CHAPTER 1 Getting Started with Writing a Research Article
1.1 Characteristics of MRAs /
1.2 Deciding on a topic and a problem to be addressed /
1.3 Using databases for references /
1.4 The macrostructure of medical articles /
1.5 Reading titles for prediction /
1.6 Reading abstracts for main ideas /
1.7 Reading the key sentences in the Introduction and Discussion sections /
1.8 Writing a proposal /
CHAPTER 2 The Introduction Section
2.1 The elements of an Introduction section /
2.2 Writing the initial sentences to claim centrality /
2.3 Literature reviews /
2.4 Indicating the gap to be filled /
2.5 Expressing the objective/purpose /
2.6 Postulating a hypothesis /
2.7 Introducing the methods and structure of the article /
2.8 Tenses used in the Introduction /
2.9 Signal words and cohesive devices /
2.10 Fixed expressions for centrality, gaps and purposes /
2.11 Reusing language in the Introduction /
CHAPTER 3 Intext Citation
3.1 Citation function /
3.2 Citation types /
3.3 Citation methods /
3.4 Citation and synthesizing the sources /
3.5 Citations and reporting verbs /
3.6 Verb tenses in citation /
3.7 Citation and attitude markers /
CHAPTER 4 The Methods Section
4.1 The format of a Methods section /
4.2 The moves of the Methods section /
4.3 Study design /
4.4 Data and samples /
4.5 Procedures /
4.6 Study outcomes and measures /
4.7 Research variables /
4.8 Statistical analysis /
4.9 Signal words for the method purposes /
4.10 Citations in the Methods section /
4.11 Active or Passive verbs /
4.12 Selfmention /
4.13 Tenses in the Methods section /
CHAPTER 5 The Results Section
5.1 The significance of the Results sections /
5.2 The choice of the data to report /
5.3 The content of a Results section /
5.4 Reporting the results of data collection /
5.5 Locating tables and figures /
5.6 Stating general findings /
5.7 Providing specific evidence /
5.8 Evaluating and interpreting the data /
5.9 The organization of the results /
5.10 Graphical representations /
5.11 Choosing tables and figures /
5.12 Writing table/figure titles and figure legends /
5.13 Verb tenses /
5.14 Attitude markers /
5.15 Fixed expressions used in the Results section /
CHAPTER 6 The Discussion Section
6.1 Writing a Discussion section /
6.2 The moves of a Discussion section /
6.3 The role of comparison in the Discussion section /
6.4 Explanation and interpretation /
6.5 Limitations and further research /
6.6 Implications /
6.7 Conclusion /
6.8 Citations in the Discussion section /
6.9 Hedges and boosters /
6.10 Attitude statements /
6.11 Verb tenses in the Discussion section /
6.12 Fixed expressions used in the Discussion and Conclusion /
CHAPTER 7 Critical Thinking and Conclusion
7.1 Critical thinking /
7.2 Conclusion, claims and arguments /
7.3 Conclusions and relevance /
7.4 Primary and secondary evidence /
7.5 Statistical evidence and sufficiency /
7.6 Personal experience and observations /
7.7 Secondary evidence /
7.8 Logic reasoning /
7.9 Explanations /
CHAPTER 8 The Abstracts and Titles
8.1 Abstracts /
8.2 Verb tenses and selfmention in the Abstract /
8.3 Fixed expression used in the Abstract /
8.4 Research in Context /
8.5 Titles /
8.6 Keywords /
8.7 Contributors, Acknowledgements and others /
8.8 Referencing styles and systems /
8.9 Footnotes, endnotes and supplementary information /
CHAPTER 9 Language and Style
9.1 Style of scientific writing /
9.2 The use of nominalization /
9.3 Noun clusters /
9.4 There be and it be Ved that /
9.5 Passive constructions /
9.6 Subordinate structure /
9.7 Modifier phrases /
9.8 Lexical sophistication and variation /
9.9 Sentence variation /
9.10 Paragraphs /
9.11 Using corpus analysis /
9.12 Selfconstructed corpora /
CHAPTER 10 Publication Process
10.1 Getting the paper published /
10.2 Understanding referees criteria /
10.3 Choosing an appropriate target journal /
10.4 Understanding the submission guidelines of a journal /
