Genre analysis and its role in the writing for research process: insights from a study on scientific publication in English

Genre analysis has been a powerful catalyzer in the study of academic and scientific writing in the field of applied linguistics, leading to areas of specialization such as English for academic purposes (EAP) and English for specific purposes (ESPJ). Genre analysis has also dominated the education and training of researchers to be, from graduate students to junior scholars, especially in L2 contexts, as a vehicle to understand the social and contextual dimensions of research writing as means to knowledge construction. In this presentation, I will provide a brief overview of genre analysis is and how it can be applied to scientific publication in English. I will then summarize the results from a recent study that aimed to understand how genre analysis in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course supports doctoral students’ in writing for publication, focusing on how genre analysis seems to provide these junior researchers with tools for thinking about writing and controlling their writing process. Thus, I will argue that genre analysis, and some of the specific tasks adopted in this study, can be a vehicle to scaffold not only awareness of genre characteristics, but also the performance of genre across writing contexts and time. Finally, I will discuss how the results of this study connect with recent trends within genre studies emphasizing the need to promote genre innovation and creativity in scientific writing. This presentation may appeal to MET member who teach and edit scientific and academic writing texts, as well as to authors’ editors who are interested in helping their clients develop academic writing skills.