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[mischt]

Hi there,
I'm looking for sources to pass on to my niece, who is a humanities student in Canada, to help her to actively pursue grants (scholarship, fellowships, summer programmes - whatever).
I am a Canadian academic who has been working for 20 years in Germany, so I am not familiar either with websites or programmes available for North Americans or with books which might be useful in this regard. Suggestions for the latter would be particularly great!
I'm open to any suggestions you might have!
Thanks,
Mischt

[miss_m]

Mischt,

Is your niece a grad student? Starting grad school? Looking for dissertation-writing funding? It all depends. However, good general resources include The Chronicle's own grants listings and the long listings on H-net (which includes many humanities fields with an emphasis on history).  Her school's career center or department may also keep listings, though if she is an undergrad or new grad student, she may not realize that if her department is less communicative than it could be.  I am in the US, so I don't know how much of these items will be Canada-specifc if that's what she's looking for.  I am sure there are also online search engines for scholarships/grants/etc.  I used them when I was first applying to grad school, but the internet has come a long way in the last nearly ten years.

Good luck to you both.

MM

[mischt]

Thanks, Miss M, for your suggestions.
She is an undergraduate still, but I am trying to point her in the right direction.
The thing I really wanted to help her out with is the form of the writing needed for these applications. There are so many books out there, but just like certain books are recommended here for the job search or for publishing there must be a book on grant writing suggestions that has consensus approval...
Any tips?
thanks in advance!
Mischt

[nomad]

I do not know much about grant writing but I do know about scholarship writing. It is vital to have a good essay.  When I competed for my scholarship, I had to stand out from a crowd of over 600 people and I believe it was the essay that did it.  I used a book called Write You Way Into The Graduate School of Your Choice by Donald Asher. While most of the book aims at grad school entrance essays there is a section on scholarships and fellowships.  Even the grad school essays helped me with the scholarship essay.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=g28gN7qo_OoC&dq=write+your+way+into+the+graduate+school+of+your+choice&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=Omkx45cMPm&sig=bvEWU62TAK7BnvMSVVprgFG9Pgg#PPR5,M1

I found my scholarship by searching the Internet.  I wound up on a site which offered scholarships for a medical condition I have, and then I just followed the directions and applied. Several months later I learned that I had won and the money was sent directly to my school. Since I am an education PhD student there was little funding beyond a small fellowship I received. This scholarship really helped.

There are quite a few option for funding outside the actual school itself but she would have to be resourceful and willing to spend time really looking. She can use some of the scholarship search databases online (MAKE SURE SHE USES A BOGUS EMAIL ACCOUNT!!!). My scholarship was listed in all of them. Simply Googling the word scholarships can lead you to them.  She can apply for things based on her sex, interests, race, medical conditions, religion, sports interest, and the list goes on. Some of the awards are hefty and some are only a few thousand. Every little bit helps.

I wish your niece good luck.

[miss_m]

Ah, the essay/personal statement.

Many colleges these days have excellent Career Centers or Writing Centers that have resources for helping her write.  They also usually have folks more than willing to read drafts of those documents once she has written.  This process works very well in many places.  You might also send her online to the OWL (online writing lab) at Purdue.  They have many excellent resources for writing--including (last I checked) resources for writing personal statements/app essays.

I don't know the book nomad recommends, but sounds like a fine place to start.  I actually teach the writing of those statements in some classes specifically to get students ready for applications, and I don't use a text--just the residue of years of working through my own and those of others.

I also "do" grant writing, and what she will have to do isn't that--thank goodness for her!!  Each app will have its own requirements, and an essay of some form will be most common.  Wish her luck!