Writing Suggestions for Further Research in Iranian Applied Linguistics Theses: A Generic and Metadiscoursal Investigation

Academic writing has tended to focus on research articles far more than on post-graduate theses (Bunton, 2005; Swales, 1990). Of the studies based on theses, relatively little research has focused on the generic structure of Suggestions for further research. To supplement the sparse knowledge in this area, the current study investigated the schematic structure (i.e., moves and steps) of Suggestions for further research and explored the metadiscoursal features commonly used in this section of theses. The corpus included 80 PhD dissertations and 80 MA theses from Iranian universities in applied linguistics. The moves and the corresponding steps were identified and, for a detailed analysis, Hyland’s (2005) classification of metadiscourse was used. Findings revealed four moves in this part genre, named, Justification of the present study, Suggestions for repetition of the current study, Implications of the study, and The researcher’s hopes. The MA and PhD theses showed differences in the use of them. The results can broaden the understanding of the nature and function of this part genre and the way the metadiscoursal features are realized; accordingly, the study can have important implications for students’ thesis writing.