rhetorical moves and thematic progression patterns in the introduction and discussion sections of dentistry research articles: analyzing the editing effects

The majority of the world's most prestigious academic journals are written in english, and reviewers for these publications appear to be getting stricter about the authors’ adherence to language and stylistic conventions, leading them to reject many submissions on such grounds. the current study aimed to identify the problem areas in non-native (nns) authors’ manuscripts, and the effects that editing had on those areas through conducting a scientific analysis of the introduction and discussion sections of research articles (ras) produced in english by iranian nns academicians. to ensure a thorough analysis, we took a two-dimensional approach and looked at both rhetorical and thematic structures, describing how iranian authors' writings fit within or deviated from the introduction and discussion sections of ras, and pointing out how the editing process affected the points at issue. for this purpose, we selected a corpus of 20 ras and their unedited versions, analyzing their structures in terms of the two models, and comparing them to the products of ns writers; this revealed areas of divergence in our data and determined the extent to which the problems had been addressed during the editing process. in terms of rhetorical maneuvers in discussion sections, the manuscripts of iranian authors had significant deficiencies, and the editing had done little to enhance the quality of these manuscripts. it was also found that the information structure and thematic choices were improved slightly, with the editing process having noticeable positive impacts on the introduction sections. the outcomes of this research may have direct implications for esp programs on academic writing instruction, suggesting to program designers and instructors which areas need additional attention. the findings may be valuable for university editors and future training programs for editors as well.