The Construction of Value in Science Research Articles: A Quantitative Study of Topoi Used in Introductions

2021 ◽  
pp. 074108832098336
Author(s):  
Michael Carter
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Professional Writing ◽  
Science Texts ◽  
Rhetorical Studies

Scholars in the field of writing and rhetorical studies have long been interested in professional writing and the ways in which experts frame their research for disciplinary audiences. Three decades ago, rhetoricians incorporated stasis theory into their work as a way to explore the nature of argument and persuasion in scientific discourse. However, what is missing in these general arguments based on stasis are the particular arguments in science texts aimed at persuasion. Specifically, this article analyzes arguments from the stasis of value in introductions of science research articles. This work is grounded in the Classical topoi, or topics, cataloging types of arguments and identifying seven topoi. I analyzed 60 introductions from articles in three different science journals, totaling the number of value arguments and arguments comprising the topoi. Findings yielded different proportions in types of arguments, sharp disparities among the journals, and widespread use of value arguments. The broader issue at work in this article is how scientists make a case for the importance of their research and how these findings might inform writing and argumentation in the sciences.

Journal packing density of library and information science research journals at the global level: a study

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramesh Pandita ◽  
Shivendra Singh
Keyword(s):  
Packing Density ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Journal Publishing ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
The Usa

Purpose This study aims to find out the average journal packing density (JPD) of Library and Information Science (LIS) research journals published across the world. The concept, JPD, means the average number of research articles published by a research journal in one volume. Accordingly, the undergoing study evaluates the average number of research articles published in each volume of each research journal published in the field of LIS at the global level. Some other key aspects evaluated include the number of LIS research journal publishing countries, average JPD of LIS research journals at the continental level, etc. Design/methodology/approach This study is purely based on secondary data retrieved from SCImago, which is SCOPUS data. Keeping in view the objectives of this study, the data about research articles published in all LIS research journals during the period 2015 through 2019 were retrieved to undertake the study. Findings From the data analysis, it emerged that 256 research journals duly indexed by SCOPUS are published in the field of LIS across 36 countries. In all 48,596 research articles were published from 2015 to 2019 in these research journals at an average of 44.71 research articles per journal per volume. More than 75% of LIS research journals are published from Germany, Spain, Netherlands, the USA and the UK. Research journals published from the USA have higher JPD of 53.09 research articles per journal per volume, which is 18.74% higher than the average global JPD of LIS research journals. 50% of LIS research journal publishing countries are from Europe and the majority 52.55% LIS research articles were published in European LIS research journals. The average JPD of LIS research journals published from North America is 51.73 research articles per journal per volume, which is the highest across continents. Research limitations/implications Standardization of JPD of research journals irrespective of the subject discipline they are published in is important for many reasons and the foremost being, such standardization helps in keeping at bay the predatory research journals, which normally float such packing density norms, with the sole aim to earn money in the shape of manuscript handling charges, thereby publishing a far greater number of research article in each issue of a journal than the average research articles published by a research journal. Originality/value Very few studies have been conducted around the concept JPD, especially by the authors of this particular study. This study has however been particularized to the LIS subject discipline, while the findings add to existing lot of study already undertaken, hence outcome can be generalized.

Dwight Atkinson, Scientific discourse in sociohistorical context: The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1675–1975. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1999. Pp. xxxi, 208.

2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-432
Author(s):  
Greg Myers
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Scientific Communication ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Communicative Practices ◽  
Language Of Science ◽  
Scientific Institutions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Sociohistorical Context

The language of science has been extensively studied by linguists and rhetoricians – as a distinctive register, as a set of genres that students and academics need to master, and as a discourse of powerful social institutions. Most of these studies have been synchronic, focusing on the structures or styles of more or less contemporary texts, particularly research articles. But if we rely on such studies, we may tend to reify some features of text (such as the Introduction–Methods–Results–Discussion form, or the tendency to passive constructions and nominalizations) as inevitable features of scientific communication. We may also treat scientific institutions – such as the lines between disciplines, or between professionals and amateurs – as given by the subject matter, rather than seeing them as changing and as constituted in part by their communicative practices.

Reporting Practices in Quantitative Teacher Education Research: One Look at the Evidence Cited in the AERA Panel Report

2008 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 208-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Reichwein Zientek ◽  
Mary Margaret Capraro ◽  
Robert M. Capraro
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Journal Editors ◽  
Empirical Social Science

The authors of this article examine the analytic and reporting features of research articles cited in Studying Teacher Education: The Report of the AERA Panel on Research and Teacher Education ( Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005b ) that used quantitative reporting practices. Their purpose was to help to identify reporting practices that can be improved to further the creation of the best possible evidence base for teacher education. Their findings indicate that many study reports lack (a) effect sizes, (b) confidence intervals, and (c) reliability and validity coefficients. One possible solution is for journal editors to emphasize clearly the expectations established in Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research in AERA Publications ( AERA, 2006 ).

Moral Values in Professional Communication

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 22-23
Author(s):  
Нохрин ◽  
A. Nokhrin
Keyword(s):  
Moral Values ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Professional Communication ◽  
Research Articles

The notion of “moral values” is analyzed. Notions “professional scientific communication” and “scientific discourse” are being compared. Based on the research articles on ecology, language means of expression of moral values is studied.

We, ourselves and who else?

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Rundblad
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Medical Discourse ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Significant Health

The role of passive voice as a device used in medical and scientific discourse to mystify the author is clearly articulated and well-known. Through analysis of the Methods section of nine medical research articles, this paper shows that metonymy is another frequently used impersonalisation strategy in medical discourse. Furthermore, this paper argues that impersonalisation is not restricted to the authors and that two types of impersonalisation need be distinguished: generalisation and socialisation. Discourse agents were categorised into the ‘present authors’ versus ‘other researchers and health professionals not part of the research team’. Agents were investigated in relation to impersonalisation and social identity. Results show that possessive/causative metonyms are used to produce genderless, generic ‘present authors’ as well as ‘other researchers’. In contrast, more significant ‘health professionals’ are often referred to in terms of representational/locative metonyms highlighting their authoritative social identity. The study also shows that for these non–authorial professionals co-occurrence of metonymy and passive voice is generally avoided. Although ‘present authors’ are mainly absent, this analysis reveals a higher than expected author presence resulting in a significantly higher degree of impersonalisation for non-authorial agents.

Representing own and other voices in social science research articles

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Parkinson
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Prior Investigation

That complement clauses are a prominent feature of various registers including conversation and academic prose. In academic prose, that-clauses are of interest because they frame research findings, the writer’s central message to the reader. To achieve this persuasive purpose, that-clauses are employed to draw in various voices, including those of other researchers, research participants, research findings and the writer. This study extends prior investigation of complement clauses to examine their distribution across different sections of a corpus of research articles in social science. The social action of each section is partially achieved through what the different voices in the different sections of the article talk about, and the subtle variations in the stance of the author and other voices across sections. This study finds that use of reporting verbs is nuanced according to authors’ purposes in different sections, and also according to the source of the proposition in the that-clause.

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