RHETORICAL STRATEGIES IN INTRODUCTIONS TO SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES IN THE FIELD OF PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

The introduction of the scientific article is an invitation to read the full work. The rhetorical strategies mobilized in its composition exert a decisive influence in convincing eventual readers to be interested in the theme of the research. Therefore, the objective of this work was to analyze, in the light of the CARS Model (Swales, 1990; 2004), the rhetorical movements and steps present in introductions to scientific articles produced by researchers in the field of psychology. To this end, the introductions of 30 scientific articles published in 2021 and 2022, in Portuguese, were collected in six journals in the disciplinary area of psychology. The results confirm the relevance of the rhetorical movements predicted by the analysis model and reveal a high recurrence of some steps, while others were infrequent. On the whole, the results signal both the preferences and the predominant rhetorical particularities in the subject area investigated.