The Science Review Article - An Opportune Genre in the Construction of Science

This volume presents the science review article as an opportune genre for introducing rhetorical diversity into scientific communities. First, it discusses the theoretical issues involved in applying the notion of a discourse community to that of an international science discourse community and examines the practical issues faced by writers who must use a language system that is not their mother tongue in order to become active participants.
The review article is argued to be important in shaping the views of scientific discourse communities. Next, based on specialist informant and linguistic findings, review articles are classified into four different types according to their focus : history, status quo, theory/model or issue. Finally, practical suggestions for teaching how to write a review article are offered based on a framework of Moves and Steps, which can be expanded to the teaching of other genres.