Traditionally, examiners' reports on theses at the doctoral and Master's level consist of two components: firstly, summative assessment where a judgement is made about whether the thesis has met the standards established by the discipline for the award of the degree, and, secondly, the developmental and formative component, where examiners provide…

This study investigates the ways writers comment on the results of their research. Making claims in the form of Commenting on Results is a key move in discussion of results sections. Using data drawn from published journal articles and master dissertations in Language Teaching, the study investigates how published academics and students writing…

Situated in an MA TESOL program in a large Taiwanese university, this study is a qualitative case study on two advising relationships. Three central issues were examined closely: (a) the nature of the advising relationships; (b) the challenges students encountered in the process of completing their theses; and (c) the advisors and advisee's…

There have been a growing number of discourse studies in recent years on written academic genres produced by students. However, the master's thesis has not received as much attention as the PhD dissertation. This investigation of master's theses from three disciplines, biology, philosophy and linguistics, employs both discourse analysis and…

This study compares rhetorical citation functions in eight high- and eight low-graded master's theses in the field of gender studies, written in English as a second language. The following rhetorical functions of citations are identified: attribution, exemplification, further reference, statement of use, application, evaluation, establishing links…