Written Communication Jul 2016

Value Arguments in Science Research Articles

Michael Carter North Carolina State University

Abstract

It is in the interest of scholarly journals to publish important research and of researchers to publish in important journals. One key to making the case for the importance of research in a scholarly article is to incorporate value arguments. Yet there has been no rhetorical analysis of value arguments in the literature. In the context of rhetorical situation, stasis theory, and Swales’s linguistic analysis of moves in introductions, this article examines value arguments in introductions of science research articles. Employing a corpus of 60 articles from three science journals, the author analyzes value arguments based on Toulmin’s definition of argument and identifies three classes of value arguments and seven functions of these arguments in introductions. This analysis illuminates the rhetorical construction of value in science articles and provides a foundation for the empirical study of value in scholarship.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2016-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088316653394
Open Access
Closed
Topics
empirical research scientific writing argument

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Lambrecht (2023)
    Working to Resonate: Rhetorical Mapping of Disciplinary Stances about Technolog…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Weech (2022)
    Changing Climate, Changing Terrain: The Stasis Metaphor and the Climate Crisis
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Carter (2021)
    The Construction of Value in Science Research Articles: A Quantitative Study of…
    Written Communication
  4. Cutrufello (2021)
    Scanning as a Rhetorical Activity: Reporting Histories of Ether Experiments in …
    Written Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 8 View in citation network →

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