Igsr It Capstone Proposal (Repaired)

Document Code: DCAVRKMI-F-IGSRICP
MANUEL S. ENVERGA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

Lucena City Document Title: IGSR IT Capstone Proposal
An Autonomous University Page No.: Page 1 of 52
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DR. CESAR A. VILLARIBA RESEARCH AND Effectivity Date: August 2019
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE Prepared by: DCAVRKMI
Reviewed by: QMR
QUALITY FORM Approved by: President
IGSR PROPOSAL
I. Research Title: Transitivity, Modality, and Voice Analysis in Master’s Thesis Related
Literature and Studies
II. Name of Researcher: : Maria Carmela Rachel G. Esclanda

Degree : Doctor of Philosophy
Specialization : English
Researcher's Contact Details : 09615750113
Name of Research Adviser : Felix M. Mercado, PhD
III. Manuscript Content

1. Abstract (maximum of 250 words)
The broad range of frameworks in writing introduction resulted to the idea
of creating a framework in writing Related Literature and Studies. Using CARS
model developed by John Swales is a good way to introduce your research
and has been studied extensively in research courses. Most researchers have
recently turned to the CARS model in writing introduction as it is an organized
way in creating the “niche.” Moreover, even if there is already a pattern in
writing introduction; it is also necessary to have a pattern in writing other parts
of the research. In this case, it is the chapter two where related literature and
studies can be found. This can be a significant contribution not only in the
academe but also in other fields requiring research writing. Writers of research
articles are expected to present research information in a structured manner
by following a certain rhetorical pattern determined by the discourse
community (Suryani et al., 2013). On the process of producing a research

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article, it is understandably a complex task. It is even more difficult if one is
writing in his or her second or third language. Even if grammatical mistakes
can be ironed out by a language editor, researchers are on their own when it
comes to rhetorical presentation of their research ideas. Likewise, the present
study will come up with a rhetorical pattern which will be appropriate
particularly in related literature and studies. In conclusion, the main aim of
transitivity is to connect the semantic and grammatical dots to extract the
meaning through language stylistically. To sum up, the active voice is used
more frequently because it is straightforward and clear and because
researchers avoid the passive voice. The passive voice is used to shed light
on the receiver of the action rather than the doer of the action in the sentence,
while the active voice is used to shed light on the doer of the action rather than
the receiver (Folse, 2009).
Keywords: active voice, degrees of certainty, degrees of strength, deontic modality,
epistemic modality, modality, passive voice and transitivity
2. Introduction
2.1. Project Context
The effect of the CARS model developed by John Swales is a good way to
introduce your research and has been studied extensively in recent years. Of
many rhetorical patterns, it has been the most used in the academe
specifically in writing introduction. Many writers have recently turned to the

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CARS model in writing introduction. A large body of data concerning the
rhetorical pattern in writing introduction involves using the CARS model has
been reported. In In recent years, there have been many papers describing the
moves in writing researches. Recently, there has been wide interest in
analyzing discourse in different fields of specialization.
The effect of using this model have received considerable attention
through the years. The general feature of the model establishes a territory and
niche as well as occupying the niche. It is a layout in creating a research
space just like the “lead” in a news article. A standard procedure for writing
research introduction has been used. It is commonly suggested that CARS
model must be used in writing research in the academe.
John Swales (1994 as cited in Uymaz, 2017) states that “even before you
write, you need to consider your audience… To be successful in your writing
task, you need to have an understanding of your audience’s expectations…”
Particularly, the researchers intended to come out with something new for their
work to be acknowledged. However, this is not an easy task that’s why a lot of
people have difficulty in writing a comprehensive research.
By outlining steps and thumb rules to keep in mind, we present an
overview of different types of review articles and explain how future
researchers could potentially find them useful (Paul and Criado, 2020).
In a particular field of research, literature review identifies, evaluates and
synthesises the relevant writings and compositions. It enlightens how

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proficiency has progress in a field of study, accentuating what is already
concluded, what ideas are generally accepted, what have been materialized
and what is the present state. Thus, a research review points out research gap
and express how a certain research project face these gaps.
According to Randolph (2009) literature review for a master's thesis or
capstone is not usually as exhaustive or comprehensive as the literature
review for a doctoral dissertation. However, the literature review in a master’s
thesis paper needs to be a substantive part of the paper. The main point in
making a review is ensuring that the literature is related to the research
question(s) in the thesis. This is done to find out what is being left out.
A wide range of communicative options must be adopted by the writers in
order to establish claims while at the same time preempting any refutations
that the readers may be inclined to present in response to the information
presented (Afzaal et al., 2020). In essence, the reader take part an active role
on how writers develop the style of writing. Also, it is also significant to
determine specific frequent patterns of communicative discourse for writers to
establish more credibility for their claims.
Kaminstein (2017) presents a step-by-step guide to aid the master's
student in writing, and assist faculty in evaluating, a well-researched literature
review. This considers some inner obstacles that graduate students encounter.
Thus it emphasizes on how to write a literature review that is “focused and
integrative, and that employs critical thinking skills.”

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However, this vies is challenged by recent data showing there is no
particular model in writing related literature and studies. A considerable
amount of researches has been published pertaining to the writing of
introduction but little research pertains to the related literature and studies.
However, it is not clear whether the use of CARS model can be modified to
writing related literature and studies. In spiet of these early observations, the
mechanism in writing related literature and studies remained unclear due to
different step by step guide published on journals which has no particular
model. Hence, additional studies of designing a model in writing related
literature and studies are needed. It is of interest to compare to the most used
model in writing research which is the CARS model.
The aim of this paper is to analyze related literature and studies of
Masters’ Theses. This dissertation proposes a formal procedure for writing
related literature and studies. This approach provides effective ways in writing
related literature and studies through a model. The remainder of this paper is
divided into five chapters.
2.2. Purpose and Description
The function of the study is to design a framework which can be a
rhetorical pattern in writing review of related literature and studies. Identifying
the moves in writing related literature and studies through analyzing transitivity,
modality and voice will enable researchers to write comprehensively following

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specific a model which will be the output of the study. It will design a model in
writing related literature and studies which is relevant to the CARS model in
writing research introduction.
2.3. Main and Specific Objectives
The study aims to analyze transitivity, modality and voice of related
literature and studies in masters’ theses. Specifically, it sought to answer the
following questions: (1) what grammatical and semantic prominence of
Transitivity is shown related literature and studies of masters’ theses; (2) What
are the classifications of modals in related literature and studies of masters’
theses in terms of: (2.1) deontic modality; and (2.2) epistemic modality; (3)
What are the voice used in related literature and studies of masters’ theses. (4)
What rhetorical model is suggested in writing related literature and studies in
masters’ theses.
In order to reach these objects, a qualitative analysis of masters’ theses
related literature and studies. In written discourse, transitivity, modality and
voice are the indicators that needs to be identified and analyzed. It makes use
of armchair theorizing providing new developments in a certain field that does
not involve the collection of new information. It makes use of data that is
present. A careful analysis or synthesis of existent content will be done through
the use of existing frameworks which can be developed.
2.4. Significance of the research

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The study is focused on the Transitivity, Modality, and Voice Analysis in
Masters’ Thesis Related Literature and Studies. The result of the study must
be beneficial to several sectors by providing a model in writing related
literature and studies that will serve as a guide in writing related literature and
studies.
Among the persons who were directly and indirectly benefited are the
following:
The study may help determine the transitivity, commonly used modality
and the voice present in research for researchers. Researchers may use the
result to guide themselves on their writing of related literature and studies;
however, with enough consciousness on rhetorical patterns present in
academic text.
Additionally, to help in teaching the step by step process in writing related
literature and studies commonly followed by writers and how to develop writing
comprehensively. It would help the research teachers establish connection
with the students through showing authentic examples in presenting ideas
visually. These will help teachers see interconnection of ideas to whether is
coherent.
Improve effective evaluation through evaluating masters’ theses to
improve research structure for the use of research advisers. This will be
beneficial in giving advice to current and future researcher. The output would
enhance personal and professional traits to become an effective adviser.

