Create A Research Space Model Research Articles

A Genre Theory Contextualization for Academic Writing in Chinese Higher Education

This paper explores new possibilities for teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing in the context of higher education in China. Using John Swales’ Create A Research Space (CARS) model, the paper demonstrates how genre theory can be integrated into undergraduate writing courses in China’s EFL settings. This method emphasizes teaching students to structure academic papers effectively, thereby improving their understanding and application of the genre-specific conventions of academic English. The paper illustrates how the CARS model aids students by delineating their research territory, identifying gaps, and positioning their studies within ongoing academic dialogues. Additionally, the teaching cycle guides students from modeling the text, to joint construction, and finally to independent writing. Furthermore, the paper highlights the comprehensive implications of this model, including enhancing intercultural communication skills and developing critical genre awareness among students. It addresses the challenges of adapting this model to the Chinese EFL context, such as linguistic and cultural barriers, and underscores the need for contextualized teaching strategies that meet Chinese learners’ needs. To conclude, it is recommended for further research to validate the practical usage of this genre-based EAP instruction in higher education and facilitate future curriculum development.

INTRODUCTION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ARTICLES BY INDONESIAN AUTHORS: A COMPARATIVE MOVE ANALYSIS

The introduction section of a research article (RA) is crucial, as it serves as the foundation for the entire research study. A well-crafted introduction can captivate readers, offering essential insights into the background and rationale for the study, while also conveying the research's quality and reliability. This study investigates how novice versus experienced social science researchers introduce their work in English research articles (RAs) published in internationally recognized Scopus-indexed journals compared to those published in Indonesian national journals. We analyze the rhetorical structure and linguistic features used in these introductions. Employing Swales' (2004) Create A Research Space (CARS) model as a theoretical framework, this descriptive comparative qualitative study delves into the analysis of commonalities and differences in the execution of rhetorical moves and steps, as well as linguistic features and metadiscourse. The results reveal that both sets of data exhibited all three rhetorical moves outlined in the CARS model, namely Move 1 (Establishing a Territory), Move 2 (Establishing a Niche), and Move 3 (Presenting the Current Work). However, the findings also underscore distinctions in how these steps and metadiscourse were realized, indicating that writers in both groups employed distinct approaches when introducing their research studies. Implications to English teaching at universities and publication workshops are discussed.

Genre Analysis of Introductions of ELT Theses: Rhetorical Structures and Steps

The study of academic genres written by students has received considerable attention in ELT research in recent years. However, master's theses haven't garnered as much attention as Ph.D. dissertations have. This study examines the rhetorical structure of master's thesis introductions on ELT and applied linguistics at the Department of English education, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. The analysis of the introductions is based on Swales’s (1990) CARS (Create-A-Research-Space) model. Based on the model, ten thesis introductions were analyzed in terms of the move structures and linguistic features that signal the use of the move. The study indicated that ELT thesis introductions employed all three moves proposed by Swales (1990) in its modified form (Bunton, 2002) at the macro level. Adopting the modified CARS model proposed by Bunton (2002), ELT thesis introductions written by Nepalese students employed six out of sixteen steps. The move structures of master’s thesis introductions were: move 1 (S1, S2 & S3), move 2 (S1 & S2), and move 3 (S1 & S7). This study will aid in the facilitation of academic writing instruction by providing the general framework of a good model of thesis introductory chapters.

“Establish a niche” vianegation: A corpus-based study ofnegationwithin the Move 2 sections of PhD thesis introductions

AbstractThe past few decades have witnessed an upsurge of scholarly interest in the generic descriptions of PhD theses following Swales’ seminalGenre Analysis. Fitted within the Create A Research Space (CARS) model, the thesis introduction plays a key role in justifying research originality/significance, where novice writers engage with academic communities through “establishing a research territory” (Move 1), “establishing a niche” (Move 2), and “occupying the niche” (Move 3). As the hinge of the CARS model, Move 2 (hereinafter EN) is of strategic importance as it enables writers to “sell” their ideas by pointing to the gap/niche in the “marketplace” of previous research, which is typically realized through the co-occurrences ofnegationalongside other interpersonal language resources.Negation, as adisclaimmarker within Martin and White’sappraisalframework, is a prominent linguistic indicator of EN. Nevertheless, little research has systematically examined the use ofnegationin ENs of PhD thesis introductions. Accordingly, the study investigatednegationvia theappraisalframework addressing subtypes ofnegation(disalignment,cautious detachment,unfulfilled expectation) within ENs in the introduction sections of 120 PhD theses. The results showed thatdisalignmentis the most frequent subtype ofnegation, while “not” and “no” are commonly used as indicators ofnegation. Our findings also revealed intriguing co-occurrences ofnegationsub-categories alongside other relevantappraisalresources. The corpus-informed results are expected to shed light on the nature and practice of PhD theses that educators may take into account during thesis writing instruction.

Create a Research Space (CARS) in Introduction of Indonesian Bachelor Thesis: a Corpus-Based Analysis

Bachelor Thesis (BT) is the requirement for university students to obtain a degree. The Introduction chapter, to some extent, becomes a challenging task to do, like the role that it upholds. Swales (2004), on his model of Create-a-Research-Space (CARS), has given a guideline in composing the introduction chapter using three moves: establishing a territory, establishing a niche, and occupying the niche. This study aims to analyze 32 BT’s introduction chapter in one of English Major of State Islamic Colleges in Indonesia by employing CARS model as the framework. Also, the lexical signal in the rhetorical structure is considered. The results demonstrated that the moves occurrences do not thoroughly perform the rhetorical structure given in the CARS model. This study suggests that academic writing is necessary for students to seek a higher-education path must be equipped with an awareness of structuring arguments. To become successful academic writers, undergraduates need to improve their linguistic competence, syntactic fluency, and lexical capacity to write analytically, competently, and persuasively.

Rhetorical structure in the problem statement section of Iranian postgraduate students' research projects

This paper reports the results of a study that investigated the structure of the Problem Statement (PS) section, following Swales’ (1990) Create-A-Research-Space (CARS) model as the first objective. Move analysis was used to analyze the rhetorical moves of the PS sections of the research projects. The second objective was the identification of the specific types of linguistic features associated with each move and step based on Pho’s (2013) classification. Following Pho (2013), the linguistic features as important signals of moves were identified. For this purpose, 30 research projects written by Iranian master’s students were purposively selected. The findings showed that the obligatory moves were Moves 1 ‘Establishing a Territory’ and 2 ‘Establishing a Niche’. All moves and steps were identified linguistically although their sequence and arrangement were not the same as what was anticipated by the model. Although the cyclic and embedded moves were defined in the rhetorical structure of the PSs, most of them were anomalous or ill-structured. The study has theoretical contributions, the most significant one of which is that the CARS model is applicable to define and analyze the rhetorical structure of the PS section.

A Comparative Genre-Based Analysis of Move-Step Structure of RAIs in Two Different Publication Contexts

This genre-based study investigates the move-step structure of two sets of English-medium research article introductions (RAIs) in the field of applied linguistics using Swales’ (1990, 2004) Create a Research Space (CARS) model of move/step analysis. A corpus of 30 RAIs from two English-medium research articles (15 International and 15 Local) was selected. The international research articles written for an international readership were selected from the journal English for Specific Purposes, while the local research articles, written for local readers, were selected from Arab World English Journal. The findings indicated that although the three moves suggested by the CARS (Swales, 1990, 2004) model appeared in the two subcorpora, some variation was observed with respect to the range of moves employed in each subcorpus. As expected, Move 2 was not always found in texts in the Local subcorpus. In terms of steps and sub-steps analysis, the findings showed the three steps and sub-steps of Move 1 are conventional in the International and Local applied linguistics RAIs. Further, while M2-S1B is conventional and M2-S1A is optional in the Local subcorpus, these two sub-steps of Move 2 are conventional in the International subcorpus. There were no striking differences between the two subcorpora with regard to the employment of the proposed steps of Move 3. Limitations and the implications of the findings, as well as recommendation of some suggestions for future research are provided.

