scholarly journals Topical themes and thematic progression: the “picture” of research articles

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leong Ping Alvin
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Development Pattern ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Related Research ◽  
Thematic Progression ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Thematic Pattern

AbstractAlthough much has been written about the features of academic writing, there is a lack of research attention on macro issues related to the development of ideas, particularly in the writing of research articles. A concept that is useful in investigating such issues is the Hallidayan notion of theme. However, the thematic structure of research articles has received only modest attention over the years. It is also rare for thematic diagrams to be used even though they can be helpful in clarifying the thematic structure of the text. In this exploratory study, the patterning of topical themes in research articles was investigated using a diagrammatic approach. Twenty biology-related research articles were divided into t-units and analyzed for topical themes. Thematic diagrams were generated for all the articles. The diagrams revealed a progressive thematic pattern in the introduction sections of all the articles. At the whole-text level, an anchored-development pattern was observed in the majority of the articles. These findings suggest that research articles at the macro level share similarities in their thematic structure. They also shed light on how authors achieve focus in the writing through the systematic use of clause-initial elements.

Discourse style and theme–rheme progression in biomedical research article discussions

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian A. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Biomedical Research ◽  
English Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Main Claim ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Thematic Progression ◽  
Thematic Pattern

This paper examines the Discussions of Spanish medical research articles and Spanish translations of comparable English-language texts in order to determine how far their discourse and theme–rheme patterns differ. Quantitative analysis revealed two discourse patterns. Spanish authors preferred a progressive style characterized by considerable initial background information, and a commentary opening with a statement of result and ending with the main claim. In contrast, most translations exhibited a retrogressive style with little or no background information, and the main claim located early or at the start. The Spanish texts showed a highly cohesive thematic pattern, most within-paragraph links being with the immediately preceding theme or rheme, whereas the translations, influenced by the source texts, contained comparatively more distant links, thus creating thematic ‘jumps’. Thematic progression was independent of discourse pattern. Qualitative analysis identified a number of strategies that can help translators align their texts with the target language norm for theme–rheme progression.

scholarly journals Marked themes in English and Norwegian academic texts in the field of didactics

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvi Rørvik ◽  
Marte Monsen
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Textual Features ◽  
Novice Writers ◽  
L1 English ◽  
Shed Light

This study investigates the use of marked themes in the field of didactics. The material comprises research articles written in L1 English and Norwegian, and L2 English. The aim is to shed light on contrastive differences between Norwegian and English that may be used to inform novice writers about central textual features of academic texts within the field of didactics, and about potential transfer-related features that might give their texts a “foreign accent”. The results show that there are contrastive differences in the realization of and meanings expressed by marked themes, but that these differences cause few problems for L2 writers. The study further supports findings from previous research that show the importance of text type and academic discipline for thematic structure.

Examining Structure in Scientific Research Articles: A Study of Thematic Progression and Thematic Density

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvin Ping Leong ◽  
Audrey Lin Lin Toh ◽  
Soo Fun Chin
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Research ◽  
Writing Studies ◽  
Scientific Writing ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Research Writing ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Scientific Research Articles ◽  
Thematic Pattern

While scholars in the field of writing studies have examined scientific writing from multiple perspectives, interest in its thematic structure has been modest. Recent studies suggest that the themes in scientific writing tend to be anchored on one or a few points of departure. There has also been an attempt at quantification using the thematic-density index (TDI), although this has only been tested on abstracts. In this study, we investigated the thematic structure and TDIs of 30 research articles in biology. The results revealed a progressive thematic pattern in the introduction section, followed by an anchored development in the subsequent sections. The anchoring was realized by the pervasive use of the first-person pronoun “we.” The mean TDI was lowest in the introduction section (2.593) and highest in the results section (7.095). The results were consistent across the articles in the corpus, underscoring the uniform way in which the articles were thematically structured, and in turn suggesting a core thematic pattern for scientific research writing in general. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that future studies compare the thematic structure of the introduction section vis-à-vis the other sections, and investigate the possible factors resulting in such a structure.

scholarly journals THEME AND THEMATIC STRUCTURE IN RESORT GURU GURU VOL.6 BROCHURE

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-85
Author(s):  
Putu Marlina Yanthi ◽  
Mirsa Umiyati
Keyword(s):  
Research Data ◽  
Development Pattern ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Thematic Progression

Every clause has its own character as a message which is known as thematic structure. Its elements are divided into theme and rheme. Therefore this research gives an overview about theme and its development in the text. The purpose of this study is to describe (1) the types of themes contained in the Resort Guru Guru vol.6 brochure and (2) how the form of the thematic progression is contained in Resort Guru Guru vol.6 brochure. This research data is obtained from the written text contained in a brochure namely Resort Guru Guru vol.6. Data were analyzed by using thematic theory by Halliday and Mathiessen and theory of theme development by Paltridge. Based on the analysis, there are two findings in the analysis of items contained in the brochure that is (1) the fillers of theme in the clause is divided by types of clause consisting of declarative, interrogative, and imperative clauses. (2) the theme development pattern contained in this brochure consists of constant theme, linear theme, and split rheme, and there is also another pattern that is the development between rheme to rheme and between rheme to theme and rheme.

