Bridging the Gap between the PhD Thesis and the Publishable Research Article: A Corpus-Based Genre Analysis of Introductions in Applied Linguistics

Year 2021, , 276 - 292, 26.12.2021

Elvan Eda Işık-taş

https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1047487

Cited By: 1

Abstract

The aim of this multi-dimensional corpus-based study is to contrastively analyze the
genre-specific features of introductions in a corpus of PhD theses in Applied Linguistics
written at Turkish universities and the research articles published in reputable
international academic journals in the same field. The move structure analysis
conducted using the Create-a-Research-Space (CARS) Model (Swales 232) and the
analysis of the lexico-grammatical features associated with the identified moves
revealed extensive variations across the two sub-corpora. The hand-tagged move
structure analysis was complemented with the electronic analysis of the data using a
corpus software. One important finding was that the thesis authors tended to avoid
Move 2, “establishing a niche” and inserted moves such as “stating assumptions” into
their introductions, which were not aligned with the conventions of research articles.
Research article authors, on the other hand, used Move 2 effectively through a wide
range of linguistic strategies to highlight the significance of their study and to promote
their work. Based on the findings, the paper offers awareness-raising strategies and
pedagogical recommendations for novice writers who would like to recontextualize
their theses as research articles and for graduate programs and thesis supervisors in
assisting graduate students in this process.

Keywords

Research Article, PhD Thesis, Move Structure Analysis, Genre Analysis, Applied Linguistics

Doktora Tezinden Yayınlanabilir Araştırma Makalesine Geçiş: Uygulamalı Dilbilim Alanında Yazılmış Giriş Bölümlerinin Derlem-Temelli Tür Analizi

Abstract

The aim of this multi-dimensional corpus-based study is to contrastively analyze the
genre-specific features of introductions in a corpus of PhD theses in Applied Linguistics
written at Turkish universities and the research articles published in reputable
international academic journals in the same field. The move structure analysis
conducted using the Create-a-Research-Space (CARS) Model (Swales 232) and the
analysis of the lexico-grammatical features associated with the identified moves
revealed extensive variations across the two sub-corpora. The hand-tagged move
structure analysis was complemented with the electronic analysis of the data using a
corpus software. One important finding was that the thesis authors tended to avoid
Move 2, “establishing a niche” and inserted moves such as “stating assumptions” into
their introductions, which were not aligned with the conventions of research articles.
Research article authors, on the other hand, used Move 2 effectively through a wide
range of linguistic strategies to highlight the significance of their study and to promote
their work. Based on the findings, the paper offers awareness-raising strategies and
pedagogical recommendations for novice writers who would like to recontextualize
their theses as research articles and for graduate programs and thesis supervisors in
assisting graduate students in this process.

Keywords

Araştırma makalesi, doktora tezi, derlem analizi, hareket yapısı analizi, tür analizi, uygulamalı dilbilim

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