Patterns in Scholarly Writing

Journal Articles and Literature Reviews in the Social Sciences

Summary • Abstract
Move 1: Establishing a Territory

(Topic generalizations of increasing

specificity)

• Introduction Move 2: Establishing a Niche

Context • Literature Review
Indicating a gap
• Claim (describes the
or
gap this research fills)
Adding to what is known

Move 3: Occupying a Niche

Announcing present research

Researcher’s descriptively and/or purposively
• Method
Approach & • Experiment
Techniques • Data Collection

“Objective,” external, established

Subjective, insightful, creating new knowledge

Analysis • Results
• Discussion

- Start Here -
Conclusion
Credits
Left column adapted from April Cunningham, “Academic
Reading Diagram” Handout,
This is sometimes part of the
cunninghamhannon.wordpress.com.
discussion Right column adapted from John Swales, Research Genres:
Explorations and Applications (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2004): 230-2.