10.5 Writing a cover letter /
10.6 Responding to the editors/peer reviewers /
10.7 Writing a response letter /
Appendix 1: Course syllabus
Appendix 2: Course schedule (16 weeks, 32 or 64 teaching hours)
Appendix 3: Example articles (EAs)
References
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Characteristics of RAs and students theses/dissertations / 002
Table 1.2 The problem to be addressed in my article / 003
Table 1.3 Medical Search Engines / 004
Table 1.4 The content of each section of a research article / 005
Table 1.5 Basic moves of a MRA / 005
Table 1.6 Moves/steps and their corresponding linguistic features / 006
Table 1.7 My SAs General information check / 007
Table 1.8 Titles information / 008
Table 1.9 Title elements in the selected articles / 009
Table 2.1 Threemove schema for article introductions / 016
Table 2.2 Moves of an Introduction section / 016
Table 2.3 Questions to be answered in the Introduction section / 017
Table 2.4 Patterns of centrality claims in the Introduction section / 020
Table 2.5 Critical reading questions / 024
Table 2.6 Signal words for the gap / 028
Table 2.7 Literature review and research gaps / 029
Table 2.8 Literature review information in selected articles / 030
Table 2.9 Tenses used in the Introduction section / 038
Table 2.10 The tenses/verbs used in expressing the objective and methods / 039
Table 2.11 Transitional words in the Introduction / 040
Table 2.12 Classifications for the expression of centrality claims, gaps and purposes / 042
Table 2.13 Check of discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features in the Introduction / 046
Table 3.1 Citations functions in research articles / 047
Table 3.2 Citation functions in the Introduction section / 048
Table 3.3 The frequency of citations (%) in different disciplines based on a corpus of 80 articles / 050
Table 3.4 Citation types / 052
Table 3.5 Citation types (%) in eight disciplines based on a corpus of 80 articles / 053
Table 3.6 Types of citation check / 053
Table 3.7 Citation methods / 054
Table 3.8 The percentage of the citation methods in different disciplines / 061
Table 3.9 Check of citation methods / 061
Table 3.10 Functions of Reporting verbs / 062
Table 3.11 Attitudes of Reporting verbs / 062
Table 3.12 Reporting verbs used in different disciplines (Hyland, 1999) / 063
Table 3.13 Collocation of reporting verbs / 063
Table 3.14 Types of reporting verbs in different sections / 063
Table 3.15 Verb tenses in the literature review citation / 064
Table 3.16 Verb tenses in the subordinate clause of the authorfocused citation / 065
Table 3.17 Reporting verb tenses in the literature review / 066
Table 3.18 Meaning of stance nouns / 067
Table 3.19 Patterns of stance nouns / 067
Table 3.20 Classification of stance or signaling nouns / 067
Table 3.21 Evaluative adjectives and adverbs / 068
Table 3.22 Attitude markers in the articles / 069
Table 3.23 Comprehensive check of citation / 069
Table 4.1 Structure of the Methods section / 072
Table 4.2 Moves of the Methods section / 072
Table 4.3 Elements in the methods section for retrospective and prospective studies. (adapted from Ecarnot et al. 2015: 576) / 073
Table 4.4 The elements of the study design / 079
Table 4.5 Elements of subsection of data and samples / 081
Table 4.6 The content of statistical analysis / 091
Table 4.7 Signal words for the method purposes / 093
Table 4.8 Citation functions in the Methods section / 093
Table 4.9 Citation function check in the Methods section / 094
Table 4.10 Selfmention in different sections / 097
Table 4.11 Semantic reference of “we” in relation to discourse functions (Kuo, 1999: 130) / 097
Table 4.12 The ratio of passive voice and “we” structures / 099
Table 4.13 the ratio of passive voice and “we” structure in research articles / 099
Table 4.14 Verb tenses in the Methods section / 100
