Introduction

Research writing for international publication has become a central issue for researchers in different disciplines (Flowerdew, 2005; Kanoksilapatham, 2005, 2007; Swales, 1990, 2004) Research articles (RA) are the key for doctoral graduation and academic promotion; researchers are urged to write in English and publish their works in journals to be scientifically acknowledged in academia. Swale’s (1990) discussion of the move structure of the introduction section in research articles has brought a considerable attention to the structure of academic research writing; researchers are requested to follow the rhetorical patterns determined by the discourse community to develop their main points, arguments, and have a high rate for acceptance in international journals.

Swales (1990, 2004) proposed a model of articles’ Introductions: Creating a Research Space (CARS) after investigating the structure of articles in different fields of science. In the model of 2004, each move consists of several steps, and the main three moves existing are establishing a Territory, Establishing a Niche, and Occupying the Niche. Consequently, many studies took place investigating the move structure of introductions in RA in different scientific fields using the CARS model trying to test its effectiveness in the different fields of science. CARS model (1990, 2004) have been used to analyze the rhetorical structure of RA introductions in many studies ( Posteguillo, 1999; Kanoksilapatham, 2005; Adnan, 2009; Samraj, 2002; Shehzad, 2010). In looking for similar studies in the field of economics, few research papers were found adopting CARS model to investigate the rhetorical move structure of introductions in RA; Swales and Feak (1994) and Paltridge (2001) stressed the importance of examining the genre conventions of each discipline for students, as these vary. Thus,  The present study is an addition to what has been done before; furthermore, the research paper tries to study the different moves existing in introductions of RA written in English by Algerian researchers in the field of economics. The purpose of this study is to answer the research questions:

What are the rhetorical moves in the introductions of RA of economics written in English by Algerian researchers for journal publication?

           Are Algerian researchers following CARS model (swales, 2004) in writing the introduction section of RA in economics?

          This paper aim is to explore the rhetorical moves Algerian researchers in economics use when writing the introduction section of research articles for journal publication, and check whether they are following models that are mostly derived from Anglo-European journal articles. To investigate those questions a corpus of ten (10) RAs written in English and published in Algerian journals of economics was collected; the analysis of the move structure is conducted adopting swales CARS model (2004). The motive behind choosing CARS model for this study is its prevalence, the large number of studies and findings carried in different fields adopting it, and its Robustness. CARS has been described as being “seminal in shaping genre theory in English for specific purpose (ESP)” (Flowerdew, 2005, p. 322) ‘received prominence in the area of ESP’ (Dong & Xue, 2010, p. 37), ‘ground-breaking work has generated studies providing valuable insight” (Kanoksilapatham, 2005, p.270)

1.               Literature Review

2.               1.1. Move Analysis

Genre Analysis using rhetorical move analysis was originally developed by Swales in 1981 to describe the rhetorical organizational patterns of research articles. The goal behind it is to describe the communicative purpose of a text by categorizing the various discourse units within the text according to their communicative purpose or rhetorical moves. A move, thus, refers to a text section that performs a specific communicative function. Each move not only has its communicative purpose but also contributes to the overall communicative purpose of the genre (Biber, 2007). Genre analysis began with the pioneering work of Swales (1981) on the introduction to an academic article. Swales (1981) noticed that there is a regular pattern of moves and steps in a definite order in most of the introductions he investigated. Accordingly, he proposed a model called Creating a Research Space Model (the CARS model) that had a great influence in research and teaching of writing in English for Academic Purposes (Evans, 1998).

