| dc.description.abstract | In Brazil, disciplinary areas such as Chemistry, Engineering and Statistics predominantly
publish in English, which implies the need for knowledge about formal and functional
conventions required by the social and discursive practices typical of each area. Although
research article (RA) has been extensively investigated for teaching purposes in recent
decades (SWALES 1990; 2004; MOTTA-ROTH; HENDGES 2010), there is still a need to
investigate scientific discourse and academic writing in specific disciplinary areas. In addition,
there is a lack of research on the Results and Discussion sections of the experimental research
article, since researchers publish to report scientific results and acquire recognition in the field.
This study aims to investigate and describe elements of rhetorical organization and features
of the discourse in the Results and Discussion / Conclusion sections of the experimental
research article of Statistics. For this purpose, this study is based on the theoreticalmethodological
perspective of the Critical Genre Analysis (Motta-Roth 2008, Motta-Roth;
Heberle 2015), which provides theoretical and methodological tools for textual and contextual
analysis. In this study, two representative journals in Statistics and 40 RAs published in English
were analyzed in light of the relevant literature and through consultations with an informant
from the UFSM Statistics undergraduate program. Textual analysis results reveal that the RA
in Statistics does not present the typical organization of experimental papers - IMRD (Swales
1990). After the Introduction section, the information regarding background, methodology and
results are presented in different sections with varied titles, which present a recurrent
sequence. Results are present in two sections named Simulation Studies and Applications,
which start with methodological information. And finally, the Discussion / Conclusion section
presents defined titles. The rhetorical organization of the results sections presents a significant
emphasis on the movements of procedures and description of the simulation and application
scenario since, according to information obtained from informants, the methodology and
presentation of statistical models play a very important role in publications in the area's RA.
The discussion section, which is sometimes referred to as the conclusion, presents a rhetorical
organization similar to that from previous research (Hopkins, Dudley-Evans, 1988, Yang and
Allison, 2003). We hope this study can contribute to increase the awareness about the process
of reading and writing, contributing to the development of EAP teaching materials, both in this
investigated discipline (for the EAP course in Statistics degree at UFSM), and in other disciplinary areas. | |
