Studying disciplinary corpora to teach the craft of Discussion

Authors

  • Elena Cotos Iowa State University Author
  • Stephanie Link Oklahoma State University Author
  • Sarah Huffman Iowa State University of Science and Technology Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v8i1.27661

Keywords:

genre, research article, move analysis, corpora, writing pedagogy

Abstract

Producing publishable quality research articles is a difficult task for novice scholarly writers. Particularly challenging is writing the Discussion/Conclusion section, which requires taking evaluative and interpretive stances on obtained results and substantiating claims regarding the worth of the scholarly contribution of the article to scientific knowledge. Conforming to the expectations of the target disciplinary community adds another dimension to the challenge. Corpus-based genre analysis can foster postgraduate writing instruction by providing insightful descriptions of rhetorical patterns and variation in disciplinary discourse. This paper introduces a pedagogically-oriented cross-disciplinary model of moves and steps devised through top-down corpus analysis. The model was applied to pedagogical materials and tasks designed to enhance genre and corpus-based teaching of Discussion/ Conclusions with an explicit focus on rhetorical conventions.

Author Biographies

  • Elena Cotos, Iowa State University

    Elena Cotos is Assistant Professor in the English Department and the Director of the Center for Communication Excellence of the Graduate College, Iowa State University.

  • Stephanie Link, Oklahoma State University

    Stephanie Link is Assistant Professor in the English Department, Oklahoma State University.

  • Sarah Huffman, Iowa State University of Science and Technology

    Sarah Huffman is a postdoctoral research associate in the Center for Communication Excellence and the coordinator for the Graduate Peer Mentor Program, Iowa State University.

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Published

2016-05-23

Issue

Section

Research Matters

How to Cite

Cotos, E., Link, S., & Huffman, S. (2016). Studying disciplinary corpora to teach the craft of Discussion. Writing and Pedagogy, 8(1), 33-64. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v8i1.27661