Summary

This Project Summary section is essentially an abstract of the entire proposal. It MUST fit on a single page (single-spaced), so check that your two double-spaced pages would fit on a single page before finalizing them. The Project Summary should be written in abstract style using third person, formal titles, and a summary of the most important aspects of the project. Remember that reviewers form their initial impression of the project and the proposal on the basis of this summary (and some never read beyond it), so it must be an excellent overview of what you are doing and why.

  1. The initial sentence can read, "Under the supervision of Dr. Faculty Member, Ms/Mr. Graduate Student will conduct her/his doctoral research [followed by a true statement, such as "in the Maya area" or "addressing technological change of ceramics in middle-range societies" or "comparing biodistance measures with mortuary practices among the groups of northern Peru"]. 
     
  2. In the remainder of the first paragraph (and in a second paragraph if you need the space), address the following issues:
    bulletdescribe exactly what issue you are addressing
    bulletdescribe what your models are
    bulletdescribe the case study you are using and why it is ideal for addressing this issue
    bulletdescribe your methods of data collection and analysis
    bulletstate why this study is of broad anthropological interest


     

  3. In the final paragraph, describe the significance of the study, including the intrinsic intellectual merit and broader impacts (note that the study will aid in the professional training of a young scientist). NSF now REQUIRES statements about both merit review criteria in the Proposal Summary.

The official NSF grant guidelines state:

"The proposal must contain a summary of the proposed activity suitable for publication, not more than one page in length. It should not be an abstract of the proposal, but rather a self-contained description of the activity that would result if the proposal were funded. The summary should be written in the third person and include a statement of objectives and methods to be employed. It must clearly address in separate statements (within the one-page summary): (1) the intellectual merit of the proposed activity; and (2) the broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity. It should be informative to other persons working in the same or related fields and, insofar as possible, understandable to a scientifically or technically literate lay reader. Proposals that do not separately address both merit review criteria within the one page Project Summary will be returned without review."