A genre-analytical study of the introductions of public e-books

الملخص EN

Writing an introduction for a book should operate within the conventions determined by academic disciplines.

In light of this, this study aims to examine the cognitive move-structure in the introductions to public domain e-books from a genre-analysis perspective; moreover, it aims to investigate the mode of expression used by writers in writing the introduction of this type of books, for it is hypothesized that writers of public domain e-books differ in the way they structure the introduction of the book having in mind the background knowledge of the intended readership; consequently, it is hypothesized that the cognitive move-structure of the introduction of this category of books is not organized in a fairly consistent way.

In this study, the results of the analysis conducted on the generic structure of the introductions of thirty public domain e-books seemed to provide evidence that the introductions in this category of books constitute a genre which deviates from these conventions because of the great variations in writing the introduction of this type of books.

The analysis was carried out on two levels.

First, analyzing the pragmatic moves with their associated steps following the model of move analysis pioneered by (Swales, 1990).

Second, analyzing certain lexical and grammatical features of language to determine the communicative function of these moves drawing on the model of analysis presented by (Crystal & Davy, 2013).

The study has reached the conclusion that the introductions to public domain e-books cannot be analyzed using Swales' (1990) genre model because of the profound difference in the generic structure of these introductions.

The study also revealed that the communicative purpose characteristic of this genre is mainly informative, it offers a wealth of information to help readers obtain background knowledge on various topics relevant to their life experiences.