Below is the transcript of the online information session for the Public Scholars program, which was held on November 9, 2020.

The transcript lacks capitalization and punctuation, but it is otherwise accurate. The text is searchable and corresponds to the closed captions on the video recording.

hello
and welcome to the free online
information session
for the public scholars program of the
national endowment for the humanities
my name is mark silver i'm a program
officer in the division of research
programs at the neh
also on the call is my colleague gwen
yates
who serves as the program analyst for
the public scholars program
this schedule uh this session is
scheduled to last for about
one hour uh from two o'clock until three
o'clock
eastern time i'm planning to make a
presentation that should take
30 minutes or so and then i'll take
written questions from you for the
remainder of the
hour on the next slide i have an
overview of the topics that i'm planning
to cover
i'll start off talking about the goals
of the program and its scope
i'll explain the eligibility
requirements
i'll go over some key details of the
program including the time commitment
that we expect from grant recipients
we'll look at the review criteria the
application materials that you'll have
to submit
and the mechanics of submitting your
application
and then we'll get to your questions you
should feel free to type questions
into the questions box at any time
during the presentation
and i'll answer as many as i can at the
at the end
if we don't get to your question you're
welcome to send us an email
with that question our address is public
scholars at
neh.gov and i'll put that address
up on the final slide as well
my hope is that this session will help
you decide whether
this program is right for you and
that if you do decide it's right for you
that
by the end of it you'll have a better
understanding of what it takes to submit
a strong application
to the program we will by the way be
posting a recording of this session
so if you want to refer to that later as
you're preparing your application you're
welcome to do so
the recording will be available on the
neh website
it may take us several days to prepare
it and post it
but we we do plan to do that
all right let's get started then first i
want to talk about the
goals of the program our overarching
goal
is to support the creation of
well-researched non-fiction books
in the humanities written for the broad
public related to that goal
we want to encourage writers outside the
academic world non-academic writers
to deepen their engagement with the
humanities
by strengthening the research underlying
their books
we know that deep research takes time
and it takes effort
and that it's not always possible to put
as much
research into a book as you you might
want to so we want to help
solve that that problem
we also want to encourage academic
writers in the humanities
to communicate the significance of their
research to
the broadest possible range of readers
just as it takes time and effort to do
good research
it also takes time and effort to write
effectively for
a general audience and if you're a
professional scholar
it's in some ways easier for you
probably to write for other scholars
that's probably what you were trained to
do
so writing for a general audience
requires some adjustment
and it may require you to find a new
voice
we want to encourage you to make that
adjustment and find that new voice for
yourself
about the scope of the program we
welcome applications in all areas of the
humanities
regardless of geographic or
chronological
focus if you look at the list of awards
we've made so far in this program
and we've made over 140 awards at this
point
that list is dominated by projects that
have an american
focus but we don't actually have a
particular preference for
projects with an american focus we
welcome proposals
having to do with any geographic area or
historical period the books
must be written in a readily accessible
style
and they must frame their topics to have
wide
appeal this is absolutely crucial in
this program
so if if you're not interested in
devoting energy to those things then
this is uh not the right program for you
and as the slide says books written
primarily for an audience of
professional scholars
are not suitable so that's just to
reiterate the point
this slide shows some recent and
forthcoming books
sponsored by the program about
60 books have either been published or
announced for release
so far with our sponsorship but here are
three
examples on the left is the doctor's
blackwell
how two pioneering sisters brought women
to medicine
and medicine to women this is by janice
nimura who's an independent freelance
writer
and it's due to be published soon by w.w
norton
in the middle is music critic aaron
cohen's book
move on up chicago soul music and black
cultural power
which was published last year by the
university of chicago press
and then on the right a book by camilla
townsend who teaches at rutgers
university
called fifth son a new history of the
aztecs
and that was published last year by
oxford university press
before i go any further i want to pause
for a moment
and talk about what we mean by the
humanities
the founding legislation of the neh
lists a number of disciplines that are
meant to be encompassed by
the term humanities the legislation also
makes clear that this is not intended to
be an exhaustive list
but it does mention these disciplines on
the slide
history literature and language history
and theory of the arts
philosophy and ethics archaeology
comparative religion jurisprudence
and those social sciences employing
humanistic
methods if you're uncertain about
whether your project
would fall within the humanities or not
we're happy to discuss that question
with you so
feel free to get in touch and we can try
to give you some guidance
next eligibility requirements
this program is open to all u.s citizens
doesn't matter where you are in the
world it's also open to
