A genre analysis of empirical research articles on economics

Academic writers need to attain a reasonably high level of competency in order to effectively share specialised knowledge and gain acceptance into an international discourse community. To this end, most academicians have considered the research article as one of the main channels for such scholar...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Liu, May Siaw Mei
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/19742/1/A%20genre%20analysis%20of%20empirical%20research.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id my-ums-ep.19742
record_format uketd_dc
spelling my-ums-ep.197422018-04-04T08:21:33Z A genre analysis of empirical research articles on economics 2012 Liu, May Siaw Mei HB Economic theory. Demography Academic writers need to attain a reasonably high level of competency in order to effectively share specialised knowledge and gain acceptance into an international discourse community. To this end, most academicians have considered the research article as one of the main channels for such scholarly communication to take place. To assist novice writers in writing their research reports, it is necessary to examine the work of expert writers to discover the rhetorical and linguistic strategies used by established members of the discourse community. One of the most powerful descriptions of language is genre analysis, but to date, there have been limited studies which have applied genre analysis to examine research articles on economics. This study investigates writers' rhetorical strategies in empirical economics research reports to identify a workable generic structure and the linguistic mechanisms used by economics researchers to achieve their communicative intentions. It employed a genre-based analytical framework based on Swales' (1990, 2004) move-step analysis to study empirical economics research reports, and the textual analysis was supported by detailed spoken data elicited from eight specialist informants. The results indicate that empirical economics research articles generally do not adhere strictly to the prevalent 'Introduction Method- Results-Discussion' (‘IMRD’) macrostructure; however, a total of 13 rhetorical moves and 38 constituent steps have been identified in relation to their different linguistic features. Specific rhetorical shifts have been found to be salient, and they illustrate how communicative functions are strategically linked by economics researchers. The results of this study are important and useful not only to the development of applied English linguistics, but also to language practitioners in the field of English for Specific Purposes. 2012 Thesis https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/19742/ https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/19742/1/A%20genre%20analysis%20of%20empirical%20research.pdf text en public phd postdoctoral Universiti Malaysia Sabah Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning
institution Universiti Malaysia Sabah
collection UMS Institutional Repository
language English
topic HB Economic theory
Demography
spellingShingle HB Economic theory
Demography
Liu, May Siaw Mei
A genre analysis of empirical research articles on economics
description Academic writers need to attain a reasonably high level of competency in order to effectively share specialised knowledge and gain acceptance into an international discourse community. To this end, most academicians have considered the research article as one of the main channels for such scholarly communication to take place. To assist novice writers in writing their research reports, it is necessary to examine the work of expert writers to discover the rhetorical and linguistic strategies used by established members of the discourse community. One of the most powerful descriptions of language is genre analysis, but to date, there have been limited studies which have applied genre analysis to examine research articles on economics. This study investigates writers' rhetorical strategies in empirical economics research reports to identify a workable generic structure and the linguistic mechanisms used by economics researchers to achieve their communicative intentions. It employed a genre-based analytical framework based on Swales' (1990, 2004) move-step analysis to study empirical economics research reports, and the textual analysis was supported by detailed spoken data elicited from eight specialist informants. The results indicate that empirical economics research articles generally do not adhere strictly to the prevalent 'Introduction Method- Results-Discussion' (‘IMRD’) macrostructure; however, a total of 13 rhetorical moves and 38 constituent steps have been identified in relation to their different linguistic features. Specific rhetorical shifts have been found to be salient, and they illustrate how communicative functions are strategically linked by economics researchers. The results of this study are important and useful not only to the development of applied English linguistics, but also to language practitioners in the field of English for Specific Purposes.
format Thesis
qualification_name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level Doctorate
author Liu, May Siaw Mei
author_facet Liu, May Siaw Mei
author_sort Liu, May Siaw Mei
title A genre analysis of empirical research articles on economics
title_short A genre analysis of empirical research articles on economics
title_full A genre analysis of empirical research articles on economics
title_fullStr A genre analysis of empirical research articles on economics
title_full_unstemmed A genre analysis of empirical research articles on economics
title_sort genre analysis of empirical research articles on economics
granting_institution Universiti Malaysia Sabah
granting_department Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning
publishDate 2012
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/19742/1/A%20genre%20analysis%20of%20empirical%20research.pdf
_version_ 1747836527130443776