Instructions to Use COS to Sort
Programs
by Deadline Dates
The Main
Search interface of the COS Funding Opportunities database provides
a quick and easy way to search for funding programs by deadline
date. You can use only the Deadline
field or you can include the Deadline
field as well as additional search criteria in your search strategy.
The Deadline
field is located in the middle of the Main
Search screen. The Deadline field
in a COS Funding Opportunity record contains deadline information
as it is made available to COS. When a series of deadline dates
for the processing of an application is provided, all mandatory
deadlines are included in this field. Please note that deadline
dates are subject to change and should be verified with the sponsor.
Below are some helpful hints to search for programs by deadline
dates:
Use one or both of the
"on-or-after," "on-or-before," or "on"
menus, and the Month, Day, and Year pick lists provided in the
search interface to signify the desired time frame.
Fill in as much information
as possible for the most accurate results.
A year must be chosen (in
the date lines used) or the deadline criteria will be ignored.
If the month is left empty,
the system will default to January 1st and ignore any day chosen.
If the day field is left
empty, the system will default to the first day of the month chosen.
Example: If "2007"
is chosen as a year and the month and day fields are left blank,
the system will search for the deadline date of 1 January 2007
(20070101).
To include Continuous
or Undefined Deadlines, check the box
for this option. This refers to grants that either do not provide
deadline information or that indicate an open or continuous deadline.
There is a check box for this option that is selected by default
when a deadline date is searched. Click in the box to select or
deselect this option.
After making the above deadline selections, you can narrow the search
results by selecting other search criteria as COS shows in the chart
below:
Search Steps
Example
Formulate a search question:
"What research grants are available from the Department
of Energy in our field of nuclear physics, but that do not deal
with reactors?"
Identify the key terms from your question
research, Department of Energy, nuclear physics
Identify any synonyms or related terms to include, and terms
or ideas you want to exclude from your search:
Include: nuclear energy;
Exclude: reactor
Use the Keyword
Browser to identify and add specific terms to your search
Use: Nuclear Physics
Identify the fields
you want to put your terms into (Hint: be as general as possible
- many grants only specify funding within broad fields or disciplines):
Examine your research results and refine or broaden your
query as necessary.
(Hint: locate a grant that matches your need and see what terms
and keywords are used to describe it.)
Use the Refining
Your Query link to narrow your search, or use the 'Back' button
on your Web browser to return to your original search query to
broaden or modify your search.
