The Study On The Body Part Of Literature Review In English Doctoral Thesis For Economics Based On Genre And Thematic Progression Structures

Literature review(LR),the transition part between introduction and the body in academic writing,has become an important criterion to measure individual language organizational competence or one's academic level for its inner cohesion and logic.However,many PhD students(PhDs)even the supervisors belittle the writing of this part(Wang Qi,2010).This study,with a sample of 20 English Doctoral Theses for Economics from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses with 181,002 English words,aims to explore the move structure,distinctions of thematic choices as well as the relationship between genre and thematic progression(TP)in the LR part of English Doctoral Thesis for Economics.Adopting Strauss & Corbin's(1994)text analysis and Freeman's(1998)data analysis,this study applies Kwan's(2006)3-Move model,Halliday's(1994)classification of theme,and Huang Yan's(1985)seven TP patterns as its theoretical model.The major findings of this study are briefly summarized as follows:(1)From macro-structural analysis,there are on the whole three parts in the LR part in English Doctoral Thesis for Economics: Introduction,Body part,and Summary.The Introduction and Summary part are comparatively shorter than the Body part.The former mainly introduces the writing purpose,the structure and the subject of the literature review part,while the latter simply summarizes the main idea or reaffirm the main purpose of the literature review.However,the Body part of the LR text in English Doctoral Thesis for Economics can be further classified into three moves with several steps in each move.That is,The establishment of a territory of one's research(the survey of the non-research-related phenomena or knowledge claims;the survey of the research-related phenomena),The establishment of a research niche(counter-claim;gap-indication;the assertion of confirmative claims about knowledge or research practices surveyed;the assertion of the relevancy of the surveyed claims to one's own research;and the abstraction or synthesis of knowledge claims to establishing a theoretical position or a theoretical framework)and Occupying the niche(research objectives,focuses,research questions or hypothesis;theoretical positions;research design;interpretations of terminology used in the thesis).(2)From micro-structural analysis,all the three moves in the Body part of the LR part mainly apply the Simple Theme and Multiple Theme,as well as the Parallel,Continual,and the Saltatory TP Pattern,while Clausal Theme,Concentrated TP Pattern,Crossing TP Pattern,Juxtaposition TP Pattern,and Divided TP Pattern are rarely applied in this kind of genre.(3)Finally,there are in deed distinctions among genre and thematic choices and thematic progression patterns in each move,based on the fact that the genre of the English Doctoral LR part serves for certain communicative purposes while the application of Theme and TP pattern in each move contributes to the inner cohesion and logic as well as fluency of contents.The use frequency of Simple Theme and Multiple Theme in Move 1 and Move 2 is much more than their frequency in Move 3.And as for the use of Multiple Theme,it mostly presents with the “Textual/Interpersonal +Ideational Theme” form and the application of “Textual + Ideational Theme” form is obviously larger than the use of “Interpersonal + Ideational Theme” form in each move.Besides,Move 2 employs more Continual TP patterns and Move 3 employs more Saltatory TP patterns in contrast with other two moves.This study not only enriches the research methods of genre analysis but also expands the research fields of LR part in academic discourses.It also provides references for the writing of LR part in doctoral thesis as well as enlightenment for ESP(English for Specific Purposes) teaching.