Research Articles: A Further Analysis of Introduction, Literature Review and Methods Sections.

Academic Writing is a skill in the writing world which consists of building abilities to follow standard conventions for the presentation of studies that take place in different fields. Works which belong to several fields of study are known as academic papers, thus, the Research Article (RA) is a kind of academic document which consists of many components (title, abstract, acknowledgements, introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussions, recommendations, references, and appendixes).

The purpose of the present piece of writing is to analyze the Introduction section and the Method section of both, medicine and education, research articles under the constraints set by Swales and Feak’s (1994) descriptions of introductions and methods in RA (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010).

Swales and Feak (1994) outlined that the introduction section is structured in a general – specific manner which follows the Create a Research Space Model (C.A.R.S.). The model organizes introduction into three main moves: move 1, creating a research space; move 2, establishing the present area of study and move 3, describing the aims of the study. It is possible to demonstrate what it has been said about the moves by citing some extracts retrieved from Breast cancer mortality in organized mammography screening in Denmark: comparative study (Jorgensen, Zahl & Gotzsche, 2010) and Thirty-two trends affecting distance education: an informed foundation for strategic planning (Howell, Williams & Lindsay, 2009). For example, the medicine article analyzed accomplishes with some of the requirements of move 1, the use of Present Perfect Tense shows the writer’s purpose to specify that there has been a previous research but there are, however, some relevant aspects which need to be analyzed, that is to say, “(…) the country has had a period of 17 years where only about 20 % of the population has been offered screening (…)” (Jorgensen, Zahl & Gotzsche, 2010). Thus, the writer’s intention to review a previous research seems to be revealed by the use of past tenses as in the case of the following statement “The trials in these reviews were carried out decades ago (…) screening programs could yield a different effect from that in the trials” (Jorgensen et al, 2010).

In order to establish the current area of study (Move 2), the writer has to indicate a gap which is the “need to demonstrate that there is some kind of left – aside area in a field” (Pintos & Crimi, 2010) that requires to be improved. Thus, a negative opening such as the connector “however” is used, for example “However, there are three important concerns about this result.” (Jorgensen et al, 2010) which, at the same time, connects Moves 1 and 3.

Move 3 “makes reference to the present text” (Pintos & Crimi, 2010) which generally begins with expressions like “This / The present study…” (Ditto) “This article provides decision makers with 32 trends…” (Howell, Williams & Lindsay, 2009) however, the medicine article analyzed evidences the purpose of the study in a non – standard pattern, “We hypothesized that…” (Jorgensen, Zahl & Gotzsche, 2010). In accordance with Swales and Feak’s (1994) description of move 3, both articles can be regarded as purposive since several statements seem to state the purpose of the researches. It can be observed that the tenses used in this move in both articles are not fully employed as required in Swales and Feak’s (1994) explanation, however, the use of Present Perfect Tense gives the impression that it is the writer’s intention to anticipate negative results, for example, “A similar reduction should have occurred in Funen…” (Jorgensen et al, 2010).

The Methods section is written “following the principles of process paragraphs” (Pintos & Crimi, 2010) which entails further descriptions of what a researcher did, when a researcher carried out the study, how many people took part in it and so forth. The present section has been analyzed by several researchers as well as writing centers (Swales & Feak, 1994; OWL, 2008) in the academic field which agree that the word Method should be centered at the start of the section, however, only the medicine article fulfills this requirement since the education article starts the section with the word Methodology. Particularly important it is to set the difference between Method and Methodology in research articles (RA). The former stands for the tool used for collecting data whereas the latter means the theory on which a method is founded.

Swales and Feak (1994) stated that the structure of Methods section is divided into subsections: participants, describing the amount of people as well as the place in which the research was placed; materials, illustrating the instruments or special equipment and procedure, depicting the course of action developed in the study. All subsections should begin with the words Participants / Materials / Procedure typed at the left margin however the medicine article analyzed does not fulfill earlier requirements since there are not subheadings before paragraphs. Although subheadings are absent, it can be observed some specific information about each division, for example, the belated extract retrieved from a medical research article demonstrates the writer’s intention to describe how many participants took part in the research and whether it has been a voluntary decision or not, along with the location where the information has been obtained, “Organized mammography screening of women aged 50 – 69 years began on 1 April 1991 in Copenhagen municipality” (Jorgensen, Zahl & Gotzsche, 2010). Feasibly, the tense used for this purpose is Passive voice (present and past) which suggests the composition of pieces of writing under the conventions of academic writing style such as “The mortality data (…) were divided into three age bands.” (Jorgensen et al, 2010).

All in all, the research articles have been analyzed following the guidance of educational papers which have been retrieved from The research article: introduction, literature review and methods sections (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). In accordance with the content writers, many aspects of research articles are shared by several researchers such as the use of verb tenses and organizational issues, however, it is possible to find different features which do not pursue standard conventions in academic writing.

References

Howell, S. L., Williams, P. B., & Lindsay, N. K. (2009) Thirty-two trends affecting distance education: an informed foundation for strategic planning. Retrieved July 14, 2010, from http://scholar.google.com.ar/scholar?q=distance+education+%2B+research+articles&hl=es&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

Jorgensen, K. J., Zahl, P.H., & Gotzsche, P.C. (2010). Breast cancer mortality in organized mammography screening in Denmark: Comparative study. British Medical Journal; 340:c124.

Pintos, V. & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: The Research Article: Introduction, Literature Review and Methods Section. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved April 3, 2010 from: http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=4691

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) (2010). In text citations: the basics. Retrieved May 22, 2010 from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/