A Genre Analysis of English and Turkish Research Article Introductions

This corpus-based exploratory study investigates the rhetorical organization of research article (RA) introductions in the field of social sciences, using an adapted version of Swales' (1990) framework of move analysis. A corpus of 75 research article introductions in English by American academic writers and in English and Turkish by Turkish academic writers formed the data. The data were analyzed using Sheldon's adaptation of Swales' CARS model. The findings indicate that the three corpora follow the model, employing the three moves to a great extent. However, the introductions differ in the extent to which the steps are used. Both the English and Turkish article introductions by Turkish academic writers display resemblance to the established English discourse conventions. Yet, they also vary from the established discourse conventions in English in some aspects, displaying compliance with local discourse community conventions. The findings of the present study have been discussed with reference to the findings of previous studies and pedagogical implications have been discussed.