Encoding the Global Theme in Research Articles: Syntactic and FSP Parameters of Academic Titles and Keyword Sets

Research articles rank among the most prominent academic genres familiarizing their readers in a succinct way with the latest results of academic research. Due to the immense rate of publication these days, it has become increasingly difficult to gain reader attention. Among otherthings, such attention may be achieved by devoting particular care to the selection of a suitable title and perhaps reinforced with the help of the keyword set. Since titles and keyword sets are freely available and visible even in paid online journals, they are in open competition and serve a multitude of functions (e.g., enticing readers or raising their expectations). Crucially, they encode the Global Theme of Research articles, though in two distinct ways. This paper is based on a specialized corpus, composed of titles and keyword sets gathered from linguistic Research articles recently published by six renowned international journals. By examining their ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions, the author of this paper has sought to identify some of the prominent patterns and tendencies in their formulation, paying particular attention to their syntactic and FSP parameters.

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