Sub-headings and assignment types
across
the disciplines in student written
assignments
Sheena Gardner
and
Jasper Holmes
University of Warwick
The 18th Euro-International Systemic Functional Linguistics
Conference
20-22 July, 2006
Universita' di Trieste
(Gorizia Site)
An Investigation of Genres of
Assessed Writing in British
Higher Education
RES-000-23-0800
Gardner and Holmes 2006
2
1.
The BAWE corpus (http://go.warwick.ac.uk/bawe)
British Academic Written English
• (projected) holdings:
 3,500 student assignments
 from 28 departments
 at three universities (Oxford Brookes, Reading, Warwick)
• tagged for:
title and title page
table of contents
abstract or summary
section headings
figures and diagrams
lists (simple, bulleted, ordered)
quotations
bibliography
appendices
<p> and <s> units
Gardner and Holmes 2006
3
2.
Structural and functional properties of
assignments
"Once texts develop to [a] level of
internal complexity, titles, subtitles,
headings and subheadings are
commonly deployed to keep track of the
composition structure .."
(Martin, 1992:443)
Gardner and Holmes 2006
4
2a. Metafunctions of headings
• (sub-)titles and (sub-)headings function as
macro-themes that predict text (Ravelli
2004):
ideationally
textually
interpersonally
Gardner and Holmes 2006
5
ideational:
• The heading functions to predict the field of the section
that follows.
<p n="dept">Engineering business management</p>
<div level="2"><p
Culture</p>
<div level="2"><p
Structure</p>
<div level="2"><p
people</p>
<div level="2"><p
vision</p>
<div level="2"><p
Trust</p>
rend="bold">3.1 Organisation
rend="bold">3.2 Organisation
rend="bold">3.3 Hiring the right
rend="bold">3.4 Clarity of
rend="bold">3.5 Respect &
Gardner and Holmes 2006
6
textual:
The heading predicts the function and
organization of the section that follows.
<p n="dept">Biology</p>
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
level="2"><p
level="2"><p
level="2"><p
level="2"><p
level="2"><p
level="2"><p
rend="underline">Introduction</p>
rend="underline">Experiment</p>
rend="underline">Method</p>
rend="underline">Results</p>
rend="underline">Comments</p>
rend="underline">Conclusion</p>
Gardner and Holmes 2006
7
interpersonal:
The heading functions as a repetition of the
tutor’s initiation to which the student responds
in the section that follows (Hamp-Lyons 1988).
<p n="dept">Economics</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Question 2a)</p>
<p n="dept">History</p>
<titlePart type="main" rend="underline">What, if
anything, does Oscar Wilde’s Portrait of Dorian
Gray Owe to Cesare Lombroso?</titlePart>
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2b. Assignment structure
simple: no parts
complex: structurally related parts
compound: independent parts
Gardner and Holmes 2006
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simple assignments
0022a – simple essay:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">0022a</p>
<p n="dept">Psychology</p>
<p n="assignment type">essay</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold/underline">Imagine
you are designing a curriculum for primary school
science classes. Consider how research in
cognitive development could help you decide which
concepts are taught when.</titlePart>
<p>The structure of education has been shaped by
many cognitive psychologists over the past...
Gardner and Holmes 2006
10
0003b – simple ethnography:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">0003b</p>
<p n="dept">Sociology</p>
<p n="assignment type">ethnography</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold">An urban
ethnography of two bookshops in Leamington Spa,
November 2004. </titlePart>
<titlePart>By xxx, History and Sociology. Tutor:
zzz.</titlePart>
<p>On Friday afternoon, the 26th of November, I
conducted my ethnographic observation in an urban
setting in the centre of Leamington. My first...
