Genre-based Analysis of a Research Article Introduction

By Paula Gabriela Ferrari

Genre-based Analysis of a Research Article Introduction

          In the fast-paced world of modern technology and science, the research world has expanded and thus academic publishing has become a major concern for most academicians.  A possible reason for this is related to the researchers’ need to position themselves in their disciplinary communities by reaching publication before others (Hyland,2004,p.85).  Consequently, scholarly writing has grown to such an extent that more and more ¨non-Anglophones¨ (Swales, 2004) produce Research Articles (RAs) alongside native-speaker academicians.  According to Swales and Feak (2004), the Introduction Section (IS) of the RA genre is of outmost importance as it is the section where researchers highlight the centrality of their own research in the competition for both recognition among their peers and funding of their work (p.243).  Although considerable research has been devoted to the analysis of ISs in different fields, more studies of this central section of the RA are still needed.  The purpose of this paper is to analyse the IS of a RA in the field of education by Maroko (2013).

According to Swales (1990) and Swales and Feak (2004), most RAs follow a ¨Create-A-Research-Space (CARS) model¨, by which three moves are vital so that academicians can position themselves in their communities.  Regarding the first move (establishing a territory), Maroko (2013) devotes the first sentence to claim the centrality of his study by stating that ¨Writing is an integral activity…¨(p.48).  After that, the author begins the literature review, which is the second step when performing move 1.  It should be noted that Maroko (2013) finishes the first paragraph reviewing the literature and immediately after this, he begins a new section under the heading Literature Review (p.48), where many relevant studies are cited.  At the end of the fourth paragraph, however, a rhetorical question is included with the aim of creating a gap while seeking the readers’ engagement (Hyland, 2011,p.202) when it is said that ¨But are such choices possible…?¨(Maroko, 2013, p.49).  After this, Maroko stresses the gap in the first sentence of the next paragraph by saying: ¨Apparently, writer stance…remains a poorly understood field.¨(p.49).  Particularly interesting is the fact that the author goes back to the literature review in that paragraph before finally performing move 3 (occupying the niche) by introducing a purposive statement.   To finish this move, Maroko lists the research questions which guided his study.

The main purpose of this paper has been to examine the IS of a RA in the light of Swales (1990) and Swales and Feak’s (2004) moves analysis. Although the first unlabeled paragraph in Maroko’s (2013) IS does not include the three moves, those moves are in fact performed in the next section (Literature Review). It is noteworthy that, even though this paper has concentrated on the analysis of a single IS, it does offer some insight into the relevance of following Swales’ (1990) model for writing successful ISs.  This model seems to be particularly helpful to narrow the gap between ¨senior¨ and ¨junior academics¨ (Swales, 2004) as it is precisely these three moves the ones that make it possible for researchers to attain academic positioning in their respective discourse communities.

References

Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary discourses: Social interactions in academic writing. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Hyland, K. (2011). Disciplines and discourses: Social interactions in the construction of knowledge. In D. Starke-Meyerring, A. Paré, N. Artemeva, M. Horne, & L. Yousoubova (Eds.), Writing in the knowledge society (pp.193-214). West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press and The WAC Clearinghouse. 

Maroko, G. M. (2013). Learning about author positioning in written academic discourse. Argentinian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2). Retrieved from
http://www.faapi.org.ar/ajal/issues/102/Maroko.html

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J.M. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J. M. & Feak, C. B. (2004) Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (2nd ed.) Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press

Genre-based Analysis of a Research Article Introduction by Paula Gabriela Ferrari is licensed under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 4.0 Internacional License.

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