Rhetorical styles of Introduction in English language teaching (ELT) research articles

Research articles have been considered as the primary media of knowledge production. Nevertheless, for some undergraduate students, writing a research article can be a challenging task since they need to be aware of its rhetorical styles. Even though previous studies have been conducted to reveal the rhetorical styles of scientific papers, yet tend to focus more on research articles obtained from well-established journals. Hence, this study aims to reveal the rhetorical styles and draw the rhetoric pattern from the introduction section of 73 research articles written by the undergraduate students of English Language Education (ELE) at a state university in Yogyakarta. This is a qualitative investigation whose data were collected by random sampling technique and went through Safnil’s (2013) four analysis stages. As the primary framework for analysis, the modified CARS (Create a Research Space) model (Swales Feak, 2004) was adopted. The results show that Step 2: Making topic generalization in Move 1 and Step 1B: Indicating a gap in Move 2 are the obligatory steps in writing the introduction section. Nevertheless, the results reveal that mostly undergraduate research papers lack 1 step in Move 1, 2 steps in Move 2, and 3 steps in Move 3. The omission of steps in the CARS model by these student-authors seems to happen due to two major factors, namely the scarcity of control over the writing process and linguistic resources, hence suggesting pedagogical implications for academic writing courses.

Genre Analysis of Civil Engineering’s Research Article Introductions

The present study explores the structures of Civil Engineering research articles’ (RA) introductions based on Swales’ 1990 CARS (Create a Research Space) model. It analyzes fifteen Civil Engineering research articles’ introductions according to the move structure and linguistic features that would indicate the use and avoidance of the move. Findings show that move-pattern in RA introductions of this field follow all three moves but it does not adhere to the proposed sequence given in the model. It is suggested for enhancement of reading and writing skills and subject knowledge of ESL/EFL/ESP students, pedagogy of CARS model can play an effective role as it is still applicable.

Rhetorical Structures of English-Major Undergraduate Thesis Introduction Chapters

Undergraduate students are required to write a thesis to obtain a degree. One of the most important chapters in the thesis is introduction. Introduction section plays an important role because it describes what the research is all about. To write an introduction chapter, Swales (1990) proposed Create-a-Research-Space (CARS) model, which include three moves, namely establishing a territory, establishing a niche, and occupying the niche. Every move consists of several steps. This study aims to analyze Swales’ CARS model in the introduction chapters of undergraduate theses written by English major students. Furthermore, the lexical and syntactical signals in each move and step are investigated. This research employed discourse analysis, which focuses on how texts are structured. The researchers analyzed 18 introduction chapters of undergraduate theses written by the English major students of Sanata Dharma University who graduated in 2017. In analyzing the corpus, the researcher used top-down analysis. The results showed that Move 1, Establishing a territory, appeared in the undergraduate theses. However, many of the students did not review the previous research. Move 2, Establishing a niche, was presented in three theses. In this stage, many of the students did not fill in the gap about the previous research. Move 3, Occupying the niche, was frequently used by the students. In this phase, the students outlined the purpose of their research. This study also found that the lexical and syntactical signals used in the theses were quite different from Swales’ CARS model.

WRITING INTRODUCTION SECTIONS OF RESEARCH ARTICLES IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS: CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE WRITERS

Genre studies allow researchers to observe the repeated communicative functions and their linguistic components in different genres (Brett, 1994). Writing the introduction section is a tough and burdensome task for both native and non-native speakers (Swales & Feak, 1994). Hence, the present study aimed to investigate the generic organization of English research article introductions written by native English and Iranian non-native speakers of English. A total of 160 published articles were selected from established journals in Applied Linguistics. Following Swales’ (2004) Create A Research Space (CARS) model, the researchers analyzed the articles for their specific generic patterns. Findings displayed that native English writers used significantly more strategies than Iranian non-native speakers of English, yielding richer texts. The findings of the present study contribute to the current knowledge of cross-cultural studies in academic writing to non-native English speakers in general and to non-native English novice writers in particular. Built on Swales’ (2004) CARS model, the study describes how introduction sections are developed in English by native and non-native speakers, offering insights into ESP/EAP writing pedagogy.

