Rhetorical Structure in Graduate Academic Writing: A Case Study of Move Analysis in Master’s Thesis Drafts
Keywords:
CARS model, draft-stage writing, EFL graduate students, rhetorical moves, thesis introductionsAbstract
This case study investigates the rhetorical move structures and underlying cognitive-pedagogical drivers in draft-stage master's thesis introductions written by EFL graduate students. Grounded in Swales’ (2004) Create a Research Space (CARS) model, the study analyzed a corpus of 23 unedited Chapter 1 drafts from the English Language Education Graduate Program at Universitas Tadulako, supplemented by semi-structured retrospective interviews with ten participants. Textual analysis revealed a marked structural asymmetry across the draft corpus: Move 1 (Establishing a Territory) and Move 3 (Presenting the Present Work) functioned as mandatory anchors (100%), whereas Move 2 (Establishing a Niche) was severely under-represented, appearing in only 52.2% of the manuscripts. When present, Move 2 relied almost exclusively on brief, unsupported claims of local geographical absence rather than critical synthesis of empirical gaps. Qualitative findings indicated that these structural deviations stemmed from epistemic uncertainty, authority-related anxiety, heavy reliance on institutional thesis templates, and a tendency to treat early drafts as provisional placeholders awaiting supervisory direction. The study highlights the need for explicit move-based writing pedagogy and proactive supervisory feedback to help novice EFL graduate writers transition from descriptive summary to persuasive academic argumentation.
Downloads
References
Atai, M. R., & Habibi, P. (2020). Genre analysis of master’s thesis acknowledgements: A cross-disciplinary study. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 12(4), 785–798. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-04-2019-0089
Basturkmen, H. (2012). Review of research into the correspondence between L2 English speakers’ stated beliefs and classroom practices. System, 40(2), 282–295.
Bhatia, V. K. (2014). Worlds of written discourse: A genre-based view. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589–597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806
Casanave, C. P. (2014). Before the dissertation: A defense of the curriculum vitae. University of Michigan Press.
Casanave, C. P. (2014). Before the dissertation: A defense of the curriculum vitae. University of Michigan Press.
Feak, C. B., & Swales, J. M. (2011). Creating contexts: Writing introductions across genres. University of Michigan Press.
Flowerdew, J. (2015). John Swales’s Genre Analysis: 25 years on. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 19, 1–4.
Hu, G., & Liu, Y. (2022). Rhetorical structures of master's thesis introductions: A comparative study of English and Chinese texts. English for Specific Purposes, 66, 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2021.12.002
Hyland, K. (2019). Second language writing (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Johns, A. M. (2019). Text, role and context: Developing academic literacies. Cambridge University Press.
Kanoksilapatham, B. (2015). Structural movements and rhetorical strategies in civil engineering research articles. Asian ESP Journal, 11(2), 33–56.
Lim, J. M. H. (2019). Presenting research results in management study: A genre-based analysis of results sections. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 40, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2019.04.004
Moreno, A. I., & Swales, J. M. (2018). Strengthening move analysis methodology: Towards an empirical baseline. English for Specific Purposes, 50, 40–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2017.11.006
Morton, J., Storch, N., & Thompson, C. (2015). Researching writing in higher education. In Routledge Handbook of English for Academic Purposes (pp. 235–248). Routledge.
Mukminin, A., & Habibi, A. (2021). Qualitative research instruments in language education: Design and validation. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 312–324.
Omidpanah, F., Bahrani, C., & Nejad, M. (2021). Exploring rhetorical structures in draft vs. published academic writing: A corpus-driven approach. System, 98, 102488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102488
Paltridge, B. (2020). The discourse of peer review: Reviewing submissions to academic journals. Palgrave Macmillan.
Salager-Meyer, F., Alcaraz Ariza, M. A., & Pabón, B. (2021). Academic writing in transition: Rhetorical moves in draft master's dissertations. Ibérica, 41, 115–138.
Samraj, B. (2008). A discourse analysis of master’s theses across disciplines. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7(1), 55–67.
Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. M. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge University Press.
Tankó, G. (2020). The rhetorical structure of literature reviews in master's theses. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 44, 100832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2019.100832
Tardy, C. M. (2019). Building genre knowledge. Parlor Press.
Xing, P., Wang, L., & Li, C. (2023). Unpacking the draft-to-publication revision strategies of EFL graduate students: A rhetorical move perspective. Assessing Writing, 55, 100690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2022.100690
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.
