Senior Scholars Program

Tips for Creating a Strong Proposal

The successful research project should contribute to the body of knowledge, should be designed so that it could be executed successfully, and should be within the abilities of the researcher to complete. To demonstrate that your project has these characteristics, we suggest the following for your proposal:

  • Make sure the proposal is well developed and clearly explains your project.
  • Explain the importance of the topic and the broad implications that this research can have.
  • Follow the specific categories from the call to make it easier for the reviewers evaluate.
  • Spell out the anticipated outcomes – What article(s) will be produced? How does this study advance our knowledge in the area?
  • Provide a title for the proposal. It helps crystallize the topic in the reviewer’s mind right off the bat.
  • Describe methods clearly and succinctly. How will you select your sample? How and why will the sample allow you to address the aims of the project? How will you analyze the sample?
  • Make sure the budget provides details. You should break out the categories and list exactly how the funds will be used.
  • Explain how this grant will assist in completing the project. If the project requires more funds than available, explain where the rest will come from so the work can be completed.

More Helpful Tips

Read Tips for Creating that Perfect Research Grant Proposal from 2019 AEJMC Senior and Emerging Scholars.

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Questions?

Questions about the AEJMC Senior Scholars Program should be directed to Lillian Coleman at lillian@aejmc.org.

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Senior Scholar Recipients for 2026

  • Sungwon Chung, Ball State University, and Sun Young Lee, University of Maryland
    “AI Disclosure in Journalism: How Disclosure Wording and Editorial Oversight Influence Trust and Engagement”
  • Queenie Li and Nick Carcioppolo, University of Miami
    “Examining Online Discourse on Childhood Vaccination Amid Florida’s Removal of Mandates”

Read the Abstracts for the 2026 Senior Scholar Recipients

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2025

  • Jon Bekken, Albright
    "Revisiting Bagdikian: Media Ownership Today"
  • Melissa R. Gotlieb and Bryan McLaughlin, Texas Tech
    “Problematic News Consumption and Its Implications for Individual and Democratic Health: A Comparison of WEIRD Countries”

Read the Abstracts for the 2025 Senior Scholar Recipients

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2024

  • Kalyani Chadha, Northwestern University
    “Digital Alternative Journalism in India: Analyzing an Emergent Phenomenon and Its Implications for the Indian Public Sphere”
  • Renita Coleman, University of Texas at Austin
    “Expanding Affective Intelligence Theory: How Voters’ Feelings of Disgust toward the Candidates Affect Voting Intention in 2024”

Read the Abstracts for the 2024 Senior Scholar Recipients

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2023

  • Rosie Jahng, Wayne State University
    “Exploring Twitter Bots Message Strategies to Encourage Social Media Upstanders against Anti-Asian Disinformation”
  • Jungmi Jun, University of South Carolina
    “Cancer Communication Ecologies of Asian Americans in the United States”

Read the Abstracts for the 2023 Senior Scholar Recipients

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2022

  • Carolyn A. Lin, University of Connecticut
    “Assessing the Effectiveness of Interactive Disaster Communication: Piloting a Storm Preparedness Mobile App”
  • Kimberly Mack, University of Toledo
    “Rock Criticism in Black and Brown Publications”

Read the Abstracts for the 2022 Senior Scholar Recipients

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2021

  • David R. Davies, University of Southern Mississippi
    “Ira B. Harkey, Jr., and the Pascagoula Chronicle: A Forgotten Crusader for Racial Justice in Mississippi”
  • Roselyn Du, Cal State University, Fullerton
    “Algorithmic Audience in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Tailored Communication, Information Cocoons, and News Literacy”

Read the Abstracts for the 2021 Senior Scholar Recipients

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2020

  • Amanda Hinnant, Ryan J. Thomas, Yong Volz, Missouri
    “Discourses of Journalism Database”
  • Melissa Tully, Iowa
    “Misinformation and News Literacy in Kenya”

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2019

  • Daniela Dimitrova, Iowa State
    “Terrorists, Migrants or Asylum Seekers? Understanding the Media Framing of Refugees”
  • Lawrence Pintak, Washington State and Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University
    “Mediatization of Islamophobia in the 2018 Election”

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2018

  • W. Joseph Campbell, American University
    “When Polls Go Bad: The Wary Interplay of Journalism and Survey Research”
  • Emily T. Metzgar, Indiana University
    “The American Narrative: U.S. Information Diplomacy Since World War II”
  • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida
    “Developing Criteria for Assessing the Quality of News Coverage of Health Policy: Toward Improving Coverage to Better Inform Citizens and Policymakers”

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2017

  • Deb Aikat, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    “Friending Facebook and Trusting Twitter: News Agendamelding in India’s Networked Public Sphere”
  • Glenn Cummins and Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University
    “Cognitive and Emotional Processing of the Enhanced State of the Union”

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2016

  • Melissa A. Johnson, North Carolina State
    “Ethnic Museum and Cultural Center Communication: Building Relationships with Communities”
  • Linda Lumsden, Arizona
    “Journalism for Social Justice: A Cultural History of Social Movement Media from ‘Common Sense’ to #blacklivesmatter”

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2015

  • Carolyn Lin, University of Connecticut
    “Tailoring Mitigation with Ease and Efficiency: The Promise of a Disaster Preparedness Mobile App”
  • David Mindich, St. Michael’s College
    “A Cultural Biography of James Gordon Bennett Sr.”

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2014

  • Stephen Bates, University of Nevada Las Vegas
    “From Championing Freedom of the Films to Feeding the Hollywood Blacklist: The Odyssey of Hutchins Commission Researcher Ruth Inglis”
  •  Randal Beam, University of Washington
    “Deciding When and How to Cover Suicide”
  •  Kim Bissell, University of Alabama
    “Weight Problems in Children”

Senior Scholar Recipients for 2013

  • Sheri Broyles, North Texas and Alice Kendrick, Southern Methodist
    “Nation Building through Advertising: A Look Inside Communist Cuba”
  • Heloiza Herscovitz, California State University Long Beach
    “Media, Democracy and the State: Brazil’s Daily Battlefield”