Rhetorical Structure of Introduction in Applied Linguistics Research Articles

ABSTRACT : The RA ( Research Article) is considered to be the main channel of knowledge production . H owever, for student writers and novice scholars writing , RA is a challenging task. It is partly because of lack of exposure to and awareness of the rhetorical structure of RAs ( Research Article s) in the intended discipline. The objective of this study is to identify the rhetorical moves of RAs in applied linguistics and explaining their communicative functions that can be used for pedagogic purposes for novice scholars in this discipline. Analyses of moves and their constituent steps together with their frequency count would help suggest obligatory and optional moves in the Introduction section. Also a nalysis of move structural patterns , which would enable to draw possible move sequencing is within the purview of this study. A corpus of 20 empirical RAs of leading and representative 4 journals in applied linguistics have been analyzed following J.M. Swales (1990 and 2004) move analysis of Introduction sections of empirical RAs. Results were obtained through software coding of moves of these 20 RAs , and through qualitative analysis of communicative functions of moves and steps. From the frequency count of moves and steps , it is found that some moves and their constituent steps are obligatory , while others are optional. Findings show they both conform to and depart from J.M. Swales ’ CARS ( Create-a-Research-Space) model in 1990 and 2004 . The findings of the study will facilitate better understanding of RAs in applied linguistics for novice scholars and contribute to these scholars’ efforts to publish their research in this field. KEY WORDS: I ntroductions ; R esearch A rticles ; R hetorical S tructure ; M ove A nalysis ; G enre. About the Authors: Mizanur Rahman is a Ph.D. Candidate in English Language Studies at the UKM (National University of Malaysia); and also an Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) in Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Saadiyah Darus and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zaini Amir are the Lecturers at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities UKM, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. For academic interests, the authors can be contacted via e-mail at: m.rahman.1978@gmail.com How to cite this article? Rahman, Mizanur, Saadiyah Darus & Zaini Amir. (2017). “Rhetorical Structure of Introduction in Applied Linguistics Research Articles” in EDUCARE: International Journal for Educational Studies , Vol.9(2), February, pp.69-84. Bandung, Indonesia: Minda Masagi Press owned by ASPENSI, ISSN 1979-7877. Chronicle of the article: Accepted (September 27, 2016); Revised (January 27, 2017); and Published (February 27, 2017).

Swales’ Cars Model and the Metaphor of Research Space: An illustration with an African Journal

John Swales’ Create a Research Space (CARS) model comprising three rhetorical moves; namely, Move 1 (establish a research territory), Move 2 (establish a niche), and Move 3 (occupy the niche) describes the rhetorical strategies that researchers utilize in order to claim research space in their disciplines in a highly competitive research environment. This paper analyzes Moves 1 and 2 of the introductions in Research Articles (RAs) in an African journal in order to examine the space that the contributors to the journal allot to themselves through the linguistic devices used in signalling gap statements, along with the extensiveness of references to previous work as a way of situating and mainstreaming their research. To this end, the introductions of 59 RAs published in the Legon Journal of the Humanities from 2005 to 2010 were analyzed using the CARS model. The findings reveal that the authors of these RAs may perhaps not be exploiting Step 3 (reviewing items of previous research) under Move 1 in order to reinforce the research niche being claimed in Move 2. Keywords: Genre analysis, introductions, Moves, scholarly communication, African journals

A Discourse Analysis of Arabic Research Articles in Islamic Studies

This study explores the rhetorical organization of Arabic research article introductions (RAIs) in the field of Islamic studies applying Swales’ [1, 2] Create-a-Research-Space (CARS) model of move/step analysis. A corpus of 20 RAIs, written by first-language Arabic speakers, was selected from the Journal of Islamic Studies. The findings showed that the fit between the CARS model, developed on the basis of RAIs in English, and the RAIs sampled in the current study only partial. That is, while there exist some differences between Arabic RAIs examined and what has been proposed in the CARS model in terms of the treatment of past research and the inclusion of some additional elements in the texts under consideration, there is a complete similarity regarding the degree of explicitness in outlining the purpose of the study and indicating the structure of RAs. Generally speaking, the findings obtained in the current study support those reported in other studies on RAIs in different languages other than English in that texts particularly from the soft disciplines are more likely to be affected by the cultural background of their authors. Limitations and the implications of the findings as well as recommending some suggestions for future research are provided.