foreign nationals who've been living in
the u.s for the three years
preceding the application deadline which
is december 16th
currently enrolled students are not
eligible to apply
and we also have a previous publication
requirement
in this program you can meet that
requirement either with a book
published with a commercial or
university press
and an academic book an academic
monograph would be okay
the book that you're using to qualify
need not have been written for
a broad popular audience
or you can satisfy our publication
requirement under option b here on the
slide that is
you can present three articles or essays
in publications
with a large audience on your resume as
well
no advanced degree is required in order
to apply
and no institutional affiliation is
required either
in fact on that point we have a special
encouragement in place for independent
writers
the program encourages applications from
writers who are not currently affiliated
with a college or
a university so
maybe you're a full-time biographer or
you're a journalist or a magazine writer
or an editor
maybe you drive a taxi and you work on
your writing at night
if you have a suitable project we want
you to be aware
of this program and the support that it
could provide you
or you may be currently affiliated with
a college or university
but have only a short-term uh contract
and that would also put you in the
category of independent
writers in in our understanding uh so
maybe you're um an adjunct professor
you're teaching a writing course
from time to time at a college or
university we want you to be aware of
this program
as well uh but none of this
is intended to suggest that we don't
want to hear from
full-time university or college
professors
professional academics are entirely
welcome to apply
to the program we absolutely do want to
see those applications
it's just that our application pool
tends to be dominated by
professional scholars already and
we want to broaden our reach to other
kinds of applicants
because we know you're out there
next slide the project types
not supported by this program
there are a number of types of projects
that we don't support
and you you do need to be aware of these
you should check the complete list of
prohibited project types
and activities in section d6
of the notice of funding opportunity
on our website the program
just to mention some of these prohibited
project types
does not support fiction including
historical fiction or philosophical
fiction
it doesn't support creative non-fiction
so we wouldn't allow a book in which you
are inventing dialogue or imagining
particular scenes that that may or may
not have actually
occurred in real life we don't support
autobiography or memoir in this program
or books for children or young adults
we don't support works of graphic
fiction or non-fiction
and we don't support dissertation
revisions either
as i said the full list appears in
section d6
of the funding notice
here are a number of key details
regarding the awards that we make
we're buying your time essentially with
these awards so we're
quite strict about these rules
the minimum duration is six months of
full-time work
or the equivalent so you could for
example work
half-time for 12 months on your project
and that would meet the requirement
since that's
would be the equivalent of six full-time
months
the maximum duration is 12 months
and that's true even if you're working
part-time on the project
so you you cannot run your calendar
longer than 12 months under any
circumstances
you cannot work less than half time at
any point during the award period
and you must hold the award continuously
as the slide says how much money would
you
get if you were to receive an award
the stipend is five thousand dollars per
full-time month
so the maximum award is sixty thousand
dollars
which would be for twelve full-time
months
we reduce the dollar amount of
the award accordingly if you're working
part-time or if you're working less than
12
full-time months on your project
the application deadline is december 16
2020 and you will hear an answer from us
in early august of 2021 so
it does take us almost six uh or rather
almost nine months
about nine months to review your
application
and give you an answer and so you you
need to account for that
in your planning
if you were to be notified that you've
won an award in august of
2021 the earliest possible start date
would be september 1st in other words
you could start holding the award almost
immediately after you got the news the
latest possible start date would be
one year after that which would be
september 1st
of 2022 so we give you a 12-month
window in which you can start your clock
ticking on your grant period
uh so as i said as you're planning your
project
and your schedule uh you need to be well
aware of the timeline that i've
presented here
and uh you need to take that into your
into account in your planning
typical activities and products in this
program
we support research in primary and
secondary sources
that could include interviews it could
include field work of some kind
we support travel to archives and
to other research sites and then also
writing and revision of your manuscript
the typical products are print books
generally published with
a trade press or with a university press
that has a very strong
distribution arm
you're permitted to propose online
materials intended to supplement
a print book but the primary product in
that case would still have to be
a print book and we also see people
producing ebooks
and or audio books as part of their
projects in this program as well
next this slide shows the review
criteria for
the program every application
is reviewed by a panel of external peer
reviewers
and these criteria on this slide
are the criteria that we instruct those
evaluators to use
in their evaluations so as an applicant
you absolutely
need to be familiar with these review
criteria you need to keep them in mind
as you're preparing your application
and you should try to write your
application to answer these
review criteria they are by the way
published
in the notice of funding opportunity
so let me take a moment to go through
the review criteria
the first one is the appeal and
intellectual significance of the
proposed book
for general read
yours this is extremely important
it's the number one criterion for a
reason it's
in many ways the most important
criterion
and both aspects of it the appeal and
also the intellectual significance are
important so your topic should be framed
in a way to make it engaging and
interesting and the writing should carry
the reader along without
undue effort but the book should also
have
substance to it the second criterion is
the applicant's record of research and
experience
in interpreting the humanities for
general audiences
as an applicant you want to think about
how to highlight
your record in these areas both on your
resume
and also in your application narrative
the third criterion is the quality of
the conception definition
organization and description of the
project
and the breadth and depth of the
humanities research
underlying the project your project
should be
well defined well organized the book
should be based on rigorous research
and your application should show that
you're aware
of the relevant sources and of
related books in your area
the fourth criterion is the quality of
the writing sample and the applicant's
clarity of expression
the writing sample is extremely
important in this program
because that's where you're
demonstrating for the evaluators that
you really can write
for a popular audience
it's best to submit a draft chapter from
your proposed book as the writing sample
if you can do that
but if that's not possible make sure
that
the selection really showcases your
skill
in writing for the general reader
that's the most important thing that the
evaluators will be looking for
in your writing sample
the fifth criterion is the feasibility
and appropriateness of the proposed plan
of work
the soundness and probable dissemination
plan
that is your plan to publish and
the likelihood that the applicant will
complete the project
which need not necessarily occur during
the grant period itself
in the plan of work you need to present
a clear schedule of tasks
indicating the amount of time that
you'll devote to
each one you don't want to leave the
evaluators in doubt
about what you're going to be doing if
you're
given a grant we do not ask you to take
the covid19 pandemic
into account in your work plan
if you win an award but your proposed
plan is disrupted in some way by the
pandemic
you can negotiate adjustments with us as
needed
your application should also address the
question of
dissemination
how are you going to publish the book
how will you make sure that it gets
noticed
you want to think about the press that
you're going to publish
the book with and in general the bigger
the print run that the press is able to
promise
uh and the stronger their publicity and
distribution operation
the the better off you'll be it will
help your application to have a
publication contract
at the time you apply but that's
certainly not required
about half the projects that we funded
so far
did not have a contract at the time of
application
the next slide shows application
materials
the things that we ask you to submit to
us in your application
package uh first of all let me say that
there are
page limits here on this list
and and you need
to be well aware of those page limits
and abide by them
you you're risking disqualification of
your application if you don't
abide by those page limits for each
component part of your application
so what do we ask for
first of all a three-page narrative
statement explaining your project
and you should follow the format that we
explain
in the no list of funding opportunity
which is the the announcement and the
the instructions for
applying available on our website
then we also ask for a one-page plan
a one-page bibliography and a thousand
character project summary
we also require a two-page resume or cv
a 20-page writing sample and a
publisher's letter
if applicable in other words if you have
been in discussions with the publisher
and if you do have interest from a
publisher or if your book is
under contract i would certainly
recommend that you
submit a letter from a representative of
the press
indicating the level of commitment to
your project
uh and
i see i lost audio for just a moment but
i'll
pick up where i was
if your book is under contract and
you've discussed
the size of a possible print run with
your
publisher i'd encourage you to include
information about that in the letter as
well
and also any plans for book tours or
other publicity
that would be connected with your book
you should arrange for two letters of
reference
those are not actually due until january
25th
several weeks after the application
deadline
you should coach your letter writers to
study the evaluation criteria and
to address those criteria in their
letters as well
you should also coach your letter
writers to specifically address your
proposed project
rather than simply talking about
previous work
that you may have done and then ending
with a line to say
and i'm sure the proposed project will
be
just as good as that previous work
it's really much more effective to have
a letter writer
address the specifics of your currently
proposed
project there are also some additional
forms in the application package
asking you to identify your letter
writers
to list the locations where you'll be
working during the grant period
the last note on this page says no
budget is required
and that's because as i explained before
the dollar amount of the award
is based on the number of months that
you commit to
as your grant period
the next slide shows a number of
resources for applicants that you should
be
aware of the single most important one
is that notice of funding opportunity
which i've
referred to a few times and that's
available
