Chemistry journal articles: An interdisciplinary approach to move analysis with pedagogical aims

This article highlights aspects of an interdisciplinary (chemistry-applied linguistics) English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course- and materials-development project. The project was aimed at raising genre awareness among chemistry students and faculty, in addition to improving students' disciplinary reading and writing. As part of the project, full-length chemistry journal articles were analyzed. We describe select results of this analysis and the prominent role played by chemists in the process. Emphasis is placed on the organizational structure of chemistry journal articles, focusing on the Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion (A-IMRDC) sections. Two predominant organizational patterns emerged from our analyses, specifically A-IMR[DC] and A-IM[R(DC)], with brackets signifying sections merged under one major heading. Move-analysis findings are converted into easy-to-interpret instructional tools labeled " move structures akin to flow charts" for two target audiences (chemistry students and faculty). The rhetorical structure of the chemistry journal article is then compared to journal articles published in biochemistry, an overlapping discipline. The article concludes with pedagogical implications and suggestions for ESP professionals engaged in genre analysis.