Another year, another NSERC DG deadline past. Phew. I’m already on to my next deadline(s) and hopefully shall see the light of day (and my family) in December. (Reading between the lines here, you may (correctly!) presume that posts will remain few and far between over the coming weeks.)

While I’ve put blogging on the backburner in the near term, because I have so much other material to write, I’m still reading (an important thing that everyone needs to do to improve their writing). Yesterday I came across this great article and I just had to share.

In The Scientist, Grant wrote “Right your Writing“, a nice exploration of how to improve your scientific writing and communication skills (and productivity). The primary focus is on writing manuscripts for journals, but most of the tips are relevant to any non-fiction prose including grant applications. The article also includes examples of how you can sharpen your writing techniques and provides suggestions for further reading (for those so inclined).

TERMIUM Plus®, one of the largest terminology and linguistic data banks in the world, is now available free on the web! Everyone can now consult the Translation Bureau’s flagship product free of charge.

Why is this a good thing?

The data bank has almost four million terms in English, French and Spanish. Users can find translations for general and technical words and expressions in practically all fields of human endeavour: administration, informatics, environment, medicine, agriculture, industry, sports and the arts. TERMIUM Plus® records are created by language professionals who keep a close eye on trends in language: that makes it a reliable and useful tool for everyone.

But that isn’t all! The Writing Tools included in TERMIUM Plus® are available for free, public consultation. Among them, you will find Writing Tips, The Canadian Style and Word Tailoring. Each tool focuses on an aspect of English grammar, usage, punctuation, translation, and so much more.

Click here to check out TERMIUM Plus®!

My favorite part is access to The Canadian Style in a searchable format! (And yes, I am aware how incredibly geeky it is that I am excited about this.)

The Canadian Style gives concise answers to questions concerning written English in the Canadian context. It covers such topics as the decimal point, abbreviations, capital letters, punctuation marks, hyphenation, spelling, frequently misused or confused words and Canadian geographical names. It also includes useful advice for drafting letters, memos, reports, indexes and bibliographies.

In addition, The Canadian Style includes techniques for writing clearly and concisely, editing documents, and avoiding stereotyping in communications.
Note: The Canadian Style is available in English only.

Often, one of the toughest parts of grant writing is getting that first draft of the research proposal down on paper. Last year I wrote a post on “Springing out of the writing block” and the advice there is still pertinent today.

The best tip for getting past the inertia of being overwhelmed is to break down the tasks. This post includes a list of all the tasks for getting a Discovery grant proposal together. Look through the list and identify some tasks that you can accomplish. Small steps, even ones that seem trivial, are still steps toward the goal of a completed application.

Another advantage of taking the time to plan out the steps in your calendar is that you will have fewer “Ack, I still have to do xxx!” moments in the minutes/hours/days before the deadline. Taking care of these tasks earlier in the timeline will help make the grant application process a little easier to fit into your already overloaded schedule. It is worth noting that many of the required tasks take less time when you not stressed and early birds avoid the frustrations of the pre-deadline NSERC online system.

If you don’t already have a draft of your proposal in hand, take a few moments to write out the heading pieces and start outlining your grant proposal. (See this post for the required headings.) Even this small step will make the future ones a little less daunting.

Wired.com recently posted a list of the top 5 annoying clichés overused in science writing. These gems appear in all kinds of science writing, including business plans. The comments section is particularly funny as readers weigh in with their predictions of other offending clichés.

I’m on the fence regarding the use of clichés in business plans. They easily convey the market paradigm shift that a silver bullet product delivers. This is especially pertinent when concisely shedding light on key concepts. By using all of the Rosetta stones available, potential partners and financiers will be engaged in a perfect storm that will advance the business case to the next level and allow the company to deliver their holy grail to market in 5 to 10 years.

Clichés add little concrete value and take up valuable space in a manuscript. However, sparing use of clichés can be useful in select circumstances. Author awareness of any predilection for certain turns of phrase helps ensure rational use in writing.

Want to see more clichés: http://www.westegg.com/cliche/

NSERC posted an analysis of the 2009 Discovery grant competition (including comparisons to the 2008 competition) on their Program News page.

This is the most detailed analysis I have ever seen from NSERC. The change in grant level scatter plots are particularly fascinating.

FYI - I had a bit of trouble getting the file because the release links directly to the pdf. Here is the URL directly to the pdf.