Examining promotional strategies and trends in successful grant application abstracts: Moves and appraisal resources

Grant application abstracts represent a high-stakes academic genre, serving as a sales pitch targeting broad audiences. Using an approach that considers both rhetorical structure and appraisal resources, the present study contributes to our understanding of this under-researched genre, with a particular focus on its promotional nature. Through a manual analysis of a corpus of 120 abstracts of grant applications spanning a 12-year period in the domain of humanities, which have successfully secured funding from the largest governmental research funding body in Sweden, the study reveals a clear move structure, which seems stable across time. In addition, it provides evidence for the interaction between moves and appraisal resources. The implications for all stakeholders are discussed in the current context of scientific communication, which has become increasingly promotional. • Rhetorical features of successful grant application abstracts. • a stable move structure partially aligned with grant guidelines. • Interaction between moves and appraisal resources. • No clear increase of upscaling despite high overall frequency.