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Thus, the study will provide specific use of language as English for
Academic Professional Purposes (EAPP) which is a part of the curriculum.
Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) can use the study as reference on
strengthening the culture of research in the academe. This study will provide a
guide on demonstrating the usefulness of rhetorical patterns in research
writing of related literature and studies.
2.5. Scope and Limitation
This study is limited to the analysis of transitivity, modality and voice of
masters’ theses related literature and studies. The content basically focused
on the corpora of academic text. This includes the chapter 2 specifically the
related literature and studies. Transitivity, modality and voice were analyzed
focusing on functions and structures. Transitivity will be analyzed according to
Halliday’s Transitivity Model. Modality will be analyzed in terms of deontic
modalities (Saeed, 2003) and epistemic modalities (Kreidler, 1998) which the
researcher aimed to determine the degrees of strength of deontic modalities in
terms of Cruse (2004) and degrees of probability of epistemic modalities in
terms of Halliday (1994); and Eggins (2004). The abovementioned modalities
were analyzed using textual analysis method that served as the process. The
voice analysis mainly focuses on the rhetorical structure, i.e. the constituent
Moves/Sub-Moves. In addition, Verb choices and the voice and tense of the
verbs in Move 2 and Move 4 respectively were examined. The corpus will
come from research in Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation Inc.

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3. Theoretical Framework
The study deals with of transitivity, modality and voice of masters’ theses
related literature and studies. It adopts Halliday’s (1984) Transitivity Theory
where linguistic wording and the socio culturally constructed meaning meet in
texts attempts to demonstrate that underlying ideology in the texts should be
probed beyond the linguistic surface (Haratyan, 2011). Halliday’s SFL, language
as a social phenomenon is functional. For example, it is concerned with the
mechanism of text structure, function and meaning of language. Also, it begins
an analysis of language in social context where a particular lexico-grammatical
choice is constructed under the influence of the social and cultural context. In
traditional grammar, transitivity was developed as the concept of transitive or
intransitive verb (Halliday,1976) whether the verb takes an object or not, but in
SFL it functions to link grammar to the meta functions. However, in Halliday’s
terms, transitivity as a major component in experiential function of the clause
deals with the “transmission of ideas “representing ‘processes’ or ‘experiences’:
actions, events, processes of consciousness and relations.”
According to Haratyan (2011), transitivity with inter-related options to
represent different types of process or experience investigated from above,
below, and around consists of process, participant with different labels such as
Actor, Goal; Senser, Phenomenon; Carrier, Attribute; and circumstance including
Cause, Location, Manner, Means and Instrument.

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The purpose in using transitivity theory is to analyze existing patterns
present in related literature and studies of master’s thesis. It is hoped that this will
explain particular patterns observed that are noteworthy. Transitivity is a
semantic concept that examines how meaning is represented in the clause. By
definition, transitivity in SFG is a process-centered system to encode and decode
the experience and knowledge of human beings via lexicogrammar (Zheng et al.,
2014).
Table 1. Process types, their meaning and characteristics participants defined by
Halliday (2008)
PROCESS TYPE CATEGORY PARTICIPANTS, PARTICIPANTS

MEANING DIRECTLY OBLIQUELY
INVOLVED INVOLVED
Material: “doing” Actor, Goal Recipient, Client,
action “doing” Scope, Initiator,
event “happening” Attribute
behavioral “behaving” Behaver Behavior
Mental: “sensing” Senser,
Perception “seeing” Phenomenon
Cognition “thinking”
Desideration “wanting”
Emotion “feeling”
verbal “saying” Sayer, Target Receiver, Verbiage
Relational: “being”
Attribution “attributing” Carrier, Attributer Attributer Benefi
identification “identifying” Identified, Identifier,
Token, Value
existential “existing” Existent
Halliday (2008) has set some principal criteria for distinguishing the
process types and some examples of the verbs by Halliday (2008) and
Thompson (2000) in identifying the types of processes listed.

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Material Process
Classified into intentional or spontaneous performance of an animate or
inanimate, material processes, externalized and concrete embody an action verb
of doing or happening, a doer is labeled as Actor and optional Goal, affected by
the process and circumstance that provides details of the verb in terms of place,
time, manner, condition, etc. The processes performed by an animate or
inanimate Actor are respectively called Action and Event processes. Action
process can be classified into Intention and Supervention processes if
respectively performed intentionally or unintentionally. Material processes can be
viewed from:
'from above', It construes action, activities, and events.
'from below', It refers to directedness and benefaction, it consists of
Process + Actor + Goal (+Recipient).
'from around', It accompanies the system of projection to report a speech
or thought.
Mental Process
Classified into three categories of cognition, perception and affection,
mental processes, internalized and consciousness type, are concerned with
participants labelled as Sensor and Phenomenon. Mental processes can be
viewed from:
'from above', It construes perception, cognition and affection.
'from below', It includes Process + Sensor + Phenomenon.

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'from around', It manifests the content of consciousness such as a
thought.
Relational Process:
Classified into intensive, attributive, identifying, circumstantial, and
possessive, Relational processes are concerned with the processes of
description regarding the abstract relations. Irreversible attributive process
assigns a quality, or adjective to a participant titled as Carrier realized by a noun
or a nominal phrase. Reversible Identifying process consists of two nominal
phrases as participants, a Token holder and a Value meaning, referent, and
status (Halliday,1985: 115) that can be turned into passive voice.
Halliday’s Attitudinal Epithets for emotive terms whether objective or
subjective, positive or negative at the rank of adjectives, adverbs and nouns in
interpersonal function indicate the speaker’s attitudinal approach towards an
entity or event when arousing a particular image and effect in a narrative
discourse and context such as lovely, attractive, fantastic, successful, beautifully,
ruefully, superficially, poverty, illness, success, or meaningless (Halliday 1994).
Verbal Process
A verbal process of direct or indirect report, standing on the border of
mental and relational processes, relates “any kind of symbolic exchange of
meaning’ (Halliday, 1985:129) or the ideas in human consciousness with their
linguistic representation of Sayer, the addressee labelled as Target, and
Verbiage.
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Behavioral Process
The behavioral Process standing between material and mental processes
relate the physiological and psychological behaviors such as ‘breathing;
coughing; smiling; dreaming; and staring’ (Halliday, 1985).
Existential process
These processes are processes of existing with a there and to be with no
representational function. An Existent can be an entity, event or action.
Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) elaborated that “the get-
passive construction, as with ordinary be-passive, presents a process or event as
undergone by the subject.” They go on to give an example of a get-passive
sentence: “My car got broken into this weekend, and the crooks stole 1,500 of
stuff” (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999). They go on to explain the have-
passive, which can also function as a be-passive. It is referred to as “the
experiential have to distinguish it from the causative have.” (Celce-Murcia &
Larsen-Freeman,1999). The example they give is shown below in Figure __.
They also mentioned that the have-passive is more complicated than the be-
passive and the get-passive because the havepassive’s pattern includes a noun
phrase that intervenes between the auxiliary have and the past participle.
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Mary had her purse snatched.
Passive (experiential - The purse Causative (Mary arranged for someone

snatching happened to her. It was to snatch her purse perhaps to file a
beyond her control.) fraudulent insurance claim.)
Figure 1. The difference between an experiential have (passive) and a
causative have (Celce-Murcia & Larsen Freeman, 1999).
Moreb (2016) revealed that passive voice occurred in academic textbooks
with an overall frequency of 7.06% (of all conjugated verbs). Thompson et al.
(2013) stated that
“It has also been found that passives are more likely in written as opposed
to spoken language. Chafe (1982) noted that passives are as much as five times
more common in the written modality. Likewise, in a study utilizing the BNC,
Brown, Switch Board, and Wall Street Journal corpora, Roland (2007) found that
passives were less common in spoken data. Biber (1993) noted that passives are
much more common in scientific writing than in spoken conversation or fictional
writing” (as cited in Thompson et al., 2013).

