MCB Blog

Menu

  • About
    • Meet the Editors
    • MCB Staff
  • Blog
    • Getting to Know MCB
    • Broader Impacts
    • Career Corner
    • Sharing MCB Science
    • Funding & Service
    • MCB at Your Meeting
  • Share your science
  • Feedback
  • Policies
  • Office Hours
  • Funding Opportunities

High Quality Reviews

Tips for Writing Effective Reviews

Tips for Writing Effective Reviews
The National Science Foundation’s merit review process relies on reviews from peers and experts to ensure that proposals are evaluated in a fair, competitive, transparent, and in-depth manner. Reviewer comments help program directors evaluate proposal merits, make funding decisions, and provide feedback to help PI’s strengthen future proposals. Read below for tips from program directors on writing useful and informative reviews.
FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH NSF REVIEW CRITERIA
All proposals submitted to NSF are evaluated on both Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts. (Intellectual Merit addresses a proposal’s potential to advance knowledge; Broader Impacts describe a proposal’s potential to benefit society.) Because some programs may have additional review criteria, pay close attention to the review letter sent by the program director. Even if you have previous experience at reviewing proposals for NSF, it is beneficial to re-read NSF’s review criteria.
AVOID SIMPLY SUMMARIZING THE PROPOSAL
Your review should not reiterate information already stated in the proposal. Instead, highlight strengths and weaknesses and cite specific details to support your comments. Aspects to focus on may include the importance of the scientific question, the potential to be transformative, quality of the experimental plan, or the feasibility of accessing required resources.
MATCH YOUR RATING WITH REVIEW
All proposals are given an overall rating ranging from “Poor” to “Excellent.” A review that rates a proposal as “Excellent” but notes serious flaws with project design or weak Broader Impacts reflects misalignment between rating and review, sending conflicting messages to both PIs and program directors. 
GET TO THE POINT 
When summarizing strengths and weakness there is no need to include irrelevant comments or justify your review. A clearly written review is easier to understand and more helpful to PIs and program directors. For example, avoid stating “although I am not an expert in this area…” or other qualifying statements. Keep in mind, you were chosen for your specific expertise and knowledge and a succinct review will help a PI improve for resubmission. 
USE THE FASTLANE REVIEW FORM BOXES
The Fastlane Review system contains three distinct boxes for reviewer comments: Intellectual Merit, Broader Impacts, and Summary. The sections for intellectual merit and broader impacts should discuss relative strengths and weakness. An effective summary ties the whole review together. Additional criteria, such as results from prior support, data management plans, and postdoctoral mentoring plans, should be discussed where indicated.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • More
  • Pocket

Like this:

Like Loading...
Posted in Blog, Funding & Service, Image format and tagged advice, High Quality Reviews on February 20, 2019 by nsfmcb. Leave a comment

Tips for Writing High Quality Reviews

https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/NSFHelp/flashhelp/fastlane/FastLane_Help/fastlane_help.htm#proposal_review_introduction.htm

https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/NSFHelp/flashhelp/fastlane/FastLane_Help/fastlane_help.htm#proposal_review_introduction.htm

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • More
  • Pocket

Like this:

Like Loading...
Posted in Blog, Broader Impacts, Uncategorized and tagged Broader Impacts, Data Management Plan, High Quality Reviews, Intellectual Merit, Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan, Proposal, Societal Outcomes, Summary on January 23, 2015 by nsfmcb. Leave a comment
NSF logo

NSF.GOV

  • BIO Home Page
  • MCB Home Page

NSF BIO BLOGS

  • BIO BUZZ
  • IOS in Focus
  • DEBrief
  • DBInfo - Blog of the Division of Biological Infrastructure
  • MCB Blog

Older Posts

Follow MCB Blog on WordPress.com

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

Blog at WordPress.com.
BIO BUZZ

Blog of the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Biological Sciences, Office of the Assistant Director

IOS in Focus

Blog of the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) at the National Science Foundation

DEBrief

Blog of the Division of Environmental Biology, NSF

DBInfo - Blog of the Division of Biological Infrastructure

Blog of the Division of Biological Infrastructure, Directorate for Biological Sciences, National Science Foundation

MCB Blog

  • Follow Following
    • MCB Blog
    • Join 589 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • MCB Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: