Range and variability of reporting verbs in Doctoral Theses of Humanities students

Abstract

This study examined the occurrence, use, and function of reporting verbs in the literature review sections of fifty-two (52) doctoral theses written by students in the Humanities, examined and passed by the University of Ghana within the academic period of 2010 to 2018. The focus was on the literature review sections, because in this section of the thesis, the researcher (as the writer) presents the views of other scholars, presents his/her views, and supports them by citing earlier authors, criticising and laying claims using reporting verbs. Reporting verbs are an important rhetorical device in academic writing, which carry different nuances and are used to effectively communicate the writer’s opinions about issues. The appropriate use of reporting verbs in scholarly research, such as a doctoral thesis, is important for the effective communication of the researcher’s critical views on other scholarly works. Social Constructionism and Systemic Functional Grammar were the theoretical underpinnings that guided this largely qualitative study because the use of reporting verbs in the construction of text is a shared experience, negotiated within a social and cultural setting. Data analysis software, AntConc, was used to determine the frequency of reporting verbs and resultant outcomes plotted. The reporting verbs were categorised using Hyland’s (2002) taxonomy. Analysis reveals that reporting verbs in Discourse Acts category were employed more frequently (58.28%) compared to those in Research Acts (28.7%) and Cognitive Acts (13.02%). Students employed a variety of reporting verbs to achieve various discourse functions. It is recommended that lecturers of academic writing use corpus-based data in teaching reporting verbs. Further, training of faculty is recommended to better assist students in the effective use of reporting verbs in the construction of academic texts. Also, at the onset of their doctoral programmes, students must be given refresher courses in the correct use of citations and reporting verbs to make their writing more persuasive and impactful.