Writing Winning Proposals:
Using Rhetorical Strategies
to Persuade Your Reader
by Lawrence J. Clark, Ph.D
What We’ll Discuss Today
 Origin of rhetoric and Aristotle’s 3
“available means of persuasion”
 Writing Proposals: Considering the
Rhetorical Situation
 Reader-Centered Writing
 Ethical and Unethical Uses of
Language
Part 1: Origin of rhetoric
A loooooong time ago . . .
 When: 384-322 B.C.
 Where: Ancient Greece
 Who: Aristotle
The Marketplace
 Aristotle
 observed interactions between people
as they sold items, gave speeches, etc.
 wondered why some people were more
successful than others in convincing
people to
 buy their wares (action) or
 support their political views (belief).
Taking Notes . . .
 Aristotle
 noted the different techniques that
people used to convince or persuade
others.
 narrowed down all their techniques
down to three methods, which he
called the “available means of
persuasion.”
 Ethos
 Pathos
 Logos
About the New Vocabulary . . .
 Don’t worry too much about the
technical terms; focus on methods
that YOU can use as you write grant
proposals, fundraising letters,
newsletters, give presentations, etc.
 SIDE NOTE: OTHERS use these
strategies in writing or in speech to
persuade, control, or manipulate
you.
Aristotle’s Means of Persuasion
 Ethos: perceived character or
authority of the speaker
 Pathos: appealing to emotions
 Logos: appealing to logic or facts
Ethos
 Using ethos is one way to persuade
the listener or reader. If the writer or
speaker is perceived by the listener to
be authoritative or of good
character, he or she will be believed.
 Example: Michael
Jordan sells tennis
shoes; he says,
“Be like Mike and
buy my shoes.”
Kids look up to
him and believe
his shoes are
good, so they buy
them.
This makes Mike
very, very happy!
Good Ethos #2
Example of Poor Ethos
 The “other” Michael
 World-renowned superstar
 Paid BIG MONEY for a 3-minute Pepsi
commercial in 1984
Would you buy
Pepsi from this man?
Pathos
 Pathos is appealing
to the emotions of
the listener/reader.
 Example: You are
reading a magazine
and come across an
advertisement for a
children’s relief
agency. You see a
picture of a starving
child, and the words,
“for the cost of a cup
of coffee a day you
can feed this child.”
This makes you feel guilty,
so before heading to
Starbuck’s for a $4.00
peppermint mocha latte,
you get out your
checkbook
and send a donation!
Other Pathos Examples
Other emotions that can be
played on include
happiness, love, security,
etc.
Love and Happiness
Sense of Well-Being
Safety and Security
Logos
 Some people are persuaded neither
by the reputation or credentials of
the speaker/writer, nor by the appeal
to emotions.
 These people need facts or logic in
order to be convinced.
Criminal Investigators
(Ma-am!)
Scientists and Engineers
90
80
70
60
 Example: Instead of the
starving child and cup of
coffee argument
(pathos—emotional
appeal), use a chart or
graph with statistics
about the poverty level in
3rd world countries and
compare them to levels
in the U.S. (logos—
appeal to logic, use
of facts and figures).
50
USA
Europe
40
Indonesia
30
20
10
0
Income
level
Why is knowledge
of rhetoric important?
 Whether you are reading a
newspaper or watching TV
or hearing a sales pitch,
knowing about the effective
use of ethos, pathos, and
logos can help you to avoid
falling prey to faulty or
deceptive arguments.
Also, when you are writing a
grant application or giving
a presentation, you can be
sure to choose the
appropriate method of
persuasion based on who
your audience is, and to be
sure your arguments rest
on solid ground.
Part 2: Writing a
Proposal:
Considering the
Rhetorical Situation
 Proposals are about
 Money and Power




Who does what?
For whom?
For how much?
For how long?
Interpretation
 Use rhetorical strategies to
 Ask the right questions
 Impose mental structures on evolving,
uncertain, or chaotic situations
 Assess and interpret the situation
 Do research, separate the wheat from the
chaff (important vs. nonessential facts),
then create a plan to solve the problem or
manage the change
 Impose order on the situation
Expression
 Expression is the performance side of
rhetoric.
 First interpret the situation, then
develop a rhetorical strategy to express
your ideas and persuade others.
 Invent the content of the proposal
 Describe the current situation
 Set some goals
 Promote the plan
The Rhetorical Situation





