Page Comparison

• Ensure you and your project fit their requirements, and tailor your proposal to what they are looking for
• Ask 'Why?' Why should you be funded by this funder, for this research, at this time?
• Check what documents the funder expects you to submit
• Note any formatting requirements; sometimes funders can be specific about the type and size of fonts you must use
• Look at the funder's assessment criteria/peer reviewer guidance, and critically assess your proposal against them.

• Create a compelling narrative; make sure that the story of your research has a 'start', 'middle' and an 'end'
• Break up the text using bullet points, subheadings and 'white spaces'
• Use consistent terminology. Make sure that activities and objectives have the same name across all your application documents
  
  • People often forget this when last minute changes are made to their application
• Include a Gantt chart if you can. This may include:
  • Objectives and sub-objectives
  • Visits to collaborators
  • Key milestones
  • Anticipated publication dates
  • Key conference dates
  • Key impact activities.

Some funders require a lay summary so that non-experts can understand what the project is about.

• Use websites like Hemingway to assess how hard your text is to read
  
• Look at project Abstracts on Gateway to Research for inspiration (some are better than others!)
• Consider attending training courses on writing for non-expert audiences.