Impersonality in the research article as revealed by analysis of the transitivity structure

Abstract

This paper reports on the way in which impersonal constructions, encoded in the transitivity structure, are used in experimental research articles (RA), thus allowing writers to strategically distance themselves from the information they present. The study focuses on clusters of features of the transitivity structure that characterise the genre, their relation to the specific goals of the typical sections of the research article, and the presence or distance of the author. The principles of Systemic Functional Linguistics were used to analyse the corpus of 21 experimental research articles in the fields of physical, biological and social sciences. The distribution of material, mental, verbal, relational and existential processes in the different sections of the RA showed a relationship between the characteristic process types and the function of the sections. The analysis revealed a tension between the need to present findings objectively and the need to persuade readers of their validity in the appropriate style.