Republic of the Philippines

CENTRAL MINDANAO UNIVERSITY

College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Languages and Literature
University Town, Musuan, Bukidnon

<Research Proposal Title>

<Names of Students>

<Department>
<College>

<Course No, Title, Section>

<Instructor>

<date m-d-y>
 Table of Contents

Title Page
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 List of Tables

Table No Page
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 List of Figures

Figure No Page
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4
 Research Proposal Title

Introduction

M1- Begin with the importance of conducting your research proposal/project.

M2- Provide a background about your research proposal/project (1-4 paragraphs).

M3- Cite previous studies related to your project proposal/research paper. Cite the
name/s of the author/s, year, title, objectives, methodology, results, and conclusions.
You can look for related studies by typing the title of your research and add the keyword
“study/thesis/dissertation.” Just be brief. Just mention the salient points.

M4- Cite the problem/gap. It could be limitations or problems in the previous studies or
few studies on that matter.

M5- Cite the general and specific objectives of your study as a solution to the problem
as mentioned in the previous paragraph (M4).

5
Objectives of the Study

< This is the Purpose, Scope and Objectives of the project. Every project is
designed to serve a need.>
Example:

Generally, this study aims to evaluate the durability of housing construction and
design using fiber cement siding from hazards. (Major Objective)
Specifically, this study aims:
1.) to determine the strength of the fiber cement siding using … (Specific Obj)
2.) to test the resistance of the fiber cement siding from hazards (Specific
Obj)

6
Significance of the Study

<Who are the intended beneficiaries of the proposed project? This section may also
describe who and how many people are expected to benefit from the project, both
directly and indirectly. It should also discuss how intended beneficiaries have been
involved in project design, and their expected role in project implementation and
evaluation.>
<In the first paragraph, enumerate all beneficiaries. Then, discuss each
beneficiary per paragraph.>
Ex.
This study would be of help to the administrators, theses advisers and panel
members, research methods professors, technical writing professors, thesis and
research writers, research publishers, and genre-based instruction practitioners.
First, this study is significant to the administrators. The findings of the study
would open them the need to conduct seminars on how to write research articles that
meet the international standards and make some corrections and adjustments in the
creation of strategies and teaching styles of the instructors and professors.
The thesis advisers and panel members would also benefit from this study
because they would be able to guide their advisees on how to construct their research
abstracts based on genre theory. Moreover, this would provide them knowledge on the
move structures in writing a research abstract.
The research methods professors would be able to direct their students on the
genre of writing academic papers, especially the paradigms in research abstract writing.
Furthermore, this would heighten their awareness that writing a research paper or thesis
has its own genre and that it should be written based on the genre that it belongs.
The technical writing professors would be able to improve their strategies in
teaching the different writing genres that help students improve their writing skills.
The thesis and research writers would also benefit from this study because they
would be able to write their studies appropriately using the move structures in writing a

7
research abstract. They could refer to this study as their guide in writing their own
theses and researches.
The research publishers may use this to improve their research publication
because of the information and awareness on the genre of writing research abstracts
that this study highlights. They may use this research as their basis on how to assess
the researches submitted to them for publication.
Lastly, the genre-based instruction practitioners would also have a new source of
knowledge and information regarding the genre of thesis and research writing. They
would be able to use this research if they would look for samples of research abstract
formats and their analyses.

8
Scope and Limitations

< Please follow your paper. You may cite what you are going to study (variables); how,
when, and where are you going to conduct the study, and other relevant information.

9
Review of Related Literature and Studies
<Provide a background of the project by citing relevant information. Use
headings. Employ in-text citation, which means that each paragraph should have at
least one source.>
Ex.
This chapter presents discussions on research abstract writing, Genre-based
Approach, genre analysis, and Hyland’s Framework for Abstract Analysis (2000). The
next section presents review of related studies on genre analysis of research abstracts.

