Hitting the word limit: A Step-by-Step Guide

Writing grant applications involves addressing multiple questions within strict word limits, making it essential to craft concise yet comprehensive answers. Our improved prompt is designed to help you achieve this balance effortlessly.

Why This Prompt is Essential

In grant writing, meeting word limits while addressing all required questions can be challenging. Reviewers appreciate clarity and brevity, and lengthy, unfocused responses can reduce your chances of securing funding.

This prompt helps you:

• Handle Multiple Questions: Ensure each question within a section is answered effectively.

• Maintain Word Limits: Keep your answers concise, adhering to the word limits without losing essential details.

• Preserve Original Narrative: Retain the core message and style of your drafts while making them more concise.

How to Use the Prompt

Using this prompt is straightforward. Simply enter your parameters, and let the AI refine your answers. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use it effectively:

1. Enter the Parameters:

• [Question(s)]: Input the specific questions from the grant application.

• [Draft Answer(s)]: Paste your draft answers to the questions.

2. AI Optimization:

• The AI will read and understand the draft answers.

• It will identify the key information that directly addresses the questions.

• The AI will then rewrite the answers concisely, aiming to reduce the length by approximately 10-15%.

• It will eliminate redundant words, phrases, or sentences while preserving the original style, tone, and crucial information.

3. Review the Output:

• Review the AI-generated answers to ensure they flow logically and clearly.

• Confirm that the answers fully address the questions within the word limits. You can check them on sites such as these: https://wordcounter.net/
  

The prompt

Prompt for Rewriting Grant Application Answers

Objective:
Rewrite the provided draft answers to grant application questions to make them more concise. The goal is to shorten the answers while maintaining the original narrative, style, tone, and crucial information.

Input Parameters:
* [Question(s)]: the specific question(s) from the grant application
* [Draft Answer(s)]: Enter the draft answer(s) to the questions

Task Instructions:
1. Read and Understand the Draft Answer(s):
* Thoroughly read the draft answers provided.
* Understand the main narrative, style, and tone used.
2. Identify Key Information:
* Identify and highlight the essential points that directly address the question(s).
Ensure these points are critical to the narrative.
3. Rewrite Concisely:
* Aim to reduce the length of the draft answer by approximately 10-15%.
* Eliminate redundant words, phrases, or sentences.
* Ensure the rewritten answer is more concise while reflecting the original style and tone.
* Keep all critical information intact to maintain the narrative’s integrity.
4. Review for Cohesion and Clarity:
* Review the rewritten answer to ensure logical flow and clarity.
* Confirm that the answer clearly conveys the intended message without losing any essential detail.

Expected Output:
A concise version of each draft answer that:
* Reduces its length by 10-15%.
* Preserves the essential narrative, style, tone, and critical information.
* Remains fully responsive to the grant application question(s).
* Is polished and professional, ready for immediate use in the grant application.

[Question(s)] PASTE QUESTIONS 

[Draft Answer(s)] PASTE ANSWERS

Innovate UK often impose strict word counts, typically around 400 or 600 words per answer. Initially, I attempted to create prompts specifying an exact word count, but the AI models struggled to meet these precise requirements. After [researching it], I discovered several reasons for this. Large Language Models (LLMs) operate on tokenization and word prediction rather than explicit counting, making it difficult for them to generate text with an exact number of words.

Therefore, my suggested course of action is to use this prompt, which focuses on reducing word count while preserving the essential information and messages in the text. In cases where your text significantly exceeds the required word limit, you may need to run the prompt twice to achieve the desired conciseness.

By following these steps, you can ensure that your grant application answers are concise, clear, and compelling, increasing your chances of securing funding. This prompt streamlines the writing process, helping you produce high-quality submissions efficiently.