Editing

As with any writing - essay, grant proposal, or book, there are several drafts, thus a lot of editing and reviewing takes place before final assembly and submission. The grant narrative can seem awkward and repetitive at times, largely because the rules and regs of the Request for Proposal [RFP] require such redundancy. You may be asked to describe how the project objectives meet the needs of the statute that created the program not once but several times. The RFP may not ask for any history or background of the grantee, but nearly everyone adds that anyway. Then there is the budget and budget narrative. At the minimum there usually are federal budget pages that show only the aggregate numbers for personnel, equipment [if allowed], travel, supplies and the like. Also commonly required is a breakout budget that shows line-item detail. To support the latter a budget narrative is also required - a description or explanation of how the number is calculated and how it supports the activity.

The plan of management is also a crucial component of any grant proposal. Who is the overall manager, to whom will this person report, who are the individual faculty members and what will they do [and what have they already committed to do], etc.

Another proposal element is the evaluation section. Nearly all federal grants require the grantee to present a plan of evaluation --  how the activities conducted will be evaluated [by what measures and with what criteria of success], what methods of evaluation will be used, who will be conducting these assessments, and what assurances are there that the evaluation will be sufficiently quantitative. Many grant programs also requrie external evaluator[s] to conduct an independent evaluation.

Editing is one of the most important element in the entire process. It is thus incumbent on the writer to secure several editors; the more eyes the better. The editing will be for organization, syntax, and appearance as well as clarity and overall value of content. Has the writer described and explained how all of the activities will lead to accomplishing the objectives? Are those objectives quantifiable? Do the budget expenditures supporting these activities seem  necessary and sufficient? Is it clear who is responsible for managing the various components of the project? Does the plan of evaluation promise data measures that will indicate degrees of success and overall accomplishment of objectives?

The message: read the drafts carefully and don't be timid about editing liberally.