TTLA: Characteristics of Cohesion and Coherence in Scientific Texts (through Social Sciences and Humanities articles in the Journal of Science - VNU Hanoi)

ABSTRACT OF THE DOCTORAL THESIS

Author's name:Dinh Thi Xuan Hanh

Thesis title:Cohesion and coherence in scientific texts (through social science and humanities articles in the Journal of Science - Vietnam National University, Hanoi).

Dissertation field: Linguistics

Major: Vietnamese Language Code: 62.22.01.02

Postgraduate training unit: University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

1. Purpose and scope of the thesis

Objective: This study aims to understand and identify the common coherence and cohesion characteristics found in social science and humanities articles. Through this, it affirms the important role of coherence and cohesion in this text genre. Simultaneously, it offers some suggestions to improve the quality of scientific articles, better meeting national and international standards.

Subject: The research subject is the characteristics of coherence and coherence in 586 social science and humanities articles published in the Journal of Science - Vietnam National University, Hanoi from 1985 to 2013.

2. Research methods used

The thesis employs two main research methods: descriptive and inductive. In addition, it utilizes techniques such as statistical classification, analysis and synthesis, and comparison and modification to conduct the research.

3. Main results and conclusions

3.1. Main results

- A survey of 586 articles in the Social Sciences and Humanities Journal, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, revealed that there were no instances where a linking device was used between two sentences, paragraphs, or sections within an article. The high frequency of linking devices (lexical linking 64%, conjunctions 17%, references 16%, substitution and ellipsis 3%) contributed to making the informational content in sentences and paragraphs, and the semantic relationships between sections, clearer and more coherent, increasing the accuracy and flow of the text. Furthermore, the use of "keywords" and connecting sentences as characteristic linking devices was evident in these Social Sciences and Humanities articles.

- Common features of coherence found in social science and humanities articles include: Coherence in the development of the topic/theme between sentences; Coherence in argumentative relationships; Coherence in the development of semantic structure.

However, survey data shows that the constituent elements in social science and humanities articles are not fully present in all surveyed syllabi. There is still a lack of introduction (7%), abstract (7%), problem history (31%), and research methods (33%). These limitations need to be overcome to move towards a complete presentation, ensuring relevance and contributing to increasing the quality and quantity of standard scientific articles.

3.2. Conclusion

- Theoretically: The dissertation has contributed to clarifying and demonstrating the theoretical basis of text linguistics regarding the characteristics of scientific texts, their coherence, and coherence. The connection of sentences, paragraphs, and constituent elements has created logic and coherence in semantic relationships. Therefore, it has contributed to the completeness of form and content structure for articles in the social sciences and humanities.

- In practical terms: The research results of this thesis have demonstrated the practical use of linking devices and characteristic expressions of coherence in scientific texts, specifically in social science and humanities articles published in the Journal of Science - Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The results of this thesis can be used as reference material for research, teaching, and text analysis and creation. The research problem is of essential value in the current period, aiming to contribute to increasing the quality and quantity of social science and humanities articles published in reputable national and international journals.

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS

The author's name: Dinh Thi Xuan Hanh

Thesis title:Cohesiveand coherent features in scientific texts (via Social Sciences and Humanities articles on Journal of Science - VNU).

Major:Linguistics

Scientific branch of the thesis: Vietnamese Linguistics Code: 62.22.01.02

The name of postgraduate training institution:University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi National University

1. Objectives and subjects

Objectives: The study is conducted to find out and identify cohesive and coherent features that are commonly used in Social Sciences and Humanities articles. By doing this, the study will prove the importance of coherence and cohesion in this type of articles. It also presents some recommendations to improve the quality of scientific articles in meeting the requirements of national and international standards for articles.

Subjects:The study subjects are the cohesive and coherent features of 586 Social Sciences and Humanities articles which were published on the Journal of Science –Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) from 1985 to 2013.

2. Research methods

Descriptive method and inductive method are the two main methods used in this study. Besides, the statistic - classification, analysis – synthesis procedures are used in analyzing data.

3. Major results and conclusions

3.1. The major result

- By analyzing 586 Social Sciences and Humanities articles on Journal of Science, VNU, wefind out that cohesion is always used between two sentences, two paragraphs or two sections in the article. The frequent use of the cohesion (Lexical cohesion (64%), Conjunction (17%), Reference (16%), Substitution and Ellipsis (3%)) has contributed to making the content of sentences, paragraphs and semantic relationships amongsections clear and coherent in order to increase accuracy and coherence of the text. In addition, keywords and linking words are the typical means used in Social science and Humanities articles.

- The coherent features commonly used in Social Sciences and Humanities articles include: Coherence in the topic and the topic sentences; Coherence in the logical order among sentences (including relationships such as evident relationships, causal and effective relationships, overall evaluations); Coherence in the external relationship (or inter-text); Coherence in the argument; Coherence in the construction of meaning.

- However, the survey data shows that the compositional factors in Social Sciences and Humanities articles are not used sufficiently in all articles, there is still a lack of introduction (7%), summary (7%), historical problems (31%), research methods (33%). These limitations need solving to meet the requirements of a standard articles.

3.2. Conclusions

- Regarding to theory, the study has contributed to further clarify and prove the theoretical basis of linguistic literature in characteristics of scientific texts, cohesive and coherent features. The cohesion in sentences, paragraphs, and elements creates logic and coherence in semantic relationships. Therefore, it contributes to the completeness of forms and content structures of Social Sciences and Humanities articles.

- Regarding to practice, thestudy shows the reality of using cohesion, the manifestations of coherent characteristics in scientific texts, namely the Social Sciences and Humanities articles which are published on Journal of Science – Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU).Therefore, this results can be used as reference for the work of researching, teaching, analyzing and creating texts. These results are valuable in the present stage in order to contribute to increase the quality and quantity of Social Sciences and Humanities articles published on prestigious international journals.