Analysis of two Research Articles

In order to establish new facts and reach to conclusions about academical topics, researchers use Research Articles (RA) as a tool to communicate their findings. These types of papers are composed by several parts, one of them is the introduction which is needed to call readers’ attention. Introductions in R.A follow the structure of the Create a Research Space model (C.A.R.S) that follow a number of semantic and syntactic features (Swales and Feak, 1994).

The comparison of two RAs from different fields has demonstrated that not all papers follow the structures established in order to be considered as academical works. The introductions should go from the general topic of discussion to the particular one; there are three different moves: in the first one the researcher does a literature review. In the second move the researcher establishes a niche and expands previous knowledge. The third move outlines the purposes of the research ( Swales & Feak, 1994). Another important section in R.A is the method, due to the fact that it describes the work of the researcher, specifying which tool was used for the investigation. The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyse the introduction and method used in a medical R.A and in an educational one to reveal if they follow the academic conventions.

Jeon- Ellis, Debski and Wigglesworth (2005) introduce their paper with the title “introduction” and it is separated in four paragraphs. The first two paragraphs contain the topic and the authors explain the purpose of CALL. In the first sentence of the third paragraph the first move is clearly seen, where in this cycle they state that a number of studies have explored the types of oral communication during the utilization of computers. In the first two paragraphs the authors make use of present tenses to describe current knowledge, at the end of the first paragraph they refer to the specific implementation of ProCALL in past. The same occurs in the third paragraph where the authors refer to previous investigations. The second move is present when the niche is established with a negative opening, in this article Ellis et al. employs: “However, anecdotal evidence also suggests that project-orientation and high levels of motivation to accomplish goals not directly related to language learning may discourage Students from using the target language in the classroom, as does the use of technology in the case of students with poor computer skills” (p.122). The third move is present in the fourth paragraph, the researchers present the aims of the paper with the phrase “the present study investigates […]” (Ellis et al., 2005, p. 122).

The medical RA, on the other hand presents a different organization compared with the educational one. The introduction is written in the present tense in only one paragraph, and it does not have the title introduction as in the first analyzed article. Bowen et al.’s article (2013) refers to a general idea of the problem of obesity, diabetes and dementia, as first move. The second move is not explicit with a negative opening but the authors use the phrase “it is important to understand the potential sequences […]” (Bowen et al., 2013, p. 541), in order to generate a niche. The third move does not contain a semantic feature to indicate the purpose of the paper as in Ellis et al.’s article; however the authors establish the aim of the paper by explaining what they have evaluated and expose their hypothesis “glucose levels are associated with the risk of dementia” (Bowen et al., 2013, p. 541).

As regards the methods implemented, the educational article does not contain the title of “method” but methodology instead, which is not centered at the start of the section. There are subdivisions but it is not mentioned how “materials” were implemented. The mostly used tense in this article is passive voice. The same drawbacks are present in the medical article, with the difference that the section is called “method”. Not all the subdivisions are present as Swales and Feak (1994) suggest, the subsections of the method are only separated in participants but not in materials, neither procedure. Active voice is used in many occasions “we computed”, “we classified”, “we used”, to describe the procedure of the investigation.

The two articles analysed have been written under the C.A.R.S model which conveys certain rules for the introduction. The educational article contains the introduction requirements, whereas the medical article presents them but not in an explicit form with discourse markers. Nevertheless, both articles do not accomplish the structure of the method section; neither of the papers separate the subsections with the corresponding titles. Moreover, the educational article contains the word methodology instead of method. Even though both articles are not well- structured, they are based on a sound application of theory and analysis, thus they are relevant for the academic community.

                                  

References

Ellis, G., Debski,R.,Wigglesworth G. (2005) Oral interaction around computers in the project-oriented CALL classroom. University of Melbourne, retrieved from  http://llt.msu.edu/vol9num3/pdf/jeon.pdf

 Bowen J.,  Craft S.,Crane P., Haneuse S.,  McCormik W., McCurry S.,  Montine T., Larson E., Li G., Kahn S., Zheng H. (2013) Glucose Levels and Risk of Dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine, retrieved from  http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1215740

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks

and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press