“IN ORDER TO …….” A FUNCTIONAL STUDY OF MARKED THEME IN METHOD SECTIONS FROM THREE DISCIPLINES
Abstract
The aim of this study is to analyze and compare types and discourse functions of marked theme used in research article method sections in the disciplines of Applied Linguistics, Psychology and Chemistry. The data for this study is 30 research article method sections (10 from each disciplines) published in 2011 to 2014 issues in ISI indexed journals. The corpus is analyzed based on the framework suggested by Ebrahimi (2014). Findings suggested that frequency of occurrence of marked theme types are guided and imposed by the nature of discipline on writers. Findings, in relation to discourse functions of marked theme, highlighted that discourse functions are required by disciplinary nature and rhetorical functions of research article method section. The findings of this study could have implication in teaching writing research article method section to writers from concerned disciplines or disciplines close in nature.
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