Self-mentions in design area disciplines: A corpus analysis

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Academic Writing
• Design Studies

Background:

• Authorial self-representation varies across academic disciplines, with distinct patterns observed in 'hard' and 'soft' fields.
• Previous research by Hyland (2001) and Dixon (2022) established benchmarks for self-mention in different academic areas.
• The Design disciplines' specific self-mention practices remained underexplored in large-scale corpus analyses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze and compare self-mention forms (pronouns, self-citations, author mentions) in Design area academic articles.
• To determine similarities and differences in self-mention practices within visual arts, design, architecture, and art/design education.
• To contextualize these practices against established findings in hard and soft academic fields.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative corpus analysis of 100 academic articles (empirical and theoretical) from Q1/Q2 Visual Arts and Performing Arts journals.
• Disciplines included: Visual Arts, Design, Architecture, and Art and Design Education (25 articles each).
• Methodology adapted from Hyland (2001) to examine first-person pronouns, self-citations, and other authorial self-mentions.

Main Results:

• Self-mention practices in Design disciplines exhibit both similarities and differences compared to hard and soft fields.
• Overall, Design disciplines' self-mention patterns align more closely with those typically found in soft fields.
• Architecture uniquely displays impersonal writing styles characteristic of hard fields, attributed to its historical ties with engineering.

Conclusions:

• This study provides the first corpus-based analysis of self-mention in Design area academic articles.
• Findings suggest a nuanced understanding of authorial voice within Design, blending soft and hard field characteristics.
• The results have implications for academic literacy development and understanding disciplinary writing conventions in Design.