Guideline for the “6 Months Scientific Proposal”

Graduiertenschule Chemie

When completing your proposal, please:

0.	answer all relevant questions fully, according to general scientific practices, and correctly describe your own preliminary work and that of others. (Leave all non-relevant questions blank.)

0.	adhere to the numbering system of these guidelines and repeat the complete headline in each section;

0.	submit the proposal and appendices as a single pdf file to GCh@uni-konstanz.de

0.	submit your completed proposal in Arial font, 

0.	do not exceed the 10 page limit.

1.	Proposal Format
1.	General information (Allgemeine Angaben)

1.1	Student (Student)

0.	First name, last name
1.	Institution and department (full name)
2.	Work address
3.	Telephone number
4.	Fax number
5.	E-mail address

1.2	Members of the thesis committee (Mitglieder des Promotionskommitees)

Please give the names and E-mail addresses of all members of the thesis committee. Place the main supervisor at top of the list.

1.3	Topic (Thema)

Please give the title of your topic.

1.4	Summary (Zusammenfassung)

Please summarise the main goals of the project. This should not exceed 15 lines.

2.	State of the art, preliminary work (Stand der Forschung, eigene Vorarbeiten)

2.1	State of the art (Stand der Forschung)

For new proposals please explain briefly and precisely the state of the art in your field in its direct relationship to your project as the starting point for your own work, quoting the most important relevant work of other scientists.

This description should make clear in which context you situate your own research and to which questions you wish to make an innovative, promising contribution.

2.2	Preliminary work, progress report (Eigene Vorarbeiten, / Arbeitsbericht)

Please give a precise and complete summary of your previous work, including exact references to your own and other researchers’ publications. Unpublished work should be identified as "in print in …", "accepted for publication in …" or "submitted to ...".

3.	Objectives and work schedule (Ziele und Arbeitsprogramm)

3.1	Objectives (Ziele)

Please give a concise description of the scientific programme and the scientific objectives. 

3.2	Work schedule (Arbeitsprogramm)

Please give a detailed account of the steps planned during the proposed funding period (a schedule detailing all planned experiments should be provided).

The quality of the work schedule is critical to the success of the research. You should therefore pay special attention to the design of the work schedule. It may be helpful to know that this normally comprises half the text of the entire application.

Please provide a detailed description of the methods that you plan to use in the project: Which methods are already available? Which methods need to be developed? What assistance is needed from outside your own group/institute?

	Last not least: Please don't forget the date of submitting for this proposal.