So you’re learning to write like a professional researcher?

Although I don’t have much time today, I promised the doctoral students I met with at LSU last Friday that I would share an interesting phrasebank from the folks at the University of Manchester for those learning to write like a researcher in English. Here are some examples for use in the Introduction section of a research article:

• So far, however, there has been little discussion about ……
• However, far too little attention has been paid to ……
• Most studies in X have only been carried out in a small number of areas.
• The research to date has tended to focus on X rather than Y.
• In addition, no research has been found that surveyed …….
• So far this method has only been applied to ……
• Several studies have produced estimates of X (Smith, 2002; Jones, 2003), but there is still insufficient data for …..
• However, there have been no controlled studies which compare differences in ……
• The experimental data are rather controversial, and there is no general agreement about ……
• However, there is no reliable evidence that ……
• X’s analysis does not take account of ….. nor does he examine ……

Any of these phrases could be adapted when you want to “establish a niche” (Move 2). Follow the links below for more on writing research articles.

Stay tuned for more on other sections of the research article.

Related articles

• The genre of research articles (proswrite.com)
• The genre of research articles: Introduction sections (proswrite.com)