Chapter 12, The Final Touches

• Importance of revising


• Write front matter


• Write back matter


• Revision process to finish and polish

Seeing the proposal as a whole - does it achieve the purpose and address the needs of the reader?

Front matter -

• letter of transmittal - introduce the readers to the proposal, steers the proposal to the right people (intro, body, conclusion)


• cover page - identify the subject and set the tone - Title, client's name, name & logo of submitting organization, date submitted


• executive summary - synopsis that can be read in minutes - includes current situation, plan, qualifications, costs - follow structure of the proposal


• table of contents - needed in any document of more than 10 pages - mental framework - most efficient way to read text

Back matter - appendices - labeled with # or letter for reference in body of proposal - opening paragraph should introduce the contents (importance of the material and how it reinforces the argument

• Itemized budget and narrative
• resume key personnel - employment history, education, publications, special training or skills, awards, memberships in professional organizations
• analytical reports
• news or magazine articles - if discussed in the proposal, small paragraph that discusses the background of the document
• prior proposals - if discussed in the proposal, small paragraph that discusses the background of the document
• formulas and calculations - properly labeled to explain how it is used
• glossary - name of the item, class to which it belongs, features that distinguish it
• bibliography - list of printed sources, interviews, and other outside materials that were cited or consulted (APA scientific & technical, MLA nontechnical)
• personal or corporate references

Revising the proposal - rework sections so that they tell a consistent story

• Is the subject still the same?
• Does it achieve the stated purpose?
• Does it address the motives, values, attitudes, and emotions of the primary readers? gatekeepers? tertiary?
• Is it appropriate for the physical, economic, political, an ethical situations where it might be used?

Rethinking the problem or opportunity

• look at beginning notes - did you address the issue?
• reconsider - what changed? elements?
• is this the correct type of proposal? research, planning, implementation, estimate or combination?
• give clients what they asked for an NO more

Rethinking the rhetorical elements

• content - complete? missing info?
• organization - logical order? funder specific format?
• style - appropriate tone or persona?
• design - balanced with appropriate, consistent page design?

It should be a story which is

• complete,
• organized,
• easy to read,
• well designed

Progress Report 6-12-2008

Date: June 12, 2008



To: Professor Holmevik



From: Virginia D. Baird



Introduction



This proposal will develop a course to teach technical and rhetorical skills needed to write research proposals to graduate Ph.D. students and faculty in the field of Landscape Architecture in the focus area of health and design.

Work Completed

I wrote the first draft of my proposal and got feedback from Professor Holmevik. In response I have reduced my "not need to know" information thereby reducing my overall length. My literature review was just a bibliography at this point and I have flushed it out. What I had in the bibliography was moved to the proper place. I still have a section on NIH currently funded grants in the bibliography and I'm not certain how this material should be used. I'm leaving out the "this is how you take current work with Cities and Counties and turn it into research" and I feel that this piece is integral to my argument. I had six points and that needed to be reduced to to five and I have now consolidated two of my points and filled in information that was just outline last week.

We addressed the budget section but it was not pertinent to my proposal since I am doing this as a thesis/project and will be putting considerable time into it but will probably not need materials to complete it. I hope to contact other universities offering similar courses but there should not be a cost. The Medical School of South Carolina is working on an online master's in research administration and there is currently a degree offered at Johns Hopkins for medical doctors.

We have covered writing in plain sentences and plain paragraphs and when this is appropriate. The main item I took from this conversation was to write to your audience using language they expect to hear. I will be writing to university professors but my proposal is not intended for a particular discipline and while this is a highly educated audience the language will be geared to research in general. I still need to go over my language and weave emotion words into the text at strategic moments. I have adjusted some sentence length to longer sentences to slow the pace while using short sentences to intensify the urgency at some points.

Using a set design I have balanced my pages and pulled out information that I want to emphasize. I think my alignment now works well but will continue to look at it and revise as needed. There is some grouping into smaller and larger text but all text is currently Times New Roman and I would like to make some of the headings different. My audience is more progressive than traditional and I need to add more progressive elements. I've used a pull out but need to set it up better. I would like to add a sidebar with a story within the story. I had created a style sheet but need to revisit after new ideas were discussed in class.

Next Steps

I need to look closely at my sentence structure to be certain that the emphasis is in the right places. Rework my design and pay close attention to balance, alignment, grouping, and consistency.

My chair will be available later this week and I will ask her to read my proposal and give me feedback. Next week I will meet with her and begin the process to set up my committee and have my GS2 approved.