1.2. Create-A-Research-Space (CARS) Model

             The model is composed of rhetorical unites (moves and steps) that share the communicative purpose of the text. CARS model (2004) consists of three obligatory moves under which come steps. In the model, we find: Move 1 is ‘Establishing Territory’, and it can be realized via ‘Topic generalization of increasing specificity’. Move 2 ‘Establishing a Niche’ that can be accomplished using three different steps namely: Indicating a gap’, ‘Adding to what is known’ and ‘presenting positive justification’. all the previous strategies can be carried with ‘Possible recycling of increasing specific topics’ whereby the writers may make recurring effort on the previous moves and steps before moving on to act upon Move three which is ‘Presenting the Present Work (Suryani1, Kamaruddin, Hashima et al, 2014). For move three, seven steps are suggested; the first step ‘announcing present research’ is obligatory and can be realized through stating the main purpose of the study descriptively or purposively. All of  Step two, three ,and four ‘Presenting RQ or hypotheses’, ‘Definitional clarifications’ and ‘Summarizing methods’ are optional and less fixed in order. Then, come Step five, six and seven respectively are ‘Announcing principle outcomes’, ‘Stating the value of present research’ and possibly ends with ‘Outlining the structure of the paper’ that are ‘probable in some field but unlikely in others’. Following the tradition of Swales, many studies were conducted.

Figure 01: CARS model (Swales, 2004)

Samraj (2002) analysed research article introductions from two related fields, Wildlife Behavior and Conservation Biology, using Swales' (CARS) model. He offered a modified version of the model. Kanoksilapatham (2005) analysed the move structure of 60 biochemistry research articles. He found two-level rhetorical structure (moves and steps). For the introduction section, three moves were present.  Suryani1, Kamaruddin1, Hashima et al (2014) carried a study  on five research articles of computer science written by Malaysians using  CARS model (Swales, 2004) to explore the rhetorical moves in the introduction section. The paper confirmed the effectiveness of the model in identifying the rhetorical moves in the RA by Malaysian writers. Rahman, Darus, &Amir (2017) analysed a corpus of 20 emails from leading journals in applied linguistics following swales CARS model (2004) to identify the rhetorical moves in the introduction section to be used for pedagogical purposes for novice scholars aiming at publishing their works in applied linguistics. The results showed that the three moves of the model are followed in 18 different structural patterns

In using CARS model to investigate cultural and linguistic variation on the functional level, Vakili &Kashani (2012) carried a contrastive move analysis to investigate Persian and English Research Articles’ Abstract and Introduction Parts. They concluded that contrary to English articles, for which the model was typical, significant variation exists in Persian articles.

Rahimi & Farina (2017) presented a contrastive study of 70 English and Persian RAs; it was a genre analysis of the introduction section of dentistry research articles between English and Persian languages using Swales CARS model (2004). The analysis showed that Move 1 step 1 “claiming centrality”, Move 2 step 1a “counter-claiming” and Move 3.1 “Announcing present research descriptively and/or purposively” are the most frequent moves in English and Persian articles. Moreover, Move 1.1 “Claiming centrality was the starting point of the introductions in both languages.

2. Methodology

2.1. Corpus

Introductions of 10 RA written by the Algerian researchers and published in 08 Algerian journals specialised in economics during 2013-2017 were picked up for analysing communicative moves using CARS model (2004).The choice of the discipline of economics was because previous research into RA introduction sections seems not to have well covered this discipline and the few number of articles published in English in Algerian journals of economy. The articles were chosen randomly from the journals of economy published in 08 different universities of Algeria.

Table01: Description of the corpus

Reference: made by the researcher

2.2. Corpus Analysis

   Kanoksilapatham (2007, p.32) suggested a method to do move analysis that was followed in this study. The intent here is to simply describe common procedures in doing a move analysis. First, in order to identify the move categories for a genre, it is important to get a big-picture understanding the overall rhetorical purpose of the texts in the genre, which is the introduction of the present research. The second step is to look at each part of the introduction and figure the function of each segment or move and evaluate what its local purpose is. This is the most difficult step; Move categories need to be distinctive. Multiple readings and reflections of the texts are needed before clear categories emerge. The third step is to look for any common functional and/or semantic themes represented by the various text segments that have been identified, especially those that are in relative proximity to each other or often occur in approximately the same location in various texts representing the genre. These functional-semantic themes can then be grouped together, reflecting the various steps (or strategies) of a broader move type.

