# 14: Apply the KISS Principle to Grant Writing

It's a great temptation to reach for long, scholarly words to impress grant evaluators. Anything to prove our clients are smart and worthy. But, STOP!

Daniel Oppenheimer, at Princeton, says,

"Anything that makes a text hard to read and understand, such as unnecessarily long words or complicated fonts, will lower readers' evaluations of the text and its author."

His research, Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly, found people rated the intelligentce of authors who wrote in simpler language, using an easy to read font, as higher than those inserting unnecessary complexity. The study was published in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology 2005

His conclusion-

"One thing seems certain: write as simply and plainly as possible and it's more likely you'll be thought of as intelligent."

So, colleagues, Keep It Simple, Smarty!

'ScienceDaily: The Secret Of Impressive Writing? Keep It Plain And Simple: