Here are a few grant-writing rules to remember, according to National Institutes of Health reviewers and staff:

  • check NIH's Web site for information on grant policy;
  • call program staff ahead of time to learn what's hot-and what's not;
  • ask colleagues to critique your grant application before submission;
  • keep research goals simple and clear;
  • carefully follow reviewers' suggestions for revisions when your grant application is returned.

  • promise the world in one lab project;
  • stack a grant application with too much history and extra information;
  • be vague in describing experiments;
  • dash off and send a grant application without carefully reviewing it;
  • get discouraged if your grant isn't approved the first time out.

    -K.S.B.

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