<p type="wc">Word count: 1443. </p>
Gardner and Holmes 2006
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complex assignments
0006a - complex, textual:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">0006a</p>
<p n="dept">Biology</p>
<p n="assignment type">report</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold">Experiment 15: Aspects
of bacterial genetics: Conjugation and
Recombination</titlePart>
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
rend="bold">Aim / Abstract </p>
rend="bold">Introduction </p>
rend="bold">Method </p>
rend="bold">Results </p>
rend="bold">Discussion </p>
rend="bold">Conclusion </p>
<div type="appendix"><p rend="bold">Appendix </p>
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0006c - complex, ideational/textual:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">0006c</p>
<p n="dept">Biology</p>
<p n="assignment type">essay</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold">Endosymbiotic
Theory</titlePart>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Abstract</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Introduction</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">History of Endosymbiotic
Theory</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Factors in favour of
mitochondrial and chloroplast endosymbiosis</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Summary</p>
<p type="wc">Word count: 2700</p>
<div type="bib"><p rend="bold">REFERENCE</p>
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3035a - complex, ideational:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">3035a</p>
<p n="dept">Health and social care</p>
<p n="assignment type">research proposals</p>
</sourceDesc>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold/underline">Research Proposal:
Randomized Control Trial</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Explanatory research
question:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Null hypothesis:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Alternate hypothesis:</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold/underline">Study design</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Participants:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Interventions:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Data collection:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Reliability and validity:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Data analysis:</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold/underline">Ethical issues</p>
<div type="bib"><p rend="bold/underline">References</p>
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14
0023c - complex, interpersonal/ideational:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">0023c</p>
<p n="dept">Engineering</p>
<p n="assignment type">report</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart>ES21V INTERMEDIATE TECHNOLOGY AND FIELD COURSE</titlePart>
<titlePart>Assignment 1</titlePart>
<titlePart type="main" rend="italic">Micro-hydro report</titlePart>
<titlePart>000</titlePart>
<titlePart>Second Year EDAT Undergraduate</titlePart>
<titlePart>I002</titlePart>
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
<div
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
rend="underline">Background</p>
rend="underline">What is the state of play of the stream?</p>
rend="underline">What’s the estimation of the pipe?</p>
rend="underline">What about ROCs?</p>
rend="underline">Is connection to the grid an option?</p>
rend="underline">How about a new turbine?</p>
rend="underline">Which pipe and how is it best to route it?</p>
rend="underline">Would a grant be possible?</p>
rend="underline">What is the likely longevity of the scheme?</p>
rend="underline">Conclusions</p>
<div type="bib"><p rend="underline">References</p>
Gardner and Holmes 2006
15
compound assignments
• parts are +/- independent:
 unordered
self sufficient
 not cohesive
parallel
 embedded
(Hoey 2001)
• whole "functions as a unity with respect to
its environment" (Halliday and Hasan
1976)
• embedding:
 parallel or complementary parts ([[a][a][a]] / [[a][b][c]])
 simple or complex embedding ([[b][b][b]] / [[a1][b][b][a3]])
Gardner and Holmes 2006
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3042f – parallel, simple:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">3042f</p>
<p n="dept">Hospitality, leisure and tourism management</p>
<p n="assignment type">analytical bibliographies</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart>TOURISM IMPACT ANALYSIS, U57266.</titlePart>
<titlePart>Module leader: zzz</titlePart>
<titlePart>COURSEWORK ELEMENT ONE </titlePart>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold/italic">Analytical bibliographies </titlePart>
<titlePart>xxx</titlePart>
<titlePart>000</titlePart>
<titlePart>March 2005</titlePart>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Jones, D L, Jurowski, C & Uysal, M (2000), "Host
community residents’ attitudes: a comparison of environmental viewpoints", Tourism
and Hospitality Research, 2 (2): 129-156.</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Notes</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Comment & Analysis</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Evidence to support argument </p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Key links</p>
/cont
Gardner and Holmes 2006
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3042f – parallel, simple -cont-:
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Dyer, P, Aberdeen, L & Schuler, S (2003), "Tourism
impacts on an Australian indigenous community: a Djabugay case study", Tourism
Management, 24 (1): 83-95.</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Notes</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Comment & Analysis</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Evidence to support argument</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Key links</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Sheldon, P J & Abenoja, T (2001), "Resident attitudes in
a mature destination: the case of Waikiki", Tourism Management, 22: 435-443.</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Notes</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Comment & Analysis</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Evidence to support argument</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Key links</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Lynch, P A (1999), "Host attitudes towards guests in the
homestay sector", Tourism and Hospitality Research, 1 (2): 119-144.</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Notes</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Comment & Analysis</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Evidence to support argument</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="bold">Key links</p>
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6066g – complementary, simple:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">6066g</p>
<p n="dept">Classics</p>
<p n="assignment type">essay + review</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart type="main" rend="underline">In the Iliad, is
being a good hero
<titlePart rend="underline">By xxx</titlePart>
<p>Although there are many heroes in the Iliad who are rulers
<div type="bib"><p rend="underline">Bibliography</p>
<titlePart
being a
<titlePart
<titlePart
type="main" rend="underline">In the Iliad, is
good hero
rend="underline">Literary Criticism:</titlePart>
rend="underline">By xxx</titlePart>
<p>"So they spoke in tears to their dear son. But all their
<div type="bib"><p rend="underline">Bibliography</p>
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6010a – complementary, complex:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">6010a</p>
<p n="dept">Linguistics</p>
<p n="assignment type">assignment</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold"> Assignment 2. </titlePart>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Task 1. An exercise in multimodal discourse
analysis.</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Task 2. An interview concerning an area of
contested language use.</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Introduction</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Experiment </p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Method</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Results </p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Comments</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Conclusion </p>
<div level="1"><p rend="underline">Conclusion to tasks 1 and 2.</p>
<p type="wc">1097 words</p>
<div type="appendix"><p rend="bold">Appendix 1</p>
<div type="appendix"><p rend="bold">Appendix 2</p>
<div type="bib"><p rend="bold">References</p>
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6045a – parallel, simple:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">6045a</p>
<p n="dept">Linguistics</p>
<p n="assignment type">essay</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold/underline">Chimpanzees
can use signs, but do they have language?</titlePart>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold/underline"> Children’s
reading and writing has to be learnt in contrast to
speech.</titlePart>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold/underline"> Does
understanding the organisation of language in the brain
contribute to the study of language?</titlePart>
<div type="bib"><p rend="bold">BIBLIOGRAPHY</p>
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6033g – complementary, simple:
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">6033g</p>
<p n="dept">Archaeology</p>
<p n="assignment type">skeletal report</p>
</sourceDesc>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold">Skeletal Report</titlePart>
<titlePart>Name of assessor: </titlePart>
<titlePart>Skeleton number: (500) 20</titlePart>
<titlePart>Context: Hulton Abbey 00273</titlePart>
<div type="ToC"><p></p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold/underline">1) Description of
Preservation:</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold/underline">2) Sex Estimate:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Skull:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Pelvis:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Metrical Data:</p>
Gardner and Holmes 2006
/cont
22
6033g – complementary, simple -cont-:
<div level="1"><p rend="bold/underline">Age Estimate:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Skull:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Dentition:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Rib Ageing:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Pelvis:</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold/underline">Stature Estimate: </p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Ulna: </p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Radius:</p>
<div level="2"><p rend="underline">Femur: </p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold/underline">Summary:</p>
<titlePart type="main" rend="bold/underline">Diary:</titlePart>
<div
<div
<div
<div
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
level="1"><p
rend="bold/underline">Practical
rend="bold/underline">Practical
rend="bold/underline">Practical
rend="bold/underline">Practical
Gardner and Holmes 2006
session
session
session
session
1:</p>
2:</p>
3:</p>
4:</p>
23
3.