Swales proposed the first CARS (2004) move, Establishing a Territory, as it was clear that research article introductions almost always began with a section that functioned to provide a context for the study being introduced, whether this was done by claiming the centrality of the study (Step 1), and/or by making generalizations about the topic being studied (Step 2), and/or by reviewing items of previous research on the topic (Step 3). Not all research articles introductions have all the steps, but most have at least one of them, serving the function of establishing the territory for the study to follow. When a researcher is ready to segment a particular text into moves, it is best to begin first with a pilot coding, ideally with at least two coders. Coding must be done by hand. Initial analyses are then discussed and fine-tuned until there is agreement on the functional and semantic purposes that are being realized by the text segments, resulting in a protocol of move and step features for the genre, with clearly defined purposes and examples.

3. Results

In the Following sections we seek to answer the research questions:

What are the rhetorical moves used in the introductions of RA of economics written in English by Algerian researchers for journal publication?

3.1. At the Move Level

   After the analysis, we have found that moves one (Establishing a Territory) and three (Presenting the Present Work) occur in all the articles; however, Move two is absent in one article. All of the Introductions have an Establishing a Territory move (i.e. topic generalization of increasing specificity), but just five articles have included citations. Concerning move three, Presenting the Present Work move, all the articles have the first obligatory step (i.e. announcing what the current study is about). The Establishing a Niche move (i.e. indicating a gap in previous studies) was also found in 7 articles.

3.2. At the Step Level

The most common strategy that has been used to realize Move one (Establishing a Territory) was Drawing inferences from previous studies. Authors have discussed or interpreted previous studies to give the readers some background information of the study and to state the value of the field.

[For over a decade, there has been a questioning of classic management in Algerian companies. Because It has been faced with international competition of the choice of market economy, the development of these companies, sustainability, competitiveness that involves……………

[There is not a consensus in growth theory regarding the effect of trade restrictions on economic growth. In exogenous growth models, a trade restriction has no effect on long-run growth…………………………….

[Islamic banking and finance is one of the fastest growing sectors of the global banking industry and has risen to prominence recently ……………………………………….

[Today’s Business world is undergoing tremendous changes at various environmental levels. The contemporary organizations environment has become more complex and diverse…………………………………………..

In establishing a niche move, the most common step used is’ Indicating a gap ‘

[The role and typology of ERRs increasing vulnerability of an EME to contagious currency crisis has not been explicitly investigated except few studies at our knowledge.

[Theoretical research on psychological empowerment has been appearing only recently in scholarly journals…………

[The gravity model basically measures how much distance as a proxy of the cost of transport and GDP affect the level of trade, but it does not explain interdependence among these variables as endogenous.

[Case studies, on the other hand, lack statistical regour and are often exposed to arbitrary case selection………………

As far as the last move of the Introduction section is concerned, announcing present research descriptively and/or purposively strategy is always used to realize this move (i.e.); the authors use this step to present their studies or describe the aims behind carrying them. Moreover, this study has found that  Presenting research questions or hypotheses step is also used by authors in 7 articles and announcing principal outcomes step is used in halfof the total number of articles (5).

[The purpose of this typology is twofold………………

[This paper aims to investigate whether the gravity………

[Following this approach, we use the Sach Warner (1995a) Openness index and other Data…………………………...

[The problem of this study focused on …………………

[Is there effect of the organizational commitment in the improvement…………..?

[The question that guides this research is to know wht is the perception or more precisely (definition-representation) of the concept……………?

[The problematic is divided to the following sub questions:

What the level is of perceived……………?

[This study represents a contribution that focuses on the concept of organizational justices. First,

Second, it clarifies the relations of organizational…………

[The contribution of this paper is to explain the reaction of one variable of the………………

[The results we have obtained shows that …………………

Are Algerian researchers following CARS model (swales, 2004) in writing the introduction section of RA in economics?

The analysis showed that Algerian researchers are following Swales model in writing their research article introductions as the table below shows:

Table 03: Moves and steps’ occurrence in the corpus

Reference: made by the researcher

S: step

Oblig: obligatory

Opt: optional

PISF:probable in some fields , but unlikely in others