Academic communication crucially involves readers, or hearers, buying into an argument. The audience has to be hooked, involved and led to a desired conclusion, and this is perhaps no more urgent than in a Three Minute Thesis presentation (3MT). In this competitive environment, doctoral students present their research using only one static slide…

A great deal of research has now established that written texts embody interactions between writers and readers, but few studies have examined the ways that small acts of reformulation and exemplification help contribute to this. Abstraction, theorisation and interpretation need to be woven into a text which makes sense to a particular community…

Despite his considerable influence on the development of ESP and all our professional lives, almost nothing has been written about John Swales' distinctive prose style. Based on a 340,000 word corpus comprising 14 single-authored papers and most chapters from his three main books, this paper sets out to identify the main features of this style.…

Defines "hedging" as linguistic strategies that qualify categorical commitment to express possibility rather than certainty. Suggests that hedging is central to effective argument in scientific writing. Identifies the major forms, functions, and distribution of hedges in a corpus of 26 molecular biology research articles and describes…

Argues that hedging in scientific research writing cannot be fully understood in isolation from social and institutional contexts and suggests a pragmatic framework which reflects this interpretive environment. Hedging is emphasized as a significant communicative resource for academics that confirms the writer's professional persona and assists in…

Argues that hedging devices are a major pragmatic feature of effective scientific writing, and that students of English for special purposes should be taught to recognize and use them in their own work. The article examines the frequency, functions, and realizations of hedges and discusses a range of strategies for familiarizing students with…