Subject
Purpose
Audience
Context
Objectives
Subject
 What is the proposal about?
 What is it not about? (scope)
 What is “inside” the box?
 What is “outside” the box?
 Decide what will stay in the box, and what
you’ll need to put in the box (or leave out
of it) in order for your readers to make an
informed decision.
Subject
 To determine subject, ask the three stasis
questions:
 Is there a problem?
 What exactly is the problem?
 What type of problem is it?
 Boundaries (scope)
 What do my readers need to know?
 What don’t they need to know?
 Don’t frustrate the reader with non-relevant info!
Purpose
 What outcome am I expecting?
 What do I want to achieve?
Purpose
 After reading your proposal, what do you
want the reader to:
 Do?
 Believe?
 To make this more clear in your mind (and
eventually the reader’s mind) write out your
purpose in ONE sentence.
 Write it on a a sticky note and stick it on your
computer screen!
Intended Audience
(Reader or Listener)
 To whom will I address the proposal?
 Who will actually read it?
 Primary audience
 Secondary audience
Audience
 Analyze your intended/potential
audience/readers:
 Primary readers
Person or people to whom the proposal is
addressed
 Secondary readers
Committee members, accountants, attorneys,
etc.
 Tertiary readers
Politicians, reporters, advocacy groups, hostile
attorneys, etc.
 Gatekeepers
Your supervisor, CEO, company attorney
Audience
 Analyze your intended audience
 Generate ideas and use facts
effectively to persuade your audience
to accept your ideas
 Use facts, logic, emotion, and
authority/credibility to persuade the
reader (logos, pathos, and ethos)
 Use visual design to present your ideas
in a professional package
Context
 In what situation will the proposal be
read?
 How will the context shape the
reading/understanding/attitude
toward the proposal?
Objectives
 What are some other goals, besides
the obvious purpose, that the
proposal should achieve?
Think about your readers’
 Motives
 Profit
 Public perception
 “the right thing”
 Values
 Attitudes
 Emotions
Context




Physical Context
Economic Context
Ethical Context
Political Context
Objectives
 What else would you like your
proposal to achieve?
 Achieve long term goals
 Change public’s perception of your
organization, an issue, or a cause
 Affect greater community
 Aid society in some way
Part 3:
Reader-Centered Writing
 A means of delivering an easy to read
document that clearly states its
message
How to Create a Reader-Centered
Document
 Avoid “I”
 Focus on the reader’s needs, wants,
and desires, not yours
Choose Correct Words
 Use the correct word in the right
place
 Use words in their proper context
 Understand the meaning of the word
 Consider your readers and write to their
level
 Don’t use fancy words to impress the reader
 Getting the message across is more important than
showing off your high-falootin’ vocabulary
 Example: most newspapers are written to a 5th
grade level
Use Plain English
 Avoid:




Jargon
Industry-specific language
Technical terms
Slang
 AGAIN:
 Know your readers and write to their level of
understanding
Sentence Structure
 Select words carefully
 Write clearly and concisely
 Avoid passive construction; use active
voice
 NOT “the chocolate bar was eaten,”
 But, “My wife ate the chocolate.”
 This tells the reader not only
 WHAT was done, but WHO did it.
Sentence Length
 Reduce wordiness
 Use 12 words instead of 20 to say the
same thing
 Vary sentence length (long sentences
are sometimes necessary to explain
complex topics, but do your best to
limit their use)
 List items in bullet points instead of
paragraphs
Avoid Errors—Proofread
Religiously!
 Multiple errors make you or your
organization look unprofessional, or
worse, incompetent
 Print a draft—errors can be missed on
screen
 Ask someone else to look it over—two (or
three or four) heads are better than one!
 Ask for feedback
 Grammar, spelling, punctuation
 Clarity
 Does it send the right message?
Part 4: Ethics in Persuasive
Writing
 Ethical considerations of persuasion
 Logic fallacies
 Cause and effect (post hoc ergo propter hoc)
 Infers that because one thing follows another, it is a
result of the first


Drop in crime
Longer life expectancy
 Personal attack (ad hominem)
 Kill the messenger
 You are a bad person, so your point is invalid
Logical Fallacies (cont.)
 Bandwagon (ad populum)
Appeal to popularity
 Everybody’s doing it, so you
should, too!
 90% of dentists recommend
Crest
 4 out of 5 would rather fight
than switch
Inference by association
Guilt by association
 If a company makes one good (or bad)
product, all their products are good (or bad)
 If some employees are bad or practice criminal
behavior (Enron) the entire company is bad
Other Persuasive Tactics
 Plain Folks
I’m a regular Joe, so I wouldn’t lie to you
 Jimmy Dean sausage
 Old guy selling life insurance
Testimonials
 Implies that the
person supports the
cause or uses the
product
 Celebrity
endorsements
 “Normal people”
giving testimonies
( I lost 50 pounds!)
 Particularly effective for non-profit
fundraising
 Transfer
 Uses positive symbols to transfer meaning
to something else
 American flag
 Cross, Icthus (Christian fish symbol)
Unethical Language Use:
Language fallacies
Equivocation
Using one or both meanings of a word, then
deliberately confusing the two in the
audience’s mind
Jar of spaghetti sauce (4 oz. “FREE”)
Dan Rather will “resign” in March
 Amphiboly
Using ambiguous sentence structure or grammar
to mislead
 “New and Improved”
 “Helps prevent heart disease”
Language Fallacies (cont.)
 Emotive language
 Using emotionally charged words to shift
response from the argument itself to the
images invoked by the words (similar to
transfer)




Freedom
Miracle
Powerful
Younger looking
Review
 Remember Aristotle’s three means of
persuasion
 Ethos
 Pathos
 Logos
 Consider and analyze the rhetorical
situation in which you are writing your
proposal
 Do your best to use language
persuasively, but ETHICALLY
Now go write
your
WINNING
PROPOSAL
and get the
money!