A Comparative Analysis of the Academic Structure of Research Articles in Medicine and in English Language Teaching

INTRODUCTION

Academic Research Papers (RP) and Research Articles (RA) should follow detailed rules and procedures in order to share relevant information with their corresponding discourse community. Undoubtedly, RP and RA in a scientific community such as medicine, usually follow a given pattern in order to reveal new information. The researchers in charge of these RP / RA present new information in a way that is understood and shared by their community. Thus, by following certain parameters for conveying their findings, they are making sure that their audience will understand the information they have tried to convey.

When analyzing three main components in RP and RA, such as the introduction, the literature review and the methods, there is clear evidence that the researchers have made cautious and conscious decisions as regards structure and the choice of words. Their decisions are used by other members of their community to quickly understand the content and clearly depict new relevant information. These organization conventions allow their audience to better understand, implement and / or adhere to any new trend. This academic way of introducing information is not only relevant, but also highly effective.

Medicine can be seen as the biggest example of academic writing. However, English Language Teaching (ELT) has had its own literature and published papers and articles for many decades now. Since the year 1800 until today, ELT has evolved into a science that has allowed its practitioners to grow in their profession by deeply analyzing the causes and effects of good – and wrong - practices in the classrooms. In order to improve the practice, the ELT professional knows that his / her ideas and experiences should be shared.

Therefore, books, journals, articles, among other forms of written communication, have been written for over two centuries. Even though ELT has not been considered part of the scientific community until lately, the way in which its members behave, allows them to have such status. Swales (1988) described a discourse community as being “the center of a set of ideas” (p.2) and not merely a speech fellowship. As researchers, they have the possibility – and the obligation – to share their findings and ideas to improve the profession, using reliable and shared channels of communication, such as RA and RP.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a comparison between two academic RA, one in the medicine field and the other one in the education field, specifically in ELT. The structure of both papers is analyzed, taking into account three main sections in academic writing: introductions, literature reviews and methods.

METHOD

This paper bases its conclusions on the analysis of the structure of the introductions, literature reviews and methods section in two RA, one in the medicine field: “Effect of Revaccination with BCG in Early Childhood on Mortality: Randomised Trial in Guinea-Bissau” by Edvin Roth et. al (2010), and the ELT article “Blogging to Learn: Becoming EFL Academic Writers Through Collaborative Dialogues” by Sun and Chang (2012). These two articles have been chosen as representative examples of the kind of RA / RP that these two different fields are producing these days.

Introductions are important because writers not only attract the audience attention but also establish a need for the research to be carried out. Introductions follow organizational patterns, which follow the Create a Research Space Model (CARS) (Swales & Feak, 1994, p. 174). Swales (1990) and Swales and Feak (1994) have asserted that writing an introduction is not an easy task but a hard process. These patterns contain moves with a number of semantic and syntactic characteristics that go from the general topic to the particular situation being analyzed. The literature review is included in the introduction section and it is present in move one, where previous research on the topic of discussion is reviewed. As regards the method section, it includes the tools used to collect the necessary data. The participants, materials and the procedure are described in detail.
Following academic standards, there are three moves in the introduction section. In move one, writers establish a research territory reviewing previous research and showing that the research is important. Sun and Chang (2012) have stated that “The effective use of blogs enables knowledge sharing through connecting learners to contexts beyond the classroom. In turn this facilitates the development of individual and critical voices and prompts individual accountability in learning” (Du & Wagner, 2007 as cited in Sun & Chang, 2012, p. 43). This clearly highlights the importance of the research conducted.

In the same article, move two establishes the niche for the research by claiming that “though past literature has shed light on the ways blogs can be used to encourage language learning and learners’ participation in writing practices, little, if any, empirical research has been done to examine how interactions in blogs help EFL graduate students develop academic writing knowledge and writer identities.” (Sun and Chang, 2012. p. 44).

In addition to this, the literature review is present in another paragraph which refers to what other researchers have investigated: “In Sun´s (2009) study examining speaking practice on blogs, EFL students went through a series of stages including conceptualizing, brainstorming, articulation, monitoring and evaluating.” (Sun & Chang, 2012, p.44) and “Noytim´s (2010) study also showed that meaning served as the prominent focus rather than form in the blogging environment.” And once again when it is asserted that “Lee´s (2010) study further indicated that peer feedback on the blogs can prompt additional interaction” (Sun & Chang, 2010, p. 44). The Simple Past tense is tense used to describe each of the previous studies since the writers not only refer to important sources, but also to what has been found.

In the medicine RA, Edvin Roth, et. al have started the introduction with strong emphasis showing the importance of their study: “Routine infants vaccines currently used in low income countries were not tested in randomized trials for their impact on overall child survival” (Edvin Roth, et. al, 2010, p. 1). As regards literature review, although the authors refer to previous research, it is possible to observe that these studies have been included in terms of issues and quantities without detailed reference: “Numerous studies of measles vaccine (. . .)”, “a few of the well-designed studies (. . .)”, several observational studies (. . .)” (Roth et al., 2010, p. 1).

Move two is short and establishes the niche and it generally starts with negative openings. In the medicine RA, Edvin Roth et. al has established that “The past 15 years of research on vaccines in low income countries, however, shown that this assumption is not tenable basis for vaccination policy” (Roth et al., 2010, p. 1). In both RA, the writers have succeeded in demonstrating that there is an important issue that has not been taken into consideration.

As regards move three, the purposes for the study, descriptive or purposive statements may be found. In the education RA, the move three is descriptive since it “examines the way collaborative dialogues in the blogosphere help academically advanced EFL students develop and process academic writing knowledge and negotiate their writer identities” (Sun & Chang, 2012, p. 45). On the contrary, in the medicine RA move three is purposive because the main aim is to “examine whether BCG revaccination would reduce child mortality by 30%” (Edvin Roth et al., 2010, p. 2).

As far as the method section is concerned, in the education RA it is shorter than in the medicine one. It includes only the participants, the procedures and the data analysis. In the medicine RA, more sections are described. Moreover, some graphics and charts are included so as to illustrate the analysis.

CONCLUSION

All in all, both articles provide useful and clear information as regards the way introductions, literature reviews and methods sections are developed and written in an academic setting. Both RA respect academic rules and procedures and fulfill their purpose of either informing, sharing and / or gaining support. Becoming aware of the possibility of comparing a highly academic RA, such as those found in the medicine field, with a RA in the ELT field, demonstrates that ELT has gained force as an academic discipline. Especially noteworthy are the consequences that this conclusion might bring about in the ELT field. Academic writing might be included in TEFL courses, and professionals in the field should continue to do their best to achieve communication with colleagues using academic standards.

References

Roth, A., Benn, C., Ravn, H., Rodrigues, A., Lisse, I., Yazdanbakhsh, M., & Whittle, H., Aaby, P. (2010). Effect of revaccination with BCG in early childhood on mortality: Randomized trial in Guinea-Bissau. Retrieved April 2012 from BMJ 2010;340:c671

doi:10.1136/bmj.c671

Sun, Y. & Chang, Y. (2012). Blogging to learn: becoming EFL academic writers though collaborative dialogues. Retrieved April 2012 from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2012/sunchang.pdf

Swales, J.M. (1988). Discourse Communities, Genres and English as an International Language. Retrieved September 2011, from http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71887/1/j.1467-971X.1988.tb00232.x.pdf

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J.M. & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.