2010 © Karen L. Thompson, University of Idaho1

Writing Grant Proposals: Part 3

This lecture covers:- Incorporating visuals into your proposal

NOTE: this lecture is aimed at helping undergraduates respond to requests for proposals.

About this lecture. You are not required to use visuals in your proposal

You should never use a visual unless it supports the case you are making in the proposal’s argument.

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1Most ImportantReserve for text.

2Neutral

Reserve for visual.

3Neutral

Reserve for visual.

4Least important.

Pages can be broken into quadrants.

When considering where to place a visual, the second and third quadrant work well to balance visuals with text.

Since we read from left to right, a visual in the first quadrant is harder to interpret because we seek text first..

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Left Page Right Page

For large visuals, consider placing the text relating to the visual in a left hand page and the visual on the right.

This may not be possible if the pagination of your document does not leave you with two blank pages at the point where needed.

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1 2

3 4

Another option for large visuals is to place them to cover quadrants 3 and 4.

Be careful, however, that placement does not distort the data.

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Making readers turn the document or their heads to view the visual is not a good idea.

It is often done, however, to save space in publications.

Avoid gratuitous or silly visuals. Note: from an actual student proposal.

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Blackbears are in decline as see in figure 1.

Blackbears are in decline as seen in figure 1.

Figure 1: Blackbear

Basic Guidelines Use a visual to help readers understand data,

design, specifications.

Refer to visual in text of document.

Label illustration (Figure 1, Table 2 etc.)

Write a Caption.

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