on uh the same web page that you use to
register for this online information
session the the notice of funding
opportunity is about a 20-page
document and it contains all the
instructions
for assembling and formatting your
materials
as well as instructions for submitting
your application to us
so if you're not familiar with that
document and you think you're interested
in the program
that would definitely be your next step
to read through the notice of funding
opportunity
we also have available on the website
sample application narratives
there are seven examples uh
at the moment of successful applications
posted on the website
and you're welcome to study those as
you're preparing your own application
there's also a list of recently funded
projects there
and another document with frequently
asked
questions faqs that you may want to
refer to as well
all of these things are available at the
link on the slide here
that's the page where you registered for
this
online information session and then
the last item on this list not to be
neglected
is advice from neh staff
there's the email address you can use to
get in touch with us
and our phone number as well we can
usually get back to you more quickly by
email but
we are available by phone as well we are
not able to
comment on draft applications
but we can respond to specific questions
that
you have about your application or about
your project
uh this next slide covers some of the
things you should know about the
mechanics of submitting your application
to us
as your first step you need to register
at the website
grants.gov which is the
portal for virtually all federal grant
applications and you'll need to submit
your application
to us through that website grants.gov
once you've registered at grants.gov
you must create an individual applicant
profile
in your account uh that's what i've
listed here as
the second step on the slide failing to
do this
is probably the most common mistake that
people make
with submitting their application and if
you
don't create an individual applicant
profile
you're going to see that the red
button where it says apply is actually
grayed out
and you won't be able to click on it and
submit your application
there are specific instructions for
creating an individual applicant profile
on page 13
of the notice of funding opportunity
third point you want to allow several
days to submit your application
in case there's some technical problem
or you run into a hurdle of some kind
with
submitting through grants.gov
so especially if you're doing this for
the first time
it can be a little bit cumbersome so
allow some extra time before the
december 16th deadline
to handle those things as as they arise
if they do
then the last point on this slide is
that there is a help desk
run by grants.gov it's available
24 hours a day seven days a week and
the phone number at that help desk is on
the slide here
it's 1-800-518-4726
where you can email them at support at
grants.gov
and the people at the help desk there
can help you with
technical problems much better than we
here at neh
can so i encourage you to call the help
desk
at grants.gov if you're having a problem
using grants.gov or submitting your
application
all right so that's the presentation
that i've
prepared and uh the last slide i have
uh shows our contact information again
as promised
um i think some of you have perhaps been
submitting questions
along the way or if you have a question
that you'd like to submit now
go ahead and do that using the questions
box that you should see on your screen
and i'll begin
taking a look here and seeing what we've
got
there are a lot of people in the
audience so
i doubt i'll be able to get to all the
questions but if i don't get to
your particular question
feel free again to contact us by email
with that question after we're through
here today
okay it'll take me just a moment to
look at the questions that have come in
here
[Music]
we've got a question about eligibility
are u.s citizens
residing abroad eligible and the answer
is yes they are
um can someone write a letter of
recommendation for me if they're also
applying for this fellowship
um yes we do in fact allow that or we
don't have a
rule against that um so
as long as you both understand what the
situation is
that is acceptable to us
um a question about whether the
presentation
slides will be shared i'm planning to
post a recording of this session
um i probably can also post the slides
themselves
it will take us perhaps as long as a
week to post the recording and and the
slides though
and they'll be available on the same
page where you registered
for this information session
uh yeah okay so here's a question
[Music]
someone says the timeline is a bit
confusing
is it true that we only notify you in
august 2021
uh when the earliest uh start date is
september
uh and that may be just a week or so
after you get the notification
and yes that is the case
and we understand that you may well need
to give notice
to your university if you have teaching
obligations before you start holding the
award
if you know that you need more lead time
then what you should do is plan
to start a year from the time that you
receive that notification we allow you a
12-month window in which to start your
start holding your grant so um in
in for some people there may be an
impossibly short turnaround time between
the time you get the no
the news from us and the start of the
semester in september
um so if you realize that that's going
to be the case you need to be
looking forward in time to um
to the following year or perhaps
six months into the future to the start
of the following semester that could
potentially be workable as well
okay let's see
um so here's someone who says in order
to make historical descriptions more
appealing to a popular audience
i'd like to include some narrative
descriptions of scenes or characters
that are closely based on historical
sources
which would be heavily cited is that
okay
um you're probably skating on thin
ice there um it
would depend on exactly how you're doing
it
and how much
buttress your account
so it's a little bit hard to render a
judgment
without seeing words on a page
but i would just say you need to be very
careful
that you're providing adequate
documentation and that you don't leave
yourself open to the accusation
that you're in inventing things that
were not necessarily
happening as you present them
here's a question someone says are
business-oriented books designed for a
broad audience
allowable in the program so a book
aimed at someone working for a business
or starting a business
um my uh again
it's a little bit difficult to see with
uh to say without seeing
more specifics but um that doesn't sound
like a promising avenue to pursue
uh we have among the list of prohibited
project types
how-to books uh so you you can't
propose a book explaining how to do
something such as how to start
a business um so
uh that uh if that was your question you
might want to get in touch with us to
discuss
uh specifics of of your idea
um here's a question about that phrase
employing humanistic
methods which appears in the
list of disciplines supported by the neh
there was a reference in other words to
those social sciences employing
humanistic methods
i usually gloss that as using
qualitative methods rather than
quantitative methods
so um if you're doing heavy statistical
analysis
that's central to the argument that
you're making
then you're shading into quantitative
methods
which may not be considered humanistic
under our understanding so
if you have concerns about that i'll go
back to what i said originally when i
had that slide up which is
uh you should feel free to get in touch
with us and
discuss the specifics of your project
and whether it would fall within the
humanities or not
we're happy to have that conversation
with you
here's a question about whether we will
review an application package before
final submission uh the answer is no
we are not able to read drafts in this
program we are able to answer specific
questions that you have
and we could react to
a very short paragraph say five
sentences
of description of your project and let
you know
whether there might be pitfalls that you
should keep an eye out for
but unfortunately we're not able to
review drafts
uh in this program
uh here's a question about whether you
need to have a book
contract to apply you do not need to
have a book contract to apply
one of the evaluation criteria is the
strength of the dissemination plan so
having a book contract will likely help
your case
but it's certainly not required and
uh we've about half the grants that
we've given
in the program have been to people who
did not have a contract at the time they
applied
here's a question about self-publishing
will we consider
books that will be self-published
um we would certainly consider books
that would be self-published
and your published publication plan will
be evaluated uh under that criterion
of um the the soundness of the
dissemination plan
so you would need to convince the
evaluators that
you're really going to be able to give
the book very wide distribution
um that you'd be able to compete with
commercially with a book published by a
trade
press or by university presses
and um you would also need to convince
the evaluators and this could be
somewhat difficult
that you're going to be somehow
matching the editorial review process
that those presses would subject a book
to
as well um so is there some equivalent
to a peer review process or an
editing and accepting process that you
could simulate for yourself
and your manuscript even though you're
planning to self-publish
so you may run into a bit of a
skepticism about
whether your book would meet the
standards
that would be required by
a trade press or a university press
but um it you may be able to make that
case
and depending on the strength of your
application materials it might be
possible to persuade the evaluators
just looking at the other questions here
um here's a question about our
publication requirement
the question is with three articles that
are published in national magazines
be considered as meeting the eligibility
threshold
if they're general interest publications
and there
have national distribution then yes
certainly
no question but they need to be general
interest publications they should be
publications that are not attracting
their readers because those people have
a professional interest
in the material
um here's a question about again about
our publication requirement
and the question is if a book is under
contract with a university press but not
yet released
would this be countable as one of the
three required publications
unfortunately it would not be we have uh
the the guidelines do state that you
cannot use
a book that's not been published yet at
the application deadline to
meet that publication requirement
um then we have uh
another question on that same on the
eligibility requirement
um is a co-authored publication
acceptable no we don't accept
co-authored publications for that
our writings published in newspapers uh
acceptable yes a newspaper would be
considered
[Music]
a general audience or a general interest
publication
um depending on how why the distribution
of the newspaper is there might be some
question about whether you're
reaching a large audience or not but um
uh that um would be worth pursuing with
us you can
ask about uh whether particular
publications
that you have on your record would
qualify you or not
um here's someone asking would we
consider a book that's a collection of
interviews
and unfortunately the answer here again
is no uh that's one of the prohibited
project types that's listed in
that section d6 of our
notice of funding opportunity
here's a question about terms grant
periods is there an advantage to
applying for less than 12 months of
support
is the question the answer is no
you will not be improving your chances
of winning an award if you ask for
less than 12 months we're not um
