Points of focus and position: Intertextual reference in PhD theses

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Abstract

This paper investigates the nature of texts produced for assessment at the highest level of advanced academic literacy: PhD theses. Eight theses from within a single department (Agricultural Botany) at a British university are the subject of study, and the contexts in which these texts were written are investigated through interviews with the supervisors. The notion of a genre of the PhD thesis is problematized and it is argued that a genre-analytic approach can be highly generative. Finally, the ways that the writers manipulate focus and position within their texts is explored through an investigation of citation practices in the theses.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)307-323
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of English for Academic Purposes
Volume4
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2005

Keywords

  • Advanced academic literacy
  • Thesis citation practices
  • position
  • Disciplinary variation
  • english for academic purposes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Linguistics and Language

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