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3.1. Review of Related Literature
According to Durak et al. (2017), it was seen that the most common research
design was quantitative design and that the least common one was mixed design.
In the last decade, quantitative studies were favored more despite the increase in
the number of qualitative studies the trends were examined. In connection with the
present study, it is expected that the corpus of the study will focus more on
quantitative research. On the other hand, if there is a shift in the trend for the past
few years this might differ from the present study.
Most of the studies used the experimental research design with regard to
social skills training. It was concluded that there were less studies in which both
quantitative and qualitative ones were conducted together (Tezer et al., 2019).
Furthermore, the present study focuses on the analysis of the language of
academic research particularly in related literature and studies. Thus, similarities
can be noted through frequency which can be considered as quantitative. However,
it is also qualitative in terms of analyzing qualitative data viewed as the related
literature and studies of Master’s Thesis. The exploratory sequential mixed methods
design is characterized by an initial qualitative phase of data collection and analysis,
followed by a phase of quantitative data collection and analysis, with a final phase
of integration or linking of data from the two separate strands of data (Berman,
2017).
Previous genre studies have only referred to the use of literature in one move
in discussions, “commenting on results.” However, the results of this study show

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that intertextual links are used for a variety of rhetorical functions throughout
discussions in master's theses and journal articles. This article concludes with a
discussion of implications from this study for the EAP classroom to facilitate the
development of advanced second language writers (Samraj, 2013). Similarly, the
participants of the present study are also considered as advance second language
writers simply because of their educational attainment. Thus, it must be noted that
writers may use various rhetorical functions and not sticking up with the basics.
There was also a significant difference in the move frequency of the discussion
sub-genre of MA theses written by Iranian EFL students and the discussion sub-
genre of journal papers published in internationally recognized applied-linguistic
journals (Nodoushan, 2012). Necessarily, conventional, and optional moves were
also identified and concluded that academic writing teachers must concentrate on
move structure. Thus, it will enable students to be move-sensitive.
Manar et al (2020) found out that in the material processes of ISoRA previous
studies and previous researchers instead of current studies and current
researchers are more frequently employed as actors. It is based in their analysis
using Halliday’s experiential meaning framework using tables. On the contrary, it is
similar to the study as in analyses transitivity of Theses and Journal Research
Articles. Particularly, they analyzed the Actor and Goal Representation in the
Transitivity System.
Nunes and Orfanò (2020) shows that CorIFA verbs realizing mental processes
(observe, verify, assume, conclude, notice and evaluate) ae more prevalent than in
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the English Lingua Franca corpus. Whereas, the EAP brazillian students form their
abstracts through using passive structures and combines it with verbs in a less
active position about a certain phenomenon which is under investigation. Transitivity
in passive-that clause is analyzed. In the corpus analyzed, verbs in relational
domain are used frequently (Show, demonstrate and reveal). Argument organization
is formed through making associations between different facts related to the
research. Similarly, it is also the same focus of the present research which will tend
to observed the rhetorical patterns mentioned. This skill must be developed
because it allows writers to engage with their target readers in a convincing way.
This gives research more credibility.
According to Endajala (2020), Halliday: 1967 (as cited in Zheng, Yang and Ge,
2014) analyse "how meanings are presented in the clause", forms the bigger
interpretation of the ideation concept. Additionally, Zheng, Yang and Ge (2014)
summarized this notion that when analysing a literary text, the consideration of
ideation function comes in prominently via transitivity, a concept. Their findings
show that the system of transitivity plays an important role.
Zheng, Yang and Ge (2014) found that transitivity system plays an important
role in the realization of the stylistic features of the English-medium medical
research articles (RA) and that appropriate application of different process types in
different sections in the English-medium medical RA may be related to the purposes
and style requirements of each section. It is similar to the previous study because it
presents a detailed information, to argue for explanation and justification of their

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observations and to persuade the readers. This is done so the readers will accept
the findings and interpretations of new claims.
While the research on the genre structure of the English-medium medical RA
gives medical RA writers a clear picture of “a distinctive category of discourse”
(Swales, 2001 as cited Zheng, Yang and Ge, 2014). In most researches, clarity is a
crucial issue to avoid ambiguity. It is suggested to have better awareness of the
transitivity system in English-medium medical RAs which may help them more
consciously and effectively use proper process types to unpack the information in
the style required by the medical RA. Thus, it also applicable in other fields of
research which eventually lead to the ultimate goal of successful publication.
Ellis and Shintani (2013) claimed that teachers focus more on teaching the
structure of the passive. However, the result of their study does not demonstrate the
claim. It is related to the study in terms of the use of passivation of EAP students
from academic abstracts. However, the present study focuses on chapter II of a
research paper particularly the related literature and studies. In spite of this fact,
both are still considered as academic text and the language of research.
Additionally, Natural language processing (NLP) is a theory-motivated range of
computational techniques for the automatic analysis and representation of human
language. It is a revolutionary way of writing research. On the other hand, there
must also be a framework for this kind of writing process which is the main concern
of the present study. Thus, this review paper draws on recent developments in NLP
research to look at the past, present, and future of NLP technology in a new light.
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Furthermore, the research focuses on other field of research such as the `jumping
curves' from the field of business management and marketing prediction. Evolution
of NLP research was elucidated and analyzed based on three overlapping curves-
namely Syntactics, Semantics, and Pragmatics Curves (Cambria & White, 2014).
Considering the amount of research in this area, the question of whether
epistemic modals contribute to the truth conditions of the sentences they appear in
is a matter of active debate in the literature. With regards modality, the study of
Hacquard and Wellwood (2012) is related to the study in terms of the analysis of
epistemic modalities which can appear in the scope of other operators. Hence,
epistemics can contribute to the semantic content embedded in text. However,
distribution is limited, compared to that of other modals.
Indeed, epistemic modals can be critical but yet intricate linguistic device in
academic writing. Yang, Zheng, and Ge (2015) investigated 25 English-medium
medical research articles (RAs) from a systemic functional perspective. Thus, it
focuses on the distribution of the value and the orientation of epistemic modality and
their functions in medical RAs. Medical RA writers mostly rely on low and median
values, and implicitly subjective, implicitly objective and explicitly objective
orientations of epistemic modality (Yang et al., 2015). Therefore, the study may help
non-native medical RA writers to produce more acceptable medical RAs. Similarly,
the output of the study will also be of the same purpose as the previous study.
Gao (2012) said “Modality expresses writers’ commitment to their propositions
in semantics”. Likewise, epistemic modality performs interpersonal functions in