looking for bargains in in that sense
so you should apply for a grant term
that matches your needs
uh and then justify the request in
your application and in the work plan
where you lay out what you're going to
be doing
during your grant term
um here's someone asking whether there's
a specific window of submission dates
for proposals uh you can start you can
apply now
you can submit your application to us um
anytime
up until the december 16th deadline
um so there there's no specific window
uh or i should say the window is already
open and you're welcome to submit
applications
starting now and actually
starting from previous to now
um here's someone asking what is a
typical first printing for a book that
wins funding
for example 5000 copies
this question is a little bit difficult
to answer because we
we were i mean i can answer it but i
should say that we don't have hard and
fast rules about a minimum print run
that's required in order to
to win an award and our evaluators are
really looking at the entire package
that you present to us
and the dissemination plan is one
element
of it but that said
um something like 5 000 copies
uh or more would be typical
for uh books that are under contract at
the time of application
and uh that um give us a
projected number for a print run
we have funded projects that are uh
where a print run of fewer than 5 000
copies is planned so as i said there's
no hard and fast cut off there
and we do see applications from people
who are able to promise print runs much
larger than 5
000 copies that is 25 050 000
copies um but again that's really just
one factor among
the collection of factors that are
considered under those evaluation
criteria
um so here's a question about titles and
the question is
can or should the book title be
identical to the project
title and um we do have some guidance
in our faq document about how to title
your project
that's in the frequently asked questions
document which is
posted on the program resource page so i
would take a look at the
instructions we have there um
the project title and the book title
need not be
identical um we
have a preference in the program for
project titles that are relatively
straightforward
and that convey the maximum information
possible about the content of the
project
and we do in fact reserve the right to
change project titles if they receive
funding
to in order to make sure that the
maximum information about the content of
the project is conveyed
by the title um so i would put some
thought into your title i would try to
make it um
appealing but it need not be the same as
your
book title that you're planning to use
that if you've consulted with a
publisher about that already
if you do give the the the application
uh a different title from your book
i would clarify that in the application
so that
the evaluators aren't confused and think
that you're somehow referring to two
different
um two different projects or two
different books
um here's someone asking does the book
need to be finished within a year
the answer is no you do not need to
finish the book
during the grant period or
during any particular time frame so
you're more than welcome to carve out a
particular piece of the project that you
want to complete
with neh support and then to finish the
rest of the project later
if that's your plan you should
explain it in the application explain
what work you're planning to do after
the grant period
how you imagine having the time to uh
to do that and you should also
probably not project a completion date
that's
very far into the future because that
might lessen the reviewers confidence
that you're actually going to finish
the project and that is one of the
evaluation criteria that is the
likelihood of completion
of the project not necessarily during
the
grant period is one of the things that
our evaluators will look at
so i i wouldn't say i'm going to have
this book finished to six years from now
or something like that
if it's a year or two years or perhaps
three years that you're projecting into
the future i think that would be fine
someone is asking whether travel
expenses are covered by these awards
the answer is yes they could conceivably
be covered
you're not presenting a budget
when you apply that is you're not
listing particular expenses that you
plan
to um meet with neh
support we're simply supporting the
project in whatever way you need
to have it supported
here's a question about whether we
can give advice on letters of
recommendation
uh and who should write them advice
about who should write letters of
recommendation uh and whether there's a
recommended number of
reference letters we ask for two
reference letters and you should not try
to submit more than two
because we we won't allow you to do that
um i would recommend that you choose
people
who uh know your work
and who will be able to
take some time with your application and
with their letter
to address those evaluation criteria
in their in their letter with some
degree of specificity as i said the the
best letters really show a high level of
engagement with the proposed
project and they're able to speak in
specific
terms about the significance of the
project for
general readers so you should look for
somebody who is
has some some degree of authority in the
area that you're
planning to enter with your book
you should think about possibly also
using your letter writers
to balance out your own
strengths or weaknesses um so for
example
if you're a journalist and you
move primarily in journalistic circles
i would think about looking to the
academic world for at least one
of your recommenders and if you're an
academic
i would think about trying to
choose at least one recommender who has
experience
writing for a broad popular audience now
that person could be another academic as
well
there are certainly academics who've
been very successful in reaching a
popular popular audience with their
books and you might
look to such a person
to strike that note
in your application file that
to help add another voice that has
authority
in judging the appeal of a book for a
popular audience to say yes
this proposed book does in fact um
have the potential to appeal to a broad
readership
um here's a question about
your about previous record of research
and experience interpreting the
humanities for a general audience
uh that was that's one of our review
criteria and this person is asking
uh are new scholars or writers for whom
would this would be the first project of
the kind
encouraged or should they wait a while
before submitting an application
i would encourage you to
think about developing your
your portfolio
i'm not sure i would encourage you to
just wait to apply though
um because putting in an application
can be part of the project development
and you can get the feedback from our
reviewers after the competition is over
which could
help you
most successful applicants do have some
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elements in their cv or their resume
that show
ability to interpret the humanities
or to speak to a general audience but
that doesn't have to have been a
previous book that reached a popular
audience
so perhaps you
have written some op-eds
or you've given um
oral presentations you've spoken before
general audience groups at the
local library or something like that
i would certainly highlight that in the
resume
and if you've if you have
experiences of those kinds or perhaps
being interviewed on on a radio program
um those things could potentially
uh get you over the bar in terms of
previous experience even if you've not
written a full-length book for a popular
audience in the past
here's a question about writing samples
would it be better to submit a piece of
writing that
demonstrates ability to reach a
popular audience even if that's not
closely related
to the proposed project i would say yes
i would choose the sample that shows
your ability to write for a popular
audience
in preference to a sample that does not
do that but is more closely related to
the project
because as i said the the single most
important
box that you have to check with your
writing sample is
ability to write for a popular audience
in
an engaging way
um can the writing sample be an excerpt
from an already published work yes
it certainly can be already published
that's fine
you need to make sure you're observing
our page limit though
we have a 20 page limit for the writing
sample
and that's 20 pages of double spaced
typescript
so you may have to do a little bit of a
calculation there to
figure out the
correct number of pages from your
previously published work to
present with your application uh here's
someone asking whether it's acceptable
to receive
funding from other sources in addition
to any age
the answer is yes that is perfectly
acceptable to us
you're welcome to combine an nih award
with
funding from other sources
um here's someone saying in which
document do you include the schedule of
tasks and can this be an addendum we
have a specific attachment
uh when you look at our instructions
this will be clear
it's called the work plan and that's
where you should set forth your
your plan of work uh for the grant
period
uh including the schedule if tasks
um another question about the writing
sample can it be
20 pages without endnotes or with
endnotes
it must not exceed 20 pages so if you
include
notes they must fit within that 20 page
limit
um someone asking whether we plan to
offer this grant program again
in the future the answer is yes we do
plan to continue offering this program
annually for the foreseeable future
here's someone saying that my book has
intentionally
short chapters which run fewer than 20
pages
would it be all right to include part of
another chapter with an explanation to
introduce it to bring the page count
closer to 20 pages and the answer is yes
you you certainly could submit more than
one chapter of the book
as your writing sample if you have short
chapters and you're also welcome to
include
a brief note with your writing sample
setting the context for it explaining
what piece of the project
you're presenting to us
um someone asking whether one of the
letters of recommendation can come from
the publisher
um we don't have a
a rule against that but i would not
recommend that you do that
um because your publisher has some stake
in the outcome of this
uh in a way that might throw some
question on
to the on to the recommendations so i
i would not recommend that you submit a
letter of recommendation
from your publisher
um here's someone saying can you apply
for a grant covering a period of time
between
6 and 12 months such as 9 months the
answer is yes
you're welcome to submit a proposal for
six months of funding seven months of
funding eight months of funding
anywhere up to 12 months of funding
here's a question from someone who is a
philosopher
asking um will the neh consider a
proposal that focuses less on research
of primary sources and more on
interpretation
and reflection even some speculation
and the answer is yes we would consider
such an application
we understand that different disciplines
have different
cultures and different requirements and
that they would be
engaging with primary sources perhaps to
different
extents so i would recommend that you
explain that in your application
and make make the
argument about why you require any age
support and yes an application of that
sword in the field of philosophy would
indeed be
acceptable i'm looking at my clock here
it's now
3 p.m uh here on the east coast in the
u.s
and so i'm going to stop there
um there are dozens and dozens of other
questions here that i'm afraid i have
not gotten
to but as i said
previously you should feel free to
send your question by email to us at
public scholars
at neh.gov
we'll be happy to try and get an answer
to you thank you all for your interest
in the nih public scholars program and
for taking the time
today to to join us for this
session and
good luck with your applications goodbye
you