AI-Assisted Grant Writing Foundations

This unit builds foundational skills for using AI as a trusted assistant in grant and proposal development, introducing key tools, vocabulary, prompt strategies, storytelling techniques, title and lead writing, tone, keyword selection, and basic funder research. It establishes practical workflows and ethical awareness that prepare students to draft and refine proposals in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze at least three AI tools and related terminology by comparing features, limitations, privacy/ethical considerations, and suitability for specific proposal tasks and team roles.
• Apply structured prompt-design strategies to produce targeted proposal artifacts (two candidate titles, one 2-3 sentence ‘appetizer’/lead, and one draft paragraph) from an AI tool, aligning outputs with a specified audience and funder priority statement.
• Demonstrate the ability to craft a funder-focused cover letter and title page that prioritize the reader’s perspective, use appropriate tone, and incorporate reviewer-relevant keywords.
• Evaluate and synthesize funder information using two research methods and generate a prioritized keyword set (8–12 terms) to improve discoverability and reviewer alignment during the submission/review process.