Rhetorical Choices in Introductions of Examination Essays: a Cross-disciplinary Study

Recent studies in academic discourse show that rhetorical choices in student academic writing differ across disciplines. Focusing on the introductions of examination essays, the present study examines the rhetorical choices made by second-year undergraduates in Literature-in-English and Sociology courses in a Ghanaian state university. A combined framework comprising Swales‟ rhetorical move approach and Halliday‟s systemic functional grammar was adopted to investigate a total of 120 examinations essays. The analysis showed three key findings. Firstly, the Sociology introductions differed from the English introductions in their deployment of definition in Move 1. Secondly, the English introductions differed from Sociology ones in the use of verbal processes in Move 2 and the use of personal pronouns, discourse verbs, and purpose expressions in Move 3. Further, both Sociology and English introductions utilized lexical repetition as a principal rhetorical feature. These findings have important implications for the description of undergraduate writing, writing pedagogy at undergraduate level, and future research in the rhetoric of disciplinary discourse.