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pragmatics. Considering the number of researches in politeness, politeness and
negotiative functions have been studied, but its constructive function seems to have
failed to attract researchers’ attention. Notably, the research was written to provide a
more complete picture of the interpersonal functions of epistemic modality. Hence,
writers awareness must be considered to make them aware about the function of
modality in research.
Hardjanto (2016) highlighted “hedging plays a role in academic writing. It is a
communicative strategy that comes in many forms in linguistics. With regards to
modality, modal auxiliary verbs as the principal means of expressing hedging in
English academic discourse. Hardjanto (2016) investigated 75 primary empirical
research articles from economics, linguistics, medicine, natural sciences and
engineering was analyzed quantitatively with the help of corpus linguistic method.
“Modal auxiliaries were used most frequently in linguistics and economics and least
frequently in engineering and natural sciences while their use in medicine came in
between” as Hardjanto (2016) revealed. Also, modal auxiliaries tend to be more
common in soft sciences than in hard sciences. Their use in health sciences in
comparison with soft and hard sciences does not seem to show any significant
difference. This is relevant to the analysis of researches whether modal auxiliaries
can be frequently found.
Tantucci (2015) claimed and demonstrated that epistemic predicates originally
conveying weak certainty towards a proposition P diachronically develop an
increasingly factual meaning conveying more and more frequently a subjected form
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of certainty. Evidently, this phenomenon is first shown through a qualitative and
quantitative corpus analysis. It provides a measurable account of the various
degrees of polysemy of the three epistemic predicates I think, I believe, and I
reckon.
A flexible infrastructure for the automation of deontic and normative reasoning
is presented (Benzmüller et al., 2018). Thus, their work links the historically rich
research areas of classical higher-order logic, deontic logics, normative reasoning
and formal ethics. The researchers explained that there is no consensus on the
“best” deontic logic formalisms and since the answer may be application specific, a
flexible infrastructure is proposed in which candidate logic formalisms can be varied,
assessed and compared in experimental ethics application studies.
Alexiadou (2014) is concerned with the variation found with respect to how
languages morphologically mark argument structure (AS) alternations, a variation
that I take to be related to the realization of the syntactic Voice head. Likewise,
another concern of the study is the voice used in research. With regards to voice,
Alexiadou (2014) discusses the behavior of dispositional middles and reflexives in
languages such as English as opposed to their Greek counterparts. Since, Active
Voice is involved in the structure of all transitive and unergative predicates across
languages. However, Passive Voice takes as an input a transitive structure.
However, it is on the Greek perspective but can also be used as a basis in
analyzing the language of research.

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Omitted VPs and their antecedent VPs can mismatch in voice, this is not
allowed in any other kind of ellipsis. Merchant (2013) explained “VPellipsis facts fall
into place if the head that determines voice is external to the phrase being elided,
here argued to be vP; such an account can only be framed in approaches that allow
syntactic features to be separated from the heads on which they are
morphologically realized.”
According to Harley (2013), a single projection, vP, serves both to verbalize
and to introduce the external argument which challenges the conclusions of Coon
and Preminger (2010 as cited in Harley, 2013), who give explicit arguments for the
identity of external-argument-introducing Voice and verbalizing v. Nevertheless,
voice functions in introducing the argument which is significant in drawing
conclusions.
Suntara and Usaha (2013) illustrated that disciplinary variation in research
article abstracts is discernible. With regards to the present study,it aims to explore
rhetorical moves of related literature and studies in the fields of linguistics and
applied linguistics. Returning to the subject, Hyland's (2000) model of five rhetorical
moves was chosen as the analytical framework for the rhetorical structure. In the
study of Suntara and Usaha (2013). They discovered “there were three
conventional moves in abstracts in linguistics, while there were four conventional
moves in abstracts in applied linguistics.” With the current state of the moves found
in abstracts, findings of Suntara snd Usaha (2013) have significant pedagogical
implications for academic writing for novice writers in the two disciplines.
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Vakili and Kashani (2012) revealed that while the moves mentioned by Hyland
(2000) and others are totally typical to English research articles, some significant
variations exist in Persian articles. Thus, the study investigated ten Persian and
English Linguistics articles in terms of their moves in abstract and introduction parts.
Coincidentally, the method on the said research is also applicable to the present
study where Hyland’s (2000) Information-Purpose-Methods-Products-Conclusion
(IPuMPrC) model and Swales’ (1990) the CreateAResearchSpace model (CARS)
for abstract and introduction parts can be incorporated in the comprehensive
analysis of the corpus of the study.
Lim (2012) often constitutes ‘Establishing a niche’ as a crucial rhetorical move
in research proposals and journal papers in various academic disciplines. Since,
novice writers may at times be rejected on grounds of their inability to demonstrate
a need to carry out research in a suggested area. For this reason, the present study
looked into genre-based investigation on how experienced writers use rhetorical
steps and linguistic choices to establish research niches in the introductory sections
of high impact management research papers. However, the present study will
investigate the related literature and studies and its rhetorical pattern.
Cortes (2013) most frequent types of grammatical correlates for these bundles
and the most frequent functions performed but showed several new qualities for
these expressions. Moves and steps which are characteristic of research article
introductions (Swales, 2004) occurred across several moves and steps. Also, others
complemented other expressions and were used as comments. Consequently,

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these moves can also be identified in the discussion of related literature and
studies.
Genre instruction can lead students to examine not just similarity within a
genre but also differences, in both communicative event and individual language-
users (Devitt, 2015). As a consequence, genre performances as well as
competence within a rhetorical-linguistic genre studies allows genre scholars and
teachers to address the fact that genre-in-use is simultaneously unique and shared.
So as to further understand the genre, uniqueness of a genre must be critically
analyzed and evaluated to fully understand the language.
Lin and Evans (2012) concluded that by discussing the implications of the
study for academic writing research as well as the design of RA writing courses and
materials for research students and early-career academics. Accordingly, structure
is not the default option for organizing such studies. For this reason, styles in writing
may vary because particular focus on disciplinary variation and the relationship
between the adjacent sections in the introductory and concluding parts.
According to Kanoksilapatham (2015), units of textual analysis called ‘move’
and ‘step’ were quantified and statistically analyzed to capture significant statistical
variations in each section. Thus, it reveals the influence of the sub-disciplines on the
textual organization variations across the corpora, highlighting the unique
characteristics and perspectives of each sub-discipline. Similarly, contribute to
enhanced quality professional communication by creating and raising awareness

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and sensitivity among prospective engineering students and practitioners when they
are involved in the task of reading and/or writing RAs.
Gonzales (2017) argues the translingual practices of L2 students can bridge
connections and help develop pedagogical applications of multimodality and
Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS), primarily by helping writing instructors teach
genres as fluid and socially situated. Also, the researcher presents a methodology
for analyzing the embodied practices of composition students, which can further
expand how genres are theorized and taught in composition courses.
Coze (2013) argues that current models and their associated graphical
representations supporting safety management practices should not only
incorporate advances in managerial, social and political sciences but also in
epistemological and philosophical areas in order to reflect the body of knowledge
available in the field of safety today more effectively. In the event that Models have
been prevalent or the most popular in the field need to be looked at critically and
questions whether they still remain appropriate to sensitise the current situation and
the trends in safety research. Therefore, models must be looked upon to identify
possible changes to make it appropriate to the current situation or trends in
research writing.
In addition to the above-mentioned study, the literature provides little guidance
on the crucial step of positioning the study's theoretical claims in relationship to prior
theory.
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Hartig and Lu (2014) noticed a difference between novice and expert legal
writing students. They observed that novice legal writing students tended to avoid
using the passive voice compared to the expert legal writing students. In relation to
the study, this might be observed in the analysis of the corpus.
Ridder and Mccandless Baluch (2014) addresses the question of how to enter
into a dialogue with extant theory in theory building case study research in the field
of management. They presented three ways of positioning to demonstrate a
theoretical contribution, illustrating each with examples from recent case studies
drawing on the dynamic capabilities approach. The above-mentioned study
enlightened the benefits of entering a synergistic, antagonistic and pluralistic
dialogue for making a significant theoretical contribution.
Given these points, the present study focuses on the analysis of the language
of academic research particularly in related literature and studies. One of the main
focus of the study is transitivity system which plays an important role in the
realization of the stylistic features of the English-medium medical research articles
(RA) and that appropriate application of different process types in different sections
in the English-medium medical RA may be related to the purposes and style
requirements of each section (Zheng, Yang and Ge, 2014). Even though it focus on
medical research, it is still considered as academic writing and the methodology is
relevant to the present study. For this reason, the present study looked into genre-
based investigation. Indeed, it is a must to know how experienced writers use
rhetorical steps and linguistic choices to establish research niches in the

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introductory sections of high impact management research papers. However, the
present study focuses on chapter II of a research paper particularly the related
literature and studies even if most of the readings pertain to the CARS model,
moves and steps which are guide in writing academic research. Lin and Evans
(2012) concluded that by discussing the implications of the study for academic
writing research as well as the design of Research Article writing courses and
materials for research students and early-career academics. For these reason, the
method on the said research is also applicable to the present study where Hyland’s
(2000) Information-Purpose-Methods-Products-Conclusion (IPuMPrC) model and
Swales’ (1990) the CreateAResearchSpace model (CARS) for abstract and
introduction parts can be incorporated in the comprehensive analysis of the corpus
of the study. Previous genre studies have only referred to the use of literature in one
move in discussions, “commenting on results.” However, the results of this study
show that intertextual links are used for a variety of rhetorical functions throughout
discussions in master's theses and journal articles. With regards to the present
study, it aims to explore rhetorical moves of related literature and studies in the
fields of linguistics and applied linguistics. This is relevant to the modality and voice
used in research writing. “There were three conventional moves in abstracts in
linguistics, while there were four conventional moves in abstracts in applied
linguistics.” With the current state of the moves found in abstracts, findings of
Suntara snd Usaha (2013) have significant pedagogical implications for academic
writing for novice writers in the two disciplines. It can be used in the analysis. While
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the research on the genre structure of the English-medium medical RA gives
medical RA writers a clear picture of “a distinctive category of discourse” (Swales,
2001 as cited Zheng, Yang and Ge, 2014). Discourse can be further analyzed with
an appropriate framework that will be appropriate to the genre during content
analysis.
3.2. Conceptual Framework
In conducting this study, related concepts to the topic were cited to aid the researcher’s
proposition. The Transitivity, Modality, and Voice Analysis in Master’s Thesis Related Literature
and Studies documents were analyzed in terms of two sorts of modality such as deontic modality
(Saeed, 2003) and epistemic modality (Kreidler, 1998).
Transitivity will be analyzed according to Halliday’s Transitivity Model. The
systemic functional linguistics approach to discourse analysis is based on the model of
“language as a social semiotic” outlined in the works of Halliday. Language is used
functionally, what is said depends on what one needs to accomplish. In Halliday’s theory
(1985), language expresses three main kinds of meanings simultaneously: ideational,
interpersonal, and textual meanings.
Halliday developed the theoretical framework of transitivity. According to Amber
(2014), clauses represent events and processes of various kinds, and transitivity aims
to make clear how the action is performed, by whom and on what. It is noted
“Transitivity is an important and powerful semantic concept in Halliday”. The ideational
function of language is identified as an essential tool in the analysis of representation.

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More importantly, different social structures and values demand different patterns of
transitivity. To put it another way, transitivity can show how speakers/writers encode in
language their mental reflection of the world and how they account for their experience
of the world around them.
Halliday’s theory emphasizes that transitivity is measurable will be used in the
study the clausal structure which is based on the main verb of the sentence. In
transitivity, different processes are distinguished, classified and known as Material
processes, Relational processes, and Mental processes
Material processes of transitivity are processes of doing, usually physical and
tangible actions. Halliday calls them action clauses expressing the fact that something
or someone undertakes some action or some entity “does” something – which may be
done to some other entity. These processes can be probed by asking what did x do?
Two essential participants usually appear in material process are the Actor – the doer of
the process – and the Goal – the person or entity affected by the process.
Mental processes usually encode mental reactions such as perception, thoughts
and feelings. Mental processes give an insight into people’s consciousness and how
they sense the experience of the reality. These can be probed by asking what do you
think/ feel/know about x? Mental processes have two participants: the Senser – the
conscious being who is involved
in a Mental process – and the Phenomenon – which is felt, thought, or seen by the
conscious Senser.
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Relational processes construe the relationships of being and having between two
participants. There are two different types of Relational processes; one is called
Identifying Relational which serves the purpose of defining and the participants involved
are Token and Value. Thus the Value serves to define the identity of the Token. The
other type of Relational process is the attributive Relational which serves to describe.
The participants associatedwith it are the Carrier and the Attribute and we can say that
“the x (realized by Carrier) is a member of the class y (realized by Attribute)”.
Transitivity processes are also useful in uncovering the participants involved, how
the speaker/writer locate himself in relation to the others, and whether they take an
active or passive role in the communication.
Table 2. Example of Different Process Types
Process Example
Type
Material The Prince gives a ball tomorrow night.
Mental ..she looked out through the leaves, and wondered.
Behavioral What I sing of, he suffers.
Existential Here at last is a true lover.
Verbal She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses, cried
the young Student.
Relational .. and the little Lizard, who was something of a cynic laughed outright.
There is no priority of one process type over another so Halliday and Matthiessen
portray the interrelationship between transitivity processes as a sphere which enables
us to construe and portray our experiential meanings of the world, how we perceive
what is going on. Transitivity processes are also useful in uncovering the participants
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involved, how the speaker/writer locate himself in relation to the others, and whether
they take an active or passive role in the communication.
Modality will be analyzed in terms of deontic modalities (Saeed, 2003) and
epistemic modalities (Kreidler, 1998) which the researcher aimed to determine the
degrees of strength of deontic modalities in terms of Cruse (2004) and degrees of
probability of epistemic modalities in terms of Halliday (1994); and Eggins (2004). The
abovementioned modalities were analyzed using textual analysis method that served as
the process.
According to Saeed (2003, as cited in Winiharti, 2012), deontic modality may
convey two kinds of social knowledge: obligation and permission. Obligation is
concerned with ‘what a person must do’, as in (1), whereas permission deals with
‘someone’s authority to permit somebody else to do something’, as in (2),
(1) a. I must phone him.

b. I have to phone him.
c. I need to phone him.
d. I ought to phone him.
e. I should phone him.
(2) a. You can have these postcards for free.
b. You could have these postcards for free.
c. You may have these postcards for free.
d. You might have these postcards for free.
On the other hand, Kreidler (1998, as cited in Winiharti, 2012) notes that
epistemic modality deals with the possibility, probability or impossibility of a certain

