Move Structure Analysis of Pakistani Newspaper Columns

Haleema Majeed, Syeda Fizza Batool, Javeria Maqsood

Abstract

Newspaper is an important genre and a source through which people can get information related to different topics and issues. In the newspaper columns, authors express their viewpoints through their writing. Many studies have been conducted on the move structure analysis of different genres. But there is limited significant work done on the move structure of the columns. The current study aims at exploring move structure in the newspaper columns and to analyze function of these move patterns in the text of newspaper columns. The data for the current study was collected from two Pakistani English newspapers; The Pakistan Today and The Nation. A total of fifty columns were randomly taken for the current study, twenty five columns from each newspaper. The selected columns were written by different authors and these were published in November, 2018. Then, these newspaper columns were analyzed manually by using the theoretical assumptions of Swales' (1990) and Bhatia' (1993) concept of genre analysis and different moves were identified in the selected columns. The findings of the study showed that there were five most frequently occurring moves; title, introduction, discussion, conclusion and recommendations. It was also found that the writers employed these moves as different strategies to engage readers in the text and convey information and their stand point about an issue. At last, the researcher came up with the proposed model for move structure in newspaper columns. The current study will be significant for the novice writers who want to produce their own writing effectively in the newspaper columns and will broaden the horizon of genre analysis of different newspaper sub-genres.