TEA BREAK
ECRs: What’s in a name?
Dan Allwood and I agree about most things when it comes to clear communication and writing a competitive grant proposal. Dan likes to joke that we speak with one voice, like the Borg. However, there is one thing that we don’t exactly see eye to eye on. The term “early
ACEING ACADEMIA: Week 4 Review
Please note: The ACEing Academia series was originally published on LinkedIn. Each category is represented by a suite from playing cards to reflect the “ACEing” theme, with each week ending with a brief review There is no such thing as a perfect grant proposal (or academic paper). But there are things that you
ACEING ACADEMIA #16: Be Consistent
A competitive grant proposal is clear, credible, and compelling. When it comes to ACEing Academia and avoiding common errors in communication, there is another C to add to the mix. Consistency. Applicants must ensure that their proposal (or paper) is consistent from beginning to end. This includes the format used
ACEING ACADEMIA #15: Avoid Extremely Long Sentences
The problem highlighted by this next ACEing Academia tip is an incredibly common way researchers tend to write which, in turn, has a tendency to make the reader grumpy because the sentence can go on and on so the reader is unsure how it began and what the main point
ACEING ACADEMIA #14: Avoid Needlessly Complex Language
Beyond using more words than necessary (ACEing Academia #10), it’s not unusual for researchers to fall into the trap of sesquipedalianism. What is sesquipedalianism you ask? It’s using long (and often obscure) words in speech or writing. The literal definition combines “sesqui” (one and a half) and “ped” (foot) to
ACEING ACADEMIA #13: Use Appropriate Evidence
Most of the tips I’ve been sharing as part of the ACEing Academia series can be used beyond grant proposals: throwing them into any type of academic writing will result in greater clarity for everyone involved. However, this next piece of advice is perhaps the most proposal-specific recommendation so far.
SUPER TROUPER: Who (or what) is in the spotlight?
🎵 Tonight the super trouper lights are gonna find me🎶 Shining like the sun (super trouper)🎵 Smiling, having fun (super trouper)🎶 Feeling like a number one (Apologies in advance for the earworm.) Did you know that a super trouper is a type of spotlight? I only learned this recently myself,
ACEING ACADEMIA: Week 3 Review
Please note: The ACEing Academia series was originally published on LinkedIn. Each category is represented by a suite from playing cards to reflect the “ACEing” theme, with each week ending with a brief review Am I allowed to say that January is flying by? It certainly feels like that as I look back
ACEING ACADEMIA #12: Avoid an inconsistent writing style
A chemist, a physicist, and an engineer walk into a bar … no, scratch that. A chemist, a physicist, and an engineer write a grant proposal. They each write about their particular area of expertise, stitch it all together, and hit submit. Can you see the potential problem? It doesn’t
ACEING ACADEMIA #11: Avoid squeezing too many ideas in a paragraph
This is not a trick question: how many ideas should be in each paragraph of an academic document? The answer: just one idea per paragraph please. This pulls together ACEing Academia 3 and 7: you need to avoid unstructured paragraphs AND creating a wall of text. However, the reason that
ACEING ACADEMIA #10: Avoid verbosity; be concise
In high school, we would be penalised if we went more than 10% over or under the word limit given for a writing assignment. A similar rule was in place when I went to university. As a student, the word limit is seen as a target to aim for because
ACEING ACADEMIA #9: Avoid Irrelevant Content
One of the very first phone calls I received when I was a new portfolio manager at EPSRC was from a distraught researcher who hadn’t been funded at a recent panel. He was unhappy with the reviewer comments because they had questions about a topic that his project wasn’t about,