Textual organisation and construal of interpersonal meanings in different genres of medical texts

Abstract

This thesis investigates thematic organisation and construal of interpersonal evaluative meanings in the Introduction (Beginning) and Discussion (Concluding) sections of two medical genres: medical research articles (RAs) and medical review articles (reviews). Situated within EAP educational context, the study aims to examine variations between medical professionals and PhD candidates in academic writing, thus assisting candidates for successful academic publication. Two sets of corpus data are established, which involve published professional medical papers and students draft medical writings. Linguistic analyses concerning thematic structures and evaluative stances are explored, drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Appraisal theory. The major findings reveal that PhD candidates demonstrate capabilities of handling textual organisation and construction of interpersonal meanings in medical RA genre.However, some problems do arise when they compose their review drafts. The pedagogical implications of this research for the motivation of PhD candidates, for discourse-based writing approach and for raising awareness of organsing textual and interpersonal aspects of meanings in academic writing instruction are considered.These elements may provide useful insights in informing curriculum design for academic writing and publication.