Analysis of moves, rhetorical patterns and linguistic features in New Scientist articles

Abstract

     This paper investigated the moves, rhetorical patterns based on Swales' genre analysis, and common linguistic features in health and medical science reports in the New Scientist journal. Twenty-four articles, one from each weekly issue, were randomly selected from the articles with a length between 350 and 600 words published online in New Scientist between July and December 2012. They were analyzed according to the content, categorized and coded with corresponding descriptions. The findings revealed seven obligatory and two optional moves. The key linguistic features common in the articles were modals and voice.