Getting started -- Authorship from start to finish -- Basic organization and effective communication -- Developing your conceptual framework and significance statement -- A title may be more important than you think -- The project summary guides the reader -- Objectives, hypotheses, and specific aims : an exhaustive list is exhausting -- Lay the foundation in the introduction -- Experimental design and methods : what will you actually do? -- Plan for expected and unexpected results -- The timeline is a reality check -- References in detail : how many and how recent? -- Preparing a budget -- Submitting and tracking your proposal -- The three R's : rethink, revise, and resubmit -- Consider private foundations for funding of innovative research -- Team science for tackling complex problems -- Ethics and research.