A comparison of Thematic options in novice and expert research writing

Abstract

This work compares sentence-initial choices in research papers made by writers with different levels of expertise. To this effect it contrasts the draft of a paper written by a doctoral student in physics, and the published version of the same paper rewritten by an expert physicist. The method of analysis is based on a systemic-functional formulation of Theme taken from Halliday (1985,1994), but which includes grammatical Subject as an obligatory element.Within this modified approach, Theme is divided into an optional Contextual Frame that marks Theme, and an obligatory grammatical Subject (Davies 1988,1997). The analysis shows that the expert makes more effective sentence-initial choices than the novice by making full use of the options offered by Contextual Frames and Subjects to serve epistemic and interpersonal functions.