Reporting Verbs : Semantics and Discourse Functions in Research Papers

1. Reporting Verbs :Semantics and Discourse Functions in Research Papers from 行政院國家科學委員會專題研究計畫成果報告 研究論文中報導動詞之語意與言談功能 Reporting Verbs : Semantics and Discourse Functions in Research Papers 計畫編號：NSC 89-2411-H-009-022 執行期限：89 年8 月1 日至90 年7 月31 日 主持人：郭志華 國立交通大學語言教學與研究中心

2. Top 10 reporting verbs Thirty-five reporting verbs occurred in both the Introduction section and the Discussion and Conclusion section. In terms of frequency, the top 10 reporting verbs were: find, show, see, suggest, report, use, indicate, point (out), note, demonstrate, describe.

3. A further comparison • The verbs, use, point (out), demonstrate, describe, and propose did not appear in the Discussion and Conclusion section. • The verbs, discuss, argue, and confirm did not appear in the Introduction section.

4. Reporting verbs in sentences Source: Hinkel, E. (2003). Teaching academic ESL writing: Practical techniques in vocabulary and grammar. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

5. The author(s) Smith (2002) states that notes mentions comments remarks indicates explains

6. The author + dual reporting verbs Smith (2002) describesNounto show that explainsNounto demonstrate that presentNounto emphasize that Possible Noun: data, information, examples, illustrations, facts, statistics, study results, observation

7. The author + Verbs + Noun + that Smith (2002) presentsthe opinion that holdsthe position advocatesthe view

8. The subject + reporting verbs Smith’s (2002) study shows that proposes emphasizes maintains Smith’s (2002) findings point out The analysis of xxx suggests The investigation of xxx argues denies

9. The subject + Verb + Noun Their results help explainthereasons that/why/how … The results explain theview the position challengethe argument the claim The new findings offer(the) explanations that