after the subsequent semester. Attendance and Class Activities Because this class is taught as a writing workshop, you are expected to attend every class. You are also expected to come prepared to discuss the day's reading, to participate in group work and peer review, and to work on your assignments during class time. I will take attendance every meeting; you will be counted absent if you are more than 15 minutes late to a class meeting. The class will begin promptly at 6:15p.m. If you arrive late, you will need to catch up on your own; we will not repeat announcements or discussions that you missed. If you miss more than a total of three classes without the excuse of exceptional circumstances (for which we will make individual plans), your final grade will be docked by 10 percent. Changes to the syllabus or to course policies The class schedule above is subject to change if circumstances make adjustments necessary or wise. In addition, I reserve the right to alter the syllabus and course policies in order to reasonably accommodate individual disabled students; alterations made for disabled students may not be made available to the entire class. However, I will make sure that all students are treated fairly. Use of cell phones, pagers, e-mail and the Internet Turn cell phones and pagers off before class begins. You will not be allowed to talk on the phone or access messages during class. Once class has begun, you will not be allowed to read, write, or send e-mail on the classroom computers or to browse the Internet even if the class is having a workshop. Establishing an open, intellectual atmosphere and respecting all individuals KSU has made a commitment to respecting the individuality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religious customs of all students, faculty, and staff. In keeping with that policy, the instructor and students in this class are expected to treat each other with respect and work to maintain an atmosphere of civility and tolerance conducive to a good learning environment.
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Kennesaw State University Academic Integrity Statement Every student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the Student Code of Conduct, as published in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs. Section II of the Student Code of Conduct addresses the University's policy on academic honesty, including provisions regarding plagiarism and cheating, unauthorized access to University materials, misrepresentation/ falsification of University records or academic work, malicious removal, retention, or destruction of library materials, malicious/intentional misuse of computer facilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification cards. Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through the established procedures of the University Judiciary Program, which includes either an "informal" resolution by a faculty member, resulting in a grade adjustment, or a formal hearing procedure, which may subject a student to the Code of Conduct's minimum one semester suspension requirement.
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