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The Processes Behind RA Introduction Writing Among Turkish Arts and Science Scholars

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Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes in Higher Education

Part of the book series: English Language Education ((ELED,volume 11))

Abstract

With this small-scale qualitative investigation, we aimed to capture the views of a group of Turkish arts and science scholars’ construction of their RA introductions in their field-specific academic writings. Through our readings of the literature, we identified four main concerns for the semi-structured face-to-face interviews: (1) these writers’ construction process of RA introductions, (2) their descriptions of a specific single-authored RA introduction; (3) how they revised these introductions and the challenges/problems they experienced while revising and (4) while reviewing others’ introductions, what expectations they had and what problems they observed. The semi-structured face-to-face interviews enabled us to see how commonly the CARS model is followed by these authors. Other than the prototypicality of this three-part model, their statements stressed an awareness of the differences in academic conventions in national and international journals as a crucial concern to be considered while shaping the content of their writing.

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Correspondence to Demet Yaylı .

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Appendix: Interview Questions

Appendix: Interview Questions

  1. 1.

    Could you describe how you construct the introductory part of RAs in your field in English language?

  2. 2.

    Could you describe how you construct the introductory part of RAs in your field in Turkish language?

  3. 3.

    What are the similarities and differences?

  4. 4.

    What influences you to structure the RA introduction this way in English language – advice from a mentor or colleagues, other RA’s, reviewers’ comments, literacy brokers such as friends or copyeditors from outside academia?

  5. 5.

    Could you describe the demands of an English-speaking and information-seeking audience from RA introductions in your field? How do these demands influence your writing?

  6. 6.

    Could you describe the process of writing the RA intro–do you compose it after writing the whole article? Do you tend to revise this more than the other sections?

  7. 7.

    Can you compare the difficulty of composing this section to the other sections in a RA?

  8. 8.

    Specially in the first draft of this RA, how did you construct the introductory part?

  9. 9.

    How was the introductory part shaped and reshaped during revisions in response to comments by reviewers and editors in the following drafts? I mean what changes did you make and what was the reason of these changes?

  10. 10.

    What were the challenges you experienced during these revisions?

  11. 11.

    When you are a reviewer for mainstream journals, what are your expectations in RA introductions in your field?

  12. 12.

    What problems do you observe in RA introduction writing of others?

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Yaylı, D., Canagarajah, A.S. (2018). The Processes Behind RA Introduction Writing Among Turkish Arts and Science Scholars. In: Kırkgöz, Y., Dikilitaş, K. (eds) Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes in Higher Education. English Language Education, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70214-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70214-8_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70213-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70214-8

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