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proposition. Examples (1) and (2) talk about possibility or probability, whereas
sentences (3) and (4) talk about impossibility or improbability.
(1) She may be in her office. (It is possible that she is in her office.)
(2) Ask father. He might know. (It is possible that father knows.)
(3) You’ve only just had dinner. You can’t be hungry already. (It is impossible that
you are hungry.)
(4) Is he serious? No, he can’t be that serious. (It is impossible that he is serious.)
According to Cruse (2004, as cited in Winiharti, 2012), deontic modality has
degrees of strength of modal verbs as ‘values of modals’. This is similar to the study of
Halliday (1994) & Eggins (2004, as cited in Suhadi, 2011) which they provided the three
(3) levels of strength as regards deontic modalities as shown below.
Modal verbs are classified as follows:
High-value modals: must, ought to, need, have to, is to
Median-value modals: will, would, shall, should
Low-value modals: may, might, can, could
Meanwhile, Halliday (1994) & Eggins (2004, as cited in Suhadi, 2011) proposed
degrees of certainty of epistemic modality which are classified into three levels: high,
median, and low.
The degree of value of modality can be ranged into three:

a. High: The action closest to yes poles (positive polar) and most possible to
happen.
b. Median: The action occurs between high and low level or in the median of
the polarity
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c. Low: The action is closest to no poles (negative polar) and most possible
not to happen
The voice analysis mainly focuses on the rhetorical structure, i.e. the constituent
Moves/Sub-Moves. In addition, Verb choices and the voice and tense of the verbs in
Move 2 and Move 4 respectively were examined.
In terms of active and passive, the researcher will try to find the patterns in a
language. The grammatical category that was the main focus of this study is the
category of voice, “which uses a form of verb to tell us whether the subject is the actor
or is acted upon. The two basic voices are active and passive” (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-
Freeman, 2015).
Active Voice Vs Passive Voice
The basic sentence structure pattern for an active voice is Subject (the
agent/“doer” of the action) + Verb + Direct Object, while the sentence structure pattern
for a passive voice is Subject (the patient/“receiver” of the action) + Verb + Past
Participle (Folse, 2009).
The passive voice can be identified by adding “by”, and the structure would be as
follows: Subject (the “receiver” of the action) + Verb + Past Participle + by + Indirect
Object (or the “doer” of the action) (Folse, 2009).
Subject Verb Direct Object
the agent/“doer” of the action the action the patient (“receiver” of the action)
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Figure 2. The Basic Sentence Structure Pattern for Active Voice (Folse, 2009)
Subject Verb Past Participle
the patient (“receiver” of the action) the action the action

“verb to be”
by + indirect Object
the agent (“does” of the action)
Figure 3. The Basic Sentence Structure Pattern for Passive Voice (Folse, 2009)
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Figure 3: Active and Passive Sentences (Cowan, 2008)
Regardless of the verb tense used in the previous examples, it would seem that one way
to verify the sentence is a passive voice construction is if one can add “by + Object” to it
(Cowan, 2008 as cited in Folse, 2009). Toyota clarified that “The active-passive alternation in
essence captures a causer-causee relationship…” (Toyota, 2009).
Conceptual Paradigm
Transitivity, Modality, and Voice Analysis in Master’s

Thesis Related Literature and Studies
Transitivity, Modality, and Voice Analysis in Master’s

Thesis Related Literature and Studies
Transitivity (Halliday, 1984)
Types of Modalities
A. Deontic (Saeed, 2003) B. Epistemic (Kreidler, 1998)
Degrees of Strength Degrees of Certainty

(Cruse, 2004) (Halliday, 1994; Eggins,
2004)
Active Voice Vs Passive Voice (Cowan, 2008, Folse, 2009

as cited inCelce-Murcia and Larsen Freeman, 2015)
Rhetorical Model in Writing Related Literature And

Studies in Masters’ Theses
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Figure 4. The IPO – Input, Process and Output Model for the Transitivity, Modality, and Voice
Analysis in Master’s Thesis Related Literature and Studies Documents as Basis for a Rhetorical
Model
Figure 4 presents the paradigm of the study which shows how the researcher will reach
the goal of this study through the Input-Process-Output (IPO) model. The IPO model provided
the general structure and guide for the direction of the study.
The researcher focused on Transitivity, Modality, and Voice Analysis in Master’s Thesis
Related Literature and Studies documents where the researcher identified that the transitivity,
modalities and voice are apparent on the said document that served as the corpus of the study.
The input involved Master’s Related Literature and Studies documents which are
classified as Academic Text where the researcher focused on identifying transitivity, modalities
and voice.
Moreover, these Master’s Related Literature and Studies were analyzed in terms of
Halliday’s Transitivity Framework, deontic modalities (Saeed, 2003) and epistemic modalities
(Kreidler, 1998) which the researcher aimed to determine the degrees of strength of deontic
modalities in terms of Cruse (2004) and degrees of probability of epistemic modalities in terms
of Halliday (1994); and Eggins (2004) and Active Voice Vs Passive Voice (Cowan, 2008, Folse,
2009 as cited in Celce-Murcia and Larsen Freeman, 2015). The abovementioned transitivity,
modality and voice were analyzed using textual analysis method that served as the process.
Based on the results, a rhetorical framework on writing related literature and studies will
be developed as the output of the study.
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3.3. Definition of terms
To facilitate better understanding of the constructs under investigation, the terms
appearing herein are defined conceptually and/or operationally:
Active voice. It is essential for learners to be fully aware of the meaning, use
and form of passive voice to better communicate (Unver, 2017).
Degrees of Certainty. As regards epistemic modality, the degree of certainty on
the knowledge of a proposition may organize into three categories: certainty (high),
probability (median), and possibility (low), (Halliday, 1994; Eggins, 2004, as cited in
Suhadi, 2011).
Degrees of Strength. As used in the study, it determines the degrees of strength
as regards deontic modalities which may indicate as the strongest version of deontic or
the weakest. Cruse (2004) labels the degrees of strength of modal verbs such as high-
value modals, median- value modals and low- value modals.
Deontic Modality. It conveys two kinds of social knowledge, i.e. obligation and
permission. Obligation is concerned with ‘what a person must do’, whereas permission
deals with ‘someone’s authority to permit somebody else to do something’, (Saeed,
2003).
Epistemic Modality. It deals with the possibility, probability or impossibility of a
certain proposition of Kreidler (1998).

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Modality. It is concerned with the expression of the subject/speaker’s
involvement towards the propositional content of an utterance, whether in the form of
agency or subjectivity. It conveys different semantic notions such as necessity,
probability, possibility, ability, intention, obligation, permission, and hypotheticality. These
notions are referred to as “modal meanings” (Aarts, 2011).
Passive voice. It is commonly preferred in certain genres such as academic
essays and news reports, despite the current trends promoting (Unver, 2017).
Transitivity. Transitivity system proposed by Halliday is composed of three main
types of processes: material, mental, and relational (Halliday, 1994).
4. Description of Methods or Approach
This section presents the methodologies used in this study. This includes the
research design/ data gathering procedures, units of analysis, sampling design and
procedures, assumptions, data analysis plan, and research paradigm/conceptual
framework.
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4.1. Data Gathering Procedure

