THE AUTHOR'S PRESENCE IN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS
THE AUTHOR'S PRESENCE IN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS

Summary/Abstract: This paper reflects my attempt of applying the insights derived from the literature review to the analysis of academic essays produced in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) context. The main focus is on identifying linguistic elements which emphasize the author's presence in argumentative essays. The centrepiece of this research, thus, revolves around the move previously identified in IELTS essays which refers to expressing a personal opinion. The corpus consists of 109 sample essays (38 107 words) selected from various sources, essays which are considered as examples for candidates who want to achieve a Band 7 score. The 109 essays were firstly divided into five categories: Opinion essays, Discussion essays, Problem and Solution essays, Advantages and Disadvantages essays and Opinion and Problems and Solution essays. These essays were analysed using the concordancing programme Antconc but also using manual parsing to focus more specifically on the linguistic realization of the ''expressing own view'' move within the genre exemplars analysed. Bulding on similar analyses (Milton, 1999; Hyland, 1990, 2006; Bardi & Muresan, 2014; Muresan, 2011, 2000; Chong & Ye, 2021), in which the researchers tried to identify if different moves and steps were expressed through specific structures, the main aim for the analysis is to explore and highlight salient characteristics at micro-level, in an attempt to correlate these features with the macro-components in the internal structuring of the sample essays.

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