A Genre Analysis of Islamic Academic Research Article Introductions

This study explores the rhetorical organization of Islamic research article introductions based on Swales” (1990) CARS (Create a Research Space) model. Based on the model, sixty Islamic research article introductions were analyzed in terms of the move structure and linguistic features that signal the use of the move. Findings show that most of the introduction s contain all the moves prescribed by the model but the introductions that strictly follow the CARS Move structure is relatively small. This suggests that most of the introductions employ the rhetorical moves proposed by the CARS model, but deviate in ter ms of their organization.

Vertextungsstrategien in brasilianischen und deutschen Magistereinleitungen – eine exemplarische Analyse

O artigo analisa a estrutura retórica da “introdução“ em dissertações brasileiras e alemãs da área de lingüística (estudo de caso). Tomando como base o modelo CARS (“Create a Research Space”) de Swales (1990) e Hutz (1997) sobre a estrutura genérica de introduções de artigos acadêmicos em inglês, o objetivo desta pesquisa é investigar se as introduções de dissertações seguem um esquema comunicativo-prop osicional, e, se for o caso, de que maneira se distinguem as introduções em relação às culturas e disciplinas. Até que ponto se pode falar da “universalidade do discurso acadêmico”, como proclama Widdowson (1979)?

Introductions in research articles: variations across disciplines

This paper reports on an analysis of research article introductions from two related fields, Wildlife Behavior and Conservation Biology, using Swales' [Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis. English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] Create-A-Research-Space (CARS) model. The results of the analysis reveal disciplinary variation in the structure of this genre, which has important pedagogical implications. The Conservation Biology introductions fulfill a greater promotional function than the Wildlife Behavior introductions through the use of steps such as centrality claims. These introductions also tend to justify the research being reported in terms of real world matters rather than the epistemic world of research, in contrast to the Wildlife Behavior introductions. The results also indicate that a greater degree of embedding is needed in the CARS model to account for the structures found in the introductions analyzed. A modified version of the CARS model based on the results is presented in the concluding section.

Writing research article introductions in software engineering: how accurate is a standard model?

A standard model for describing the structure of research article introductions, the CARS (Create A Research Space) model, is evaluated in terms of how well it can be applied to 12 articles which have received "best paper" awards in the field of software engineering. The results indicate that, although the model adequately describes the main framework of the introductions, a number of important features are not accounted for, in particular: an extensive review of background literature, the inclusion of many definitions and examples, and an evaluation of the research in terms of application or novelty of the results.

MEDERA (Medical Experimental Research Articles): A self-access computer-based course for advanced learners of english who need to write research articles in medicine

MEDERA is aimed at guiding medical students (postgraduate researchers who are usually also advanced learners of English) towards an understanding of the organization and conventions of the medical experimental research article (ERA) to promote a “discourse consciousness”—the awareness and the acquisition of the rhetorical skills associated with the medical ERA in English—with the overall aim of aiding students in writing their own ERAs. Conceived as a self-access course, the project has attempted to adapt insights into the language and structure of the ERA gained from register and genre analysis to a computer-bused mode of instruction. The current version of MEDERA. limited to ERA Introductions, uses Swales' CARS (Create a Research Space) Model as a pedagogical tool in the design of task-based materials using authentic texts. The research setting, the practical constraints on the project, the linguistic and pedagogical assumptions behind the materials design and the testing of the course ure discussed. A preliminary evaluation of the materials is given and modifications to MEDERA in the light of testing are suggested. Finally, directions for further research are outlined and the possibility of extending the methodology to other disciplines is discussed.