If it's important, say it again

I'm reviewing a new grant-writing book out of the University of Oregon: Foundations of Grant Writing: A Systemic Approach Based on Experience (Walker & Pascoe, 2015). In the book, the authors suggest that in grant writing, it is important to say important things more than once, but that there is a fine line between re-emphasis and redundancy. You don't want to annoy your reviewers by moving into broken record territory.

They suggest instead that grant writers should employ creative redundancy. Creative redundancy is when you convey the same points to your reader in a slightly different way so that your reader catches the point and understands its importance but isn't sensing deja vu, reading the exact same point again.

Grant writing in particular is a genre where writers are often in danger of being redundant. With different sections of the grant asking for something similar, you could be tempted to cut and paste. But resist this urge, remembering that although it may be annoying to have to write something similar in your project description as in your project overview, reviewers will be equally annoyed to read the same thing over again and think that you're wasting their time. As one of our seasoned faculty members once said, the number one rule in grant writing is not to annoy the reviewers.

Other grant writers have suggested that when describing the problem that you're solving in a grant to cite national statistics around consequences to society, economics, health, etc. and in a subsequent section, reemphasize how bad your problem is by offering similar international statistics or even relating a short human interest story.

By using creative redundancy, you make it easy for your reviewers to understand what is so important about your project, and you don't underestimate them or make them feel underestimated by making them read the same thing over again. Remember, most reviewers are skimming your grant, and it's easy to miss something important. But, once you've hooked a reviewer and they do delve into your grant, you want to continue pulling them in with new and intriguing information that reinforces the need for your research.

Resources:
Foundations of Grant Writing: A Systemic Approach Based on Experience - Walker & Pascoe
Great Grant Writing - M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust