Article Genre Research Articles

Variation and Change in the Grammatical Marking of Stance: The Case of That-Complement Clauses in Research Articles

Variation in the genre of research articles has been extensively studied across different disciplines and languages; however, diachronic change and intradisciplinary variation in this academic genre have received less attention. Therefore this paper aims to shed light on change and variation in research articles within a multidisciplinary field of research by focusing on the use of that-complement clause constructions which are known to mark stance. The corpus-based study uses tourism studies as an example, and covers the time span from 1995 to 2010. Diachronic change in the use of that-complement clause constructions was found in instances when they are marked by a verb as well as in the kinds of stance meanings conveyed. Significant intradisciplinary variation was also found across the journals.

A genre-inspired and lexico-grammatical approach for helping postgraduate students craft research grant proposals

Nowadays, there is increasing pressure on academic staff and their postgraduate students to publish in prestigious high-impact journals. It is therefore not surprising to find that academic writing programs are increasingly targeting English for Research Publication Processes (ERPP), in particular the research article (RA) genre. Grant proposal writing is another important high-stakes genre as getting a research article published is often dependent on being awarded a grant to undertake the research project in the first place. However, this “behind-the-scenes” genre has not received much attention in the ESP literature, either from a research or pedagogic perspective. This article describes the design and implementation of a research grant proposal writing module offered to postgraduate students of science and engineering. The materials are very much influenced by the research findings on grant proposal writing and adopt a Swalesian genre-based approach to the pedagogy. Tasks in which students match lexico-grammatical patterning to specific move structures are also outlined. At the same time, I also briefly raise two issues related to lexico-grammar, i.e. the question of novice writers' language re-use from corpus resources and the identification of ELF-type language in academic writing, important aspects which merit more attention and reflection for ESP courses targeted at scholarly writing.

Furthering and applying move/step constructs: Technology-driven marshalling of Swalesian genre theory for EAP pedagogy

John Swales' seminal work has inspired a wealth of research with important pedagogical implications for genre-based writing instruction. Continuing the prolific move analysis tradition in EAP research, this article presents empirically devised and validated cross-disciplinary IMRD move/step frameworks for the research article genre and demonstrates how Swales' move and step concepts underlying these frameworks formed the foundation of innovative genre-based automated writing evaluation technology. Overall, this paper makes the relationships between genre theory, genre analysis, and genre instruction explicit, demonstrating that move analysis is a powerful and promising theoretical, analytic, and teaching construct. With that, we take Swales' vision to a new dimension of conceptualizing EAP.

Tarpkalbiniai ir tarpdalykiniai mokslo kalbos tyrimai: medžiagos ir metodų pasirinkimo iššūkiai tyrėjams

Straipsnyje trumpai apžvelgiamos dominuojančios šiuolaikinių mokslo kalbos tyrimų kryptys, tačiau pagrindinis dėmesys skiriamas mokslinio straipsnio, kaip akademinio žanro, tyrimams ir jų metodikai. Mokslinio straipsnio struktūra ir jos ypatumai, autoriaus argumentavimo strategijos yra akademinio diskurso bruožai, sulaukę itin didelio kalbininkų susidomėjimo pasaulinėje lingvistikoje. Šio apžvalginio straipsnio tikslas – aptarti tarpdalykinių ir tarpkalbinių tyrimų specifiką ir išryškinti kai kuriuos metodologinius aspektus, svarbius sudarant specialiuosius palyginamuosius mokslo kalbos tekstynus. Remiantis naujausiais šios srities tyrimais, apžvelgiami pasaulio tyrėjų sprendimai tekstyno sandaros ir medžiagos analizės klausimais. Straipsnis galėtų būti naudingas studentams, jauniesiems tyrėjams, besidomintiems specialiųjų mokslo kalbos tekstynų sudarymu ir analize.

