English language Department, Bou. C., Islamic Azad University, Boukan, Iran
10.22034/jals.2025.2049999.1063
Abstract
The present research study examined the distribution of metadiscourse markers, i.e. boosters and hedges, in the introduction section of Journal Citation Reports (JCR) medical research articles. To this end, 30 research articles published in the field of medicine between 2018 and 2024 were chosen on the basis of purposive sampling. After that, the introduction sections of the selected articles were taken into consideration with respect to hedges and boosters. They were analyzed in accordance with Hyland’s (1998) hedge and booster taxonomy. The results of the data analysis revealed that the most frequently utilized kinds of hedges in the corpus consisted of Adjectival, adverbial, and nominal modal phrase, Modal auxiliary verbs, approximators of degree, quantity, time and frequency, modal lexical verbs, if clauses, introductory phrase, and complex hedges, respectively. In addition, the results of Chi-square test indicated no significant difference between the frequency of hedges and boosters in the introduction section of medical articles.
Shafaei,A. and Hosseini,A. (2026). An Investigation of the Use of Boosters and Hedges in the Introduction Section of JCR Medical Research Articles. (e735270). Applications of Language Studies, (), e735270 doi: 10.22034/jals.2025.2049999.1063
MLA
Shafaei,A. , and Hosseini,A. . "An Investigation of the Use of Boosters and Hedges in the Introduction Section of JCR Medical Research Articles" .e735270 , Applications of Language Studies, , , 2026, e735270. doi: 10.22034/jals.2025.2049999.1063
HARVARD
Shafaei A., Hosseini A. (2026). 'An Investigation of the Use of Boosters and Hedges in the Introduction Section of JCR Medical Research Articles', Applications of Language Studies, (), e735270. doi: 10.22034/jals.2025.2049999.1063
CHICAGO
A. Shafaei and A. Hosseini, "An Investigation of the Use of Boosters and Hedges in the Introduction Section of JCR Medical Research Articles," Applications of Language Studies, (2026): e735270, doi: 10.22034/jals.2025.2049999.1063
VANCOUVER
Shafaei A., Hosseini A. An Investigation of the Use of Boosters and Hedges in the Introduction Section of JCR Medical Research Articles. ALS, 2026; (): e735270. doi: 10.22034/jals.2025.2049999.1063