scholarly journals Zitationspraxen in deutschsprachigen Fachaufsatzeinleitungen

2016 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Wetschanow
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Research Article ◽  
German Research Article ◽  
German Research ◽  
Citation Practices

Since Swales’ groundbreaking article (1990) on the rhetorical structure of research article introductions, a growing number of studies have explored the move structure of introductions. There is an enormous body of work analyzing citation practices in academic writing. Nevertheless, relatively little attention has been paid to the analysis of citation practices within different moves. This exploratory study of five German research articles investigates the relation of amount and types of citations within the different moves of research article introductions. The description and discussion of the five sample papers results in the following hypotheses: German research article introductions (1) can be divided in a territory-, a niche-, and a project-driven type, (2) prefer non-integral citations, (3) use indirect citations to establish a territory and (4) link the announced research to disciplinary fields using the instrument of direct terminology quotations.

scholarly journals Complement control for COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (59) ◽  
pp. eabj1014
Author(s):  
Markus Bosmann
Keyword(s):  
Lung Disease ◽  
Patient Outcomes ◽  
Complement Activation ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Related Research

Excessive complement activation contributes to lung disease and adverse patient outcomes in COVID-19 (see the related Research Articles by Yan et al. and Ma et al.).

Another Way to Tell the News, Another Way to Read the News: Immersion and Information in Narrative Journalism

Poetics Today ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-423
Author(s):  
Marie Vanoost
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Narrative Theory ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Specific Kind ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract While Paul Ricoeur's Time and Narrative (1990) was only concerned with fictional and historical narratives, its influence on narrative theory has been much broader. Ricoeur's reflections expanded into the field of journalism, among other areas, notably through the notion of media narrative (or récit médiatique) as defined by Marc Lits (1997a). Following Lits, Ricoeur's legacy—and, more specifically, the distinction it inspired between immersive and informative narratives (Baroni 2018)—has been used to shed light on a specific kind of journalism often referred to as narrative journalism, that is, journalism that uses the writing techniques of fiction to tell news stories. This article further examines the dialectic between immersion and information in narrative journalism by exploring both journalists’ goals when writing their texts and receivers’ experiences when reading them. First, interviews with journalists show that they are largely aware of this dialectic and purposefully use an immersive form to help readers better understand information. Then, an exploratory study with readers reveals that they claim to look mostly for information yet seem to favor immersive narratives.

scholarly journals Stance and modals of obligation and necessity in academic writing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Parkinson
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Modal Auxiliaries ◽  
Objective Meaning ◽  
Published Research

Abstract Variation has been demonstrated in modal use between written and spoken registers and between disciplines. This article investigates variation within a discipline by comparing modals of obligation and necessity used in three science genres. Obligation modals project strong authoritative stance, thus contrasting with the tendency in academic writing towards tentativeness. The modal auxiliaries must and should and quasi-modals have to and need to are investigated using student writing from the BAWE (British Academic Written English) corpus and a corpus of published research articles. Findings include a dearth of obligation modals in the empirical genres (research articles and laboratory reports). Also a greater prominence was found of dynamic modal meaning (where necessity arises from circumstances) rather than deontic meaning (where the necessity arises from human authority or rules). A further finding is the prominence of objective meaning in the science register compared with the International Corpus of English (Collins 2009a).

scholarly journals A Discourse Analysis: Cohesion of the Introduction Section of Research Article

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Anis Firdatul Rochma ◽  
Sulis Triyono
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Lexical Cohesion ◽  
Research Article ◽  
English Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Competence

<em>As an effort to give contribution to the existing knowledge, it is expected for the undergraduate students to compose an engaging research article in order to convince the readers about the importance of the research article. However, there is only a little attention given to the articles written by the undergraduate students although it is considered very critical to examine whether the exposure of English academic writing has significantly enhances the writing competence of the students. Furthermore, as it is also very crucial to build a meaningful semantic meaning among the sentences in order to disclose the worthiness of the research article, it is essential to analyze the cohesion of the research article written by the undergraduate students. Henceforth, the present research is projected to investigate the cohesion of the research articles written by the undergraduate students of English Language Teaching. As the introduction section of research article is likely to be an area to portray the logical explanation of the research, the present research solely focuses on examining the cohesion of the introduction section of research article. By adopting a qualitative design and involving several steps to analyze the introduction section, it is revealed that the grammatical cohesion is considered to be the most utilized type of cohesion in writing the introduction section. Still, the lexical cohesion is also necessary to build an eloquent semantic meaning about the topic as well the importance of the research article.</em>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document