Chapter 11, Using Graphics

• Importance of graphics
• Appropriate graphics
• Proper use of tables and charts
• Proper use of photographs and drawings

Graphics

• serve as "access points" that move readers to the written text
• break up large blocks of written text
• reinforce the argument as readers tend to trust what they can see

Graphics should - guidelines

• tell a simple story at a glance
• reinforce the written text, not replace it (never use to decorate)
• be ethical (can erode the documents credibility)
• be labeled and placed properly (can make it easy to move from the text to the graphic and back to the text)

Graphics to display information and data

• line graphs
• bar charts suggest a physical quantity
• tables are the most efficient way to display a large amount of data in a small space
• pie charts can demonstrate how a whole is cut into parts - generally use a large amount of space
• organizational charts illustrate relationships among people, companies, and divisions, usually placed in the appendix with qualifications
• Gantt charts illustrate a timeline where stages overlap
• pictures can visually reinforce claims make in the written text, photographs of people, equipment and places should include them doing something that relates to the proposal
• drawings can be used to illustrate where pictures include more detail than needed and confuse the issue
• other graphics might be, plots, maps, flowcharts, blueprints, scatterplots, pictographs, logic trees, screen shots, etc.

Is is best to create each graphic as you are writing the proposal. If you wait, you will probably run out of time. Our society is becoming increasingly visual and graphics can make the difference between success and failure.

Chapter 10, Designing Proposals

Design:

• Importance


• gestalt theory


• four principles for crafting effective page layouts


• five-step process for inventing, revising and editing pages

Good design gives easy access points where you an enter the text from a variety of place for a variety of reasons. Scan executive summary, read the introduction, scan each major section

Four principles of Design - Gestalt theory, humans instinctively look for relationship among objects, visualize larger relationships

Balance - weight on a page

heavier

• on right than left
• top than bottom
• big weigh more than small
• pictures than text
• graphics than text
• color than b&w
• with borders
• irregular shapes

Use grips to balance a page layout

Use pullouts, margin comments, sidebars to enhance body of text with supplemental information

Alignment

Use of vertical white space to identify various levels of information

Grouping

Break down the text into smaller parts more comprehendible for scanning

Use headings, font size, horizontal/vertical, borders

Consistency

4 techniques

• headers and footers
• typefaces - conservative versus modern
• labeling - tables, charts, pictures, graphs
• lists - sequential and nonsequential lists (use different styles for each)

Creating effective layouts -

• Consider the rhetorical situation - characteristics of readers, traditional or progressive
• Thumbnail a few example pages - possible designs
• Create a design style sheet - line, paragraph, page, graphics, document levels
• Develop a few generic pages - create a template as a basic pattern
• Edit the design - revise and edit

Chapter 9, Writing with Style

• Importance of Style


• Role of Style


• Plain Style


• Persuasive Style

Style reflects character by signifying the relationship you build with your readers.



It means choosing the right words and forming sentences that are easy to read, weaving your work together.



It illustrates your clear-headedness, your emphasis on quality, and your willingness to communicate and work with the readers.



Plain sentences -

1. subject is what the sentence is about


2. make the "doer" the subject


3. state the action in the verb


4. subject early in the sentence - anchors sentence


5. eliminate nominalizations - turn 1st draft nominalizations into action words


6. avoid excessive prepositional phrases - usually chained together in long sentences


7. eliminate redundancy


8. sentences "breathing length" - spoken in one breath

6 steps to plainer writing

1. identify who or what the sentence is about


2. turn that who/what into the subject and put it early in the sentence


3. identify what the subject is doing and move action to very


4. eliminate prepositional phrases - turn to adjectives


5. eliminate nominalizations and redundancies


6. shorten, lengthen, combine, or divide sentences to make the breathing length

Plain paragraphs -

• Transition Sentence - smooth bridge from one paragraph to another, "With these facts in mind let us consider..."
• Topic Sentence - 1st or 2nd sentence, sets a goal for the paragraph to reach
• Support Sentences - intended to help prove the claim made in the topic sentence
• Point Sentences - restate the topic sentence at the end of the paragraph

Aligning sentence subjects in a paragraph - related subjects

The given/new method to weave sentences together, begin with info the reader already knows and end with something new.

Passive voice - use when

• the reader doesn't need to know who or what is doing something
• subject of the sentence is what the sentence is about

Persuasive style -

• elevating the tone map out feelings associated with emotion and weave these words into the text at strategic moments, excitement (inspiring, motivating)(revolutionary, energy)
• Using similes "is like" and analogies "A is to B as X is to Y"
• Using Metaphors, familiar & new
• Changing the pace, longer sentences slow the pace, short speeds it up

Challenge is to match your proposal's style to the reader's needs and style

Chapter 8, Developing Budgets

• Important
• Vocabulary
• Different Elements
• Rationale
• Additional strategies

Grants are really about money, as soon as you have written rough draft, start identifying costs.

