Big Red Pen

What Big Red Pen is …and isn’t.

Catherine Hulshof

This isn’t coaching. It’s not editing.
This isn’t feedback on your half-baked idea or messy first draft. And this obviously isn’t a guarantee for getting funded.

What I provide is a mock panel-style review, the kind you’d get if your proposal was dropped in a real NSF review.

✅ What This IS:

  • A detailed reviewer summary with comments on:

  • Intellectual Merit – strengths and weaknesses

  • Broader Impacts – strengths and weaknesses
  • Solicitation-specific criteria, if applicable
  • A mock panelist’s perspective, never sugarcoated.
  • A professional assessment grounded in 10+ years of panel experience

You’ll walk away with a 1–2 page document that mimics what actual reviewers submit to NSF program officers.

❌ What This ISN’T:

  • I won’t edit your draft.
  • I won’t rewrite your aims or restructure your paragraphs.
  • I won’t coach you over Zoom about your research plan.
  • I won’t give detailed margin comments.

🕓 When to Use This:

This review is best done mid-way through your writing process:

  • After you’ve completed a full, coherent first draft
  • Before you start polishing language
  • When you’re ready to know if your ideas are landing or falling flat or what blindspots you still have.

If you want someone to tear through your narrative like a real reviewer would, and give you a reality check before you submit, that’s what Big Red Pen is.

If you want a writing coach or editor, that’s not what I do (and I’m happy to point you toward someone else who does).

I do reviews. The kind that makes your proposal sharper, more focused, and more likely to survive the sharks on a real panel.

Check out my packages, or email me (catherine [dot] hulshof [at] gmail [dot] com) for a Scope of Work and to discuss details.

Big Red Pen logo: a red pen