Generic Study of the High Impact Factor Articles of Social Sciences

Abstract

The conclusion section of the article is an essential part as it is the last chance and to conclude the article. But this very essential part of the article was usually considered a part of the Discussion section of a research article, the one exception being Yang and Allison's (2003) study of the final section where they found conclusion as part-genre. For current research, the researcher randomly chose 15 high impact factor research articles across three different disciplines from social sciences. All the conclusion sections were selected from high impact factor research articles, published between 2008 and 2013. A Four-move model adapted from Yang and Allison (2003) and Bunton (2005) models are used to analyze the selected corpus for the current research. The analysis shows that there is an agreement between both corpora in classifying the moves as obligatory or optional. While Move 1, summarizing, and Move 2, evaluating, are obligatory, Move 4, future research is conventional; however, there is a difference in Move 3. M3, practical implications are optional in social sciences research articles. However, there are also several variations between the conclusion section in the corpus and the suggested model of analysis. The study concludes that these variations between the conclusion and the proposed model indicate that writers should choose the moves that best serve their purposes rather than including all the moves.