by Dr. Peter Civetta, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research at Northwestern University

Author of Grant Writing for Beginners, part of Collection 2 of Sage Campus, Dr Peter Cevetta discusses the crucial role that research plays in our world, and helps demystify the grant proposal process.

Research generates knowledge that patches up our broken but increasingly complex world. We need more people to explore, examine, and offer insights into the problems we encounter, but we tend to think about research as purely the domain of highly specialized experts, particularly in science and medicine.  Part of this problem stems from our lack of information about how research projects are developed and pursued.  We only hear about completed projects, so we miss seeing how people traversed the long journey from idea to concrete plans. 

I developed a “Grant Writing for Beginners” course for Sage Campus, which is designed to help illuminate this process, showing how we can all take our passions/thoughts/ideas and turn them into something actionable and achievable.  It isn’t magic, and it doesn’t require a doctorate to get started.  Instead, we try to outline the steps involved in the development process leading towards an ability to write up the project successfully for grant funding.

There are important connections between grant proposal development and article writing. The things we need to write a successful grant proposal are the same things we need to develop a meaningful and achievable project.  The key lies in the details.  For example, if you say that you will interview people for your project, that opens up a host of questions.  What people?  How will you choose?  Do you have a realistic means of accessing them?  What will you ask them?  Why will you ask them that?  What would you hope to do the answers that would allow you add new knowledge to the world? 

Now, while that list of questions can certainly feel daunting, it is precisely what guides the research journey, and also what funders of research need to know. We have therefore created this course to help guide you step by step through the process of thinking through and planning to answer each and every one of them.  When you do that,  not only will you then have a better project, but you will certainly stand a much better chance at securing funding for it.

We need to always remind ourselves that the purpose of research is to add new knowledge to the world – it really is as simple as that. We need more people to do research and to do research in every field.  Creative artists add new knowledge to the world.  Journalists and documentarians do too.  Whenever and wherever you see a problem that needs solving, we hope this course can provide a map to get you engaged and busy trying to fix it.  Plus, it is fun to learn,  grow and make a difference.  Have at it – the world can be better than it is!

“Grant Writing for Beginners” is one of the 25 courses in Sage Campus Collection 2, launched in March 2025.