Marine engineering and sub-disciplinary variations: a rhetorical analysis of research article abstracts

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-363
Author(s):  
Ju Chuan Huang
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
First Person ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Electronic Engineering ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Marine Engineering ◽  
Verb Tense

Abstract This study explores the rhetorical structure and linguistic features of research article abstracts in an applied discipline. Recently, many emerging applied disciplines have evolved to incorporate knowledge from a variety of disciplinary areas. Therefore, the writing style may vary within one discipline. While most studies have compared rhetorical variations between disciplines, few have examined sub-disciplinary variations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which variations exist among research article abstracts in three sub-fields of one applied discipline: marine engineering. A small specific corpus consisting of 60 marine engineering abstracts was compiled. By examining similarities and differences in the rhetorical structure, frequently used verbs, tense, and the use of first person pronouns, the analysis showed that sub-disciplinary variations existed among the three sub-fields. For example, the abstracts in the sub-field of automatic control (a discipline closely related to electronic engineering) differ from the abstracts of the other two sub-fields as for rhetorical structure, verb tense, and frequency of use of first-person pronouns. The findings of this study indicate that English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instructors should take into account sub-disciplinary preferences when teaching academic writing so that students can make informed choices when writing in their specific sub-field.

Markers of identification in Indigenous academic writing: A case study of genre innovation

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shurli Makmillen ◽  
Michelle Riedlinger
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Academic Genres

AbstractThis study contributes to research into genre innovation and scholarship exploring how Indigenous epistemes are disrupting dominant discourses of the academy. Using a case study approach, we investigated 31 research articles produced by Mäori scholars and published in the journal AlterNative between 2006 and 2018. We looked for linguistic features associated with self-positioning and self-identification. We found heightened ambiguous uses of “we”; a prevalence of verbs associated with personal (as opposed to discursive) uses of “I/we”; personal storytelling; and a privileging of Elders’ contributions to the existing state of knowledge. We argue these features reflect and reinforce Indigenous scholars’ social relations with particular communities of practice within and outside of the academy. They are also in keeping with Indigenous knowledge-making practices, protocols, and languages, and signal sites of negotiation and innovation in the research article. We present the implications for rhetorical genre studies and for teaching academic genres.

scholarly journals Analyses of Verb Tense and Voice of Research Article Abstracts in Engineering Journals

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 139-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahjoobeh Abarghooeinezhad ◽  
Shahla Simin
Keyword(s):  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
General Guideline ◽  
Electronic Engineering ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Nonnative Speakers Of English ◽  
Novice Writers ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Verb Tense

This paper seeks to analyze the research article abstracts among native English speakers and non-native (Iranian) speakers in the field of Electronic engineering. The analysis mainly focuses on the rhetorical structure, i.e. the constituent Moves/Sub-Moves. In addition, Verb choices and the voice and tense of the verbs in Move 2 and Move 4 respectively were examined. To this end, 25 published abstracts from each field (a total of 50 abstracts), all appearing in established, ISI journals, were selected. The model proposed by Santos (1996), composed of 5 moves along AntMover software was employed as a general guideline in order to identify Moves/SubMoves. The results compared and contrasted the dominant move patterns of each field, their unique Move/SubMoves, and the typical voice and tense of verbs employed in Move 4. It was also found that there were some variations between the abstracts written by native English speakers and nonnative speakers of English. It is hoped that with detailed analyses of abstracts, the results of this study may serve as a complement to the guidelines for novice writers to construct a proper research article abstract in electronic engineering.

scholarly journals The Effect of Texts-Based Interactional Feedback (TIF) on the Students’ EFL Writing

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Warsidi Warsidi
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
The Other ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Rhetorical Structure

<p>This study is reporting the results of the TIF implementation in a student’s students’ EFL writing. It evaluated the student first supervisory paper, the last supervisory paper, and the participant’s perception toward the TIF implementation. This is qualitative study with the linguistic features as the scoring frameworks, including lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, and rhetorical structure. This boundary study is the participant’s text findings, discussion, and concluding parts. The results of this study revealed that participant’s academic writing changed significantly in the rhetorical structure and tended ignoring the other two scoring frameworks. The study also indicated that the student has intermediate level of English. Then, the participant’s perception toward the TIF implementation also resulted positively. </p>

scholarly journals Analyses of Rhetorical Moves and Linguistic Realizations in Accounting Research Article Abstracts Published in International and Thai-Based Journals