Research Article Abstract Writing

Research article abstract refers to the summary of a whole research written to
provide information about the study (The American National Standards Institute, 1979,
as cited in Bhatia, 1993). Bhatia (1993) defined abstract as a précis that provides an
overview of a completed research to the readers. The University of Melbourne (n.d.)
defined abstract as a summary of the whole research and there are approximately 250
words used in the abstract. Indiana University (2010) stated that abstract should
encapsulate the whole research and should be accurate, brief, and clear so that it would
be easier for researchers to choose what studies to read. The University of Adelaide’s
Writing Center Learning Guide (2009) mentioned that abstract is derived from the “Latin
abstractum, which means a condensed form of a longer piece of writing.”
Furthermore, the University of Melbourne (n.d.) enumerated five parts of a
research abstract, namely: reason for writing, problem, methodology, results, and
implications. As for the University of Adelaide Writing Center Learning Guide (2009), an
abstract contains six parts: background, purpose, focus, methods, results, and
conclusions, where background is added.
Bhatia (1993) mentioned that research abstracts follow four moves, namely:
introducing purpose, describing methodology, summarizing results, and presenting
conclusions. Swales and Feak (2004) have formulated five rhetorical moves:
background, aim, method, results, and conclusion. As for Hyland (2000), he has
formulated a five-move structure in writing research abstracts, namely: introduction,
purpose, method, product, and conclusion.

10
 The University of Melbourne (n.d.) enumerated four purposes of writing research
abstracts, namely: submission of articles to journals, application for research grants,
completion and submission of theses, and submission of proposals for conference
papers.

Background of Genre-based Approach

Genre-based Approach, also known as Genre-based Instruction (GBI), was born
through the efforts of the “Systemic Functional School of Linguistics inspired by the
work of MAK Halliday during the 1960s and 70s” and focused on the specific use of
language in specific purposes (Sidaway, 2006). English for Specific Purposes (ESP),
Australian Genre-based Educational Linguistics, and North American New Rhetoric
studies influenced the creation of this approach especially to writing (Hyon, 1996).
According to Hyland (2008), Genre-based Approach is one of the latest trends in
teaching English writing to students because teachers teach writing the explicit way and
it helps students to widen their knowledge on writing a specific text type because it
teaches them the content, linguistic features, rhetorical moves, and social contexts.
Hyland (2008) further mentioned that this approach aimed to answer the needs of the
students in writing various text types across the discipline using a highly specialized
learning material.
Derewianka (2003) said that there were eight main genres according to their
primary social purpose, namely: description, to provide information about a person,
place, or thing; information report, to provide factual information; procedure, to tell how
to do something; recount, to tell what happened; explanation, to explain why or how
something happens; narrative, to tell a story; response, to respond to a literary text; and
expository texts, to present or argue a viewpoint.
Aside from those mentioned, there were other genres in writing. For instance,
Johns (1997), as mentioned in Grabe (2001), enumerated three subgenres of
instructional genres: research paper, take-home exam, and in-class essay which are
very helpful to students because these are the text types that their teachers require
them. These different text types have their inherent content, linguistic features,
rhetorical moves, and social contexts which students should know.

