Using Key Sentences

In writing effectively for another academic genre, the grant application, Andrew Derrington advises establishing key sentences for the summary and using the same to structure other sections of the application. This strategic approach ensures narrative coherence easily accessible to busy reviewers.  I am exploring Derrington’s approach for drafting an Impact Case Study…

I wonder if there are four sentences key to an impact summary and could be used to create narrative coherence across Sections 1, 2 and 4 of the Impact Case Study Template.

I have drafted an example summary and then shown how the key sentences create outlines for Sections 2 and 4.

You will recognise similar content in the listed workshops. This page gives you a sense of how the workshops inter-relate with the different sections of the Impact Case Study Template.

Four Key Sentences for Impact Summary

  1. Describe what has changed
  2. Explain the link to the research
  3. Identify different aspects of the change
  4. Describe the reach of the change

Each sentence could be thought of in terms of its skeleton – which might be something like this:

  1. [Name the catalyst] is [describe what it is], underpinned by research at the University of Stirling, that has changed [state the subject)
  2. As [Describe the need for change which contextualised the underpinning research] our research found that [describe specific things that needed to change]
  3. [The catalyst] has led to [the subject] that is now [map aspects of the impact to the specific things that needed to change]
  4. Indicate the extent of the impact?

I’m not sure these are the correct skeletons (I suspect they will change depending on the nature of the impact) but I am sure that the key sentence strategy is the way to go. Ideally, these four key sentences would create narrative coherence across the Impact Case Study in the following way:

Narrative Coherence

  • Sentences 1-4 combine into the 100-word summary (Section 1)
  • Sentences 1 and 3 combine to open Section 4 ‘Details of Impact’
  • Sentence 2 provides the key ideas identified in Section 2 ‘Underpinning Research’
  • Sentence 3 provides aspects of impact that become sub-headings for Section 4 ‘Details of Impact’
  • Sentence 4 provides the reach to close Section 4 ‘Details of Impact’

Our own draft is not quite right yet but understanding how the sections of the template work together is helping.  I imagine that for each sub-heading we will have 1-3 evidenced examples to substantiate the claim and its connection to the original research….

Derrington has all sorts of advice about how to use white space, fonts and repetition to effectively sell your message to the busy reviewer – perhaps another posting – but definitely worth checking out his advice.

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