CHAPTER 1 Getting Started with Writing a Research Article 1.1 Characteristics of MRAs / 1.2 Deciding on a topic and a problem to be addressed / 1.3 Using databases for references / 1.4 The macrostructure of medical articles / 1.5 Reading titles for prediction / 1.6 Reading abstracts for main ideas / 1.7 Reading the key sentences in the Introduction and Discussion sections / 1.8 Writing a proposal / CHAPTER 2 The Introduction Section 2.1 The elements of an Introduction section / 2.2 Writing the initial sentences to claim centrality / 2.3 Literature reviews / 2.4 Indicating the gap to be filled / 2.5 Expressing the objective/purpose / 2.6 Postulating a hypothesis / 2.7 Introducing the methods and structure of the article / 2.8 Tenses used in the Introduction / 2.9 Signal words and cohesive devices / 2.10 Fixed expressions for centrality, gaps and purposes / 2.11 Reusing language in the Introduction / CHAPTER 3 Intext Citation 3.1 Citation function / 3.2 Citation types / 3.3 Citation methods / 3.4 Citation and synthesizing the sources / 3.5 Citations and reporting verbs / 3.6 Verb tenses in citation / 3.7 Citation and attitude markers / CHAPTER 4 The Methods Section 4.1 The format of a Methods section / 4.2 The moves of the Methods section / 4.3 Study design / 4.4 Data and samples / 4.5 Procedures / 4.6 Study outcomes and measures / 4.7 Research variables / 4.8 Statistical analysis / 4.9 Signal words for the method purposes / 4.10 Citations in the Methods section / 4.11 Active or Passive verbs / 4.12 Selfmention / 4.13 Tenses in the Methods section / CHAPTER 5 The Results Section 5.1 The significance of the Results sections / 5.2 The choice of the data to report / 5.3 The content of a Results section / 5.4 Reporting the results of data collection / 5.5 Locating tables and figures / 5.6 Stating general findings / 5.7 Providing specific evidence / 5.8 Evaluating and interpreting the data / 5.9 The organization of the results / 5.10 Graphical representations / 5.11 Choosing tables and figures / 5.12 Writing table/figure titles and figure legends / 5.13 Verb tenses / 5.14 Attitude markers / 5.15 Fixed expressions used in the Results section / CHAPTER 6 The Discussion Section 6.1 Writing a Discussion section / 6.2 The moves of a Discussion section / 6.3 The role of comparison in the Discussion section / 6.4 Explanation and interpretation / 6.5 Limitations and further research / 6.6 Implications / 6.7 Conclusion / 6.8 Citations in the Discussion section / 6.9 Hedges and boosters / 6.10 Attitude statements / 6.11 Verb tenses in the Discussion section / 6.12 Fixed expressions used in the Discussion and Conclusion / CHAPTER 7 Critical Thinking and Conclusion 7.1 Critical thinking / 7.2 Conclusion, claims and arguments / 7.3 Conclusions and relevance / 7.4 Primary and secondary evidence / 7.5 Statistical evidence and sufficiency / 7.6 Personal experience and observations / 7.7 Secondary evidence / 7.8 Logic reasoning / 7.9 Explanations / CHAPTER 8 The Abstracts and Titles 8.1 Abstracts / 8.2 Verb tenses and selfmention in the Abstract / 8.3 Fixed expression used in the Abstract / 8.4 Research in Context / 8.5 Titles / 8.6 Keywords / 8.7 Contributors, Acknowledgements and others / 8.8 Referencing styles and systems / 8.9 Footnotes, endnotes and supplementary information / CHAPTER 9 Language and Style 9.1 Style of scientific writing / 9.2 The use of nominalization / 9.3 Noun clusters / 9.4 There be and it be Ved that / 9.5 Passive constructions / 9.6 Subordinate structure / 9.7 Modifier phrases / 9.8 Lexical sophistication and variation / 9.9 Sentence variation / 9.10 Paragraphs / 9.11 Using corpus analysis / 9.12 Selfconstructed corpora / CHAPTER 10 Publication Process 10.1 Getting the paper published / 10.2 Understanding referees criteria / 10.3 Choosing an appropriate target journal / 10.4 Understanding the submission guidelines of a journal / 10.5 Writing a cover letter / 10.6 Responding to the editors/peer reviewers / 10.7 Writing a response letter / Appendix 1: Course syllabus Appendix 2: Course schedule (16 weeks, 32 or 64 teaching hours) Appendix 3: Example articles (EAs) References List of Tables Table 1.1 Characteristics of RAs and students theses/dissertations / 002 Table 1.2 The problem to be addressed in my article / 003 Table 1.3 Medical Search Engines / 004 Table 1.4 The content of each section of a research article / 005 Table 1.5 Basic moves of a MRA / 005 Table 1.6 Moves/steps and their corresponding linguistic features / 006 Table 1.7 My SAs General information check / 007 Table 1.8 Titles information / 008 Table 1.9 Title elements in the selected articles / 009 Table 2.1 Threemove schema for article introductions / 016 Table 2.2 Moves of an Introduction section / 016 Table 2.3 Questions to be answered in the Introduction section / 017 Table 2.4 Patterns of centrality claims in the Introduction section / 020 Table 2.5 Critical reading questions / 024 Table 2.6 Signal words for the gap / 028 Table 2.7 Literature review and research gaps / 029 Table 2.8 Literature review information in selected articles / 030 Table 2.9 Tenses used in the Introduction section / 038 Table 2.10 The tenses/verbs used in expressing the objective and methods / 039 Table 2.11 Transitional words in the Introduction / 040 Table 2.12 Classifications for the expression of centrality claims, gaps and purposes / 042 Table 2.13 Check of discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features in the Introduction / 046 Table 3.1 Citations functions in research articles / 047 Table 3.2 Citation functions in the Introduction section / 048 Table 3.3 The frequency of citations (%) in different disciplines based on a corpus of 80 articles / 050 Table 3.4 Citation types / 052 Table 3.5 Citation types (%) in eight disciplines based on a corpus of 80 articles / 053 Table 3.6 Types of citation check / 053 Table 3.7 Citation methods / 054 Table 3.8 The percentage of the citation methods in different disciplines / 061 Table 3.9 Check of citation methods / 061 Table 3.10 Functions of Reporting verbs / 062 Table 3.11 Attitudes of Reporting verbs / 062 Table 3.12 Reporting verbs used in different disciplines (Hyland, 1999) / 063 Table 3.13 Collocation of reporting verbs / 063 Table 3.14 Types of reporting verbs in different sections / 063 Table 3.15 Verb tenses in the literature review citation / 064 Table 3.16 Verb tenses in the subordinate clause of the authorfocused citation / 065 Table 3.17 Reporting verb tenses in the literature review / 066 Table 3.18 Meaning of stance nouns / 067 Table 3.19 Patterns of stance nouns / 067 Table 3.20 Classification of stance or signaling nouns / 067 Table 3.21 Evaluative adjectives and adverbs / 068 Table 3.22 Attitude markers in the articles / 069 Table 3.23 Comprehensive check of citation / 069 Table 4.1 Structure of the Methods section / 072 Table 4.2 Moves of the Methods section / 072 Table 4.3 Elements in the methods section for retrospective and prospective studies. (adapted from Ecarnot et al. 2015: 576) / 073 Table 4.4 The elements of the study design / 079 Table 4.5 Elements of subsection of data and samples / 081 Table 4.6 The content of statistical analysis / 091 Table 4.7 Signal words for the method purposes / 093 Table 4.8 Citation functions in the Methods section / 093 Table 4.9 Citation function check in the Methods section / 094 Table 4.10 Selfmention in different sections / 097 Table 4.11 Semantic reference of “we” in relation to discourse functions (Kuo, 1999: 130) / 097 Table 4.12 The ratio of passive voice and “we” structures / 099 Table 4.13 the ratio of passive voice and “we” structure in research articles / 099 Table 4.14 Verb tenses in the