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Figure 5. Data Gathering Procedure
The data gathering procedure of the study consists of four phases. Initially the
researcher traced the Master’s Thesis Related Literature and Studies thru request. The
researcher will secure a copy of the corpus.
To formally administer the study, the researcher sought the approval of the Dean
of the Graduate Studies of Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation Inc. After the
approval of the letters, the researcher asked the permission of the Dean of the Institute
of Graduate Studies and Research to have the availability or Master’s Thesis Related
Literature and Studies as the corpus of the study. Subsequently, upon the approval of
the Dean of IGSR the researcher will collect the school corpus.
Second phase of the data gathering procedure is the content analysis phase or
the coding process. In this research, the researcher underwent several activities, those
are; the first step of data collection procedure was reading the Master’s Thesis Related
Literature and Studies. After the complete reading was done, the next step was
identification. The researcher manually identified the Transitivity, Modalities and Voice
found in that section.
The next step was classification. The data that had been identified was then
classified based on the Theories and frameworks selected patterns anchored by
Transitivity Theory (Halliday, 1984), deontic modalities (Saeed, 2003) and epistemic
modalities (Kreidler, 1998), Active Voice and Passive Voice (Cowan, 2008, Folse, 2009
as cited in Celce-Murcia and Larsen Freeman, 2015). To simplify the data, the coding of
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each pattern was done and recorded in a tabular form for easy recording and retrieval of
the found lexical items. The researcher went through data reduction because not all of
the found lexical items can be displayed, so she chose 2 to 3 sentences as exemplars.
Then, the researcher displayed, organized and arranged the data. The data to be
displayed had been selected and coded in the step of reduction the data. The
presentation of data is done by arranging the information systematically in a description
form that explains about the researcher’s conclusion. In doing this, the researcher
needs some references that are related to the study. These are aimed to help the
researcher in analyzing the data. She looked for any materials or thesis related with the
study to support her findings.
Phase 3 includes the validation of the acquired data. The researcher gave copies
of the coding, and the corpus to the specialist informants to validate and ratify the
analysis and results. They were tasked to double check the results obtained from the
manual analysis. They also looked at the patterns whether the combinations fall under
specific category from selected theory and framework as well as the accuracy of the
patterns.
Meanwhile, phase 4 includes the researchers’ drawing of conclusions based on
the findings. Finally, an output, which was a rhetorical framework was crafted that would
be beneficial to the users especially persons involve in research writing.
4.2. Sampling Design and Procedures

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Mack, et al (2005 as cited in Oppong, 2015) note that in most cases it is not
possible to collect information from all members of target population of a research
inquiry, for instance, all residents of a Metropolitan City. In the same way, it will also be
not possible to collect all members of target population in the present study. Oppong
(2015) suggests the notion of sampling as applied in qualitative research entails that
only a subset of the population known and referred to as sample is selected for a given
research enquiry. Judgment sample or purposeful sample will be the most appropriate
for the present study. Basically, it is a method of sampling in which the researcher select
subjects who have experience or knowledge of the issue/s being addressed in the
research. The sample size is more of function of available resources, time constraints
and objectives of a researcher’s study. This implies that sample size may or may not be
fixed ex ante prior to data collection. Generally, the sample size that is selected based
on purposive sampling strategy is determined in line with theoretical saturation.
4.2.1. Research Participants of the Study
The participants of the study were the researchers of the corpus collected which
are the Masters Theses Related Literature and Studies. It is a fine choice of participants
considering the output of the study which is a rhetorical framework in writing Related
Literature and studies.
4.2.2. Data Analysis Plan

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In an attempt to determine the different categories of transitivity, modals and
voice as, the researcher completed the corpus of the study and acted as the analyst
and interpreter of the study. Transitivity is classified into five types which are the
following: material, mental, behavioral, existential, verbal and relational based on
Halliday’s Transitivity Theory (1984).
Modality is classified into two types: deontic modality that deals with obligation
and permission which was analyzed in terms of Saeed (2003), and epistemic modality
that deals with the possibility, probability or impossibility of a certain proposition which
was analyzed in terms of Kreidler (1998), and the degrees of strength in terms of Cruse
(2004) and degrees of certainty in terms of Halliday (1994); and Eggins (2004).
However, the discoveries of other functions outside of the framework could be
considered in analyzing the modalities Master’s Thesis Realated Literature and Studies.
Also, data were also analyzed based on Active Voice and Passive Voice (Cowan, 2008,
Folse, 2009 as cited in Celce-Murcia and Larsen Freeman, 2015).
The sectional occurrence frequencies of the process types were counted
manually, then added up in each sample and recorded. To enhance the validity of the
data for the statistical analysis, the researcher re-coded the process types in 5
medical RAs from the corpus three months after the initial identification of the
process types. Kappa coefficient (k) was used to test the intra-rater reliabilities and the
reliability index for the agreement between the initial coding and second coding of the
process types was (k = 0.995).

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4.2.3. Ethics Consideration
Since the corpus of the study are Masters’ theses related literature and studies
which is an academic text, it needs an anonymity and confidentiality as stated in Data
Privacy Act of 2012, which defines a comprehensive and strict privacy legislation that
aims to protect the fundamental human right of privacy.
In ensuring the anonymity and confidentiality, the researcher observed the
following ethical considerations in the conduct of the study: the researcher provided
sufficient information about the study such as who will conduct the study and how the
data will be used to the authorized agents of the insurance company and other persons
involved in this study, and personal information of the researcher and other private
information were not revealed in the study.
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Nunes, L. P., & Orfanò, B. M. (2020). Investigating the system of TRANSITIVITY in
passive that-clauses of research abstracts. The changing face of ESP in today's
classroom and workplace, 163.

Revision No.: 0
Reviewed by: QMR
Ridder, H. G., Hoon, C., & Mccandless Baluch, A. (2014). Entering a dialogue:
Positioning case study findings towards theory. British Journal of
Management, 25(2), 373-387.
Samraj, B. (2013). Form and function of citations in discussion sections of master's
theses and research articles. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 12(4),
299-310.
Suntara, W., & Usaha, S. (2013). Research Article Abstracts in Two Related Disciplines:
Rhetorical Variation between Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. English
Language Teaching, 6(2), 84-99.
Tantucci, V. (2015). Epistemic inclination and factualization: a synchronic and diachronic
study on the semantic gradience of factuality. Language and Cognition, 7(3), 371-
414.
Tezer, M., Kan, Ş. G., Öznacar, B., Şensoy, Ş., & Çaltıkuşu, Ç. (2019). Content analysis
of master’s degree and doctorate theses where social skills training is
approached. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering
and Education, 7(1), 43.
Vakili, E. Z., & Kashani, A. F. (2012). The contrastive move analysis: An investigation of
Persian and English research articles’ abstract and introduction
parts. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 3(2), 129-129.
Yang, A., Zheng, S. Y., & Ge, G. C. (2015). Epistemic modality in English-medium
medical research articles: A systemic functional perspective. English for Specific
Purposes, 38, 1-10.
Revision No.: 0
Reviewed by: QMR
Zheng, S., Yang, A., & Ge, G. (2014). Functional stylistic analysis: Transitivity in English-
medium medical research articles. International Journal of English
Linguistics, 4(2), 12.
IV. Research Governance and Ethics
Please describe how you will ensure I will provide honesty in all aspects of
that the activity will be carried out to presentation of research goals, intentions and
the highest standards of ethics and findings, reporting on research methods and
research integrity. procedures, gathering data, using and
acknowledging the work of other researchers
and conveying valid interpretations and
making justifiable claims based on research
findings.
Please describe how potential Since it is a qualitative research which
ethical, health and safety issues involves analyzing content, the only risk is
arising as part of this research have health and safety issues of going outside to
been considered and how they will gather the corpus of the study.
be addressed.
Will the proposed research involve No, it will not involve research on animals,
research on animals, human human participants.
participants, human tissue or
patient/participant data?
Has the proposed research been No, it has not been reviewed by the MSEUF
reviewed by the MSEUF research research committee yet.
ethics committee?
V. Expected Outputs and Deliverables (This refers to the products of the research which
would contribute and increase the stock of knowledge.)
The expected output of the study is a model of rhetorical pattern in writing related
literature and studies. A rhetorical pattern is how a writer communicates ideas. A
rhetorical pattern is a technique that is used by a writer, or in some cases, a speaker,
to communicate ideas in a particular way.
VI.Target Beneficiaries of Research Results: (who and how many are the direct / indirect
beneficiaries of the study, what are the benefits that are likely to accrue in the short or long
term)
Revision No.: 0
Reviewed by: QMR
Target Beneficiaries Total

