Office of
Research Services

Proposal Composition

The Office of Research Services provides a range of proposal services.

We can help you:

Be sure to contact us early in your proposal development process, so that we have adequate time to conduct a careful review and can best leverage our resources and expertise.

Proposal Writing Guides

The following writing guides can help you plan and write an effective research proposal.

NIH Grants
NSF Grants
Grants.gov

  • Grants.gov allows organizations to find and apply for more than $400 billion in federal grants across 1,000 grant programs and all federal grant-making agencies.
    • All Grants.gov proposals must submitted by UMKC’s Office of Research Services.  The PDF legacy packages were retired on December 31, 2017.  All Grants.gov users will now need an account to get into Workspace to submit applications.
    • Instructions to request a Workspace login are found here: Workspace Instructions (PDF)

20 Reasons Proposals Fail
Judith Killen, Ph.D., Consultant Account Manager & Proposal Writer at Strategic Health Care

Academic Fundraising Web Resources
(compilation of more than 190 grant writing resources)
Michigan State University

Basic Elements of Grant Writing
Corporation for Public Broadcasting

A Guide for Proposal Writing
National Science Foundation

Developing and Writing Successful Proposals
UMKC Sponsored Programs & Research Support

How to Get Funding
American Association for the Advancement of Science

On the Art of Writing Proposals
Social Science Research Council

Proposal Writer's Guide
Don Thackrey, University of Michigan

Proposal Development Training Guides
James Madison University

The Foundation Center's FAQs
The Foundation Center

Sample Applications & More
National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases

The NIH R01 Grant Tool Kit
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Frequently Asked Questions about the Format of Grant Applications
National Institutes of Health

Library of Winning Grant Proposals
The Grantsmanship Center (for a fee)