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Book Report Academic Writing for Graduate Students Essential Tasks and Skills (3 rd edition) Asst. Prof. Dr. Siriluck Usaha Department of English for Business Communication School Liberal Arts Slide 2 Academic Writing for Graduate Students Essential Tasks and Skills I. About the Book II. Target Readers III. Approach and Organization IV. What is learnt from the book? Slide 3 I. About the Book Slide 4 Slide 5 II. Target Readers Graduate Students Non-native graduate students EFL/ESL teachers Slide 6 III. Approach and Organization Approach: Analytical & rhetorical Rhetorical Conciousness Raising Cycle Slide 7 Organization: Varied tasks & activities, basic orientation to writing an article for publication Table of Contents Slide 8 Slide 9 Slide 10 Slide 11 Slide 12 Slide 13 Slide 14 IV. What is learnt from the book? How to write articles for publication? I. Reasons for publication II. Overall shape of a research article III. Four sections: IMRD IV. Genre analysis Definition Why GA? V. Abstracts VI. Introductions VII. Methods VIII. Results IX. Discussion Slide 15 1. Reasons for Publication Sharing findings and contributions (in English) to scholars communities Competition against other research papers for acceptance and recognition Academic promotion and research funds Graduation requirement Slide 16 2. The Overall Shape of a Research Paper Slide 17 3. Four Sections: Four Different Purposes Slide 18 4. Genre Analysis Genre analysis focuses primarily on the organizational structure of texts and the conventional linguistics features associated with a particular genre. That is, each text type conforms to the culturally expected way of constructing texts belonging to the variety. For example, research article introductions have expected textual conventions that are different from research article methods sections (Kanoksilapatham, 2012) Definition of Genre (Swales, 1990) Slide 19 Why Genre Analysis? To be successful in a publishing research work, scientists, like scholars of other disciplines, need to be able to express the findings and contributions in English. Moreover, they need to present the findings and contributions in a manner that is acceptable and conforming to the requirements of the target journal. (Swales, 1991 quoted in Kanoksilapatham, 2004, 230) The goal of genre analysis is to identify the rhetorical organization of texts belonging to a given genre. Slide 20 Genre Analysis and Research Articles The genre analysis applied to research articles of each academic discipline elucidates the textual structural conventionally followed by scientists in their respective disciplines. Based of this notion, the terms move and step are invented to refer to textual units of analysis. Move refers to a text segment that performs a communicative function. Step is a subunit of a move that, in turn, contributes to the moves communicative function. Slide 21 Swales (2004) model for research article introductions Slide 22 Move structure for biochemistry research article (Kanoksilapatham, 2005) Introduction Section Slide 23 Move structure for biochemistry research article (Kanoksilapatham, 2005) Methods Section Slide 24 Move structure for biochemistry research article (Kanoksilapatham, 2005) Results Sections Slide 25 Move structure for biochemistry research article (Kanoksilapatham, 2005) Discussion Section Slide 26 5. Research Article Abstracts The abstract is the first part that can be read for getting information about a research article within a few minutes. Most researchers often focus on skimming abstracts and key words. Hyland (2002) states that the abstract is generally the readers first encounter with a text, and is often the point at which they decide whether to continue and give the accompanying article further attention, or to ignore it (p. 63). According to Pho (2008), acquiring the skills of writing an abstracts is therefore important to novice writers to enter the discourse community of their discipline (p. 231). Slide 27 Rhetorical Moves in Article Abstracts Slide 28 Language Use in Abstract Introduction Move : Present simple/ Present perfect Purpose Move: Present/ Past simple Method Move: - Action verb (use, investigate, compare) - Passive voice (was used, was stimulated) - Past simple Product/Result Move: - Perceptive verbs (found, seen, shown, indicated) - Passive voice - Past tense Conclusion Move: - Interpretive Verbs (summarize, conclude, elucidate) - Use hedging words such as might, may should, plausibly, possibly Slide 29 Practice: Identify Rhetorical Moves in Abstract Slide 30 Slide 31 6. Introduction Sections Creating a Research Space It is widely recognized that writing Introductions can be slow, difficult, and troublesome for many writers. The Introductions of RPs typically follow the pattern in the following figure in response to kinds of competition: Competition for readers and competition for research space. The rhetorical pattern has become known as the create-a-research- space model (or CARS) by Swales (1990). Slide 32 Swales Model 2004 Slide 33 Language Focus: Move 1- Establishing a research territory In Move 1 certain fixed phrases tend to occur as shown in the table below. Slide 34 Language Focus: Citation and tense Slide 35 Slide 36 Language Focus: Move 2- Establishing a niche Slide 37 Negative Openings in Move 2 Slide 38 Language Focus: Move 2- Establishing a niche Slide 39 Language Focus: Move 3 Step 1- Announcing present research descriptively and/or purposively Slide 40 Slide 41 Purpose statement and tense Slide 42 Language Focus: Move 3 Step 1- Announcing present research descriptively and/or purposively Completing an Introduction Slide 43 Language Focus: Move 3 Step 1- Announcing present research descriptively and/or purposively Slide 44 Google Scholar hits for some Move 3 Step 1 expression obtained in May 2012 Slide 45 Language Focus: Move 3 Step 2- Presenting research questions or hypotheses Listing research questions Slide 46 Language Focus: Move 3 Step 5- Announcing principal outcomes Slide 47 Language Focus: Move 3 Step 6- Stating the values of the present research Slide 48 Language Focus: Move 3 Step 7- Outlining the structure of the paper Slide 49 Slide 50 7. Methods Sections Peacock (2011) examined 288 RP Methods sections in published, data-driven papers from the fields of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science, Business, Language and Linguistics, Law, and Public and Social administration (36 papers from each field). He proposed the existence of seven moves in Methods sections. Slide 51 Seven Move in Methods Section by Peacock (2011) Slide 52 Language Focus: Linking Phrases in Methods Sections Slide 53 Slide 54 Frequency of Purpose Clause Types and Verbs Slide 55 8. Results sections Slide 56 Data versus Results Slide 57 Results versus Discussion Slide 58 Outline of Results Sections in Three Fields Slide 59 Structure of Data Commentary Slide 60 Data Commentary Slide 61 Location Statements: 4 patterns Slide 62 Slide 63 Special verb agreements: Exercise Slide 64 Making comparisons Slide 65 Commentary in results sections Slide 66 Commentary found in results sections Slide 67 Concluding a commentary Slide 68 Specific ways of moderating or qualifying a claim: Likelihood Slide 69 Slide 70 9. Discussion/ Conclusion Sections The Structure of Discussion/Conclusion Sections Slide 71 Expressions of limitations Slide 72 10. Acknowledgements Slide 73 Acknowledgements Slide 74 Academic Writing for Graduate Students Essential Tasks and Skills I. About the Book II. Target Readers III. Approach and Organization IV. What is learnt from the book? Slide 75 Thank you