1. Researchers
2. Researcher teachers
3. Research advisers
4. Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s)
VII. Dissemination Plan: (what is the plan for sharing / communicating research results to different
stakeholders / possible beneficiaries; please mention specific activities)
Activities Strategy
1. Present research output to the oral examination committee Review comments and
suggestions.
2. Present the research findings in a research plenum Review the whole research for
the used of the target
audience (researchers,
teachers, professors and
students)
3. Utilize Research output upon approval of the ratifiers Disseminate information
4. Evaluate the research output Review comments and
suggestions
5. Revise parts of the research output Review comments and
suggestions
6. Submit for publication Final Editing
VIII. Activities
Activities Months
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1. Seeking approval of
proposed title
2. Submission of Chapter 1
for endorsement to
assigned Thesis Adviser
3. Working on Chapters I-III
4. Submission of Chapter I-
III for Oral Proposal
Defense
5. Revision of Chapters I-III
6. Submission of Revised
Chapter I-III
Revision No.: 0
Reviewed by: QMR
8. Seeking approval to the

members of the Oral
Examination Committee to
administer the research
instrument
9. Securing of permits to
conduct the study
11. Data retrieval,
tabulation, analysis and
interpretation
12. Working on Chapter IV
13. Crafting of research
output
13. Working on Chapter V
and other parts of the paper
14. Finalization of
completed manuscript
15. Submission of final
copy of the manuscript to
the Graduate School Office
for Final Oral Defense
16. Final Oral Defense
17. Revision of paper
18. Review of the revised
paper by the members of the
Oral Examination
Committee
19. Review of the revised
paper by the Dean of
Graduate School
20. Submission of the
revised paper to the printing
press for hard binding
21. Submission of thesis in
hardbound copies to the
Graduate School
Revision No.: 0
Reviewed by: QMR
6. Curriculum Vitae of Researcher
CURRICULUM VITAE
Name: Maria Carmela Rachel G. Esclanda

Nickname: Mela
Age: 28
Address: Sampaguita St., Sitio Pilaway,
Brgy. Polo, Mauban, Quezon, 4330
Birthday: December 09, 1992
Birthplace: Lucena City
Civil Status: Married
Father’s Name: Eufemio Bantayan Gazil
Mother’s Name: Virginia Padua Cabuyao
Educational Background
Graduate Studies : Master of Arts in English (MAEd)
Graduate School
Sacred Heart College
Lucena City
2016-Present
Tertiary : Bachelor of Secondary Education

Major in English
Pambayang Kolehiyo ng Mauban (PKM)
Brgy. Polo, Mauban, Quezon 4330
2011-2015
Secondary : Mother Perpetua Parochial School (MPPS)

Brgy. Lual, Mauban, Quezon 4330
2005-2009
Elementary : Mother Perpetua Parochial School (MPPS)

Brgy. Lual, Mauban, Quezon 4330
1998-2005
Professional Eligibilities
Licensure Examination for Teachers

September 2016
License No. 1412360
Revision No.: 0
Reviewed by: QMR
Employment Background
Classroom Teacher Sisters of Mary School (SMS) - Adlas, Inc.

Brgy. Adlas, Silang, Cavite
Classroom Teacher Sampaloc National High School (SNHS)

Brgy. Banot, Sampaloc, Quezon
Awards and Recognition

3rd Place Best in Classroom
Sampaloc National High School
Sampaloc, Quezon
SY 2017-2018
Affiliations
Member Quezon English Language Teacher (QUELTA)
Division of Quezon, Quezon, Province, Philippines
May 2017 to present
Seminars/Trainings/Workshops Attended/Conducted
A. Regional Level
Participant Teachers Induction Program Module 1
DepEd CALABARZON
Sevilla’s Hotel and Resort
Lucena City
October 27, 2018
MARIA CARMELA RACHEL G. ESCLANDA

Researcher

Igsr It Capstone Proposal (Repaired)

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MANUEL S. ENVERGA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

II. Name of Researcher: : Maria Carmela Rachel G. Esclanda

III. Manuscript Content

The broad range of frameworks in writing introduction resulted to the idea

of creating a framework in writing Related Literature and Studies. Using CARS

model developed by John Swales is a good way to introduce your research

recently turned to the CARS model in writing introduction as it is an organized

way in creating the “niche.” Moreover, even if there is already a pattern in

writing introduction; it is also necessary to have a pattern in writing other parts

articles are expected to present research information in a structured manner

by following a certain rhetorical pattern determined by the discourse

community (Suryani et al., 2013). On the process of producing a research

article, it is understandably a complex task. It is even more difficult if one is

writing in his or her second or third language. Even if grammatical mistakes

comes to rhetorical presentation of their research ideas. Likewise, the present

study will come up with a rhetorical pattern which will be appropriate

particularly in related literature and studies. In conclusion, the main aim of

transitivity is to connect the semantic and grammatical dots to extract the

more frequently because it is straightforward and clear and because

the receiver (Folse, 2009).

Keywords: active voice, degrees of certainty, degrees of strength, deontic modality,

epistemic modality, modality, passive voice and transitivity

2.1. Project Context

specifically in writing introduction. Many writers have recently turned to the

CARS model in writing introduction. A large body of data concerning the

moves in writing researches. Recently, there has been wide interest in

analyzing discourse in different fields of specialization.

The effect of using this model have received considerable attention

niche as well as occupying the niche. It is a layout in creating a research

research introduction has been used. It is commonly suggested that CARS

model must be used in writing research in the academe.

write, you need to consider your audience… To be successful in your writing

task, you need to have an understanding of your audience’s expectations…”

people have difficulty in writing a comprehensive research.

By outlining steps and thumb rules to keep in mind, we present an

overview of different types of review articles and explain how future

In a particular field of research, literature review identifies, evaluates and

synthesises the relevant writings and compositions. It enlightens how

proficiency has progress in a field of study, accentuating what is already

and express how a certain research project face these gaps.

According to Randolph (2009) literature review for a master's thesis or

capstone is not usually as exhaustive or comprehensive as the literature

review for a doctoral dissertation. However, the literature review in a master’s

making a review is ensuring that the literature is related to the research

A wide range of communicative options must be adopted by the writers in

that the readers may be inclined to present in response to the information

on how writers develop the style of writing. Also, it is also significant to

determine specific frequent patterns of communicative discourse for writers to

establish more credibility for their claims.

Kaminstein (2017) presents a step-by-step guide to aid the master's

student in writing, and assist faculty in evaluating, a well-researched literature

Thus it emphasizes on how to write a literature review that is “focused and

integrative, and that employs critical thinking skills.”

However, this vies is challenged by recent data showing there is no

particular model in writing related literature and studies. A considerable

amount of researches has been published pertaining to the writing of

mechanism in writing related literature and studies remained unclear due to

different step by step guide published on journals which has no particular

model. Hence, additional studies of designing a model in writing related

model in writing research which is the CARS model.

The aim of this paper is to analyze related literature and studies of

Masters’ Theses. This dissertation proposes a formal procedure for writing

divided into five chapters.