11
Advantages and Disadvantages of using Genre-based Approach to Language Learning
Hyland (2007) enumerated seven features of this approach which are helpful to
the language learners: explicit because it clarifies what must be learned to support the
acquisition of writing skills; systematic as it offers a logical frame for focusing on both
language and contexts; needs-based as the course objectives and content are based
on students’ needs; supportive in the sense that it assigns language teachers as a vital
function in scaffolding students’ learning and creativity; empowering as it gives access
to the patterns and possibilities of variation in valued discourses; critical because it
offers resources for learners to comprehend and challenge valued texts; and
consciousness-raising as it raises teachers’ understanding/knowledge of the texts to
efficiently help learners in writing.
The list of Hyland (2007) was agreed upon by many authors. By using this
approach in teaching writing, students would be able to improve their writing skills as it
aimed to increase the level of awareness of the students regarding the linguistic
features of a particular genre (Bhatia, 1993), which include grammar, vocabulary, and
connectors (Derewianka, 1990). Students would be able to realize how writers
organized their content or its schematic structures in writing introduction, body and
conclusion following its genre (Hyon, 1996). Swales (1990) indicated that this approach
teaches students the social functions of a specific text based on its context. Hyon
(1996) agreed that through this approach, students are given authentic and specific
texts and it will be easier for them to write what is required of them because they will
just follow how the sample is structured, thus increasing their knowledge on how to write
such genre. Students will be able to discover the pattern of such writing genre and
produce the same following the same pattern through the interaction of the teacher and
students (Bhatia, 1993).
Aside from the positive and promising results of using Genre-based Approach in
teaching writing, there were some practitioners who opposed the use of Genre-based
Approach in the classroom. Byram (2004) stated that this approach underrate the skills
of the students in writing. For Badge and White (2000), it interferes the students’
creativity in writing.

12
Moreover, Genre-based Approach is thought to be prescriptive because one needs to
follow the designed pattern, social conventions, and contexts of writing a specific genre,
but students could still be creative and innovative in expressing their ideas through
writing (Kay & Dudley-Evans, 1998, as cited in Osman, 2004).

Genre Analysis
According to Bhatia (1993), genre analysis is one of the components of discourse
analysis. Genre analysis is used to analyze a specific text based on its linguistic
features, schematic structures, and social functions, including its move structures and
its patterns (Osman, 2004). Tense of the verb, voice of the verb, and sentence
structures are included in the analysis of linguistic features as genre analysis studies
how society affects writers in their way of writing a specific text type across the
disciplines (Henry & Roseberry, 1998 as cited in Osman, 2004). The purpose and
context of the text are also included in genre analysis (Osman, 2004). The move
structures are determined through the arrangement of the information provided in the
text (Hyland, 2000).
Bhatia (1993) formulated three functions of orientation in genre analysis:
linguistics and genre analysis, sociology and genre analysis, and psychology and genre
analysis.
Linguistics affects genre analysis because it shows the use of language in a
certain genre, especially looking into the register and the style of a writer, which in turn
reveal the social purpose why such text type is written (Bhatia, 1993).
Sociolinguistics affects genre analysis because of the social functions it carries
and that there are things which are not explicitly stated in the text, where the meaning is
embedded in the social function (Bhatia, 1993). Miller (1984), as cited in Bhatia (1993),
states that there is a sociolinguistic feature needed to do genre analysis, where it shows
the use of language and its variations in various societies.
Lastly, there is a psycholinguistic feature in the analysis of genre, where there is
a cognitive structure behind every genre known as how people communicate with
others depending on their social distance and social context which divulge its use in
different settings (Bhatia, 1993).

13
Hyland’s Framework for Abstract Analysis
Ken Hyland (2000) formulated a five-move structure in writing a research
abstract, namely: introduction (M1), purpose (M2), method (M3), product (M4), and
conclusion (M5). The introduction (M1) establishes the context of the paper and
motivates the research or discussion; the purpose (M2) indicates the objective, thesis,
or hypothesis and it outlines the intention behind the paper; the method (M3) provides
information on the design, procedures, assumptions, approach, and data; the product
(M4) states the main findings or results, the argument, or what was accomplished; and
conclusion (M5) interprets or extends the results beyond the scope of the paper, draws
inferences, and points to applications or wider implications (Hyland, 2000). Hyland
formulated this framework based on his extensive analysis on different abstracts of
different research disciplines (Hyland, 2000).
There are others who formulated the same pattern like Swales’ and Feak’s (2004)
model where they designed five moves, namely: background, aim, method, results, and
conclusion.

