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Quick Guide to Funding Databases

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
CRISP  
 
Federal Register 

NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
  
 
COS Funding Opportunities Database 
Grants.gov
Coverage
Includes U.S.federal funding opportunities from less commonly known agencies
Research funded by U.S. Public Health Service (mainly NIH)
Lists funding opportunities for most federal agencies
NIH funding opportunities and policies
Federal, private foundations, and corporate funding sources
Private foundations

Search for federal funding opportunties and apply electronically to limited agencies

When updated
Every six months
Weekly
Daily
Weekly
Continuously
Two times per year
Daily
Connectors or Operators
AND, NEAR, OR, AND NOT 
(Upper or lower case)
OR, AND, PHRASE;
(Upper or lower case)
OR, AND, NOT
 (Upper or lower case)
comma, AND, OR, NOT, <NEAR>
(Upper or lower case)
Match all fields = AND
Match any field = OR
Exclude matching fields = NOT

AND, OR, NOT, NEAR
(Upper or lower case)

OR, AND, NOT
Default Operator 
AND (in Advanced Search)
OR (between keywords in Basic Query Form);
AND (between fields)
AND (between fields and in fields that allow searching);
OR (within picklists)
Not Applicable
AND (within fields that allow searching);
OR (within picklists)
AND

AND (between all multiple keywords);
OR (between multiple keywords individually as well as combined)

Precedence
Parentheses
Not yet available
Parentheses
Parentheses
Parentheses
Parentheses
Parentheses
Phrase Searching
Use " "
(double quotes)
Enter plain text in Advanced Query Form
Use " "
(double quotes)
Use plain text or insert <PHRASE> before keywords 
Use " "
(double quotes)

Use " "
(double quotes)

Use " "
(double quotes)
Truncation or Wildcards
Use asterisk (*)
to find words with the same prefix, e.g., nutri*
Double ** to find all forms of a word, e.g., sink, sinkng, sank, sunk
To limit search to one NIH mechanism, use wildcards (e.g., K08%) in Grant Number box. Percent sign, %, is truncation symbol.
Asterisk (*) 
only at end of word or word stem
 
Asterisk (*) for one or more characters; stemmed variations 
of words included
 
Asterisk (*)
only at end of word or word stem

Asterisk (*) only at end of word or word stem

Question mark (?) used to replace any single character except first caracter of a word

Asterisk (*) only at end of word or word stem

Question mark (?) used to replace any single character except first caracter of a word

Special
Features
Especially useful information:
"Information Contacts," "Related Programs," and "Examples of Funded Projects"
Community of Science (COS) Funded Research is also a searchable database of research funded at NIH, NSF, USDA, SBIR, and MRC
Important: Click "Notices" article type to decrease much of the non-relevant information. Can be overwhelming to search otherwise.
Most relevant searches are often
not listed first. Review at least the top 10-15 hits.
Use "Citation Manager" to create easy-to-scan list of search results
Use the Notepad feature to retrieve individual grantmaker or grant records of interest to you.
Advanced Search allows you to search by Date, Funding Activity Category, Funding Instrument Type, and Agency
Comments
The number in the title is the CFDA number, e.g., 93.779  
IRG, or Initial Review Group, includes the study section that reviewed the grant for scientific merit
Searches are not case sensitive, but don't use punctuation except for hyphens. Use more general keywords if get poor search results
Lists names and contact information of NIH program officers
Searches are not case sensitive, but don't use punctuation except for hyphens. Use more general keywords or browse keywords and use EXPLODE if get poor search results
You may search the Grantmaker file using either the Basic Searching or Advanced Searching mode. You may search by performing a: text, grant, boolean, phrase, or range search
Must record the Funding Opportunity Number or Catalog of Fedearl Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number
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