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In It To Submit It: Grant Writing Basics

This guide will help with grant writing and submission.

Why Focus on Basic Writing?

  • Limited funding
  • Increasingly competitive marketplace
  • Reviewers are busy & impatient
  • Looking for a reason NOT to fund
  • Good proposals die from bad writing
  • Build your personal reputation
  • Build institutional reputations 

There are differences pronounced differences between writing for academia and grants.  The tables below illustrate several major  differences in these areas.

Academic vs. Grant Writing

Academic Writing includes thesis, dissertation, scholarly papers, and journal articles.

Grant Writing includes a completely different set of writing skills necessary to "win" grants.

ACADEMIC GRANT

Scholarly Pursuit

  • Individual passion
  • Advance your career

Sponsor Goals

  • Service attitude
  • Adapt expertise
  • Know the sponsor
  • Mirror key phrases and terminology
ACADEMIC GRANT

Past Oriented

Work that has been done

Future Oriented

Work that should be done
  • Find a healthy balance
    • Contextualize proposed work in literature
    • Extend boundaries
    • Okay to image
ACADEMIC GRANT

Theme-Centered

  • Theory & thesis
  • Realm of ideas 
  • Examine issue
  • Final conclusion

Project-Centered

  • Objectives & activities
  • World action
  • Accomplish goals
  • Expected outcomes
  • Avoid proposing a "study" or "examination" unless specific to RFP
  • Ever-present Questions:
    • How will I do this?
    • How will I measure the outcomes?
ACADEMIC GRANT

Expository Rhetoric

  • Explaining
  • Logical progression

Persuasive Rhetoric

  • Selling
  • Strong pitch
  • LEAD with your exciting ideas
  • Use strong, active language
  • Write with funders & reviewers in mind
  • Why are you uniquely deserving?
ACADEMIC GRANT

Impersonal Tone

  • Objective
  • Dispassionate

Personal Tone

  • Conveys excitement
  • Active Voice
  • Encourage excitement for your project
  • Seek their endorsement
  • Use first-person voice
  • May seem like violation of editorial rules
ACADEMIC GRANT

Individualistic

  • Solo activity

Team-Focused

  • Feedback needed
  • Seek counsel on concept before writing
  • Contact program officer
  • Collaborate across colleges & institutions
  • Share the writing responsibility
  • ALWAYS have someone proofread
ACADEMIC GRANT

Few Length Constraints

  • Verbosity rewarded
  • Sentence, paragraph, paper

Strict Length Constraints

  • Brevity rewarded
  • Clear, concise
  • Follow ALL formatting directions
  • Grammar & sentence structure matter
  • Flag sentences more than 3 lines long
  • Be precise with word choice
ACADEMIC GRANT

Specialized Terminology

  • Insider jargon
  • Inflated prose

Accessible Language

  • Easily understood
  • Generalist audience
  • Describe your project to your mother
  • Seek proofreaders outside your discipline
  • Read one sentence at a time from back to front