Moves Like Swales

 The CARS model

In his seminal work on genre analysis published in 1990, John Swales introduced the revised version of his Create a Research Space (CARS) model. Adika (2014, p. 58) explains that this model 

'describes the rhetorical moves that researchers utilize to claim research space in their disciplines in a highly competitive environment.'

Specifically, the CARS model pertains to the introduction section of research articles (RA). Swales (1990) points out that introductions can be difficult to write. This is because RA authors have an array of options at their disposal for how they might approach the opening paragraphs. 

The CARS model comprises 3 rhetorical moves, each with particular steps (See Table 1). Hyland (2006, p. 50) defines a rhetorical move as ‘a distinct communicative act designed to achieve a particular communicative function’. Put another way, a rhetorical move is a stretch of text anywhere from a phrase to a paragraph with a particular job (Rienecker, 2021).

Example

Now, let’s analyse an introduction from a paper (written by John Swales; reproduced here without the footnotes that accompany the original) through a task set out in Swales & Feak (2012, pp. 332-333). For the record, this is my own realisation of this task, and therefore, it is open to challenge.

Thomas Eakins and the “Marsh” Pictures

MOVE 1: Establishing a research territory

•        STEP a Thomas Eakins (1844 – 1916) is now recognized as one of the greatest American painters, alongside Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, and Jackson Pollock.
•       STEP b Over the last thirty years, there have been many studies of his life and work, and in 2002 there was a major exhibition devoted entirely to his art in his home city of Philadelphia. His best-known pictures include a number of rowing and sailing scenes, several domestic interiors, the two large canvasses showing the surgeons Gross and Agnew at work in the operating theater, and a long series of portraits, including several of his wife, Susan McDowell. The non-portraits are distinguished by compositional brilliance and attention to detail, while the portraits – most of which come from his later period – are thought to show deep insight into character or “psychological realism.”                                

MOVE 2: Establishing a niche

•        In many ways, Eakins was a modern late nineteenth century figure since he was interested in science, anatomy, and in the fast-growing “manly sports” of rowing and boxing. In his best work, he painted what he knew and whom he knew, rather than being an artist-outsider to the scene in front of him. Among Eakins’ pictures, there is a small series of scenes painted between 1873 and 1876 showing hunters preparing to shoot at the secretive marsh birds in the coastal marshes near Philadelphia. Apart from a chapter in Foster (1997), this series has been little discussed by critics or art historians [My emphasis]. For example, these pictures were ignored by Johns in her pioneering 1983 monograph, perhaps because their overall smallness (physically, socially and psychologically) did not fit well with her book’s title, Thomas Eakins: The Heroism of Modern Life.

MOVE 3: Occupying the niche

•       STEP a [ - ]

•        STEP b [ - ]

•       STEP c [ - ]

•       STEP d These pictures are usually thought to have come about simply because Thomas Eakins used to accompany his father on these hunting/shooting trips to the marshes. However, in this paper I will argue that Eakins focused his attention on these featureless landscapes for a much more complex set of motives. These included his wish to get inside the marsh landscape, to stress the hand-eye coordination between the shooter and the “pusher,” and to capture the moment of concentration before any action takes place.

•        STEP e [ - ]

On there being no clear step 3a (outlining purposes...), Swales and Feak clarify that ‘it does not explicitly state the motive or rationale for the study. Rather, the study seems to emerge as a natural and rational response to some kind of gap in the literature on Thomas Eakins’ (2014, p. 334). Overall, I found this to be an enlightening task, and I am interested in exploring this kind of analysis with other, perhaps more complex, RA introductions. I hope you are as motivated as I am. 

References

Adika, G. S. K. (2014). Swales’ cars model and the metaphor of research space: An illustration with an African journal. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 25, pp. 58 – 75.

Hyland, K. (2006). English for academic purposes: An advanced resource book. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge.

Rienecker, L. (2021). Rhetorical moves in academic writing. Retrieved from https://writingcommons.org/section/organization/rhetorical-moves-in-academic-writing/

Swales, J.M., & Feak C. B. (2012). Academic writing for graduate students (3^rd ed.): Essential tasks and skills. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA: University of Michigan Press.

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