The Department of Energy seeks innovative solutions to pressing problems identified in its topic and subtopics. To help potential applicants understand the context for these needs, DOE frequently includes references to relevant literature, as well as links to research being conducted by sponsoring DOE Program Offices. It is important that applicants review all of the reference materials DOE provides in its Topics documents as they start to consider and formulate responses.

In order to demonstrate that your work is innovative, it is often useful to reference additional literature in your application that makes it apparent that your response is innovative. A bibliography is an element of the Project Narrative and contributes to the 15 page limit– so do not include a lengthy list of citations, but an appropriate list related to the problem and more importantly, your solution. In a review of a sample of winning proposals, the average number of citations was nine. However, please also note that the FOA indicates that the bibliography is optional.

A variety of DOE resources may be of assistance in expanding your knowledge of research in pertinent areas. The most useful is SciTech, produced by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. There are two SciTech URL’s which may be useful and which are provided in the pdf version of this Tutorial and the Links tool.

http://www.osti.gov/scitech/

http://www.osti.gov/home/RETIRED/html/dra/dra.html

Even if space constraints lead you to exclude a bibliography in the project narrative, it is recommended that as you formulate your proposal, you do so in light of the literature and conduct a literature search to make sure that you understand the state of the art.

Once you have expanded your research and have selected a number of pertinent citations to include in your bibliography, the question becomes what format to use for the citations. It is recommended that you use the on-line Communication Standards and Guidelines from Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Please see http://www1.eere.energy.gov/communicationstandards/guide.html