Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: a handbook for Supervisors

Application
Ask your student to look at the Discussion chapter in a thesis or disser-
tation in their area of study and make a list of the steps that it goes
through. Which of the three models described above is it closest to? Or
is it a mix of each of these?

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Making claims and hedging in the 
Discussion section
Just as students need to show their position in relation to previous knowledge
when they review and critique previous research (see Chapter 8), they also
need to show their position in relation to the outcomes of their own research.
That is, they need to show both their stance and engagement (Hyland 2005b)
with their findings and the work of other researchers on their topic.
Hyland describes stance as the ways in which writers present themselves
and convey their judgments, opinions and commitments to their own, and
other people’s, research. A writer may either: ‘intrude to stamp their personal
authority onto their arguments, or step back and disguise their involvement’
(Hyland 2005b: 176).
Engagement is the strategies writers use to acknowledge and recognize
the presence of their readers: ‘pulling them along with their argument,
focusing their attention, acknowledging their uncertainties, including
them as discourse participants and guiding them to interpretations’
(Hyland 2005b: 176).
The key ways in which academic writers do this and examples of each of
these are shown in Table 10.1.
Writing Discussions and Conclusions
149
Table 10.1 Stance and engagement strategies
Strategy
Examples
Stance
Hedges
Our results suggest that rapid freeze and thaw rates during artificial
experiments in the laboratory may cause artificial formation of 
embolism.
Boosters
With a few interesting exceptions, we obviously do not see a static 
image as moving.
This seems highly dubious.
Attitude markers
The first clue of this emerged when we noticed a quite
extraordinary result.
Self-mentions
This experience contains ideas derived from reading 
I
have done.
Engagement
Reader pronouns
Although we lack knowledge about a definitive biological function 
for ...
Personal asides
And – as I believe many TESOL professionals will readily 
acknowledge – critical thinking has now begun to make its mark.
Appeals to shared
Of course, we know that the indigenous communities of today 
knowledge
have been reorganized by the Catholic Church.
Directives
It is important to note that these results do indeed warrant the 
view that ...
Questions
Is it, in fact, necessary to choose between nature and nuture?
Source: based on Hyland 2005b

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