Rhetorical Move Analysis

Rhetorical moves refer to the different contents or information organized in a
fixed structure (Bhatia, 1993). A move is a “discoursal or rhetorical unit that performs a
coherent communicative function in a written or spoken discourse” (Swales, 2004, pp.
228‐229).
These rhetorical moves are dependent on a specific genre in writing (Bhatia,
1993). Each move affects the social purpose of a certain text type (Pho, 2009, in Li,
2011).
These rhetorical moves are divided into two main types, namely: obligatory move
and optional move. Obligatory move refers to a recurring information or content that is
common in the corpora being studied, while optional move refers to a less frequent
information or content in the corpora being studied (Li, 2011).

14
 Ackland (2009), as cited in Li (2011), enumerated two approaches that are used
to determine the different rhetorical moves, namely: top-down approach and bottom-up
approach.
Top-down approach focuses on the content or the information provided in the
abstracts, while bottom-up approach emphasizes on the linguistic signals used which
refer to word signals and phrases that hint the structure of a specific rhetorical move
(Ackland, 2009, in Li, 2011).

Review of Related Studies

< Cite previous studies related to your research proposal/project. Cite the name/s of the
author/s, year, objective, methodology, results, and conclusions. You can look for
related studies by typing the title of your research and add the keyword
“study/thesis/dissertation.” Be brief.>
Ex.
There have been various researches that study the genre of research abstracts
by looking into the move structures used. For instance, Li (2011) analyzed 40 research
abstracts in linguistics and chemistry in English and Chinese using Hyland’s Framework
for Abstract Analysis (2000) where she found that linguistic abstracts followed the
purpose-method-product-conclusion (M2-M3-M4-M5) pattern in both English and
Chinese. On the other hand, chemistry abstracts varied because English writers
followed purpose-method (M2-M3) pattern while Chinese writers followed method-
product (M3-M4). The study concludes that each discipline follows a certain format in
writing an abstract.

15
Methodology
<Please follow your paper. This is just a sample>

Research Design

<Explain the type of research design that you will be using. You may choose among

the following: descriptive, qualitative, quantitative, content analysis, etc. Just research on

what type of research design fits your paper>

Ex. This study employs content analysis as it identified the dominant type of

plagiarism and plagiarism percentage in the theses written by the Central Mindanao

University undergraduate students.

Sampling Procedure

<Explain what sampling procedure you are going to use. You choose complete

enumeration, random sampling, stratified random sampling, purposive sampling, or

convenience sampling.>

Ex. This study used stratified random sampling in choosing the samples for the

study with ten (10) samples from the seven (7) colleges. The study analyzed the Central

Mindanao University undergraduate theses written in the Academic Year (AY) 2014-2018.

The Corpus of the Study

<This contains the data that you are going to study>

Ex. The corpora of the study are the theses written by CMU undergraduate students

from the Academic Year (AY) 2014-2018 from the seven (7) colleges, namely: Agriculture,

Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Forestry and Environmental Science, Human Ecology,

Nursing, and Veterinary Medicine.

16
Locale of the Study

<Describe the locale of your study. Include a map.>

Central Mindanao University is the research locale of the study. It is considered as

the Academic Paradise of the South offering a world-class education.

Data Gathering Procedure

<Discuss how you are going to gather the data of your paper. Mention that you

asked permission from your respondents using a consent.>

In order to have an access to the CMU undergraduate theses from the Academic

Year (AY) 2014-2018, the researcher wrote a letter of request to Dr. Maria Luisa R. Soliven,

the CMU President, Dr. Luzviminda T. Simborio, the CMU Vice-President for Research,

Development, and Extension, and Dr. Angela Grace Toledo-Bruno, the CMU Director of

Research. The researcher also asked permission from the respondents that their thesis

would be utilized in the study. After getting the approval, the researcher copied the files at

the Research Office.

Method of Analysis

<Describe how you are going to analyze the data.>

The full-text of the CMU undergraduate student theses from the Academic Year

(AY) 2014-2018 were exported to the Grammarly application for the plagiarism analysis.

Based on the results of the plagiarism test, the researcher, with the help of the RDE aide,

classified the types of plagiarism committed by the CMU undergraduate students. Then, the

researcher identified the dominant type of plagiarism committed by the students. Finally, the

researcher computed the mean of the percentage of plagiarism based on the computation

of the Grammarly application.

