Persuasion in a Grant Proposal

The big question in grant writing is: How can you persuade the funding body to give you money? Effectively persuading means selling your science, very much like businesses of all kind do. To get a funding body to "buy" what you have to offer, you obviously need to have a solid product: good science.

Good science alone is not enough

First, good science alone is not enough, because reviewers do not necessarily perceive the value in your project. As an applicant, you are fully responsible making the value of your work visible. You cannot blame reviewers if they don't understanding what you are doing, or at least blaming doesn't help. This is why your application needs to be structured very clearly so that the value of your work is visible easily.

Clarity is not enough

Second, describing your science clearly is not enough either. Giving logical arguments alone is insufficient, because for every logical argument you can think of a counter-argument. A counter-argument in the dialectic sense, not one that would withstand peer reveiw. Logic is refutable. A long logical deduction may alse be a little boring to read unless your name is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The bad thing about grant writing is that you cannot argue with reviewers. They write their reports and you have no chance to defend your cause. So scientific logic is necessary, but it is not everything.

Then what can you do to persuade in an application?

Persuade by emotions

One persuasive strategy is to arouse emotions first. To persuade, you need to get your readers engaged. First, catch their interest, show enthusiasm, get them curious about what you are proposing. Give them reasons why they should care (see figure). Second, earn their respect by showing you have thought your proposal through, explained it clearly and done your homework. Once you got your readers' attention, it is time to bring in the logic. To persuade in a grant proposal, lead with emotion, then support by logic.

A good example for the emotion plus logic pattern is to state a problem in the beginning of your text. After that, explain your solution. With both a compelling problem and a clear logical solution your funding body will have two reasons less not to give you the money.