Introduction of Computer Science Research Paper: Divergence from CARS

Abstractfust like scaffolding for any building structure which involves robust connections of various frames and planks by bolts and couplers, the concept of genre provides a framework around which the academicians build their artwork. Create A Research Space Model (CARS) (Swales & Feak 2004) has been discussed by many scholars as a reference framework for writing research papers. Such scholarly endeavors include Computer Science (CS) research papers also but they lack in the provision of a holistic picture. This paper is an attempt to explore various rhetorical and linguistic patterns of this genre with the help of the data retrieved through corpus based techniques so that the missing as well as the isolated elements of the jigsaw could be fixed. The discussions are expanded and the CARS model is emended for the characterization of writing Introduction of research article in the field ofCS.Keywords: Corpus, discourse, genre, research article introduction, computer scienceIntroductionAlthough the concept of genre has existed since Aristotle's Poetics, over the centuries it has been mostly used as a classification system for literary forms. However, researchers have made significant contributions to genre theories in areas such as scientific English (Barber, 1962; Halliday et. al., 1962; Huddieston, 1971; Gopnik, 1972; Selinker et. al., 1972, 1974; Swales, 1971,1981; Bazerman, 1988); legal English (Gustafsson, 1975; Widdowson, 1973; Bhatia, 1982, 1993), medicine (Candlin et. al., (1974, 1976, 1980), economics (Tadros, 1981). One of those most relevant to scientific texts is Swales' (1990) Genre Analysis, which provided researchers with an insight and a new perspective to experiment with the genre theories even in the twenty first century. Thus, the Create a Research Space (CARS) model, presented by Swales (1990), Swales & Feak (1994, 2004), for writing introductions became a popular site of investigation with its application in different disciplines. This model is the widely quoted and researched model for writing research articles and has been applied by students, teachers and researchers working in various disciplines for learning, teaching and research purposes.CARS with reference to Computer Science Research Articles (RAs) have been investigated by many scholars. However, Anthony (1999) included papers from software engineering only and his (2001) study was limited to titles only. Kuo (1999) was interested in looking at personal pronouns to understand author's role in a research paper. Posteguillo (1996) concentrated on teaching abstracts of CS RAs, and his (1999) work was about the overall structure of the research article. Similarly, Shehzad (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011) focused on the individual moves of writing introduction of a CS RA. Although these scholarly endeavors offer significant understanding of CS papers they lack in the provision of a holistic picture. Contrary to these works, the present research focuses on the complete Introduction section which is intensively analyzed with reference to CARS model (Swales, 1990, 2004). The model is explained in the next section. The discussions are expanded and the model is emended for the characterization of Introduction in the genre of research articles in the field of CS.Literature ReviewSince 'qualitative interpretations are necessary to examine the functional bases underlying patterns of linguistic features' (Biber et al, 1998, p. 139) CARS which has tremendously influenced the theories of genre analysis and academic discourse was used along with its pedagogical rendition (Swales & Feak, 1994, 2004) and its discernment (Swales, 2004) as a reference for the qualitative analysis in the present research. Dudley- Evans (2000, p.5) describes CARS as something through which writers of academic discourse not only justify their research but also highlight their contribution to the ongoing research in the target field. …