Stance expressions in academic writing: A corpus-based comparison of Chinese students’ MA dissertations and PhD theses

Lingua ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 103071
Author(s):  
Bin Wu ◽  
Brian Paltridge
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Phd Theses

The schematic structure of Spanish PhD thesis introductions

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Carbonell-Olivares ◽  
Luz Gil-Salom ◽  
Carmen Soler-Monreal
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Spanish Literature ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Rhetorical Studies ◽  
Phd Theses ◽  
Academic Genres ◽  
Phd Thesis

Since the 1990s written academic genres have received considerable attention in discourse and rhetorical studies, especially texts written in English. Although few studies describe PhD theses as a genre, some work has been carried out on their macrostructure and the rhetorical moves of certain sections. In the Spanish literature, genre studies on academic writing are scarce relative to those in English, especially in the case of doctoral theses. We analyse the introductions of 21 doctoral theses in computing written in Spanish using Bunton’s model (2002) for thesis introductions in English. The results indicate that most of the steps in this model are applicable to our corpus, but several new steps and sub-steps have been distinguished to account for the observed moves of Spanish PhD thesis introductions. The complexity of the thesis introduction is related to the scope and depth of the research carried out for a doctoral thesis, the need to display extensive knowledge of the field and to justify the relevance of the research.

scholarly journals Investigating Cohesion and Coherence Discourse Strategies of Chinese Students with Varied Lengths of Residence in Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Leo
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Language ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Generation 1.5 ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Cohesive Devices ◽  
Discourse Strategies

This study examines how three age-on-arrival (AOA) groups of Chinese-background ESL students use two types of cohesive devices on a standardized essay exam. A discourse analysis of 90 first-year students’ expository writing samples was conducted to ascertain how factors such as first language (L1) and length of residence (LOR) in Canada influence a student’s ability to create cohesive and coherent writing. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how Canadian-born Chinese (CBC) students use lexical and referential discourse markers. Twelve essay features of this group of Generation 1.5 students are compared with those of two other cohorts of Chinese students with a shorter LOR. Key writing variables that measure academic writing proficiency were quantitatively analyzed to compare the expository writings of the CBC cohort with those of the later AOAs. Results indicate that synonymy and content words distinguish the writings of the CBC students from those of their later-arriving peers. A qualitative analysis of one CBC essay reveals that a more flexible and contextualized approach to evaluating writing by longterm Generation 1.5 students is required to acknowledge fully the productive lexical and discoursal strengths of these students.

scholarly journals Citation Mania in Academic Theses Writing: A Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 219
Author(s):  
Jabulani Sibanda
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Simple Point ◽  
Context Analysis ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
Phd Theses ◽  
Different Parts

  This study, premised on the assumption that students over-use citations in academic writing, investigated manifestations of over-citation in three PhD theses. A review of diverse pragmatic functions citations serve, helped in the identification of needless citations which lacked consonance with any of the functions. A content-context analysis of the pragmatic function of each citation in the three theses, revealed over-citation and superfluity in the theses. Manifestations of over-citation included: expressing general or common-sense information; using multiple citations to make a simple point; citing sources to express what the writer did; attributing own deductions and inferences to authors; not following-up on citations; repeating concepts and attendant citations in different parts of the thesis; making most thesis sections literature sections; citing individual words not ideas, unclear content of citation, independent citation of each source for the same idea, over-using a source within a paragraph or section, citing back to back, evincing citation density to the eye. On the basis of the varied manifestations of over-citation and the extent of its compromise on the quality of student presentations, the study recommends sustained efforts in developing sound academic writing skills even at postgraduate levels, and sensitisation of students to pragmatic purposes citations should serve.

scholarly journals Theoretical Framework of Stance: An Introduction of A New Analytical Category, Neutral Epistemic Stance

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Sani Yantandu Uba ◽  
Mike Baynham
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Linguistic Markers ◽  
Epistemic Stance ◽  
Phd Theses ◽  
Analytical Category

This paper extends Hyland’s (2005) theoretical framework of stance through the introduction of an additional analytic category of stance, neutral epistemic stance corresponding to Mushin’s (2001) factual epistemological stance. This article reviews various theoretical frameworks of stance and argues that none of these theoretical frameworks provide neutral linguistic markers of stance in academic writing. Using a corpus of twelve accounting PhD theses I conducted a textual analysis of different rhetorical sections between the theses, identifying what stance markers are used and why such stance markers are used and in what linguistic context such markers are used. This process led me to identify a new analytical category, neutral epistemic stance. This study contributes to the ongoing literature on stance in academic writing, arguing that unevaluated stance is also indicating taking up a neutral stance and can be understood as part of ‘doing objectivity’ in academic writing.

scholarly journals Exploring process ‘verbs’ in EFL postgraduates’ citations: A Systemic Functional Linguistics approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nayef Jomaa Jomaa ◽  
Siti Jamilah Bidin
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Functional Theory ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Phd Theses

Due to their significance in establishing a research background, citations have been under focus by several researchers. However, limited studies have applied the Functional Theory in analysing reporting verbs in citations. Hence, this study identifies citations in the literature review chapters of 20 PhD theses in Information Technology and Applied Linguistics by EFL postgraduates within the ESL context. These PhD theses were selected purposefully. This study explores qualitatively the processes based on the ideational metafunction of the Systemic Functional Linguistics. The findings show that the material processes were used dominantly, followed by relational, verbal, and mental processes, whereas the behavioural  processes were less used. The use of processes ‘verbs’ is influenced by field and tenor as register variables. Thus, the findings imply that EFL postgraduates are unaware of using processes; therefore, they should receive discipline-specific instructions. Pedagogical textbooks for academic writing could be also developed based on the outputs of the present study.

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