Phraseology used to comment on results in the Discussion section of applied linguistics quantitative research articles

This paper presents word clusters used to comment on results in the Discussion section of quantitative research articles in the field of applied linguistics. The corpus linguistic approach was adopted to identify clusters in 124 Discussion texts from leading applied linguistics journals. The identified clusters were then comprehensively analysed in context for their discourse functions. Next, the present study mapped the clusters onto an analytical framework termed the ‘four-Step model’, based on Yang and Allison's (2003) genre-based description of the Commenting on results Move. The study provided a detailed corpus linguistic account of how the clusters were used in specific Steps described in the model. A detailed description of the linguistic features, the internal structure (Move/Step cycles and embedding) and communicative functions of specific Steps in the Commenting on results Move were also presented based on the concordance analysis of the clusters. The findings further suggest that the use of specific clusters strongly manifests, and is conditioned by, the research article genre. The study has pedagogical implications for academic writing courses for students, especially for those from non-English language backgrounds.

Centering Theory, transitions and referent marking in the corpus of the written Serbian language

The aim of the paper is to map various types of anaphor to the centering transitions in the corpus of Serbian newspaper articles. Centering Theory (WALKER, JOSHI ET AL. 1998) is a theory of local coherence in which four types of transitions are used as parameters of coherence. As is hypothesized in the previous literature based on various languages, the CONTINUE transition is mostly characterized by a minimal form (a zero form of the topic), while the SMOOTH and ROUGH shifts are found with a full noun phrase topic. The analysis shows that the ?Ordering Rule? of Centering Theory is not fully followed in the written corpus of the Serbian language since SMOOTH SHIFT has been identified as a prevalent type of transition in the corpus. The following two reasons were identified for that: (1) the genre of the newspaper articles, and (2) the way clauses are combined within a complex sentence in the Serbian written corpus.

Interacción en cibermedios: la reacción de los lectores ante noticias y columnas de opinión

The comments in digital journalism websites are a new practice developed thanks to the increase in internet interactivity. Most of the electronic journalism media have implemented blogs on their websites in order to receive feedback from their readers. The emergence of this practice brings the concrete possibility of analyzing key aspects of the relation between the communication media and their audience and of recognizing some characteristics of the extension of public space to a virtual milieu. A corpus of 480 commentaries linked to 24 articles of two different genres was constituted, namely opinion columns and news, in three Chilean electronic media. The readers’ response to the main article and the other comments were analyzed, trying to identify the specifi c type of response to comments and whether the positioning is in favor of or against the object of response. The findings show that the commentators respond more to other comments and the general topic than to the contents presented by the media. It can also be claimed that the form of response is affected by the journalistic genre of the main article, as well as by some particularities of the newspapers studied.Keywords: blogs, cyber journalism, public sphere, interactive communication, online comment.

Assessment of the value of medical research information in the literatures

Objective Methods of identification and assessment in medical research literatures were discussed in this article.Methods:The literature research method; expert advice; experience personal and channel summary.Results:The evaluation of the prevailing standard single document can be grouped into five kinds:① standard journal published literature; ② Times Cited; ③ Indexed situation; ④ article genre; publication status ⑤ publications.Conclusion:The results of the literature as the basic form of the performance evaluation of their needs scientific,innovative and practical.Needs identified through the literature published journals of the standard indicators,including literature,Times Cited,conditions were included,the article genre,analysis and evaluation of publications published by the state to achieve. Key words: Medical literature; Information identification; Assess the value

Towards an Analysis of Review Article in Applied Linguistics: Its Classes, Purposes and Characteristics

The classes, purposes and characteristics associated with the review article in the field of applied linguistics were analyzed. The data were collected from a randomly selected corpus of thirty two review articles from a discipline-related key journal in applied linguistics. The findings revealed that different sub-genres can be identified within the applied linguistic review article genre. Three main types of review articles were therefore identified based on the analysis of linguistic devices often used by the authors, their communicative purposes, and the specialist informants’ feedback: (1) the bibliographic review article which gives readers a comprehensive and descriptive record of annual works and it encompasses the literature-oriented approach, (2) the critical evaluative review article which encompasses subject-oriented approach, that is to say it identifies an idea or raises a research problem, then gives its solution by analyzing and evaluating the selective works done before in the related field, and finally it suggests a new direction, and (3) the mixed-mode review article which has the twin roles and encompasses both literature-oriented and subject-oriented approaches. A possible colony of review genre was suggested and this study further examined some of the characteristics and purposes associated with the review articles. The classification continuum, purposes, characteristics, and linguistic devices of the review articles proposed thus provide useful guidance for graduate EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students and novice writers how to monitor and make use of the review articles during their research writing.

