Check a grant proposal against the funding call, passage by passage
A grant proposal has to answer a funding call that sets its own rules on eligibility, page limits, required sections and review criteria, and the two documents rarely line up neatly. Put the call and the draft proposal in one Search+ workspace, ask whether each requirement is addressed, and open the cited passages from both documents to see where the proposal meets the call and where it falls short.
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Last updated October 2026
How to work on a grant proposal with Search+
- Upload the call, the guidelines and the draft
Add the funding opportunity announcement, the funder's application guide and your draft or the proposal you are reviewing. Drafts often live as Word documents and budgets as Excel workbooks, and both can sit next to the funder's PDFs in one workspace.
- Record your role and the review criteria
In Workspace Context, write who you are and what matters, for example "I am a reviewer scoring significance, approach and feasibility; cite the call's criteria when relevant". It applies to every question.
- Ask requirement by requirement
Ask what the call requires for each section, then whether the proposal addresses it. Open the citations from both documents before you change the draft or write a review comment.
Questions people ask about a grant proposal
Which sections does the call require, and does the proposal include each of them?
What are the proposal's specific aims, and how does each one connect to the funder's stated priorities?
How will reviewers score this application, according to the call?
What evidence does the proposal give that the team can complete the work in the time requested?
Does the budget justification match the activities and staffing described in the research plan?
Across the funded proposals in this workspace, how do they describe their evaluation plans?
What reading a grant proposal well needs
Funders set eligibility, format, required sections and scoring criteria in the call and its guidance. Read the proposal against those documents, not on its own.
Reviewers usually judge the whole application through its aims or objectives. Ask how each later section supports a specific aim.
Personnel, equipment and travel in the budget should match the work described. Mismatches are a common reason for questions from reviewers.
Page limits, budget rules and section names vary by funder and by program, so take them from the call in front of you rather than from habit.
Ask across the call, the guide and the proposal at once, or narrow to one document, and each answer cites the passages it used from each.
Workspaces and conversations persist, so an application in progress keeps its documents and earlier questions together.
Common proposal sections and what to ask
| Section | What it usually covers | A question to ask Search+ |
|---|---|---|
| Summary or abstract | The project in brief for reviewers | Does the summary state the aims and expected outcomes the call asks for? |
| Aims or objectives | What the project will achieve | How is each aim measured or evaluated? |
| Significance or need | Why the work matters | What evidence of need does the proposal cite? |
| Approach or methods | How the work will be done | What risks to the approach are named, and what are the alternatives? |
| Team and environment | Who will do it and with what resources | Which team member is responsible for each aim? |
| Budget and justification | Costs and why each is needed | Which costs are not explained in the justification? |
| Timeline | Milestones and schedule | Does the timeline fit within the award period stated in the call? |
What is a grant proposal?
A grant proposal is an application for funding that describes a project's aims, the need for it, how it will be carried out, who will do it and what it will cost, written in response to a funder's call and judged against that call's criteria.
Grant proposal questions
Can Search+ check my proposal against the funding call?
Can it write my grant proposal?
Can it help me review proposals as a panel member?
Will it catch a budget that does not match the plan?
What if the call is only available as a scan?
Should I rely on an answer about a deadline or rule?
Answer the call it was written for
Start a workspace, upload the call and your proposal, and check each requirement against the text.
Start a workspace