Comparative Genre Analysis Of Conclusion Sections Of Chinese And English Research Articles In Social And Natural Sciences

In the past decades, genre analysis has received growing interest of scholars world-wide. Numerous kinds of texts have been investigated ever since the emergence of genre analysis, and among which, research articles have gained the most extensive attention.In descriptions of the research articles within a genre analysis framework, conclusion section has received much less attention than the other sections in RAs, therefore, a genre analysis of conclusions is necessary.The present study is a comparative genre analysis of Chinese and English RA conclusions in Social and Natural Sciences, which aims at exploring the moves of English and Chinese RA conclusions in Social and Natural Sciences, verifying the interdisciplinary similarities and variations within Social and Natural Sciences. In addition, the present study attempts to identify the linguistic realization of each move within a conclusion. Four disciplines are chosen and 240 RA conclusions are collected for the present study; Swales’(1990) and Yang &Allison’s(2003) analytical models are taken for references. The results suggest that both English and Chinese RA conclusions in Social Science appear to be built on three moves(M 1. Summarizing the study, Move 2. Evaluating the study and Move 3. Deduction from the study), which are in line with Yang and Allison’s findings(2003). The analysis of RA conclusions in Natural Science confirms that Swales’ research has provided an exhaustive list for possible moves within a RA conclusion in Natural Science. It is found that English RA conclusions mainly include six moves(Move 1.Background information, Move 2.Statement of results, Move 3.(Un) expected outcome, Move 4. Reference to previous research, Move 7. Deduction and hypothesis and Move 8. Recommendation for the further research), while Chinese RA conclusions in Natural Science consist of four moves(Move 1.Background information, Move 2.Statement of results, Move 7. Deduction and hypothesis and Move 8. Recommendation for the further research)In regards to the interdisciplinary variations and similarities, Applied Linguistics and Management Science are found to share similar moves in both Chinese and English RA conclusions. The moves of conclusions identified in Material Science and Fluid Machinery show obvious differences.As for the linguistic realization of moves, it is found that nouns, verbs, adjectives and conjunctions are frequently adopted in English RA conclusions; yet in Chinese RA conclusions, verbs appear the most frequently.On the basis of the present study, the paper may provide novice authors with some suggestions in writing RA conclusions.