Distinguishing textual features characterizing structural variation in research articles across three engineering sub-discipline corpora

Genre analysis has provided insights into the textual organization of different genres. In the research article (RA) genre, previous studies demonstrate that disciplinary variation is discernible. To raise the investigation to the level of sub-disciplines, this study addresses two research questions: (1) What is the textual organization of individual RA sections in corpora from three engineering sub-disciplines? and (2) What are the significant statistical variations in textual organization that distinguish one engineering sub-discipline from another? Initially, three corpora were compiled, consisting of 180 full length high quality RAs representing three sub-disciplines of engineering (civil, software, and biomedical). Then, the corpora were analyzed using genre analysis to identify the textual organization prevalent in individual RA sections of each engineering sub-discipline. Subsequently, units of textual analysis called ‘move’ and ‘step’ were quantified and statistically analyzed to capture significant statistical variations in each section. The analysis reveals the influence of the sub-disciplines on the textual organization variations across the corpora, highlighting the unique characteristics and perspectives of each sub-discipline. The findings contribute to enhanced quality professional communication by creating and raising awareness and sensitivity among prospective engineering students and practitioners when they are involved in the task of reading and/or writing RAs.

The role of handbooks in knowledge creation and diffusion: A case of science and technology studies

Abstract Genre is considered to be an important element in scholarly communication and in the practice of scientific disciplines. However, scientometric studies have typically focused on a single genre, the journal article. The goal of this study is to understand the role that handbooks play in knowledge creation and diffusion and their relationship with the genre of journal articles, particularly in highly interdisciplinary and emergent social science and humanities disciplines. To shed light on these questions we focused on handbooks and journal articles published over the last four decades belonging to the research area of science and technology studies (STS), broadly defined. To get a detailed picture we used the full-text of five handbooks (500,000 words) and a well-defined set of 11,700 STS articles. We confirmed the methodological split of STS into qualitative and quantitative (scientometric) approaches. Even when the two traditions explore similar topics (e.g., science and gender) they approach them from different starting points. The change in cognitive foci in both handbooks and articles partially reflects the changing trends in STS research, often driven by technology. Using text similarity measures we found that, in the case of STS, handbooks play no special role in either focusing the research efforts or marking their decline. In general, they do not represent the summaries of research directions that have emerged since the previous edition of the handbook.

Conceptualizing students’ written assignments in the context of information literacy and Schatzki's practice theory

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ways to practice the written assignment in a university setting in the context of information literacy and in perspective of Schatzki's practice theory.Design/methodology/approach– The analysis is based on both a qualitative in-depth study involving individual interviews with students from higher education and the practice theoretical perspective.Findings– By analyzing informants’ negotiations of the “acceptable” way to perform the written assignment practice, a configuration of the particular practice has been made. In perspective of Schatzki's practice theory, a study into information literacy involves focussing on the changing character of the activities performing the practice in question. In this paper the changing character is analyzed by comparing the configuration of the written assignment practice with a description of the genre of scientific articles. The paper draws the conclusion that the configuration consists of both regular and irregular occurrences. Job orientation and use of social media seemed to influence the written assignment practice as it was performed by the informants.Originality/value– This paper contributes to research into information literacy in educational settings by proposing an analysis based on Schatzki's theory combined with concepts of routinization, reflexivity, and genre.

Epidemiology and 'developing countries': writing pesticides, poverty and political engagement in Latin America.

