💡 Grant Writing Tip: Flex those writing muscles!
"Success in grant writing is a matter of style and format as much as content." - Robert Porter (2007)
In his seminal paper, "Why Academics Have a Hard Time Writing Good Grant Proposals", @Robert Porter discusses how even the most seasoned academic writers can struggle with grant writing. The challenges come in because the style and approach to grant writing is quite different from writing for journals or academic books.
Grant writing ≠ Academic Writing
Your job as a grant writer is to develop a strong narrative that "sells" your audience (reviewers) on why you and your research are the best fit for the funding agency and program to which you are applying. Rather than a style in which you dispassionately explain why you did your research, how you did it, and what you found (as you would in a journal article), grant writing style needs to convey enthusiasm, urgency, and innovation! You need to make a case for why your project matters!
To see how you need to adjust your approach for grant writing, below is Robert Porter’s comparison of these two different writing styles.
Academic Writing Style ➡️ Grant Writing Style
- Scholarly pursuit: Individual passion ➡️ Sponsor goals: Service attitude
- Past oriented: Work that has been done ➡️ Future oriented: Work that should be done
- Theme-centered: Theory and thesis ➡️ Project-centered: Objectives and activities
- Expository rhetoric: Explaining to reader ➡️ Persuasive rhetoric: “Selling” the reader
- Impersonal tone: Objective, dispassionate ➡️ Personal tone: Conveys excitement
- Individualistic: Primarily a solo activity ➡️ Team-focused: Feedback needed
- Few length constraints: Verbosity rewarded ➡️ Strict length constraints: Brevity rewarded
- Specialized terminology: “Insider jargon” ➡️ Accessible language: Easily understood
Bottom line
If you’re unsure of how to frame your next grant proposal, reflect on where you and your research project can make a difference. Think about why your project is important, and let your excitement and enthusiasm about it show in your writing style!