How to Write A CAREER: Deconstructing the Award Workshop

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award will support a virtual workshop March 24th-25th, 2022, to coach early-career faculty on best practices and rhetorical patterns used in successful writing of research proposals in biomedical engineering. The ability to write research proposals is critical to early-career researchers’ success, yet there is little formalized coaching in the technical writing skills necessary to craft a successful research proposal. Those that do exist tend to focus on content and editing, without discussing the rhetorical patterns that are common to award-winning applications. Rhetorical patterns are ways of organizing information. Successful proposal writing has its own rhetorical patterns. The “How to Write a CAREER: Deconstructing the Award” workshop will emphasize these rhetorical patterns and the importance of mentorship to gain mastery of them. First, NSF CAREER awards related to biomedical or bioengineering will be deconstructed by a communications science expert. Second, the identified common rhetorical elements will provide the foundation for workshop materials and participants will receive actionable and practical information. This proposal-writing workshop will coach early career faculty to be better proposal writers by identifying the language structure that is common across successful proposals and teaching them how to apply that structure to their own proposals. Participants, with priority given to those underrepresented in engineering, will be well positioned to submit competitive CAREER proposals, which has the potential for broadening participation. This workshop will advance knowledge related to NSF CAREER proposal writing in bio- and biomedical engineering from the perspective of rhetorical patterns. Rhetorical patterns in scientific writing are also influenced by sociocultural variables. For instance, women are socialized to not brag, despite the importance of using rhetorical devices to add promotional value to one’s research articles to convince peers of its value. Novice and non-native English technical writers can make better rhetorical choices when informed of rhetorical patterns. Rhetorical patterns are ways of organizing and communicating information and are critical to the clear presentation of scientific information. When English adjectives deviate from the order “opinion-size-age-shape-color-origin-material-purpose Noun,” a native English speaker will recognize that the sentence is odd but would likely be unable to articulate this list. Similarly, experienced proposal writers and reviewers understand correct rhetorical patterns in technical writing without necessarily being able to impart it to early career investigators. Just as incorrect word order reveals non-native English speakers, proposal writers who deviate from expected rhetorical patterns are identified as “non-native proposal writers.” The rhetoric of science contends that the practice of science is persuasive—in proposal writing, the author must convince reviewers that their research is based on sound scientific method or engineering principles. The rhetorical patterns in such writing involve patterns called “situation-problem-solution-evaluation” that showcase the researcher’s observational and experimental competence while demonstrating explanatory and predictive power. If these rhetorical patterns are not mastered, the likelihood of funding may be affected despite the competence of the researcher. Teaching proposal-writing by employing the most successful use of rhetorical patterns may lessen the impact of sociocultural differences in proposal review. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.