The growth of the field of global health has prompted renewed interest in discursive aspects of North-South biomedical encounters, but analysis of the role of disciplinary identities and writing conventions remains scarce. In this article, I examine ways of framing pesticide problems in 88 peer-reviewed epidemiology papers produced by Northerners and their collaborators studying pesticide-related health impacts in Latin America. I identify prominent geographic frames in which truncated and selective histories of Latin America are used to justify research projects in specific research sites, which nevertheless function rhetorically as generic 'developing country' settings. These frames legitimize health sector interventions as solutions to pesticide-related health problems, largely avoiding more politically charged possibilities. In contrast, some epidemiologists appear to be actively pushing the bounds of epidemiology's traditional journal article genre by engaging with considerations of political power, especially that of the international pesticide industry. I therefore employ a finer-grained analysis to a subsample of 20 papers to explore how the writing conventions of epidemiology interact with portrayals of poverty and pesticides in Latin America. Through analysis of a minor scientific controversy, authorial presence in epidemiology articles, and variance of framing strategies across genres, I show how the tension between 'objectivity' and 'advocacy' observed in Northern epidemiology and public health is expressed in North-South interaction. I end by discussing implications for postcolonial and socially engaged approaches to science and technology studies, as well as their relevance to the actual practice of global health research. In particular, the complicated interaction of the conflicted traditions of Northern epidemiology with Latin American settings on paper hints at a far more complex interaction in the form of public health programming involving researchers and research participants who differ by nationality, ethnicity, gender, profession, and class.

Media design method

To design a medium means to investigate what happens when a new technology is intentionally introduced into an already existing communicative practice. The research team must be able to respond systematically to on-going, many-faceted, and quite unpredictable practices of media use. The scope is such that development and testing will take several years by teams of 3-4 researchers, plus students. This article belongs to the genre of methodology articles. There are few common references regarding methods, and difficult to compare the designs in a methodical way. I will recommend a comprehensive way of doing things. In this article I stake out a public purpose that should be vital to specifically academic medium design, and present a way for it to be both normative and scientific at the same time. The article sketches the basic steps of a theoretically informed practical testing of opportunities inherent in the interfaces and procedures of communication. It is an experience-based technique for discovery and problem solving. In the following, I will first locate my ”medium design heuristic” in relation to the concepts ”innovation” and ”design”. The remainder of the article presents the steps of the proposed method in chronological order. In short; the research team must formulate a program of action based on the full potential of new media, build a prototype of a new medium, try out procedures for editorial content tailored to it, and evaluate it with external test-users in various experimental treatments. Not least, the public value of the design project must be evaluated, and it is the ultimate measure of failure or success.

A Genre-Based Analysis on Discussion Section of Research Articles in Indonesian Written by Indonesian Speakers

This study examines the genre of research article (RA) discussion section written in Indonesian by Indonesian writer aiming at exploring how Indonesian writers discuss their research findings in their RAs. The corpus for this study consists of 47 selected RAs published mainly in university-based journals in Indonesia from social science and humanity disciplines. Swales’ eight-move structure (EMS) model of discussion section of RAs was employed for the data analysis. The results show that the EMS model is effective to use to analyze the move structure of the discussion section of Indonesian RAs; there is no significant difference between the move structures in the Indonesian RAs between different fields of discipline. The most noticeable differences occur in terms of the absence of Move 4 (reference to previous research findings) in the majority of the Indonesian RAs and the difference between the RAs in the same discipline in terms of the number of moves found. The difference in research practice and RA writing practice in Indonesia are the most possible cause of the differences in the move structure.

The Article of the future: Strategies for genre stability and change

This article compares the Article of the Future (AofF) prototypes (<http://www.articleofthefuture.com/>) with a corpus of journal articles (Journal Article Corpus – JAC) to demonstrate that the article genre in an online environment is a “stabilised-for-now or stabilised-enough” site for social interaction (Schryer, 1994, p. 108). Results show that the prototypes adhere to the typical structural patterns of the JAC texts, while also embedding discernible structural variations across the disciplinary spectrum. They display generic stability concerning authors’ use of intertextuality for framing their texts in a social/institutional context. Comparison of the AofF with the JAC texts also illustrates a similar lexicogrammatical profile. Consistent with previous literature, recurring bundles in the AofF prototypes are associated with structural elaboration, complexity and a compressed style, and perform referential, text-organising and stance functions in the discourse. Complementing corpus findings, an exploratory survey of authors suggests that their actual text-composing/reading practices of online articles are governed by the long-established communicative purposes of the genre. Findings suggest, though, that the new online part-genres (research highlights, graphical abstracts, interactive graphs, embedded videos, hyperlinks), potential strategies for generic change, might be changing the writers’ perceptions towards online articles. The article concludes with some practical implications for ESP practitioners.

