universidade federal de santa catarina pós-graduação em letras ...

50Step 3 - Indicating RA structure:This paper is structured as follows...Although the model commented above was found to be a productive one, somevariation must be allowed for these moves in the sense that this is not the only order, buta typical one followed in research article introductions (Swales, 1990:159).Swales’ earlier work (1981) started a tradition in the investigation of structuralproperties of academic texts. The use of moves and steps as categories of analysis andthe focus on microstructural elements that help convey the rhetorical function ofstretches of discourse called attention to the need of understanding the complexity ofacademic written communication.2.3.2 Application of move analysis to other academic genresThe CARS model has been seen as an appropriate approach to the investigation ofacademic genres due to the fact that the model ‘can be readily adapted’ and has‘considerable potential’ for the analysis of other types of academic writing (Blanger,cited in Dudley-Evans, 1986:133). Swales seems to propose a higher-level analysis ofgeneric conventions while avoiding the mere statistical survey of linguistic elements orthe pure discussion of sociological matters in academic communication. At the sametime, he succeeds in combining the examination of superstructural organization andmore localized microstructural features with a reflection on the traditions of academicdiscourse communities. (For instance, knowledge about the scholarship tradition of