Characterising student writing
• By marking up headings on all 3000+
assignments, we will be able to check emic
assignment types against how the
assignments are partitioned (simple,
complex, compound) and how the sections
function for the whole corpus.
• We will also be able to describe these types
across the disciplines.
Gardner and Holmes 2006
24
Psychology ‘Essays’ and
Biochemistry Lab Reports
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">0007b</p>
<p n="dept">Biochemistry</p>
<p n="assignment type">report</p>
</sourceDesc>
<div level="1"><p
rend="bold">Introduction</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Method</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Results</p>
<div level="1"><p rend="bold">Discussion</p>
Gardner and Holmes 2006
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Engineering Lab Reports
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">0021a</p>
<p n="dept">Engineering</p>
<p n="assignment type">report</p>
</sourceDesc>
<div level="1"><p
<div level="1"><p
<div level="1"><p
Methods</p>
<div level="1"><p
Results</p>
<div level="1"><p
Discussion</p>
<div level="1"><p
rend="bold">3.0 Introduction</p>
rend="bold">4.0 Theory</p>
rend="bold">5.0 Apparatus and
rend="bold">6.0 Observations and
rend="bold">7.0 Analysis and
rend="bold">8.0 Conclusions</p>
Gardner and Holmes 2006
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Sociology and Politics
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">0021a</p>
<p n="dept">Politics</p>
<p n="assignment type">essay</p>
</sourceDesc>
<div level="1"><p
<div level="1"><p
<div level="1"><p
Change</p>
<div level="1"><p
Trend?</p>
<div level="1"><p
Context</p>
<div level="1"><p
<div level="1"><p
rend="bold">Introduction</p>
rend="bold">Defining the Terms</p>
rend="bold">Thatcher - Instigating
rend="bold">Blair - Advancing the
rend="bold">The Importance of
rend="bold">Cabinet Revival?</p>
rend="bold">Conclusion</p>
Gardner and Holmes 2006
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Medical case histories
<sourceDesc>
<p n="essayID">0047c</p>
<p n="dept">Medicine</p>
<p n="assignment type">essay</p>
</sourceDesc>
<div level="1">Referral
(Nesi and Gardner 2006)
information</p>
<div level="1">History</p>
<div level="1">Analysis
of history</p>
<div level="1">Physical examination and mental state
examination</p>
<div level="1">Analysis of history and examination</p>
<div level="1">Formulation of the patient's
problem(s)</p>
<div level="1">Management</p>
<div level="1">Outcome</p>
<div level="1">Evidence based care and issues for
research</p>
<div level="1">Commentary</p>
<div level="1">Impact on your learning</p>
Gardner and Holmes 2006
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References:
Halliday, M.A.K. and R. Hasan. 1976. Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
Hamp-Lyons, L. 1988. "The product before: Task-related influences on the
writer." In P. C. Robinson (ed.) Academic Writing: Process and Product.
ELT Docs. 129. Modern English.
Hoey, M. 2001. Textual interaction: an introduction to written discourse analysis.
London: Routledge.
Martin, J.R. 1992. English text: system and structure. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Nesi, H. and S. Gardner 2006. Nesi, H. & S. Gardner (forthcoming Sept 2006)
"Variation in disciplinary culture: University tutors’ views on assessed
writing tasks." In: Kiely, R., Clibbon, G., Rea-Dickins, P. & Woodfield,
H. (eds) Language, Culture and Identity in Applied Linguistics. London:
Equinox Publishing.
Ravelli, L. 2004. In L. Ravelli and R. Ellis (eds) pp. 131-152. Analysing
Academic Writing: Contextualized Frameworks. London: Continuum.
Sheena Gardner and Jasper Holmes. University of Warwick
s.f.gardner@warwick.ac.uk
j.w.holmes@warwick.ac.uk