Table 4.15 Verb tense check in the Methods section / 101
Table 4.16 Check the discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features in the Methods section. / 101
Table 5.1 Moves of the Results section / 107
Table 5.2 Elements of the subsection of patients / 113
Table 5.3 Table/figure location types / 113
Table 5.4 Patterns of location statements / 114
Table 5.5 Patterns to report the results / 116
Table 5.6 Organization patterns of results / 122
Table 5.7 Element check of Results sections / 124
Table 5.8 Functions of tables and figures / 128
Table 5.9 Functions of different types of figures / 128
Table 5.10 Data presentation information check / 136
Table 5.11 Verb tenses in the Results section / 136
Table 5.12 Reporting verbs, evaluative adjectives and adverbs in the Results sections / 138
Table 5.13 Check of discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features in the Results section / 141
Table 6.1 Discussion section structure check / 143
Table 6.2 Moves of the Discussion section / 144
Table 6.3 Signal words in the comparison / 152
Table 6.4 Explanation elements / 155
Table 6.5 The elements of limitations in the Discussion section / 161
Table 6.6 Content of the Conclusion / 164
Table 6.7 Citation functions in Discussion section / 165
Table 6.8 Citation check in the Discussion section / 168
Table 6.9 hedges and boosters / 168
Table 6.10 Hedges and boosters in academic articles (Hyland, 1998) / 169
Table 6.11 Disciplinary differences (Hyland, 1998) / 169
Table 6.12 Hedges in the Discussion / 169
Table 6.13 Hedges and boosters check in different sections / 172
Table 6.14 Patterns of attitude statements / 173
Table 6.15 Verb tenses and modal auxiliaries used in the Discussion section / 173
Table 6.16 Comprehensive information check of the discussion section / 178
Table 6.17 Check of discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features of the Discussion section / 179
Table 7.1 the premise and conclusion indicators / 183
Table 7.2 Approximate statistically significant d s at. 05 level (Moor and Parker, 2009: 280) / 188
Table 7.3 Approximate error margins for random samples of various sizes (Moor and Parker, 2009: 241) / 189
Table 8.1 Abstract moves / 202
Table 8.2 Verb tenses in the abstracts / 207
Table 8.3 Check of discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features of the Abstract / 212
Table 8.4 Moves of Research in Context / 214
Table 8.5 Elements to be included in a title / 216
Table 8.6 Syntactic patterns of MRA titles / 217
Table 8.7 Referencing systems / 224
Table 9.1 Linguistic features of formal and informal registers / 227
Table 9.2 Four dimensions from the factor analysis of the biology corpus (Biber et al., 2007: 180) / 228
Table 9.3 Features of research writing / 229
Table 9.4 Good and bad writing / 230
Table 9.5 Types of nominalization / 231
Table 9.6 Patterns of nominalization / 232
Table 9.7 Patterns of noun clusters / 234
Table 9.8 Disciplinespecific noun clusters / 237
Table 9.9 Patterns of impersonal structures / 237
Table 9.10 Impersonal style check / 240
Table 9.11 Modifier nouns / 243
Table 9.12 Modifier noun check / 245
Table 9.13 Types of synonyms in academic writing / 245
Table 9.14 Types of words used in different sections / 247
Table 9.15 Purposes of using corpora and concordancing software programs / 253
Table 10.1 Check list for publication / 258
Table 10.2 Frequencies of the language features and metadiscourse markers in IMRD sections / 259
Table 10.3 Verb tenses used in your manuscript / 260
Table 10.4 Evaluation form from journal editors / 260
Table 10.5 Evaluation criteria from referees / 260
Table 10.6 Factors in the choice of potential journals for submission / 262
Table 10.7 Cover letter components / 262
Table 10.8 The reviewers reason for rejection or revision / 264
Table 10.9 Verbs used in revision / 265