Book excerpt: Paul Chapin's guide to writing proposals for scientific research can be used by scientists in any discipline who submit papers to funding agencies to gain support for their research projects. A longtime program officer at the National Science Foundation, Chapin treats the proposal as one part of a larger process of planning a research project, which makes it easier to write and more likely to be effective. The book differs from other guides by treating proposal writing in the larger context of project planning from an insider's perspective. Paul G. Chapin became the first director of the NSF Linguistics Program when it was established in October 1975. He continued as NSF's Program Director for Linguistics until 1999, with three interruptions: one year serving as Deputy Division Director for Behavioral and Neural Sciences, one year's detail as a staff associate to the head of the Office of Information Systems, and a year's sabbatical leave to study mathematics at George Washington University. From 1999 until his retirement in 2001, Chapin served as a senior program officer for cross-disciplinary activities at the NSF. On the occasion of his retirement, the NSF presented him with the Director's Superior Accomplishment Award, and the Linguistic Society of America awarded him the first annual Victoria A. Fromkin Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession.