DISCOURSE STRUCTURE IN STUDENTS’ SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS

Abstract

This research examined discourse structure composed by college students in their scientific writings, particularly the introduction sections. This research adapts Teun Van Dijk’s notion which is called discourse structure encompassing superstructure and microstructure. The researcher collects 22 scientific writings and uses a qualitative approach. Through the analysis, this research reveals that based on the superstructure analysis, students have no homogeneous format in composing the introduction. Also, at the level of microstructure, it reveals the use of grammatical cohesion such as anaphoric reference, additive, adversative conjunctions, and constant topic theme. Based on the findings, they are more familiar with certain grammatical and lexical cohesion in writing.