A Corpus-based study of the use of Discourse Markers in Literature Review section in PhD Dissertations

Abstract

Discourse markers can have various functions depending on the context in which they are used.
Considering this, in this corpus-based research, we analysed and unveiled quantitatively and
qualitatively the functions of discourse markers used by the PhD students while constructing their
literature review section in PhD Dissertations. It sought to explore the appropriacy of using the
Discourse Markers in crafting the said chapter in disseratations writing. The research was corpusbased as it used the software Antconc to study different categories of Discourse markers by
adopting Bruce Fraser’s taxonomy of Discourse markers. A total of forty-five PhD theses'
literature review sections have been collected into three separate corpora, each comprising fifteen
dissertations. The result of this research revealed that there were four types of Discourse Markers
used by the PhD students based on Bruce Fraser’s theory such as Inferential markers, temporal
markers, elaborative markers and contrastive markers. The findings reveal a consistent use of
discourse markers throughout the theses, indicating an awareness of their importance in structuring
academic discourse. However, a notable observation surfaces, pointing towards a limitation in the
appropriate deployment of discourse markers, particularly in synthesizing the literature. It was
observed that the writers tend to employ a straightforward approach in the literature review section,
wherein they present information by listing authors and summarizing their viewpoints. It also
reflects the overt reliance on certain markers reflecting their linguistic inadequacies and lack of
linguistic repertoire