Examining structure in scientific research articles : a study of thematic progression and thematic density
While scholars in the field of writing studies have examined scientific writing from multiple perspectives, interest in its thematic structure has been modest. Recent studies suggest that the themes in scientific writing tend to be anchored on one or a few points of departure. There has also been...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/145269 |
| _version_ | 1826130359278895104 |
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| author | Leong, Alvin Ping Toh, Audrey Lin Lin Chin, Soo Fun |
| author2 | School of Humanities |
| author_facet | School of Humanities Leong, Alvin Ping Toh, Audrey Lin Lin Chin, Soo Fun |
| author_sort | Leong, Alvin Ping |
| collection | NTU |
| description | While scholars in the field of writing studies have examined scientific writing
from multiple perspectives, interest in its thematic structure has been
modest. Recent studies suggest that the themes in scientific writing tend to
be anchored on one or a few points of departure. There has also been an
attempt at quantification using the thematic-density index (TDI), although
this has only been tested on abstracts. In this study, we investigated the
thematic structure and TDIs of 30 research articles in biology. The results
revealed a progressive thematic pattern in the introduction section, followed
by an anchored development in the subsequent sections. The anchoring
was realized by the pervasive use of the first-person pronoun “we.” The
mean TDI was lowest in the introduction section (2.593) and highest in the
results section (7.095). The results were consistent across the articles in the
corpus, underscoring the uniform way in which the articles were thematically
structured, and in turn suggesting a core thematic pattern for scientific
research writing in general. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that
future studies compare the thematic structure of the introduction section
vis-à-vis the other sections, and investigate the possible factors resulting in
such a structure. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:55:11Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/145269 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:55:11Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1452692020-12-16T06:00:44Z Examining structure in scientific research articles : a study of thematic progression and thematic density Leong, Alvin Ping Toh, Audrey Lin Lin Chin, Soo Fun School of Humanities Humanities::Language Theme Grammatical Voice While scholars in the field of writing studies have examined scientific writing from multiple perspectives, interest in its thematic structure has been modest. Recent studies suggest that the themes in scientific writing tend to be anchored on one or a few points of departure. There has also been an attempt at quantification using the thematic-density index (TDI), although this has only been tested on abstracts. In this study, we investigated the thematic structure and TDIs of 30 research articles in biology. The results revealed a progressive thematic pattern in the introduction section, followed by an anchored development in the subsequent sections. The anchoring was realized by the pervasive use of the first-person pronoun “we.” The mean TDI was lowest in the introduction section (2.593) and highest in the results section (7.095). The results were consistent across the articles in the corpus, underscoring the uniform way in which the articles were thematically structured, and in turn suggesting a core thematic pattern for scientific research writing in general. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that future studies compare the thematic structure of the introduction section vis-à-vis the other sections, and investigate the possible factors resulting in such a structure. 2020-12-16T06:00:44Z 2020-12-16T06:00:44Z 2018 Journal Article Leong, A. P., Toh, A. L. L., & Chin, S. F. (2018). Examining structure in scientific research articles : a study of thematic progression and thematic density. Written Communication, 35(3), 286–314. doi:10.1177/0741088318767378 0741-0883 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/145269 10.1177/0741088318767378 3 35 286 314 en Written Communication © 2018 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. This paper was published in Written Communication and is made available with permission of SAGE Publications. |
| spellingShingle | Humanities::Language Theme Grammatical Voice Leong, Alvin Ping Toh, Audrey Lin Lin Chin, Soo Fun Examining structure in scientific research articles : a study of thematic progression and thematic density |
| title | Examining structure in scientific research articles : a study of thematic progression and thematic density |
| title_full | Examining structure in scientific research articles : a study of thematic progression and thematic density |
| title_fullStr | Examining structure in scientific research articles : a study of thematic progression and thematic density |
| title_full_unstemmed | Examining structure in scientific research articles : a study of thematic progression and thematic density |
| title_short | Examining structure in scientific research articles : a study of thematic progression and thematic density |
| title_sort | examining structure in scientific research articles a study of thematic progression and thematic density |
| topic | Humanities::Language Theme Grammatical Voice |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/145269 |
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