حبیب سلیمانی

The purpose of this study was to see whether there were any significant differences in type and frequency of occurrence moves in theses discussion sections written by Iranian MA students in TEFL and MSc students in chemistry and to find a common pattern of schematic move structure for each field using Hopkin and Dudley – Evans’ (1988)model. To this end, 60 theses discussion sections were selected. 30 discussion sections were from different state universities of Iran in TEFL and 30 from chemistry theses discussion section of Razi university of Kermansha. The data collected from each field was analyzed and moves were identified and compared. Chi square tests were run to verify whether the differences were significant or not. The results of the analysis revealed that although a new move type was detected that was not present in Hopkin and Dudley Evans’ model, there were no significant differences in terms of type and frequency in most cases. The results also indicated that, despite low discrepancies between the common patterns of the two fields, they generally tended to follow Hopkin and Dudley- Evans’ model. This demonstrated that all graduate students tried to orient themselves to structure of theses through reading and imitating MA theses. This may imply that in order to enhance students’ awareness in relation to discussion section of theses, their awareness regarding generic structure of moves be raised.