Deanna Stover's Courses

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Deanna Stover is an Assistant Professor at Christopher Newport University. This website is a compilation of her syllabi since starting at CNU in Fall 2020.

View the Project on GitHub deanna-stover/coursesCNU

Grant Prompt

Abstract Deadline: Wednesday, March 17th at 11:59 pm
Percentage: 5% (required)

Final Grant Deadline:

Percentage: 20%

Peer Review Deadlines:

General Overview

Over the next several weeks, we will be working on writing a grant that proposes a digital humanities project. You are not responsible for completing the project, but you are responsible for an abstract and several components that flesh out the project (i.e. a Grant Narrative, Environmental Scan, Budget, CV or Resume, and a Bibliography). Grants are a huge part of the digital humanities field, and being able to know what goes into a grant will be helpful in many other fields as well. Plus, this is a time for creativity! This is about what you want to develop within the field of DH!

If you choose, you can work in teams of two for this project.

Remember, there will be a blog process blog post due as you write the grant. This blog post is detailed in the Blog Prompt and is due Friday, April 16th by 11:59 pm.

Abstract - Wednesday, March 17th by 11:59 pm

Your abstract should be 200-300 words and describe your ideal digital humanities project. This can incorporate your area of study, of course, as long as it has humanistic (and digital!) elements. So, this can’t just be a pitch for a research paper–there needs to be some sort of digital component planned (again, not executed, but planned).

Some ideas (note that this list is not exhaustive):

I will not accept the final grant until your abstract has been approved.

Environmental Scan and Bibliography - Peer Review Monday, April 5th

You will write a 1-page Environmental Scan (single-spaced) and a bibliography (double-spaced and formatted according to MLA) with at leaast ten sources.

Remember, an Environmental Scan does NOT describe your project’s effect on the environment, but rather the state of the field. Your Environmental scan should answer two questions: What scholarship and projects exist that are similar to yours? And how is yours different?

You’ll also be writing a Grant Narrative, so no need to describe every aspect of your project yet. Indeed, when you submit the entire grant, the Grant Narrative will come first in the packet. We are writing these out of order so that you get more familiar with the field before you make choices about your project. The Environmental Scan, then, is mostly about the research about your topic and the projects that already exist with just a little information about how your project will stand out amongst the crowd. So, keep it in mind that I will already know quite a bit about your individual project before I even get to the Environmental Scan.

Your bibliography can include similar digital projects (for example, other maps or timelines), but it should focus on scholarly peer-reviewed research about the topic. By this, I mean if you are pitching a digital edition of Dracula, you might have peer-reviewed articles about the novel and scholarship about creating digital editions. Then, secondarily, you might include other digital projects about Dracula and other digital editions on other texts that are similar to what you’re imagining.

To find this scholarship, you will want to combine the knowledge you learned through the library tutorials with other kinds of research through Google Scholar and Google. A lot of DH scholarship, such as the premier journal Digital Humanities Quarterly, is open-access and most easily found through a Google search. But do look at what the library has to offer as well.

Note that this is NOT an annotated bibliography, but you should be discussing at least some of the research and projects in your Environmental Scan. We’ll be looking at an example in class, but the major point of this portion of the grant is to get a better grasp of what already exists in the field. You are now the expert on, say, mapping projects. That’s a broad field though, so try and narrow down your research to the scholarship and projects most similar to your own goals.

The most important part of this entire assignment is being concise and clear. This sounds easy enough, but to fit all of your reseearch on one single-spaced page is difficult. I recommend writing as much as you need to and then trimming the fat, as it were.

Grant Narrative and Budget - Peer Review Friday, April 16th

You will write a 1-2 page Grant Narrative (single-spaced) and a budget (this will likely be short, but use as much space as you need).

We will be looking at examples in class, but the Grant Narrative gives context for and explains your project. Your Environmental Scan describes the research behind your project, while the Grant Narrative describes the project itself.

For a successful Grant Narrative, you’ll want to describe not only what the project is but also why it’s worthwhile. Persuade the reader that this is an interesting topic that is of scholarly importance.

As part of your Narrative, you will want to discuss the technology you are using. For instance, you should mention that you are using StoryMapsJS hosted on a Wordpress site to create your interactive map. That said, don’t get too bogged down here–I want to gain an overarching understanding of your project and if everything is about the technical details, I’ll miss out on the big picture.

And, finally, don’t dwell on other projects. That’s what the Environmental Scan is for. For the Grant Narrative, you want to focus on YOUR project, not anyone else’s (although you can still refer to some research on your topic–keep it quick though).

Your budget should be detailed and can ask for up to $1,500. Don’t ask for more than you need though! But think, do I need server space for my website? For how long? Do I need specialized software? Or maybe equipment? Some of you will likely have budgets that are smaller than others depending on the costs associated with the project. But do be specific–how much exactly is the software? How much does a domain name cost if you are proposing getting one? From where are you getting it (that will alter the cost)?

CV or Resume - Peer Review Friday, April 26th

You get to choose: do you want to write a 1-2 page Curriculum Vitae (CV) OR a 1-page Resume?

A CV is more common for grants because this document describes your academic achievements as opposed to emphasizing the skills you learned at certain positions.

I’m giving you the choice because a Resume might be more helpful for you at the moment as you get ready for your career, but if you are interested in writing a CV, already have one, or are thinking about graduate school, then by all means, write a CV!

We’ll be talking about both in class, but the point of both of these documents is to emphasize your preparedness for this project. Part of this is presenting a professional document, meaning it should be well designed. This does not mean you need to have color or anything especially clever–it just means you need to be consistent in formatting and presentation while also listing all of the relevant information about you.

(Optional) Appendix

For many of you, an Appendix will be beneficial although it is not required. For example, you might create a mock-up of your project using some sort of design software or create a list of the first few podcasts you will create. An Appendix provides additional, but helpful (and sometimes critical) information for your grant, so seriously consider this option.

How to Submit

You’ll have a few things to submit: your finalized grant packet and all of your peer review documents.

Grant Packet

To create your grant packet, combine all of your documents into one file in this order: Grant Narrative, Environmental Scan, Budget, CV or Resume, Bibliography, Appendix (optional).

If you had to format your CV or Resume differently than your other documents, you may have to combine the documents as PDFs rather than in a Google Doc or Word file. Google how to do this if you’re unsure–there are a lot of options out there. I use Adobe Acrobat, but it costs money. You should be able to get a free trial though!

Peer Review

We’ve done three peer reviews, so please include all of the documents from each session you participated in. Remember, you’re attaching the peer reviews you received. That means, you may have up to three documents to include in addition to your Grant Packet. You can always combine these into one file as well.

Late Work

I will be subtracting 10 points for every day your assignment is late unless you’ve been been given an extension.

Evaluation Criteria

Abstract

Environmental Scan and Bibliography

Grant Narrative and Budget

CV or Resume

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