The Spencer Grant Proposal

Our assignment for completing the Spencer Grant Proposal was due on Sunday night. I was, like many members of my cohort, working on this project for many hours for the last couple of weeks and especially last weekend.  It was a good exercise that made me take a more critical look at my research/dissertation writing up to this point.

I do not have a great deal of experience with grant programs, especially ones that provide large amounts of money. Prior to this experience, I have applied for and received grants though my local school district community. Many of the grants were provided through fund-raising efforts on the part of our Home and School Association. Although most of the grants I received were for $2,500 or less, they provided valuable and much needed resources that were not available though school district budgets.

One thing that is important - whether the grant is a large one or a small one - you MUST follow the criteria for completing the application! Every grant I have seen has a list of required information and all state somewhere (in the fine print) that if the proper documentation is not provided, the application will be rejected.

Because these agencies are bombarded with requests for much needed funds, they have to be rigid in these requirements. It is a good idea to go back and review all of your paperwork before hitting that send button.

Interesting Connections

It is funny how things work out...

I am currently taking a class on the characteristics of individuals with high functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome to help me understand this diagnosis and students I work with. It is an interesting class and is providing me with much needed background for my dissertation research.

I am finding that some of the work I am doing in that class is providing me with additional resources for my annotated bibliography and my literature review for this class. A whole new area of information has opened up for me. Along with leaders in this field, I have found several journals and databases that contain important research studies that will enhance my research.

Annotated Bibliography Update

Luckily, I am not a big fan of football, so I did not mind missing the game while I worked on the Annotated Bibliography last weekend. Stopping only to watch Madonna AND missing M.I.A.’s controversial performance, I was able to complete the assignment with a little time to spare.

I truthfully did not expect this to be as difficult as I found it to be.  I was comfortable in the technical aspects, but realized as I worked that writing annotated bibliographies required much more than simply “writing it up”.  As I sorted through the literature I had found, I discovered that many of the resources I had chosen simply did not meet the requirements or fit into my research.  I ended up rejecting more documents than I added to my assignment. 

Hopefully, by looking at these resources critically and thinking about how each one would/could be beneficial to my research, I will have a better end product.