Art of Writing Proposals With Style

This week, my team has been discussing the grant proposal editing process. Whether you’re an academic researcher, student, business development professional, or anyone writing applications for research funding, the following tips are for you. After years of editing hundreds of grant proposals for research and programs, here are the top errors I commonly see in grant proposals and a few tips on how to fix them in your next application when you are writing a proposal for funding. 

1. Grammar (errant commas, missing periods, haphazard double spacing, etc.) I start every edit by running Grammarly. That first wash during my cold read allows me to zoom out and focus on more substantive gigs on the second read.
2. Word redundancy (e.g., “child was a playful kid who enjoyed being a juvenile.”) — editing for clarity and brevity will sharpen the draft and bring attention to the purpose of the proposal.
3. Phrasing redundancy (fluff and extant details that detract from the central argument) — help the author “kill their darlings,” which requires eliminating any part of writing — characters, scenes, sentences, side plots — that do not serve the author’s point.
4. Headings do not adhere to Style (see APA Style Manual) — depends on which style you prefer so always check your organization’s style guide or a standard style manual such as MLA or APA.
5. Acronyms are not spelled out on the first reference — often seen with longer proposals when there are multiple authors, or with long nouns.
6. Sponsor Guideline Adherence (headings, formatting/margins/font/size, and content do not follow sponsor guidelines or order of review criteria) — review page, paragraph (tab), and line spacing and ensure the document meets the sponsor’s page length. Note: most sponsors require margins to be 1" on all four sides of the document with font typically in Times New Roman or Arial and no smaller than 11 pt. Also, expect these types of formatting issues when the draft is created in one type of word processor or computer (e.g., Google Docs, LaTex, a Mac) and then imported into another (Microsoft Word).
7. Clarity-Flow-Cohesion — common errors include: (a) lack of clear headings and sections, (b) lack of clear need/problem statement in the opening moves, (c) multiple statements, goals, and aims stated throughout that do not align with the research questions or methodology; and (d) jarring transitions between paragraphs, sections, or after bulleted lists, graphics, and figures (typically needs a transition or lead-in sentence)
8. Tense/Tone/Voice Irregularity — shifts in tense, tone, and voice are common when there are multiple authors. Writing in passive versus active voice: passive voice emphasizes the noun-subject at the end of the sentence, which promotes ambiguity and decreases the clarity of the central message. Always ask a colleague or friend to read your proposal, as they are more likely to catch changes in voice and tense. Grammarly catches these shifts.
9. Point of View — for academic writing, the best practice is to write in the third person. However, there are exceptions: First-person — appropriate mostly for fellowships (e.g., NAED/Spencer, NSF CAREER) and small grants (i.e., SEED or Pilot funding) where the PI is encouraged to discuss their work/previous experience/publications; Second-person — only if the sponsor’s tone suggests this informal tone is appropriate; and Third-person (preferred for most research and academic genres) — ideally uses terms such as “the project team” or “the PI”
10. Tables and figures — several problems can arise when tables and figures are present in the draft. Titles may be misaligned or not referenced correctly or at all in-line, have an awkward placement or unnecessarily span across pages, have inconsistent formatting or do not adhere to a style such as APA.
11. Methodology — I commonly see underdeveloped methodology sections when the author has run out of white space against page restrictions or when their research approach is underdeveloped. Answering the 5 Ws and H (who, what, when, where, why, and how) in this section often provides sufficient detail.
12. Timeline — complex multi-year project proposals often need visuals or diagrams to clarify concepts and logistical elements. Adding a timeline or Gantt chart that clarifies the stages or phases of a project is advisable (I also recommend adding figures and tables to clarify complex concepts).
13. Who does what? — adding key personnel sections (project leaders, advisory board, collaborators, and stakeholders) to the draft to explain how each member will participate in the project or why they are collaborating is always helpful. 

Successful grant research and writing requires an art of writing Proposals. Contact us today to discuss a funding plan for your next project. 

Grant Research and Writing

Whether you’re writing a business proposal or a paper in academia, there are writing tools that are becoming increasingly efficient and effective that will make the job easier. Before you write your next report, publication, or grant application, be sure to bookmark these writing aids to level up your writing.

- A List Apart Style Guide: Writing for the Web explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.

- Canva’s text-to-image AI feature is powered by the open-source text-to-image model Stable Diffusion. It is freely available on the Canva app (a great alternative for folks who don’t have subscriptions to graphic software like Microsoft Designer or Adobe Firefly, which was trained on content that’s licensed or out of copyright).

- American Journal Experts (AJE) Grammar Check for Researchers — a free grammar checker specialized in research language.

• Citation Generators: ZoteroBib, EasyBib, BibMe, mybib, Citation Machine, Tweet2Cite, and Citation Managers: Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote — choose your flavor of reference managers/citation generators that save you time, ensure accuracy, and do most of the citation collection and formatting for you. Less known but still relevant are the DOI Citation Formatter and DOI Identifier, as well as Cite.Me and the Harvard Citation Generator.

- Elicit — AI Research Assistant — language models to help you automate research workflows, like parts of literature review.

- Grammarly — AI writing and grammar assistant that augments your writing and assists with learning grammar.

- Lumivero Citavi — Centralized writing and reference manager that automatically creates outlines for you.

-Perplexity — AI generator similar to OpenAI ChatGPT for the research enterprise that retrieves results with citations.

- PowerNotes Advanced is an AI reading, research, and writing platform for higher and K–12 institutions, educators, and students. Educators can view their students’ research and writing process from start to finish and help them use AI with transparency and integrity.

- Thesaurus.com — this one explains itself in the title and is a must-have reference for any serious writing endeavor.

- WordNet — large lexical database of English.

And for the grant proposal writers in the crowd, try out Jasper (AI copywriter and content generator for teams), Well Sorted (organize discussions during meetings), or WordTune (text generator, i.e. Chat GPT) at your next kickoff meeting with clients. They will be amazed at your speed and efficiency as a writer!

Finally, for the academics and students in the room, if you have a lot of textual information (interviews, speeches, transcriptions) that needs to be sifted for a thematic analysis or overview, try Ailyze. If not for this software, I may have never finished my Master’s thesis!

There is an art of writing proposals, especially when writing a proposal for funding. Contact us today to learn how we can help you get funding for that next project!