SAGE Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824401882238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wirada Amnuai
Keyword(s):  
Nonnative English Speakers ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Scholarly Journals ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds

There has been a growing interest in the rhetorical move structure of research articles (RAs). Research studies reveal that articles written by native and nonnative English speakers show some similarities and differences in their rhetorical structure and linguistic features across disciplines. This study was therefore undertaken to investigate the rhetorical moves of English RA abstracts, which were written by authors from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Sixty RA abstracts from two corpora (international corpus and Thai corpus) in the field of accounting were analyzed using Hyland’s framework. The abstracts written by authors of different nationalities and published in internationally scholarly journals were collected for the international corpus, whereas the counterpart consisted of abstracts written by Thai authors and published in indexed Thailand-based journals. Both similarities and differences in terms of rhetorical move and linguistic realizations were found. The use of tenses and voices was quite different not only between the two corpora but also from the previous studies. The findings will provide practical and detailed description of the RA abstracts’ structures of the two corpora. This may lead to pedagogical implications for teaching students how to write accounting English RA abstracts effectively.

scholarly journals How is information content distributed in RA introductions across disciplines? An entropy-based approach

2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-83
Author(s):  
Wei Xiao ◽  
Jin Liu ◽  
Li Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Information Content ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Based Instruction ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Interest In Research

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in research article (RA thereafter) introductions. Most previous studies focused on the macro structures, rhetorical functions and linguistic realizations of RA introductions, but few intended to investigate the information content distribution from the perspective of information theory. The current study conducted an entropy-based study on the distributional patterns of information content in RA introductions and their variations across disciplines (humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences). Three indices, that is, one-, two-, and three-gram entropies, were used to analyze 120 RA introductions (40 introductions from each disciplinary area). The results reveal that, first, in RA introductions, the information content is unevenly distributed, with the information content of Move 1 being the highest, followed in sequence by Move 3 and Move 2; second, the three entropy indices may reflect different linguistic features of RA introductions; and, third, disciplinary variations of information content were found. In Move 1, the RA introductions of natural sciences are more informative than those of the other two disciplines, and in Move 3 the RA introductions of social sciences are more informative as well. This study has implications for genre-based instruction in the pedagogy of academic writing, as well as the broadening of the applications of quantitative corpus linguistic methods into less touched fields.

scholarly journals Another Look at the Rhetorical Moves and Linguistic Realizations in International and Indonesian Journal Articles: A Case of Tourism Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eri Kurniawan ◽  
Nurul Aini Akrima Sabila
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Writing For Publication ◽  
Tourism Research ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Textual Organization ◽  
Rhetorical Structures

Although a significant number of studies have been conducted to explore the rhetorical structures of research article abstracts, there is a paucity of research specifically comparing the move patterns, and linguistic features of tourism research article abstracts published in international and national journals. Such a comparison is quintessential to address a notion that journal indexation may factor into the quality of textual organization in abstract writing. Employing Hyland’s (2000) analytical framework, the paper analyzed 120 tourism research article abstracts from international journals indexed by Scopus and Indonesian journals indexed by Sinta. Findings revealed more similarities than differences across the two corpora. All of Hyland’s five moves were generally found in the abstracts, with  M2 (Purpose), M3 (Method), and M4 (Product) as the most occurring moves in both data sets. An exception was found in M1 (Introduction) and M5 (Conclusion), where M1 was favored and M5 was excluded in Sinta-indexed abstracts, yet the reverse was true of Scopus-indexed counterparts. In terms of the linguistic features, present tense and active voice were evidently dominant across both data groups, with a notable exception in Method move, where past tense and passive voice were more favorable. These findings appear to suggest that journal indexation does not profoundly influence abstract writing. Recommendations and implications for academic writing for publication purposes are also discussed.

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.

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