![\"tricia](\"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/osp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/02\/tricia-callahan.jpeg\" "\\"tricia-callahan\\"")
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Written by Tricia Callahan<\/strong><\/p>\n In creative writing, we are taught to avoid using the same words over and over and to not overtly state the moral of the story.\u00a0 Adjectives become the lazy person\u2019s way of writing and the main characters should have at least one flaw or weakness.\u00a0 Good creative writers can break the rules. Creative writing is nuanced in the above ways, however none of these nuances apply to grant writing.<\/p>\n Grant writing (or proposal writing) is technical writing, and technical writers rely on clarity and accuracy to explain their objectives.\u00a0 Definitions should be operationalized and acronyms explained.\u00a0 Additionally, context matters.\u00a0 A good proposal will explain not only the proposed project, but\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0it matters.<\/p>\n Unlike other forms of technical writing, proposal writing should tell a story.\u00a0 Moreover, it should\u00a0sell<\/em>\u00a0a story.\u00a0 While a grant proposal is not a novel or an epic, there still needs to be a beginning, a middle, and an end.\u00a0 Points made clearly in the proposal should be positioned against everything that will impact a reviewer\u2019s decision.\u00a0 Questions should be anticipated, and answered, in the context of the program\u2019s intent, the reviewer\u2019s criteria, and the scope of the work being proposed.<\/p>\n While a good proposal provides enough technical detail to assure reviewers of the investigator\u2019s expertise, it avoids getting bogged down in technicalities and tells a compelling story.\u00a0 Striking a balance between selling a story while providing technical details isn\u2019t always easy.\u00a0 It takes practice writing objectives, reading successful proposals, and feedback from colleagues and reviewers in order to do it well.<\/p>\n Below is a look at how to balance creative writing (i.e., storytelling) with more technical proposal writing in order to write a successful grant proposal.<\/p>\n Theme.<\/strong>\u00a0 The theme of a grant proposal is a lot like character development in a creative piece.\u00a0 In creative writing, it\u2019s the main character who faces a conflict and as a result, grows or changes in some way.\u00a0 In a proposal, the conflict is the problem or need to be addressed.\u00a0 The problem must be placed in context and objectives that aim to address the problem must be provided.<\/p>\n When writing a proposal, we shouldn\u2019t hope that our theme emerges for the reader.\u00a0 Instead, we need to be very specific about the purpose of our proposal.\u00a0 In fact, many well-written proposals begin with, \u201cThe purpose of this project is to<\/em>\u2026\u201d\u00a0 A well-written proposal will also clearly lay out the need for the proposed project as well as the objectives and the methodology used to meet the objectives.<\/p>\n Plot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>In creative writing, a plot\u2019s structure may vary depending on the needs of the story. For example, in a mystery the author will withhold plot details until later in the story.\u00a0 A proposal should NOT read like a mystery.\u00a0 Instead, elements should be arranged in accordance with the sponsor\u2019s guidelines and review criteria, and should clearly detail the steps (aka, methods or activities) that will be taken to address the \u201cconflict\u201d of the proposal.<\/p>\n Point of view.<\/strong>\u00a0 While quality short stories and novels can be written from \u201cfirst person\u201d or \u201cthird person\u201d perspectives, many grant sponsors recommend proposals be written only in third person.\u00a0 \u201cThe PI will oversee<\/em>\u2026\u201d or \u201cGraduate students will conduct<\/em>\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Check the sponsor\u2019s guidelines to see if there is a recommended writing style.\u00a0 If not, be sure to read sample abstracts and proposals that have been funded by that sponsor.\u00a0 Becoming familiar with, and writing in, a sponsor\u2019s style shows that you know something about them.<\/p>\n Characters.<\/strong>\u00a0 As for characters, the same applies for both creative and proposal writing: know your characters well.\u00a0 In proposal writing it\u2019s important to describe a character completely, whether they be the Principal Investigator or anyone else involved on the project.\u00a0 For each senior or key person, their roles and responsibilities should be clearly outlined.\u00a0 Included for each should be a biographical sketch that conforms to the sponsor\u2019s guidelines.\u00a0 Letting the sponsor know about the credentials of the people involved with the proposed project reassures the sponsor that the project objectives have a high probability of being be met.<\/p>\n Style and tone.<\/strong>\u00a0 In creative writing, the style and tone \u201cshow\u201d rather than \u201ctell.\u201d\u00a0 Proposal writing, in contrast, is all about telling.\u00a0 Tell the reader exactly what you plan to do, exactly how you plan to do it, including the setting \u2014 when and where \u2014 and what you hope to accomplish.<\/p>\n Avoid flowery language. Don\u2019t pull out a thesaurus to express yourself in novel ways.\u00a0 Instead, be clear and concise in your writing style. Use the same terms over and over and explain any acronyms or technical jargon that might be used in the field of study.\u00a0 Avoid pronouns, like \u201cshe\u201d and \u201cit,\u201d and use proper nouns instead.\u00a0 For example write, \u201cDr. Shelley will examine revitalization of post-mortem tissue\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Creative writing and proposal writing are similar in that the primary goal is to familiarize the reader with something, whether it be a story or a proposed project.\u00a0 The difference is how styles and techniques are applied in each type of writing.\u00a0 With both creative and proposal writing there is the additional goal of getting the reader invested in the story.\u00a0 In proposal writing, clarity and accuracy come into play.\u00a0 Balance all of this with context and the\u00a0reason\u00a0<\/em>for writing, along with sponsor guidelines and norms, and you\u2019ll have yourself an award winning proposal \u2014 literally!<\/p>\n Blog written by Tricia Callahan, Senior Research Education & Information Officer, Office of Sponsored Programs, Colorado State University<\/em><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook Proposal Writing: It’s Not Novel Written by Tricia Callahan In creative writing, we are taught to avoid using the same words over and over and to not overtly state the moral of the story.\u00a0 Adjectives become the lazy person\u2019s way of writing and the main characters should have at least one flaw or weakness.\u00a0 Good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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