Analyzing Iran Daily and US Today in Terms of Meta-Discourse Elements

Abstract

The role of using meta-discourse elements in writing, especially in research newspapers, is so important that their authors can convey certainty, doubt, and characteristics of the writers in their writings. There are different meta-discourse markers used by various authors in different branches; for example, hedges and boosters are the most important devices in writing. The meta-discourse elements are communicative strategies for increasing and reducing the force of statements, i.e. authors and writers who write theses, books, or articles give more information with certainty by these markers. In the present investigation, 60 reports from 2 important newspapers, Iran Daily and US Today, were studied, where for each field 30 articles written by both native and non-native writers were selected and studied. In sum, for each newspaper, 30 articles were chosen. Frequency and distribution of the meta-discourse elements were examined to show which one of the newspapers used those more. The analysis was done by ANOVA test to compare the frequency and distribution of the meta-discourse devices. The result of the test indicated differences between the selected newspapers, i.e. Iran Daily and US Today. It is important to mention that the results of this study can have pedagogical implications for prospective academic writers.