Stripped of Authorship or Projected Identity? Iranian Scholars’ Presence in Research Articles

Research Article (RA) genre has been a significant area of research in academic writing over past decades. However, authors’ identity in RAs has not received much attention, especially in soft sciences like applied linguistics. This paper reports a corpus analysis of Iranian writers’ authorial presence markers in RAs in the field of applied linguistics. The corpus comprised 30 RAs (200,000 words) from three peer-reviewed journals published in Iran. This study was carried out in two phases. Initially, the corpus was content-analysed for exclusive instances of authorial presence markers and then, frequency of each authorial indicator was calculated. Content analysis revealed various authorial markers used by Iranian scholars to manifest themselves in their writings, for instance, personal pronouns, self-citations, and other self-mention terms. Authorial markers varied in terms of frequency in single-authored and multiple-authored articles. Personal pronouns were found to be the most salient authorial markers. Furthermore, authors in the corpus employed authorial markers for different promotional purposes such as pursuing uniqueness in their studies and regarding themselves as prominent figures in the field. The results of this study underline the need for further research into the identities adopted by writers in their works and the whys and wherefores behind using particular identity markers rather than others. This study would be of benefit to academic writers and teachers of writing courses since it helps them discern the linguistic choices available to non-native speakers of English to manifest themselves in their writings and to gain acceptance in the discipline community.

The translation of culturally bound metaphors in the genre of popular science articles: A corpus-based case study from Scientific American translated into Arabic

This paper reports on a study of a particular cultural problem in contemporary English-Arabic translation, namely pedagogical metaphors in popular science writing. Pedagogical metaphors are argued to be crucial to the communicative intent of this genre, namely the dissemination of knowledge about complex scientific phenomena from expert to non-expert. Seen by some scholars as a type of translation in itself, popular science writing presents particular translation challenges for culturally distant languages such as English and Arabic. Whilst traditional studies of metaphors in translation have focused on the un/translatability of linguistic expressions, the present study adopts a conceptual approach emphasizing the contribution made by related sets of metaphorical linguistic expressions to the scientific “story.” Following an account of metaphor types and functions, the paper outlines the construction of a 287,306-word parallel corpus of selected articles from Scientific American and its Arabic equivalent Majallat Al-Oloom (1995–2009). Extending previous monolingual/manual corpus analytical methods, the study reports on a range of intercultural problems and their translation solutions, bearing in mind the pedagogical function of the metaphors analyzed. It is concluded that a range of translation strategies is used to accommodate the cultural expectations and experience of the Arabic readership, indicating that popular science is culturally nuanced. In this sense, translations cannot therefore be seen simply as different language versions of the same material.

Editorship, Value, and American Anthropology

Editorship, Value, and American Anthropology

The role of genre in information structuring in English

In a recent paper, Biber and Gray (2010) provide empirical evidence for the dramatic increase of compressed structures in English academic writing over the last 100 years. According to their corpus findings, the grammatical complexity of academic writing displays a phrasal rather than clausal character, the corollary of which is a compressed rather than elaborated discourse style (the latter one being typical of spoken registers). Given this finding, the question arises as to how far the traditional view that information structure should be viewed as a single partition of information within a given utterance adequately accounts for genre-specific information packaging strategies. To provide an answer to this question, the current study sets out to explore and compare information structuring within what will be referred to here as ‘compression strategies’, namely the use of adverbial subordinate clauses, -ING constructions, and complex NP constructions across two different genres: the highly compressed genre of research article abstracts, and fiction. The findings reported here suggest that in more compressed discourse styles such as academic writing, there is a higher probability of encountering information structure partition not only at the clausal but also at the phrasal level. The present paper highlights the importance of genre variation as one predictor of variation in information structuring within constructions.