The Discussion Section in Essence Poem

Abstract

This document presents a very original poem titled 'The Discussion Section in Essence'. The poem has been composed by Ana I. Moreno and is inspired on the results of her study on 'The effect of national/international audience on the rhetorical structure of research article Discussion sections. PRISEAL Conference, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal, 30 Oct-01 Nov 2015.' It attempts to answer the following question in a fun way: ‘If I only had one minute to explain to would-be authors of empirical research articles in English whose L1 is not English what kinds of things to say or to imply in their Discussion (and/or Conclusion) section for publication in an international journal, what would I tell them? How would I do so?’ The funny thing was that her answer came out in verse, and a bit like a parody (see page 6). A recording of the poem is also available. The poem might be relevant to a wide variety of researchers as the disciplinary fields under her study are framed within the life sciences, the healthcare sciences, other natural experimental sciences, and the social sciences. It is dedicated to John Swales, author of famous works on Genre Analysis and Research Genres, who has had a great influence on her teaching and research