Genre analysis of introduction section in electrical engineering undergraduate laboratory reports

Abstract

Background: This study examines the genre of Engineering Laboratory Reports (ELR) introduction section written by Electrical Engineering Undergraduates in a higher learning institution. The aims of this study are to identify the rhetorical moves and combinations of move patterns used by engineering students to write introduction section of ELR. Method: A genre analysis was conducted to identify writing patterns and convention practices of engineering undergraduate students thus a corpus of N= 35 was selected from electrical engineering students in their final year of study. This study adopted Genre Theory as its theoretical framework, [1] analytical framework and [2] BCU approach for analysis procedure. A pilot test was conducted to determine the model that fits the best to describe moves and steps of ELR. The study benchmarks a move or step to be present in at least 60% of the reports. Results and discussion: The finding shows the introduction consists of one main move which is providing background information of the experiment and followed by four subsequent steps which are reference to research purposes, reference to theoretical knowledge in the field, providing an overview of the study and identification of main research apparatus. The move 1 and all four steps identified above are viewed as obligatory, conventional and optional move and steps. The exemplification of finding shows lack of compliance among undergraduates to produce ELR based on university’s guideline in discussing previous literature and underpinning theories, lack of references and citation, absence of description to apparatus used and non-sequential steps. Conclusion: This study posits the importance of collaboration between English for Academic (EAP) practitioners such as English-writing instructors and discipline specific specialist from engineering field to further improve on genre-based writing instruction, and to support student’s understanding in meeting the requirements of university’s scientific technical reports.