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

Application: summarizing and critiquing previous
research
Ask your student to read, summarize and critique a key study in their
area using the set of questions outlined above.
Adopting a stance towards previous research
As students review and critique previous research, they also need to show
their position, or stance, in relation to this research. They often do this
through their use of evaluative language, or metadiscourse. This is a topic
which Hyland (e.g. 2000, 2004a, 2005a, 2005b; Hyland and Tse 2004) has
discussed in detail. Metadiscourse refers to ‘the linguistic devices writers
employ to shape their arguments to the needs and expectations of their target
readers’ (Hyland 2004a: 134); that is, their attitude and commitment to what
they have read. Hyland lists a set of linguistic strategies that thesis and dis-
sertation writers often use to comment on previous research and involve their
reader in the argument they are making. These are summarized in Table 7.5.
Application
Ask your student to read a study in their area and find examples of
hedges, boosters, attitude markers, engagement markers and self-
mentions. Encourage them to make a list of these as they do their
further reading.

---