Schematic Sequence and Moves in MPhil Theses Introductory Chapters

A Genre Analysis

Abstract

Exploration of academic discourse of academic genres has been a focus of attention of many scholars (Paltridge, 2015, Basturkmen, 2014, Swales, 2012, 1990; Hyland, 2009; Shehzad, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011; Bhatia, 2006 and Bunton, 2002) for the last twenty years in native and non-native contexts. However, the academic genres produced in Pakistan have not got the attention of scholars yet. Continuing the international tradition of analyzing genre knowledge, the current study aims at the analysis of MPhil theses’ introduction chapters in the disciplines of Linguistics and Literature produced in Pakistan by applying the genre theory of Swales (1990). At macro level, genre analysis was conducted to explore the rhetorical organization of the introductory chapters qualitatively and quantitatively by adopting CARS (Create A Research Space) model proposed by Swales (2004). Contrary to other CARS based studies, M3M1, M1M3 and M3M3 were found as dominant move sequences with dominant occurrence of Move 3 (228).