A good strategy when writing proposals is to make reviewers feel like they came up with your brilliant ideas themselves. Here I show how this can be done in a research-plan section of a proposal.
Write your research-plan section as a detailed to-do list, using:
- the first person singular,
- strategic repetition of coded modal verbs and keywords, and
- to-do-list-style (sub)titles.
The following example shows how these techniques are used to construct breadcrumb trails for guiding reviewers.
Example of a Proposal Research-Plan
I wrote this short example based on the bat locomotion research I recently heard on Science Friday. This is how the proposal for that work might have sounded like. Here, ①-⑤ denote breadcrumb-trail components.
①Aim 1: Determination and comparison of terrestrial locomotion in bats.
②Custom-build treadmill for recording bat kinematics. ③I will custom-build an ④apparatus for bat kinematics studies, consisting of a Plexiglas cage with a variable-speed treadmill as its floor, and equipped with video cameras for recording both lateral and dorsal views. This apparatus ⑤would enable the systemic study (Heglund, 1988) of bat terrestrial locomotion, which remains to date untested.
Determine the walking/running gaits of a known hopping bat. I will determine Desmodus rotundus’ gait(s) (Altenbach, 1979) by extracting stride-frequency and velocity information from the kinematics data obtained with the custom-built apparatus. Further, I will conduct comparative studies with bats with known effective terrestrial locomotion, such as Mystacina tuberculate, and others. Gait determination would shed new insight into how the tetrapod design of bats adapts to both areal and terrestrial locomotion. Comparative studies would inform on bat terrestrial locomotion both in terms of bat ecology and evolutionary history.
The Breadcrumb-Trail Components
Here, ①-⑤ describe the components of the above breadcrumb trails:
① The title in bold summarizes the entire Aim 1. It also serves as the title of the to-do list.
② The in-line titles in bold italics summarize their respective paragraphs. They also name the individual tasks of the to-do list.
③ The first-person modal verb “I will” is coded to function as bullet points listing specific actions the author proposes to take for each task. On each encounter of “I will” the reader expects a specific proposed action.
④ Keywords (e.g., “apparatus,” “gait determination,” and “comparative studies“) are repeated throughout the section to connect different aspects of the to-do list, such as proposed action with reason/expected results.
⑤ The impersonal modal verb “would” is coded to describe the reason/expected results. This avoids the need for explicit use of words like “expect” “or “results,” which can get in the way.
How the Breadcrumb Trails Work
First person singular sets the reviewers’ perspective. If the proposal is well written, there’ll be a higher chance reviewers will resonate with your ideas.
Modal verbs and keywords are repeated and coded with specific functions. This is done grammatically in sentence pairs like:
“I will perform X. Successful X would result in something worthwhile.”
This practice brings predictability, making your research-plan section easy to understand on first reading.
To-do-list-style subtitles are the first breadcrumbs of the trails. Need to find your way back to a specific proposed task? Look for the subtitles in bold italics conveniently located at the beginning of each paragraph. The to-do-list style not only makes clear paragraph markers, but it also reinforces the reviewers’ first-person perspective.
At the right paragraph, follow the modal-verbs.
Conclusions
When writing proposals, clarity and succinctness are key. Aim for text that is understood on the first reading with markers that stick with the reviewer. Better repetitive than elaborate.
Works Consulted
Vampire Bats Just Want To Be Friends. (n.d.). Science Friday. Retrieved December 3, 2020, from https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/charismatic-creature-vampire-bat/
Riskin, D. K., & Hermanson, J. W. “Independent evolution of running in vampire bats.” Nature, vol. 434, no. 7031, 2005, 292.