Rhetoric of the Scientific Article - Language and the Discourse Community

The scientific article is a subject of great importance to the discourse community. The ability to write an excellent scientific article is the key to success for the scientist-scholar. His advancement and status are almost totally dependent on his ability to publish his research consecutively and continuously in prestigious journals. How did this genre develop? What is the purpose of a scientific article and how does the author go about achieving his aim? How does he create balance between the demand for scientific objectivity, modesty and caution, and the need to present his case in a clear and assertive voice? How does he establish the research area into which he can introduce new arguments? This book provides answers to these and other questions. By means of a linguistic and rhetorical analysis of Hebrew scientific articles, the author reveals the linguistic and rhetorical strategies used by the writers of these articles in order to accomplish their main objective – to ensure that their new conclusions will be accepted by their colleagues as ''scientific fact'', as part of the knowledge base in their respective disciplines. The author describes the process of writing a scientific article from an original perspective that sheds light on its place in the world of research. This book will help enhance awareness of scientific writing and develop a critical approach among the writers of articles and their readers as well. Researchers in the field of linguistics, discourse, rhetoric and argumentation will discover a model for systematic rhetorical analysis of a specific discourse. This book will act as a guide for students and young researchers taking their first steps in scientific writing, and will shed light on the scholar's work and on this special genre.