CLLAS recently hosted a grant information session for graduate students planning to apply for the 2026 CLLAS Graduate Student Research Grant, offering practical guidance on what reviewers look for and how to strengthen proposals in a short application format.
What to know if you’re applying:
Start with the gap and significance. Strong proposals clearly identify what is missing, underexplored, or misunderstood in existing scholarship or creative work. Reviewers want to know what new knowledge, perspective, or approach your project contributes—and why that contribution matters. This could mean applying a new method, focusing on an overlooked community or archive, or putting fields into conversation that don’t typically overlap. Answer three core questions.
A competitive proposal should make it easy for a non-specialist reader to understand:
- What you aim to learn or produce
- Why it’s worth knowing or doing
- Why you are the right person to carry out the project
If a reader can’t answer these quickly, the proposal likely needs more clarity.
Be concrete about methods and activities. Reviewers need to see what you will actually be doing during the funded period. Methods can include interviews, archival research, textual or visual analysis, or creative practice—but they should be clearly named and tied directly to your research question. Avoid vague descriptions like “reading” or “researching” without specifics.
Feasibility matters. Many proposals fall short because they are too ambitious for the timeline or budget. Be realistic about what can be accomplished with $3,000 and within the grant period. Clearly outline short-term activities and show how this work fits into a larger project or degree trajectory.
Explain access and ethics. If your project involves interviews or community engagement, explain how you will recruit participants and what relationships or networks you already have in place. If human subjects review (IRB) applies, note your plan or timeline for approval.
Build a clear, realistic budget. Use UO per diem rates as a guide for travel, lodging, and food. Living expenses may be allowable if they are essential to completing the research, including work conducted in Eugene. If the grant funds only part of a larger project, name other funding sources you plan to pursue so reviewers can see the project is financially viable.
Write for an interdisciplinary audience. Committee members come from different fields, so avoid jargon and define discipline-specific terms. Every sentence should carry weight in such a short proposal. Letters and preparation count.
Letters of recommendation play a significant role in the review process and often clarify a project’s value. Applicants are encouraged to start early, share drafts with advisors, and seek feedback from both faculty and non-specialist readers.
The session emphasized that successful applications balance originality with clarity and ambition with realism. Graduate students are encouraged to view the proposal not just as a funding request, but as a professional skill—one that clearly communicates the value, feasibility, and impact of their work.
