13. Editing and Proofreading the Proposal

The importance of careful editing and proofreading prior to submitting a final application cannot be overstated.

Once the application has been vetted, the sometimes arduous task of assimilating feedback and answering colleagues’ questions or comments begins, often entailing substantive editing and rewriting of text. As with many aspects of proposal development and writing, this task can take longer than anticipated. However, the importance of careful editing and proofreading prior to submitting a final application cannot be overstated.

Incorporate Comments and Feedback

If a colleague has questions about an objective or some aspect of the project’s methodology, it is quite likely that reviewers will have similar questions. After rewriting a section or even just a sentence or two, it is useful to check with the original person who provided comments and ask if the revisions are appropriate and if their questions have been answered.  Alternatively, it is helpful to ask someone who has not seen the application before to review it to see if they have questions about the same (or other) section(s).

Review for Organization and Content

Before submitting the application, it is important to review the proposal solicitation once more to make certain all agency requirements have been addressed. During this process, the applicant should compare section headings and ordering of the proposal narrative with the solicitation, being sure to echo the agency’s sequencing of sections and language. Similarly, the applicant should take time to double-check solicitation guidelines against the final proposal narrative, verifying that page limits, font requirements, etc., are consistent with the agency’s instructions.

All sections of the proposal should be re-evaluated for content, clarity, flow, and relevance. Each of these elements will be enhanced by a well-crafted narrative that is divided into easily distinguishable, logically ordered sections and subsections.  If, for example, the solicitation calls for an evaluation plan, all aspects of the plan should be contained within that section;  the reviewer should not have to look elsewhere for details about the project’s evaluation plan.

A well-designed layout will improve the readability of complex proposal narratives. Use of subheadings can draw the reviewers’ attention to a special topic or idea that may need to be emphasized, giving the overall application more clarity and readability. Subheadings also assist reviewers as they look for or refer back to a particular topic or section.  The principal investigator should be responsible for ensuring that consistent heading and subheading formatting is used throughout the proposal, especially when several collaborators may be contributing authors.

The overall flow of any narrative, and especially detail-rich, technique-heavy research proposals, is hindered by long sentences that are crowded with several important concepts or points.  If one sentence takes up three or more lines of text, one should consider breaking that sentence into two separate sentences.  Overuse of qualifying statements or redundant phraseology can camouflage the most important point being expressed within a sentence and detract from the strength and clarity of the text.

Proofread Carefully

An objective reader can usually spot mistakes that the original writer has missed.  Below are several tips that can be used when proofreading a proposal narrative:

• Note that while spell check is a wonderful tool, exclusive reliance upon it is no substitute for a careful and thorough re-reading of the proposal.
• Beware of overusing acronyms; if an acronym is used less than three times throughout the narrative, drop the abbreviation and spell out the complete name/title.
• Make certain that acronyms, other abbreviations, and symbols are used consistently throughout the text (e.g., percent or %; Texas A&M or TAMU; U.S. or US).
• Stick to the topic within sections and paragraphs, and keep related ideas and information together.
• Use bulleted or numbered lists to draw visual attention to and emphasize key facts.
• Ensure that tables and figures are self-contained and relevant to the overall proposal.
• Verify references to figure or table designations, and double-check consistency between information presented in the table/figure and the text.
• Make a list of references and verify that all citations are included in the bibliography and are accurately cited.