Book Report
Academic Writing for Graduate Students
Essential Tasks and Skills (3rd edition)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Siriluck Usaha
Department of English for Business Communication
School Liberal Arts
Academic Writing for Graduate Students
Essential Tasks and Skills
I. About the Book
II. Target Readers
III. Approach and Organization
IV. What is learnt from the book?
I. About the Book
I. About the Book
II. Target Readers

Graduate Students

Non-native graduate students

EFL/ESL teachers
III. Approach and Organization
Approach: Analytical & rhetorical
Rhetorical Conciousness Raising Cycle
Organization: Varied tasks & activities, basic
orientation to writing an article for publication

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
IV. What is learnt from the book?
How to write articles for publication?
I. Reasons for publication
II. Overall shape of a research article
III. Four sections: IMRD
IV. Genre analysis
 Definition
 Why GA?
V. Abstracts
VI. Introductions
VII. Methods
VIII. Results
IX. Discussion
1. Reasons for Publication

Sharing findings and contributions (in English) to
scholars communities

Competition against other research papers for
acceptance and recognition

Academic promotion and research funds

Graduation requirement
2. The Overall Shape of a Research Paper
3. Four Sections: Four Different Purposes
4. Genre Analysis

Genre analysis focuses primarily on the organizational structure of texts
and the conventional linguistics features associated with a particular
genre. That is, each text type conforms to the culturally expected way of
constructing texts belonging to the variety. For example, research article
introductions have expected textual conventions that are different from
research article methods sections (Kanoksilapatham, 2012)

Definition of Genre (Swales, 1990)
Why Genre Analysis?

“To be successful in a publishing research work, scientists,
like scholars of other disciplines, need to be able to express
the findings and contributions in English . Moreover, they
need to present the findings and contributions in a manner
that is acceptable and conforming to the requirements of
the target journal.” (Swales, 1991 quoted in Kanoksilapatham, 2004, 230)

The goal of genre analysis is to identify the rhetorical
organization of texts belonging to a given genre.
Genre Analysis and Research Articles

The genre analysis applied to research articles of each academic
discipline elucidates the textual structural conventionally
followed by scientists in their respective disciplines.

Based of this notion, the terms ‘move’ and ‘step’ are invented to
refer to textual units of analysis.

‘Move’ refers to a text segment that performs a communicative
function.
‘Step’ is a subunit of a move that, in turn, contributes to the
move’s communicative function.

Swales’ (2004) model for research article introductions
Move structure for biochemistry research article
(Kanoksilapatham, 2005)

Introduction Section
Move structure for biochemistry research article
(Kanoksilapatham, 2005)

Methods Section
Move structure for biochemistry research article
(Kanoksilapatham, 2005)

Results Sections
Move structure for biochemistry research article
(Kanoksilapatham, 2005)

Discussion Section
5. Research Article Abstracts

The abstract is the first part that can be read for getting information
about a research article within a few minutes.

Most researchers often focus on skimming abstracts and key words.

Hyland (2002) states that “the abstract is generally the readers’ first
encounter with a text, and is often the point at which they decide
whether to continue and give the accompanying article further
attention, or to ignore it” (p. 63).

According to Pho (2008), “acquiring the skills of writing an abstracts is
therefore important to novice writers to enter the discourse
community of their discipline” (p. 231).
Rhetorical Moves in Article Abstracts
Language Use in Abstract



Introduction Move: Present simple/ Present perfect
Purpose Move: Present/ Past simple
Method Move: - Action verb (use, investigate, compare)
- Passive voice (was used, was stimulated)
- Past simple

Product/Result Move: - Perceptive verbs (found, seen, shown,
indicated)
- Passive voice
- Past tense

Conclusion Move: - Interpretive Verbs (summarize, conclude, elucidate)
- Use hedging words such as might, may should,
plausibly, possibly
Practice: Identify Rhetorical Moves in Abstract
6. Introduction Sections
Creating a Research Space

It is widely recognized that writing Introductions can be slow,
difficult, and troublesome for many writers.

The Introductions of RPs typically follow the pattern in the
following figure in response to kinds of competition: Competition
for readers and competition for research space.

The rhetorical pattern has become known as the create-a-researchspace model (or CARS) by Swales (1990).
Swales’ Model 2004
Language Focus: ‘Move 1- Establishing a research territory’

In Move 1 certain fixed phrases tend to occur as shown in the table below.
Language Focus: Citation and tense
Language Focus: Citation and tense
Language Focus: ‘Move 2- Establishing a niche’
Language Focus: ‘Move 2- Establishing a niche’

Negative Openings in Move 2
Language Focus: ‘Move 2- Establishing a niche’
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 1- Announcing present research descriptively
and/or purposively’
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 1- Announcing present
research descriptively and/or purposively’
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 1- Announcing present
research descriptively and/or purposively’

Purpose statement and tense
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 1- Announcing present research
descriptively and/or purposively’

Completing an Introduction
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 1- Announcing present
research descriptively and/or purposively’
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 1- Announcing present
research descriptively and/or purposively’

Google Scholar hits for some Move 3 Step 1 expression obtained in May
2012
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 2- Presenting research
questions or hypotheses’

Listing research questions
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 5- Announcing principal
outcomes’
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 6- Stating the values of the
present research’
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 7- Outlining the structure of
the paper’
Language Focus: ‘Move 3 Step 7- Outlining the structure of
the paper’
7. Methods Sections

Peacock (2011) examined 288 RP Methods sections in
published, data-driven papers from the fields of Biology,
Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science, Business,
Language and Linguistics, Law, and Public and Social
administration (36 papers from each field).

He proposed the existence of seven ‘moves’ in Methods
sections.
Seven Move in Methods Section by Peacock (2011)
Language Focus: Linking Phrases in Methods Sections
Language Focus: Linking Phrases in Methods Sections
Frequency of Purpose Clause Types and Verbs
8. Results sections
Data versus Results
Results versus Discussion
Outline of Results Sections in Three Fields
Structure of Data Commentary
Data Commentary
Location Statements: 4 patterns
Location Statements: 4 patterns
Special verb agreements: Exercise
Making comparisons
Commentary in results sections
Commentary found in results sections
Concluding a commentary
Specific ways of moderating or qualifying a claim: Likelihood
Specific ways of moderating or qualifying a claim: Likelihood
9. Discussion/ Conclusion Sections

The Structure of Discussion/Conclusion Sections
Expressions of limitations
10. Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Academic Writing for Graduate Students
Essential Tasks and Skills
I. About the Book
II. Target Readers
III. Approach and Organization
IV. What is learnt from the book?
Thank you