Appendixitis
How about this for a remarkable piece of writing, from a proposal we reviewed recently:
Detailed biographical details are included in CV’s in Appendix C and in Tables 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 4b, and 5 and in Appendix G.
Like, as an evaluator I’m going to bother – rather than just rolling my eyes heavenwards and sighing deeply…? You could be forgiven for imagining that the amount of paper-turning that would be required would turn the proposal into some clever origami model.
Our esteemed colleague Richard Jenkins described one recent proposal as suffering from ‘Appendix-itis’. Sure, there are times when material needs to be moved to an Appendix – most often, if its length would disrupt the flow of your story.
But this should be the exception, rather than the rule – a last resort to be carefully justified each time. And, at the very least, the main answer should include a synopsis of the material that the evaluators would find were they to read the Appendix – ensuring that you get the maximum score whilst recognising that reviewers probably won’t read the detail on their first pass through.
This article was written by Jon and filed under Processes & best practice, Word play & writing. If you found it useful, you can with others. To receive automatic updates, subscribe to The Proposal Guys via 
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