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PinS and Summer Research Proposals

What is PinS?

Partners in Scholarship (PinS) provides a unique opportunity for students to collaborate on a project with a faculty member. Students should work with the faculty partner to develop a detailed project plan. While most partnerships involve one-to-one work with a faculty member, students can work with multiple faculty members or with other students. If working with other students, each student must submit an application stating their personal contribution to the project and is eligible to receive $1,500. All projects must be finished by June 1st of the academic year/the end of the fiscal year. The URC cannot fund tuition, internships, service learning, classes, or lessons. Funding may be considered for research-related travel. For more questions, contact urc@du.edu.
Official PinS Info and Resources

PinS Application Instructions

We highlight important information about the PinS Application for your review. Click here to access the full instructions.

Application Materials

A complete PinS Proposal consists of:
1. The online application.
2. The project proposal should be a maximum of 2 pages, SINGLE-SPACED, including:
  - Title and Abstract: The abstract should be 2-3 sentences, and provide a clear explanation of the motivation and plan of the proposed project that is understandable to non-experts in your field.
  - Research Novelty/Impact: Provide an explanation of how your proposed work is original and has a high potential for impact, even beyond the specific field of research. Explain this in a way that is understandable to non-experts in your field.
  - Methods: Provide the specific plan for carrying out your proposed research. Ensure this plan is reasonable and justified in the provided timeline. Consider outlining risky parts of the plan and identify fallback options, as needed.
  - Personal Impact: Outline how this particular funding and experience will change future opportunities and the career outlook for the you.
  - You should also include a 3rd page (uploaded at the end of the online application) that lists:
    - Citations: When appropriate, provide citations and a reference list to highlight research that directly relates or impacts your research proposal. Not all projects will require this section.
    - Timeline: Provide a timeline of your proposed research process, highlighting your ability to complete your research within an appropriate and reasonable time frame.
    - Detailed Budget Justification: Provide rationale for your budget justification. The budget should be detailed (include specific items to be ordered, with quantity) and well-reasoned to show the reviewers why the provided funds are needed to support your research project. Often calculations are used to explain budget requirements and estimations of cost. Be sure to follow URC guidelines for budget usage (See Evaluation Rubric Attachment).
3. Unofficial transcripts (PinS will gather this for you).
4. Faculty partner endorsement form (this will be automatically forwarded to your faculty partner after you submit your application and faculty will need to complete their endorsement by the following Monday, approximately 4 days after the application deadline).
Evaluation Rubric

URC faculty reviewers look for well-written, thorough project proposals that can be understood by a general audience. For a research proposal, detail your research question, the data you are collecting, how you’ll collect it and how you’ll use your time wisely. For creative projects, make sure to explain how your project is contributing to the field you’re working in by generating something new and important, and your methodology/mindset/plan to do it.

We encourage you to use the URC Proposal Evaluation Rubric to guide your proposal structure.
PinS Proposal Webinar

All PinS applicants are required to attend a workshop or to review the webinar recording from The Writing Center prior to submitting a proposal. The recording can be found here:
Suggestions and Strategies for Writing PinS Proposals

Questions/Considerations When Writing Your Proposal
- Define the research problem or a creative endeavor. How does it fill a gap in existing knowledge or the extant body of creative works, and why is it important to fill that gap? Be sure to cite the most important sources that your project builds upon. What is the question you hope to answer? Why are you undertaking the project?
- Describe the research method and research design. Explain how you will collect data or recruit participants. For visual or performing arts, explain how the proposed project is not simply an effort to refine one's own skills or abilities but connects to broader questions within your discipline.
- How does the project relate to your goals? What background do you have that prepares you for this project?
- Convince the committee that the project is feasible. Why is it likely to succeed?
- What will be the final product(s) of the project?
Handouts

These handouts offer information and useful strategies for crafting your PinS Proposal:
Annotated Sample Proposals

We've color-coded the questions/considerations you should be thinking through as you write your PinS Proposal, and we've included a checklist of necessary formatting and content components as part of the proposal:
- PinS Proposal Annotation Key and Checklist.pdf
These sample prpoposals model different approaches you can use when crafting your PinS Proposal. The highlighted sections correspond with the color-coding included in the Pins Proposal Annotation Key:
Video and Presentation Resources

DIY Consultation

We have put together a slideshow that you can use by yourself or with a partner to review your PinS draft in a do-it-yourself consultation. You can use this DIY consultation at any stage of the process, and you can go through it multiple times, focussing on different aspects of the thinking, writing, crafting, and editing processes.

DIY Consultation_ URC Proposals.pdf
PinS Proposal--Social Sciences Sample

PinS Proposal_ Humanities Sample

PinS Proposal-STEM Sample

PinS Proposal-Arts Sample