'As previous researchers have found…’ dialogic endorsement in social psychology research articles

The present study lies in the research domains of APPRAISAL FRAMEWORK (AF) (Iedema, Feez, and White 1994, Martin 1997, White 1998, Martin 2001), which provides a set of tools for the analysis of ENDORSEMENT, with its variety and gradation of possibilities, from the simple binomial endorsement /dis-endorsment, up to the cline of extra versus intra vocalisation. In RAs ENDORSEMENT is a significant aspect of academic writing as engagement with both content and dialogue in rhetorical situations. Our main purpose is to examine and assess the value and functions of ENDORSEMENT in RAs of Social Psychology. While reporting their research and/or experiments, RA authors seem to assume attitudes which notably vary from (and within) Introductions through Methods and Results up to Discussions – at epistemic as well as evaluative levels. Quotations and references are crucial to scientific discourse, and are chosen not only according to an implied relevance criterion, but also as preceding functional steps of the ongoing research. They are essential to engage the scientific community at a global level into reading and accepting the work as belonging to a reliable tradition of studies. ENDORSEMENT has therefore become a constitutive part of Introductions, and, to a lesser degree, of Conclusions/Discussions as well. We selected a corpus of 40 Research Articles of Social Psychology published in 2006, drawn from leading journals of Social Psychology circulating at global level. We highlighted recurring En-/Non-/Dis-endorsing linguistic features (showing both qualitative and quantitative data), classified and framed according to their specific communicative /rhetoric/negotiating purposes.