A Comparative Analysis of Two Research Articles: Introductions, Literature Reviews and Methods
Academic writing is an area which offers a wide variety of genres and discourses. As members immersed in this community of writing, reading and analysis of research studies made by proficient members of various academic discourse communities become increasingly necessary. This paper is based on a comparative analysis which combines the examination and the scrutiny of research findings that belong to different scientific fields. In order to illustrate introductions and methods sections in Research Articles, this paper will examine two researches in the field of medicine and education, carrying out a deep analysis of their introductions, literature reviews and methods. The first article belongs to the field of medicine and is based on the effects of revaccination with BCG in early childhood on mortality in Guinea-Bissau (Roth et al., 2010), the second article explores the use of blogs in a specific academic setting in China (Sun & Chang, 2012). Although both articles follow academic standards as regards structure of academic research papers, they present different formats and styles when presenting the information. The parameters they exhibit are discussed, compared and contrasted in the present paper.
The C.A.R.S. Model: Moves in Introductions
The first element that characterizes a research article is its introduction. In order to write an introduction, the writer has a fundamental purpose in mind: to call readers’ attention. A common organizational pattern that facilitates reading as well as comprehension is the model proposed by Swales and Feak (1994) called the Create a Research Space Model (C.A.R.S.) (Swales & Feak, 1994, as cited in Hengl and Gould, 2002). It is comprised of three moves, which contain semantic and syntactic patterns: establishing a territory, establishing a niche, and occupying the niche.
Move 1a: establishing the territory
As it has been mentioned, the first move in introductions establishes the territory of the research and may be divided into two parts: the first one, which is optional, accounts for the relevance of the research and the second part reviews outstanding literature on previous studies. Roth et al. (2010) state the importance of their investigation demonstrating that no other studies have dealt with the problem of the effects of revaccination with BCG in early childhood on mortality in Guinea-Bissau: “Routine infant vaccines currently used in low income countries were not tested in randomized trials for their impact on overall child survival before their introduction” (p.1).
Whereas Roth et al. (2010) develop Move 1a, Sun and Chang (2012) establish the research territory defining blogs through a contrastive definition: “ Blogs differ from list servers, discussion boards, or Wikis in that blogs are controlled and owned by the bloggers (…)” (p.43). Moreover, they expand the definition by stating general characteristics and benefits of using blogs: "Characterized by their strong personal editorship, hyper linking potential, archival features, access to content, blogs invite users to share, create and interact in a virtual space to generate knowledge." (p.43).
Move 1b: literature reviews
According to C.A.R.S. Model (Swales & Feak, 1994), Move 1b is the section which presents current knowledge on the subject matter of the research. Roth et al. (2010) explore the literature relevant to their study chronologically, departing from pioneering studies on vaccination in low income countries to recent ones carried out in the same context. From the linguistic point of view, Roth et al. (2010) follow standard procedures applying the present perfect tense to describe areas of inquiries: “Numerous studies of measles vaccine have reported significant reductions (…)” (p.1, Roth et al., 2010), and present tenses to refer to current and accepted knowledge in the field of medicine: “This is best documented for standard measles vaccine.”(p1). Past simple tense is also used to describe the methods and findings from relevant studies related to the area of interest: “In Sun’s study examining speaking practice on blogs, EFL students went through a series of stages (…)” (p.44).
Unlike Roth et al. (2010), Sun and Chang (2012) develop Move 1b making reference to consulted literature on blogs in a general – specific manner. Sun and Chang (2012), proceed smoothly from a general definition of blogs, stating their distinct characteristics and benefits, to a more specific definition in pedagogical settings. The authors provide a detailed revision of studies made in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT), providing advantages of including blogs in the foreign language classroom. Similarly to Roth et al. (2010), Sun and Chang (2012) use the present perfect tense to refer to areas of inquiries: “Several studies have highlighted the advantages of integrating blogs in foreign language classrooms to develop writing skills, and present tenses to describe current knowledge.” (p.43).
Move 2: establishing the niche
Establishing the gap is the main objective of Move 2, as it is the link between Move 1 and 3. As Swales and Feak (1994) point out, readers should have an overall idea of what is coming in Move 3. The researcher raises questions as regards previous studies, stating the significance of his research, trying to fill the gap found in the literature review. To accomplish this aim of demonstrating that there is some kind of left-aside issue, Move 2 is introduced with a negative opening. Accordingly, Roth et al. (2010) present Move 2 explaining that “randomized studies of BCG in low income countries have not been carried out” (p.1), and connect Move 2 and Move 3 establishing the gap. Similarly, Sun and Chang (2012) start Move 2 with a negative opening, describing that there is no major research done on the field of blogging in academic writing, especially in EFL: “little, if any, empirical research has been done to examine how interactions in blogs help EFL graduate students develop academic writing knowledge and writer identities.”(p.44). As it has been seen, clear evidence is presented as regards smooth transitions between move 1 and 2 made by researchers when writing papers to communicate their findings.
Move 3: occupying the niche
The last move in introductions aims at outlining purposes, describing the general nature and structure of the paper and / or presenting main findings. Move 3 may comprise two types of phrases: purposive or descriptive statements. While the former establishes the purposes of the study, the latter attempts to describe the general structure of the paper. Roth et al. (2010) make use of descriptive statements in order to present the steps followed in their research studies. Evidence of this can be traced by the use of sequence connectors as firstly and secondly. Furthermore, a clear and concise description of the study is given, stating its design and characteristics, as well as its main objective. Likewise, Sun and Chang (2012) make use of a descriptive statement, referring to the phases they followed to carry out their research, as well as establish their view towards the topic of study: “the current study expands the conceptual scope of blogs and views blogs as a social medium for knowledge and identity construction (…).” (p. 2).
Methods Section
As explained in the Macmillan Dictionary (2012), methods comprise techniques that describe the processes, the individuals involved and the tools for collecting information (Macmillan Dictionary, 2012). On the one hand, Sun and Chang (2012) follow a case study research method in order to analyze inductively seven graduate students. The authors develop the methods section by describing the participants, the procedures followed and the techniques used to collect data. On the other hand, Roth et al. (2010) carry out an experimental design and provide more detailed explanations on the setting, the study design and the data collection procedures and the participants. Although each work has a different outcome, the main characteristics of the methods and procedures that have been followed to arrive to results are clearly depicted and explained, providing a solid framework that improves understanding of the articles.
Conclusion
To bring the paper to a close, relevant components and features of two distinct research papers have been identified and discussed: introduction, literary review and method section. Through comparing and contrasting, concepts and papers’ structure have been examined in context. Although these articles pertain to differing scientific fields, they include the same moves and linguistic features used in academic research papers. Lastly, the interpretation of the articles has offered major insights on the requirements and procedures for writing academic papers effectively.
References
Hengl, T. and Gould, M. (2002). Rules of thumb for writing research articles. Retrieved in April 2012 from: http://www.itc.nl/library/Papers/hengl_rules.pdf
Macmillan Dictionary (2012). Method definition. Retrieved in April 2012, from: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/method
Sun, C. and Chang, J. (2012). Blogging to Learn: Becoming EFL Academic Writers through Collaborative Dialogues. Language Learning and Technology, volume 16 (Number 1), pp. 43-61. Retrieved in April 2012, from: http:/llt.msu.edu/issues/february2012/sunchang.pdf
Roth, A., Stabell Benn, C., Ravn H., Rodrigues A., Lisse I.M., Yazdanbakhsh M., Whittle H., Aaby P. (2010). Effect of Revaccination with BCG in Early Childhood on Mortality: Randomised Trial in Guinea-Bissau. British Medical Journal. DOI: 10.1136.
