The Specific Aims page is the cliff notes of your grant application.
The first paragraph should explain why there is a need for your proposal and end with communicating your main objective. Be explicit, if any other disease can replace the disease that you are describing, then you are not including enough detail.
One guideline is to imagine that each Specific Aim will lead to at least one manuscript. If you cannot imagine Aims 1 and 2 as standalone manuscripts, then there is probably not enough meat for each aim. Consider combining them and developing a new Aim.
Be sure to highlight any unique resources that you plan to use. For example the Utah Population Data Base (UPDB) or a novel tool that your group has developed. In the case of an NIH grant application, any tool that your group has developed should be published.
Meeting with the SDBC/PHR collaborators will help insure that your aims are testable and feasible with your current sample size. It is helpful to meet early in the grant writing process (ideally 2-3 months prior to submission).
The following guides may be helpful for crafting your Specific Aims page.
- Guide to key elements of specific aims: NIH Grant Applications The Anatomy of a Specific Aims
Concise tips using keywords for each element of the aim and color coded examples to highlight each key element.
1:NIH Grant Applications The Anatomy of a Specific Aims Page. Release Date: April 09, 2015 Category: Scientific Grant Writing Author: Michelle S., Ph.D., E.L.S.
http://www.biosciencewriters.com/NIH-Grant-Applications-The-Anatomy-of-a-Specific-Aims-Page.aspx
- Peyman JA, Robinson JH, Allen KDMD, Specific Aims – Do’s and Don’ts
Do’s and Don’ts of writing specific Aims with eye toward reviewers.
2: Peyman JA, Robinson JH, Allen KDMD, Specific Aims – Do’s and Don’ts.
https://www.rheumatology.org/Portals/0/Files/Specific%20Aims%20-%20Do's%20and%20Don'ts.pdf
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Please use the following text to acknowledge the CTSI Study Design and Biostatistics Center:
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"This investigation was supported by the Study Design and Biostatistics Center (SDBC), with funding in part from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UM1TR004409. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health."