A Contrastive Study On Introduction Sections Of Research Articles In English And Chinese Medical Journals

Genre analysis is a means employed by linguists to study discourses, more in research articles(RAs). Swales firstly put forward the CARS(Create A Research Space) model to analyze RAs with a focus on introductions. He holds that CARS model can be applied to study the research article introductions(RAIs) irrespective of disciplines. Following this trend, many scholars started to analyze RAs under the framework of CARS model. Previous researches show the insufficiency of former domestic studies, which mainly focus on a certain discipline or a single language. Contrastive studies are few, let alone contrastive analysis of RAs in the medical field. In the present study, this author tries to explore the use of move-step in the introductions of medical RAs written by the Chinese and the western scholars, and to investigate the potential factors for the results.60 articles published in 2013 and 2014 were randomly chosen from 6 representative English and Chinese medical journals with high impact factor. The introductions of these articles were analyzed preliminarily in both qualitative and quantitative ways under the framework of CARS model. Then contrastive analysis of the descriptive data was conducted via SPSS 17.0.Research findings indicate that the two sets of RAIs basically conform to the CARS model, namely both include three moves of establishing a territory, establishing a niche, occupying a niche, and they are similar in the frequency of using certain steps. The differences found are as follows. 1) The English RAIs have a less frequent use of S1 B of M3, but more frequent use of M1, M2, S2 and S3 of M1, S1 B of M2, S1 A of M3, and cyclic patterns. 2) The steps of ―presenting hypothesis‖ and ―stating the value of the present research‖ occur only in English RAIs. 3) Many more citations are used in the English RAIs, which is consistent with the finding that S3 of M1(reviewing items of previous research) is more frequently used in the English RAIs than in the Chinese ones.On the basis of an integrative discussion on the research results comes the conclusions of the present study. The similarities of the move-step use in medical RAIs written by the Chinese and the western scholars mainly lie in the functions of the respective moves and steps, and the differences are mainly due to the discrepant culture and thought patterns. Besides that, the English RAIs are longer, in which there is repeated use of Move 1 and Move 2, and certain steps are used more frequently.