Jason Bradley

WA4 Document Analysis

10/23/14
Intro Rhetoric and Prof. Writing 3059 001

RHETORIC OF A MIDDLE SCHOOL GRANT PROPOSAL

This document is a grand proposal for a middle school educational program. The purpose of
any type of proposal is to persuade the audience to take some form of action. Grant proposals
in particular are meant to persuade the reader to make a donation of some value for a specific
purpose. Because grant proposals attempt to get something of value from the reader; often
money, it is important that grant proposals be very persuasive. This particular grant proposal
from the Special Education Coordinator of Orchard Middle School uses rhetorical techniques in
an effort to persuade The ABC Foundation to donate $16,504 to their Read to Succeed
program. Figure 1 illustrates the relationship of the primary rhetorical elements.

Figure 1: Rhetorical Triangle of the Read to Succeed! grant proposal.

Rhetorical Triangle
Figure 1 is an illustration of the rhetorical triangle which represents the relationship between
the speaker, audience, message, and purpose. The speaker, or rhetor, is Jennifer Hazelton.
Jennifer is the Special Education Coordinator of Orchard Middle School. Jennifers purpose is to
acquire a donation of $16,504 for the Read to Succeed! program at her school. To serve this
purpose, Jennifer has created the message, which is the Read to Succeed! grant proposal. The
audience for the grant proposal is a representative of The ABC Foundation. The goal of
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acquiring the $16,504 donation will be achieved if Jennifer has successfully employed rhetorical
devices to persuade the audience at The ABC Foundation with her grant proposal.

Pathos
The Read to Succeed grant proposal makes various appeals to pathos in order to persuade the
reader that donating money is the right thing to do. The first appeal to pathos is made
immediately in the first sentence of the project abstract, which reads:
The Orchard Middle School, in Orchard, VT is seeking a grant to expand our Read to Succeed!
Program with the objective of helping all our at risk students increase their reading skills and to
read at grade level using the same classroom textbooks and materials as their peers 1.
This introductory sentence first serves the purpose of orienting the reader by telling where the
school is, and what the program is. It also makes an appeal to pathos made by saying that the
objective is to help[] all our at risk students 1. One would expect that the reader would in
fact want to be helpful, as being helpful is a quality generally smiled upon our society. This
being the case, the reader finds that he can be helpful, not just to anyone, but to at risk
students, by donating to the program. This sets the reader up to be seen as a good, helpful
person if they donate to the cause. Conversely, the reader would seem to be unhelpful, or
even mean if they refuse to donate to help children. The second element of the first sentence
that appeals to pathos is that it also claims the objective is to help at risk students read at
grade level using the same classroom textbooks and materials as their peers 1. This in an
appeal to pathos because it strongly appeals to equality. Equality is highly favored in our
society and is even tied into the notion of our national identity. Donating to the program is
made much more appealing to the audience because doing so will help the at risk students
maintain equality with their peers.

Logos
The Read to Succeed! grant proposal also makes numerous appeals to logos in an attempt to
persuade the audience that donating to the program is a logical thing to do. The first appeal to
logos appears in the first paragraph of the project abstract, which reads: The Read to Succeed!
program is based on the latest research on effective reading instruction 1. The argument here
is that because the program is based on the latest research, 1 it is likely to be an effective
program, and thus a desirable program to donate to. This appeal to logos does not try to
persuade the audience that donating to the reading program is a good thing to do, only that
donating to the program is likely to be an effective use of their money, should the audience
want to donate to such a cause. It is not an appeal to logos that will persuade the audience
that such a cause is worthy. The use of pathos, such as the preceding example, is a much more
appropriate tool for persuading the audience of the programs worthiness.

Ethos
The Read to Succeed! grant proposal uses ethos in their rhetorical repertoire to persuade the
reader that the speaker is credible, and thus that the cause and program are also credible. We
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know from the title page of the grant proposal that the author is Jennifer Hazelton, who is the
Special Education Coordinator at Orchard Middle School. Furthermore, in the Staff and
Organization Information section of the grant proposal, we learn about Jennifers credentials,
and that she has extensive experience working with students with severe reading difficulties
and was responsible for implementing the successful pilot test program in 2001 1. Because
Jennifer is not only the author of the grant proposal, but also an employee of the school and
involved in the program she is seeking a donation for, whatever ethos is given to Jennifer is
likely to give credibility to the school and program as well. Aside from Jennifers extensive
experience, 1 and successful implementation of a test program, her listed credentials also
include a Bachelors Degree in Special Education from Lesley College, and proficiency with
learning technology, including computer and software 1. The rhetorical effect of mentioning
Jennifers extensive experience and education will vary by reader, but it is designed to increase
her credibility by making her appear knowledgeable. The mention of her proficiency with
learning technology is particularly important because, as is made clear in the budget
breakdown, $15,304 of the $16,504 requested is going toward hardware and software for the
program, leaving only $1,200 for training. Advertising Jennifers proficiency with technology is
meant to persuade the reader that if they donate the money; Orchard Middle School has staff
with the knowledge to put it to good use.

Conclusion
The Read to Succeed! grant proposal is very effective in its use of rhetoric because it makes
various appeals to the reader in the right order at the right time. Rhetorical appeals are made
very early, even in the first sentence, which pulls double duty by providing essential context,
but also by being persuasive. It is also important that all three of the primary rhetorical appeals
are used in combination, as each by itself is much less effective than all of them together. The
grant proposal first appeals to pathos to explain why donating to a program of this type is a
good thing to do. It then appeals to logos to explain why donating to this program in particular
is a logical thing to do. It then finally appeals to ethos to reinforce that the money donated will
be implemented properly. The overall rhetorical effect of these arguments is very persuasive.

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References
1. Hazelton, Jennifer. Kurzweiledu [Internet]. Orchard (VT): Orchard Middle School: Read to
Succeed! Improving Reading Performance for At Risk Students; 2002. [cited 2014 Oct 22];
[about 5 pages]. Available from:
http://www.kurzweiledu.com/files/proof_resources_grant1.pdf.

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