Structurally speaking

A strong case for support needs the right elements in the right order

Your case for support—or whatever your funder calls the main free-text part of the application—needs to present your project in an ordered and systematic way. This means getting the right structure in place.

What is the ‘right structure’? In large part, it is determined by the needs of those for whom you are writing. As an applicant, that’s the reviewers. These will be both expert peer reviewers who should be close to your subdiscipline (though they will know less about your topic than you) and panel members who may be from a different academic discipline entirely. They probably have a pile of applications to read, and what they want from you is not to be taken on an elaborate intellectual journey of discovery but instead to be presented with a clear, coherent and complete account of what you want to do.