Writing Tips and Traps: How to Compete for a Reader’s Time (and Grant Money)

Randy Black, Office of Research Development, University of California, Irvine

Photo of Randy Black

Grant reviewers and the rest of us don’t lack for reading material. How do you grab a reader’s attention, think on paper and convince an agency that your project should be funded? The instructor will demonstrate that when any writer learns the rules of grammar, punctuation, style and the trick of brevity, writer’s block vanishes and mediocre writing becomes palatable, even excellent. This class will show you strategies to make yourself a better writer and an effective grant-proposer.

About the Instructor

Randy Black is director, Office of Research Development at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). For several years, he supported himself in New York as a freelancer for popular science magazines. On return to his native California, he began reporting on science for UCI, winning several writing awards along the way. After eight years later in that position, he became a grant writer for the university, where, over the past 15 years, his writing has helped win millions of dollars for research, lab construction and training.

Abstract Author(s): Randy Black