Basics -
Itemized, down to smallest elements - helps control costs and describe how you got your figures
Non-itemized, rough breakdown (research, modular budgets, increments of $25,000)

Fixed - total price will not change
Flexible - rewrittten periodically to suit changes in costs

Fixed cost - remain constant over time
Variable Costs - expenses that change proportionally with production
Semivariable Costs - expenses that change but not proportionally with production

Developing a budget -
Federal - follow their exact instructions
Other - Management, principal investigators, and salaried labor (% of time + fringe)
Direct labor or staff (hourly basis + fringe)
Indirect labor (support direct labor, hourly basis + fringe)
Facilities & Equipment (fixed and semivariable costs of buildings, equipment & machinery + insurance and maintenance supplies)
Direct Materials (products and services)
Indirect Materials (supplies, lubricants for machinery, etc.)
Travel (local, conferences)
Communication (phone, fax, letter, Internet)
Profit (above costs)
Facilities and Administrative (overhead)
Cost Sharing (matching(cash) & in-kind (non-cash))

Written as a stand-alone section (pros & cons - audience)
Opening - identifies the subject (budget), purpose (present and discuss the costs of project)
Body - explanation, highlights important parts
Closing - restate main point

More info about how the budget was developed, more likely they are to make a firm decision about whether proposed plan suits their needs.

Progress Report 6-5-2008

Date: June 5, 2008

To: Professor Holmevik

From: Virginia D. Baird

Introduction

This proposal will develop a course to teach technical and rhetorical skills needed to write research proposals to graduate Ph.D. students and faculty in the field of Landscape Architecture in the focus area of health and design.

Work Completed

Based on the Next Steps section of my May 29th progress report I've had some discussion with Landscape Architecture on the form my project should take. I have determined that projects for the MLA do not yet have a determined format. I will use the MAPC format for my proposal and then work with the Chair of my committee to make adjustments before I present it to my committee.

This week I learned to use Mindmap and how to convert it to an outline, a somewhat time consuming learning curve. But I feel in the future I will find many uses for this new found program. I first used the Mindmap to look at where I want to go with this project and why. Then I pulled out a section to set up my current situation.

I flushed out the current situation and after class discussion found a number of places where I have "not" need to know information. As I prepare my first full draft for next Monday, I'll re-write the current situation using feed back from my classmates. I will also go back to the chapter 4, Describing the Current Situation, and tighten up this section to be certain I lead into it and the conclusion leads out of it well. These are pieces I didn't dwell on for the first draft.

I looked in the Cooper Library for articles in my area, defining it as skills for writing and submitting research grant proposals. I found limited material and spoke with a reference librarian who suggested I use my professional association's material to find articles in this area and then use the references cited there to connect to others. I looked in the Architecture library for information on research in the area of the built environment and design but found primarily only information on projects with City and County governments and contract proposals rather than research proposals. The lack of research articles substantiates my point that there has been little research done on how we change the built environment affects health. I will need to continue the search for articles in the area of built environment and design.

Next, I developed the project plan again using mindmap. Following the Chapter 5, Developing a Project Plan, I mapped out a solution limiting my steps to 5 major areas and then adding a couple of minor ones to each major. I continued to flush this out and again have feedback from my classmates and will continue to develop this area.

I also developed a timeline for completing my thesis project over the next two years. As a full-time employee of Clemson and a part-time student and with 93 hours of classwork required for a MLA, I have 30 hours remaining. It will take me two more years to complete the classwork. I plan to have my committee set up shortly and hope to have them accept my project proposal during Fall of 2008.

We discussed qualifications today in class and determined that "what makes you different, makes you interesting". Normal is one thing I have always aspired, not to be, so I feel comfortable with this concept. I have added a profile to my blog but found it difficult to keep it to 250 words. Again, I will ask my classmates to help me view it from the outside and decide what pieces are most important.

Next Steps

I will need to concentrate on my first complete draft of the proposal checking to be certain that it flows well from one section to the next and that I have answered all the how and why questions. Again, I will need my classmates to look at it from an outside viewpoint for feedback.
I will contact my Chair by email. She is traveling but I need to talk about the MAPC requirements for projects and whether this will fit MLA. I also need to narrow down my list of possible committee members, ask those I choose and get started with the process.