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I am working on a research grant proposal and the funding agency requires us to turn in a white paper before the actual proposal. I have no clue how a research grant white paper should look like. I tried googling and searching in the university library, but could not find anything similar. Will somebody be able to give me a link to a research grant white paper, something which I can look at and learn the format? (my field is computer science)

picmate
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  • In what field? For what funding agency? – JeffE May 17 '12 at 21:51
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    What's a white paper? – DavideChicco.it May 18 '12 at 08:12
  • Hi @JeffE, this is in computer science, and this is for a government funding. – picmate May 21 '12 at 01:19
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    @picmate: I haven't ever written a white paper myself, but I'm sure the required structure depends on the specific funding agency. NSF? DARPA? DOE? NIH? DHS? The main trick is to find someone who has written a successful white paper or proposal for that agency (if not the specific program director). – JeffE May 21 '12 at 07:43

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Based on a little Googling, his white paper sounds like a preproposal. It is likely a short overview over your research project: the problem you are working on, your approach to solving it, how much it will cost, and what you and/or the agency will get out of it. Consider this white paper an outline of your full proposal.

Many agencies will ask for these if they expect a particular program or funding opportunity will have a high response or if the purpose of the program is to provide a single large award to one project. The prepreposals are used to narrow the field before they ask for full proposals from a smaller set of submitters.

I have not been successful at finding examples, since proposals and affiliated documents are almost never released unless they are funded. However, I have found some tips for preparing white papers from Rochester Institute of Technology and Purdue.

Ben Norris
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