Methods section / 100 Table 4.15 Verb tense check in the Methods section / 101 Table 4.16 Check the discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features in the Methods section. / 101 Table 5.1 Moves of the Results section / 107 Table 5.2 Elements of the subsection of patients / 113 Table 5.3 Table/figure location types / 113 Table 5.4 Patterns of location statements / 114 Table 5.5 Patterns to report the results / 116 Table 5.6 Organization patterns of results / 122 Table 5.7 Element check of Results sections / 124 Table 5.8 Functions of tables and figures / 128 Table 5.9 Functions of different types of figures / 128 Table 5.10 Data presentation information check / 136 Table 5.11 Verb tenses in the Results section / 136 Table 5.12 Reporting verbs, evaluative adjectives and adverbs in the Results sections / 138 Table 5.13 Check of discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features in the Results section / 141 Table 6.1 Discussion section structure check / 143 Table 6.2 Moves of the Discussion section / 144 Table 6.3 Signal words in the comparison / 152 Table 6.4 Explanation elements / 155 Table 6.5 The elements of limitations in the Discussion section / 161 Table 6.6 Content of the Conclusion / 164 Table 6.7 Citation functions in Discussion section / 165 Table 6.8 Citation check in the Discussion section / 168 Table 6.9 hedges and boosters / 168 Table 6.10 Hedges and boosters in academic articles (Hyland, 1998) / 169 Table 6.11 Disciplinary differences (Hyland, 1998) / 169 Table 6.12 Hedges in the Discussion / 169 Table 6.13 Hedges and boosters check in different sections / 172 Table 6.14 Patterns of attitude statements / 173 Table 6.15 Verb tenses and modal auxiliaries used in the Discussion section / 173 Table 6.16 Comprehensive information check of the discussion section / 178 Table 6.17 Check of discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features of the Discussion section / 179 Table 7.1 the premise and conclusion indicators / 183 Table 7.2 Approximate statistically significant d s at. 05 level (Moor and Parker, 2009: 280) / 188 Table 7.3 Approximate error margins for random samples of various sizes (Moor and Parker, 2009: 241) / 189 Table 8.1 Abstract moves / 202 Table 8.2 Verb tenses in the abstracts / 207 Table 8.3 Check of discursive, rhetorical and linguistic features of the Abstract / 212 Table 8.4 Moves of Research in Context / 214 Table 8.5 Elements to be included in a title / 216 Table 8.6 Syntactic patterns of MRA titles / 217 Table 8.7 Referencing systems / 224 Table 9.1 Linguistic features of formal and informal registers / 227 Table 9.2 Four dimensions from the factor analysis of the biology corpus (Biber et al., 2007: 180) / 228 Table 9.3 Features of research writing / 229 Table 9.4 Good and bad writing / 230 Table 9.5 Types of nominalization / 231 Table 9.6 Patterns of nominalization / 232 Table 9.7 Patterns of noun clusters / 234 Table 9.8 Disciplinespecific noun clusters / 237 Table 9.9 Patterns of impersonal structures / 237 Table 9.10 Impersonal style check / 240 Table 9.11 Modifier nouns / 243 Table 9.12 Modifier noun check / 245 Table 9.13 Types of synonyms in academic writing / 245 Table 9.14 Types of words used in different sections / 247 Table 9.15 Purposes of using corpora and concordancing software programs / 253 Table 10.1 Check list for publication / 258 Table 10.2 Frequencies of the language features and metadiscourse markers in IMRD sections / 259 Table 10.3 Verb tenses used in your manuscript / 260 Table 10.4 Evaluation form from journal editors / 260 Table 10.5 Evaluation criteria from referees / 260 Table 10.6 Factors in the choice of potential journals for submission / 262 Table 10.7 Cover letter components / 262 Table 10.8 The reviewers reason for rejection or revision / 264 Table 10.9 Verbs used in revision / 265