Cynthia Verba
October 13, 2015
Charles Beard Room
Full video is available at https://median.emerson.edu/media/44918
THE LEAN YEARS
The world of [sponsored funding] right now is not a very generous world. There
have been cuts in every major field… We are in lean years. But I would like to say
that learning to persuade others that you have a compelling project has other
rewards. Win or lose, you’re going to need to be able to talk about your work in a
compelling way.
COMMUNICATING YOUR WORK’S PURPOSE
Why do we need to learn to talk in such a compelling way? I’m talking about being
able to construct such a highly polished, tightly knit, gorgeous argument on why
your project matters, that someone almost can’t turn it down. Those are high
standards… but [that’s] what you need to be thinking about. And I honestly think we
don’t have a choice any more. The humanities and social sciences have really been
hard hit [and] one of the things we’ve been humbled by is, “Do we really get across
why these things matter?”
Don’t state [your argument] in jargon- use the King’s English. You need to be able to
appeal to a broad audience [that is also highly educated]. Make sure you’re
addressing not just the specialists [on a review panel]. Sometimes you do have to be
technical, [but] we want to keep the humanities and social sciences alive, we really
have to find a way to engage people.
The thing that gets you [a grant] or puts you in the “No” box is, will you contribute to
the field? Will you make a difference in the way people are thinking about that field?
That is not a modest goal, but if you really want to write a compelling case, you have
to set yourself up in the context of the existing literature [in your field].
THE OPENING PARAGRAPH
[Proposal writing] is a very specific genre, and you actually have to forget some of
the good writing tips you’ve been taught over the years and set them aside. One of
the ones you’re going to set aside is, you’ve often been taught to build and build your
case, to build a story, and then come out with a punch line at the end. Forget that
completely. I’ve become obsessed with opening paragraphs. [Reviewers] are going
to be reading hundreds of [applications]. They usually have a deadline. [And] if you
aren’t reader friendly and can’t get out your main, most exciting points very
promptly, you are not going to keep the interest of that reader. In your opening
paragraph, you want to give in hierarchal order, all the most important points about
your project.
ON REVIEW PANELS
Everybody’s favorite question is, “What does that [review] committee want?” What I
tell them is, shape your project in such an exquisite way so that, even if they didn’t
think they wanted to fund your project, now they do. I’ve been doing this for forty
years. I know committee members very well, but I nevertheless can ever predict
how they’re going to vote on anything. So to ask, “Who’s going to be judging me?”
and “What do they want?” is an exercise in futility. Think of making your project
true to yourself.
I will tell you to read the buzzwords [in the funding opportunity/request for
proposals]. If the description says “equality” six times, they want to know what you
have to say about equality. That’s a much less speculative process {than trying to
predict what reviewers want to see].
THE INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
Increasingly, projects are interdisciplinary, and often that’s a plus- looking at the
same project from different angles can be very rewarding, and can quite easily give
you an angle your project needs to make a new contribution.
For instance, a student recently applied for a Fulbright to Africa to look at stone
paintings and drawings from ancient times. Almost everyone who’s looked at these
drawings by hunter-gatherers has been anthropologists trying to find out more
about their lives. This person took a look at them and said, “This has as much artistic
sophistication as a Renaissance [painting]. All of the sudden, a new dimension
opened up- this person doing that drawing wasn’t just telling you about their life,
that person was also creating a work of art.
REFERENCES AND LETTERS OF SUPPORT
[Sponsors] almost always ask for some references- who will support your project. It
should be not only someone who knows you well, but somebody who knows the
field well. You can always provide guidance to your references on what you need
them to write- “this is the case I’m trying to present to the [review panel].”