I recently wrote and submitted a research proposal for a fellowship. I am now also applying for a permanent lecturer position which requires an outline of research plans. Is there any problem taking text, directly or with minor changes, from the proposal and reusing it?
Of course, the proposal has a lot more details, but there are a couple of paragraphs that summarize the research which I could use almost word-for-word.
Since a grant/fellowship application isn't a publication, you can reuse it freely. The overlap is natural and you should mention that you are pursuing funding for your research in the job application. You can mention, though it isn't essential, that "the following is taken from the application" or "the following describes the research proposed in the fellowship application.
It is publications of prior work that need citation. A fellowship application is a private communication. Private communications of others might need to be cited, but not your own.
I'm not an expert in this by any means, but from what professors and others have told me, I think a policy of "When in doubt, cite your source" could serve you just fine here. Just make a small note in an appropriate place that some of the used writings are adapted from a previous work. Cite it as specifically as you can. I'm curious what others will answer, though, as the hows and whens of source citing are something I'm only recently needing to thoroughly consider.
