How to Write a Personal NIH Statement

For you to apply for a research scholarship grant with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), you need to write a personal statement that would give the board an overview of your research and why it is worth their time and the organization's money. Writing your personal statement may seem like a difficult task, but so long as you have your purposes in mind, it's quite easy to put them into paper. The personal statement for NIH grant applications should contain your objectives for wanting to conduct the research. It would explain your personal motivations for wanting the grant and why you deserve the board's approval. When written correctly, your personal statement can give a good first impression to the NIH committee that will assess your application.

Instructions

• 1

  Find out what the requirements for NIH grant applications are. For instance, research proposals need to provide preliminary data on the study and a time-line, along with draft application deadlines and understand the NIH peer review criteria (see Resources).

• 2

  Identify your objectives. Determine why you want your grant application to be approved and how your research will benefit your community. You have to make the committee understand your study is significant---that it serves to address a pressing concern. Application grants are all commonly geared at improving quality of life through medical discoveries, but you want to make your own study distinct from all the rest in your specific field.

• 3

  Start writing. Your personal NIH statement should be in essay form, but it doesn't necessarily have to tell a story. The idea is to be straight to the point and imagine you are simply answering a question about why your application should be considered and that you are doing it in full detail.

• 4

  Begin your statement by identifying your main point for the conducting the research, which could identify your aim for wanting to conduct this study. This will help guide your essay in the right direction.

• 5

  Be specific when discussing the background of your study. If you are basing your study from the recommendations of a previous study, you need to be specific on what the old research was about and how it is related to this grant. You need to supplement your background information, for instance, with accurate data from that other study.

• 6

  Use the first person perspective. This is a personal NIH statement so you need to use "I" not "the researcher" or "the applicant." Remember that this is also a part where you get to say something about yourself and the personal significance of the grant. You want to include pertinent details that were not included in the application forms.

• 7

  Edit your work. Before you submit your personal NIH statement, make sure to proofread what you have written at least twice. Typographical and grammatical errors can make a bad impression on the committee reviewing your application so keep all your documents clear of these problems.