Abstract:
Abstract Rhetorical structure is helpful in improving how the writers maintain cohesion in their writings. This study examines how the Iraqi writers maintain cohesion in the text by analyzing the various rhetorical moves in Azzaman, an online Iraqi newspaper. To this purpose, twelve opinion articles from Azzaman Iraqi newspaper, published from January 2013 to June 2013 were analyzed. The findings revealed a common rhetorical pattern: the introduction section, the intermediate section, and the coda section (conclusion stage). All these were frequently used, but the use of intermediate section (solution stage) and coda section (moral stage) were less frequently-used in comparison with the introduction section. The findings of this study reflect the way Iraqis write opinion articles in English newspapers, and generally show that the use of similar patterns in the rhetorical structure mirrors the writing of second language writers’ writing to convey information to second language readers.
Machine summary:
The findings of this study reflect the way Iraqis write opinion articles in English newspapers, and generally show that the use of similar patterns in the rhetorical structure mirrors the writing of second language writers’ writing to convey information to second language readers.
In a study conducted by Katajamaki and Kosketa (2006) they presented their rhetorical structure model of the editorial news text and divided into three sections: the introduction, intermediate and coda section.
The data analysis in this study focused on the rhetorical structure of the news and thus, the researchers classified the texts into three sections: the introduction section, intermediate section and the coda section.
Analysis and results The results of the study show that in terms of rhetorical structure, the three sections mentioned above are used in most of the selected articles, but they differ in the use of stages especially at the solution and moral stages.
Rhetorical structure in Iraqi online opinion articles The results of the study reveal that the occurrence of introduction section, intermediate section and coda section are evident.
The opinion articles in the Iraqi newspaper show that the rhetorical pattern focuses on introduction section, intermediate section (intermediate stage), coda section (conclusion stage) rather than the other stages, i.
” The coda section-conclusion stage- in the opinion article is also emphasized by Iraqi writers.
It is evident from the findings of the present research that minimal differences in the rhetorical structures exist in opinion articles of Iraqi English newspapers.