Work Plan
<Discuss how the entire project will be carried out. >

17
 The major activities of this project are presented in the table below:
Activity Mo 1 Mo 2 Mo 3 Mo 4 Mo 5 Mo 6 Mo 7 Mo 8 Mo 9 Mo
10
Research
Planning
and
Designing
Drafting of
the RRL and
RRS
Gathering of
Data
Analysis of
Data
Report
Writing
Submission
of Report

Estimated Cost
<Present an inventory of the materials and/or services needed and their
estimated cost.>
Item Total
I. Personal Services
A. Direct Cost
1. Honoraria (Study Leader @ 3,000/mo) 18,000.00
2. Honoraria (RDE Aide @ 331/day for 30 days) 9,930.00
B. Indirect Cost
II. Maintenance and Operating Expenses
1. Grammarly Premium License 6,170.58
(3,085.29/quarter)

III. Supplies and Materials

1. A4 Bondpaper 70 gsm (4 reams) 464.52
2. Universal Ink (Black) 1000mL 862.21
3. Universal Ink (Cyan) 1000mL 862.21
4. Universal Ink (Magenta) 1000mL 862.21
5. Universal Ink (Yellow) 1000mL 862.21
IV. Paper Presentation/Publication 15,000.00

Grand Total (PhP) 53,013.68

18
Appendix

19
Bibliography

<Arrange your sources alphabetically>

APA Reference Format

APA Reference Format
Book with one author
Ellis, R. (1997). Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Book with two authors

Feldman, J., & McPhee, D. (2008). The science of learning and the art of teaching. USA:
Thomson.

Book with many authors (list all names for five and below authors; use et al. for six or more
authors)
Lacia, F. C., Libanao, L. L., Cabrera, C. B., & Fabella, M. G. (2005). The literatures of the
Philippines. Manila: Rex.
Chan, E. I., et al. (2002). Philippine literature: Literatures from the region. Valenzuela City:
Mutya.

Book with a later edition

Ebest, S. B., et al. (2003). Writing from A-Z: The easy-to-use reference handbook. (4th ed.).
USA: Mcgraw-Hill.

Book with a group author, same publisher as the author

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association. (6th ed.). USA: Author.

Edited Book
Chabon, M. (Ed.). (2005). Best American short stories. USA: Houghton Mifflin.

Article in journal
Afros, A., & Schryer, C. (2009). The genre of syllabus in higher education. Journal of English
for Academic Purposes, 8, 224-233.

Article in monthly magazine

Callihan, D. (1995, September). Through the window of pain. Pitt Magazine, 10, 20-23.

Article in newspaper
Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country
Today, pp. 1A, 2A.

Article in edited book

20
Garcia, G. E., & Pearson, P. D. (1994). Assessment and diversity. In L. Darling-Hammond (Ed.).
Review of research in education (pp. 337-391). Washington, DC: American Education
Research Association.

Master’s thesis or Doctoral dissertation: Unpublished

Bonifacio, R. M. (2014). Genre analysis of research abstracts in Mindanao State University-Iligan
Institute of Technology (Unpublished master’s thesis). Mindanao State University-Iligan
Institute of Technology, Iligan City.

World Wide Web: Article in electronic journal

Hyland, K. (2007). Genre pedagogy: Language, literacy and L2 writing instruction. Journal of
Second Language Writing. Retrieved from http://www. elsevier.com/
authored_subject_sections/S06/S06_345/misc/journal_second_language_writing1.pdf

World Wide Web: Article

University of Oxford. (2018). Plagiarism. Retrieved from
https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism?wssl=1

Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Feminism. (2017). In Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724633/feminism

Encyclopedias
Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The New Encyclopedia Britannica. (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508).
Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica.

Dictionaries
Jejunum. (2003). In Merriam-Webster's dictionary. (11th ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-
Webster.

21